Operation Mjölnir: 1st Battle

Operation Mjölnir: 1st Battle

We kicked off the campaign with the "Hasty Attack" scenario. In this scenario 1300 points of Americans would be attacking 867 points of Germans, trying to take control of a strategically important forest.

The German defenders (807 points)

The German force was 60 points short of the maximum allowed by the scenario, due to a calculation error during force selection.

• From the Grenadier Battalion (399 points)
• 1st Company (3 Rifle Platoons, Panzerschreck Team) - 151 points
• 2nd Company (3 Rifle Platoons, Panzerschreck Team) - 151 points
• Elements of 3rd Company (Panzerschreck Team) - 28 points
• Battalion assets (12cm Mortar Platoon, Heavy MG Platoon) - 69 points
• From the Panzer Battalion (357 points)
• 1st Company (3 Pz IVH) - 357 points
• From the Panzergrenadier battalion (21 points)
• Elements of 1st Company (Sd.Kfz 251/17) - 21 points
• Artillery support (30 points)
• 105mm Self propelled support group - 15 points
• 105mm Self propelled support group - 15 points

The American attackers (1299 points)

• From the Infantry Battalion (495 points)
• 1st Company (3 Rifle Platoons, Weapons Platoon) - 138 points
• 2nd Company (3 Rifle Platoons, Weapons Platoon) - 138 points
• 3rd Company (3 Rifle Platoons, Weapons Platoon) - 138 points
• Battalion assets (2 MG Platoons, 81mm Mortar Plaoon) - 81 points
• From the Parachute Battalion (115 points)
• 1st Company (3 Rifle Platoons) - 81
• Battalion assets (81mm Mortar Platoon, MG Team) - 34
• From the Tank Battalion (633 points)
• 1st Company (2 Sherman Platoons, Sherman(76) Platoon) - 275 points
• 2nd Company (2 Sherman Platoons, Sherman(76) Platoon) - 275 points
• Battalion assets (Recon Jeep, Sherman(105), Mortar Carrier) - 83
• Artillery support (56 points)
• 105mm Towed support group (12 points)
• 105mm Towed support group (12 points)
• 155mm Towed support group (32 points)

The Battlefield

We played on a 6x4 table, with light forests, fields and bocage scattered evenly across the table and two small villages. Sadly my phone died the day after the battle and we lost most of the pictures taken of the battle.

The German forces set up inside and around the small forest that was the objective. If they could hold this forest, they would gain one victory point and by destroying at least half the US platoons they could gain a second victory point. The Americans could gain one victory point by taking the forest and a second victory point if they could do so within the first 9 turns.

The setup as seen from the German side

The Battle

Foolishly the Americans decided to advance across the open ground right in front of the forest and despite advancing behind a smoke screen, the advancing Americans took heavy losses to enemy artillery. 

Getting ready for the assault on the forest, the US forces arranged their infantry in a line, with tank support following close behind.

Americans getting ready for the assault on the forest

As the smoke screen lifted, the advancing infantry was suppressed by German artillery and machine gun fire and a brief but bloody firefight broke out between the Shermans and the Panzers. During the firefight a single Sherman unit was destroyed outright, while another three were taken out of the fight due to failed Quality Checks. On the German side just a single Panzer platoon was lost due to a failed Quality Check.

It was clear that pushing on with the suppressed infantry had no chance of success and would only result in a major defeat. The US commander decided to retreat, accepting a minor defeat.

Aftermath

Resolving the post battle steps the campaign effect of the battle was:

• Americans
• Losses (313 points)
• 1 Infantry Rifle Platoon
• 1 Infantry Weapons Platoon
• 1 MG Platoon
• 1 Parachute Rifle Platoon
• 2 Sherman Platoons
• Remaining strength 86%
• 5 Exhaustion points
• No Command Points were spent
• Germans
• Losses (41 points)
• 1 Grenadier Rifle Platoon
• Remaining strength 97%
• 3 Exhaustion points
• 2 km advanced
• Initiative seized by the Germans
• 1 Command Point spent to affect scenario selection

While rated as a minor defeat, the US inflicted almost no casualties on the Germans and this was in reality a crushing defeat. Time will show if the Americans can recover.

The next battle will be a "Deliberate Attack" by the Germans.

Operation Mjölnir: German Panzergrenadier Battalion

German Panzergrenadier Battalion

The final part of the German campaign force is a reduced Panzergrenadier Battalion. When wargamers think of Panzergrenadiers, they often think of the iconic Sd.Kfz 251 series of halftrack and that is exactly what this battalion is all about: a fully mechanized battalion riding armored halftracks into battle. In practice mechanized troops were extremely rare and even in the Panzer Divisions only a single of the four panzergrenadier battalions was typically mechanized (gepanzert). The most common transportation being trucks. For Operation Mjölnir however, the German commander has been lucky enough to have a (reduced) mechanized battalion at his disposal:

• Base
• 1x 12cm Mortar Platoon with Sd.Kfz 251/1 transports
• 2 Panzergrenadier Companies each with
• 3x Panzergrenadier Platoons with Sd.Kfz 251/1 transports
• 1x MG Platoon (rides in the Sd.Kfz 251/17)
• 1x Sd.Kfz 251/17 Anti Aircraft Platoon
• 1x Sd.Kfz 251/10 Anti Tank Platoon
• 1x Sd.Kfz 251/9 Infantry Gun Platoon

At full strength the battalion would have a third company, identical to the other two.

The Battalion while mounted

The Battalion dismounted

Like the regular Grenadier Battalion, the Panzergrenadiers employ the highly effective 12cm Mortar carried in the excellent 251/1 transport. The 12cm Mortar has excellent range and with the 6'x4' tables we use for our battles, does not really need its 251/1 transports. I imagine they will quickly be reallocated to one of the PzGren companies when they start losing transports.

Looking at the individual companies, you see a highly mobile force with a lot of anti infantry firepower. This reflects the very high number of machine guns assigned to panzergrenadier platoons. Where the PzGren company comes up short however is in the anti tank department, where it has to rely on the short range panzerfausts and the obsolete PaK 35/36 mounted on 251/10 halftracks. Panzerschrecks are uncharacteristically completely absent in this otherwise extremely well equipped formation. I have not been able to find any TOE which lists the panzergrenadiers as having panzerschrecks, but I am seriously considering adding them myself. It just seems uncharacteristic that favored units such as panzergrenadiers be left without this essential piece of equipment. If readers can shed some light on this "anomaly" please write in the comment section.

Finally the Panzergrenadier company comes with organic AA capability in the form of the 251/17 as well as fire support from the infantry guns of the 251/9 Section.

Stats

Stats are repeated for convenience.

PzGren Battalion (Average Quality 5+; Cohesion: 4”)
Unit	Move	ROF	Rng	AI	Notes				Points
PzGren Platoon	4	3 / 4	4	+1	AT-Rifle grenade/Panzerfaust				27
MG platoon	4	(2 / 3)	6	+1	Improvised/Panzerfaust				24
Unit/Equipment	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
12cm Mortar Platoon	2x	s	-	-	-	-	-	Indirect/60	18
251/1 (Transport)	7ht	0A0	-	1	6	-1	-	Cap 1	7
251/17 (AA)	7ht	0A0	1	2@	16@	-1	+0	Cap 1	21
251/9 Section (IG)	7ht	0A0	4	1	6	-1	+0		12
251/10 (AT)	7ht	0A0	2	3	8	-2	+0		20
Improvised	-	-	2he	1	C	-	+0		-
AT-Rifle grenade	-	-	4h	1	C	-	+0		-
Panzerfaust	-	-	8h	1	C	-	+0		-

Operation Mjölnir: German Grenadier Battalion

German Grenadier Battalion

When people think about the Wehrmacht of World War 2, they often think of blitzkrieg, tanks and mechanized infantry. The truth however is that the Wehrmacht was never fully motorized and the vast majority of German soldiers were foot infantry, who walked to get around.

The second battalion of the German campaign force is a regular Grenadier Battalion and looks like this:

• Base
• 1x 8cm Mortar Platoon
• 1x 12cm Mortar Platoon
• 1x Heavy MG Platoon
• 3 Grenadier Companies each with
• 3x Rifle Platoons
• 1x Panzerschreck team

12 Platoons and 3 Panzerschreck teams of the Grenadier Battalion

Comparing this to the US Infantry Battalion, two big differences jump out: firstly the Germans have a lot more mortar firepower, with the impressive 12cm Mortar Platoon. Secondly the anti-tank capability has been concentrated in anti tank teams rather than spread out among the rifle platoons. How this difference work out in real life I do not know, but in game terms I find the German setup to be superior. To make the quality even more pronounced, the Grenadier Battalion has been given "Excellent" quality for this campaign, meaning Quality Checks at 3+ a +1 modifier to to-hit and a +1 ROF. Having been on the receiving end of these units before, I can say that they are extremely tough.

Stats

Stats have been repeated for convenience and as always quality bonus has been added to the stats

Grenadier Battalion (Excellent Quality: 3+; Cohension: 6”)
Unit	Move	ROF	Rng	AI	Notes				Points
Rifle platoon	4	3 / 5	4	+2	AT-Rifle grenade/Panzerfaust				41
Heavy MG Platoon	4	(4 / 5)	6	+2	Improvised/Panzerfaust				41
Panzershreck Team	4	1 / 3	4	+1	Improvised Panzerschreck				28
Unit/Equipment	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
8cm Mortar Platoon	2x	s	-	-	-	-	-	Indirect/24	10
12cm Mortar Platoon	2x	s	-	-	-	-	-	Indirect/60	28
Improvised	-	-	2he	2	C	-	+1		-
AT-Rifle grenade	-	-	4h	2	C	-	+1		-
Panzerfaust	-	-	8h	2	C	-	+1		-
Panzerschreck	-	-	8h	4	2	-	+1		-

Operation Mjölnir: German Medium Panzer Battalion

German Medium Panzer Battalion

Now that I'm done with the US force for the campaign, I will give the Germans the same treatment, starting with their armor.

The Medium Panzer Battalion in FFT3 gives the player a lot of choice in that the mandatory part is just 6 panzer platoons split among three companies and then there is a lot of options for customization with optional units. My opponent Johnny opted for the following:

• Base
• 1x Recon Pz. IVH
• 2 Medium Panzer Companies each with
• 3x Pz IVH
• 1 Medium Panzer Company with
• 2x Pz. IVH

The Pz. IVH  is a great little tank, which is on par with the Sherman(76) and superior to the regular Sherman. This alone should give the German Panzers a significant equipment advantage over their American counterparts since the 2/3rds of the American tanks are the weaker Sherman variant. Add to this the fact that this battalion is "Good" quality and the US Armor is only "Average" and it becomes clear that the Americans will be severely handicapped on the armor front. Hopefully they can supplement their forces with airpower and Tank Destroyers from time to time.

9 Pz. IVH platoons

Stats

As always the stats here have been repeated for convenience and the to-hit bonus includes the modifier from Quality.

Medium Panzer Battalion (Good Quality 4+; Cohesion: 6”)
Unit	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
Pz. IVH	6t	5A3	7	3	10	0	+1	Smoke	119

Operation Mjölnir: US Parachute Infantry Battalion

US Parachute Infantry Battalion

This is the final part of the US core force for Operation Mjölnir. The paratroopers don't carry any of the heavy equipment of the regular Infantry Battalion, lacking the ATG platoon and even skipped the AT-grenades that the regular infantrymen have. The companies are smaller and the battalion assets have been cut to the bare essentials with the MG support being two teams, rather than the usual full MG platoons. The difference is subtle but important, with the MG team having only a range of 4" rather than the usual 6" of the MG platoon.

• Base
• 2x Parachute MG Teams
• 1x 81mm Mortar Platoon
• 3 Parachute Infantry Companies each with
• 3x Parachute Infantry Platoons

The 10 Platoons and 2 Teams of the Parachute Infantry Battalion

I chose this battalion to round out my force. I don't expect much from these guys since they are an extremely light formation with nothing fancy going on in terms of equipment or stats and I went for "Average" quality, meaning these guys have only a 33% chance of staying in the fight when making quality rolls. It's pretty ahistorical to bring "Average" paratroopers to the table, but the low cost meant these guys rounded out my force perfectly in terms of points. I expect to use these guys mostly in a defensive role due to their brittle nature.

Stats

Again, FFT3 stats repeated here for convenience.

Parachute Infantry Battalion (Average Quality: 5+; Cohesion: 4”)
Unit	Move	ROF	Rng	AI	Notes				Points
Rifle platoon	4	2 / 4	4	+1	Improvised/Bazooka				27
MG team	4	2 / 4	4	+1	Improvised/Bazooka				27
Unit/Equipment	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
81mm Mortar platoon	2x	s	-	-	-	-	-	Indirect/30	7
Improvised	-	-	2he	1	C	-	+0		-
Bazooka	-	-	6h	1	2	-	+0		-

Operation Mjölnir: US Infantry Battalion

US Infantry Battalion

For Operation Mjölnir, this US infantry battalion constitutes the majority of the US infantry strength. Since I expect these guys to do most of the heavy lifting I decided that they needed to be "Good" quality, since the jump from 5+ quality checks to 4+ quality checks is a very big deal.

The battalion is organized as follows:

• Base
• 1x M1 57mm ATG Platoon
• 1x Truck Platoon for ATG
• 2x Infantry MG Platoons
• 1x 81mm Mortar Platoon
• 3 Infantry Companies each with
• 3x Infantry Rifle Platoons
• 1x Infantry Weapons Platoon

17 Stands of the US Infantry Battalion

Compared to the German infantry battalion, this is a rather large formation with a total of 14 assorted infantry platoons and with excellent organic anti-tank capabilities in form of the 57mm ATG platoon and the bazookas that are scattered out among the battalion's platoons. The only area where I find the US infantry battalion lacking, is the battalion mortar assets which are a single 81mm Mortar Platoon. This rarely has much of an effect on battles and I must admit that I suffer from mortar envy when looking at the German or Russian 120mm Mortars. Hopefully this will not be a huge issue since I have plenty of artillery assigned to my task force.

These guys will be charged with taking and holding forests and towns, since they are the only formation I have that can sustain heavy casualties and still be effective. 

It is also worth taking into account that infantry casualties in the campaign are generally easier to recover from than vehicle casualties, which is another argument for letting these guys do most of the lifting. 

Stats

The following are stats for the Fistful of TOWs 3 rules, repeated here for convenience. Note the AI and AV (Anti Infantry and Anti Vehicle) modifiers are updated to include the bonus from "Good" quality. 

Infantry Battalion (Good Quality: 4+; Cohension: 6”)
Unit	Move	ROF	Rng	AI	Notes				Points
Rifle platoon	4	2 / 4	4	+2	AT-Rifle grenade/Bazooka				34
Weapons platoon	4	(3 / 4)	4	+2	AT-Rifle grenade/Bazooka				36
MG platoon	4	(2 / 4)	6	+2	AT-Rifle grenade/Bazooka				36
Unit/Equipment	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
81mm Mortar platoon	2x	s	-	-	-	-	-	Indirect/30	9
M1 57mm ATG	0x	s	7	3	8	-1	+1	Forward firing	31
Light truck	8w	s	-	-	-	-	-	Cap 1	3
AT-Rifle grenade	-	-	4h	1	C	-	+1		-
Bazooka	-	-	6h	1	2	-	+1		-

Operation Mjölnir: US Independent Tank Battalion

It's been a while since my last blog post, but real life happened and I have not been able to spend any time with my hobbies. I do plan on starting the blog back up however and I have the first battle of Operation Mjölnir lined up for next week. In preparation for this battle, I want to talk a bit about (drumroll).....

The US Independent Tank Battalion

As the name implies, the independent tank battalions of the US Army were an independent formation and not a permanent part of an armored division like the regular tank battalions. Instead the idea was to attach independent tank battalions to infantry divisions according to needs. 

An example of such a formation can be seen in the 741st Tank Battalion which was attached to the 1st Infantry Division for the D-day landings and was then later attached to the 2nd Infantry Division.

For operation Mjölnir the US force will have an Independent Tank Battalion consisting of the following:

• Base
• 1x Recon Jeep w/LMG platoon
• 1x Sherman(105) platoon
• 1x Mortar Halftrack platoon
• 3 Medium tank companies each with
• 2x M4A3 Sherman platoons
• 1x M4A3(76) Sherman platoon
• Light Tank Company
• 3x M5 Stuart

This organization was found in the the Fistful of TOWs 3 rulebook, but is consistent with what I have seen elsewhere and should be suitable for other rules also. 

The fifteen platoons of the independent tank battalion

Stats

The following are stats for the Fistful of TOWs 3 rules, repeated here for convenience.

Independent Tank Battalion (Average Quality: 5+; Cohesion: 4”)
Unit	Move	Armor	Pen	ROF	Rng	AI	AV	Notes	Points
M4A3 Sherman	8t	5-3	6	3	10	-1	0	Smoke	90
M4A3(76) Sherman	7t	5-4	7	3	10	-1	0	Smoke	95
M4A3(105) Sherman	7t	5-4	5he	3	6	-1	0	Indirect/112	67
			6h	3	6	-1	0
M5 Stuart	9t	4-3	5	3	8	-2	0		64
Jeep w/LMG	9w	s	-	1	6	-1	0	Cap ½	1
M21 MMC	8ht	1-0	0	1	6	-1	0	Indirect/30	15

Operation Mjölnir, preparations

I am starting up a Normandy campaign with a buddy of mine who goes by the name "Lord Siwoc" online. If you are into zombie miniature gaming, check out his excellent wargaming blog here.

We have been using the Fistful of TOWs 3 rules for our World War 2 wargaming and despite the more modern name, the rules work well for the WW2 era. The FFT3 rules cover the period 1915-2015 and comes with extensive army lists and stats. Do note that the excellent stats start with WW2, so while the rules themselves cover WW1 also, you have to make the stats and army lists yourself if you want to play that war. The rules include the formulas and guidelines necessary for creating unit stats.

For this campaign we will not be recreating specific battles or operations, but will instead be fighting the fictitious "Operation Mjölnir", using the Battle Generator Campaign included in the FFT3 rules.

The campaign plays as a series of linked battles where the two sides accumulate losses and exhaustion while trying to advance into enemy territory. The campaign can end in one of three ways, when one or both sides have:

• Advanced sufficiently far into enemy territory
• Become too exhausted to continue fighting
• Taken too many losses to continue fighting

Each side has a Campaign Force, which makes up the core of the force fighting. For an individual battle each commander will commit part of his Campaign Force, possibly reinforced with an attachment (typically division level assets such as recon, anti-tank, anti-air or engineers).

The Campaign Forces we will be using are as follows:

Germans

• Grenadier Battalion (Excellent quality - 532 points)
• Grenadier Company (3 rifle platoons; 1 panzerschreck team)
• Grenadier Company (3 rifle platoons; 1 panzerschreck team)
• Grenadier Company (3 rifle platoons; 1 panzerschreck team)
• MG platoon
• 8cm mortar platoon
• 12cm mortar platoon
• Panzer IV Battalion (Good quality - 1071 points)
• Panzer Company (3 Pz IV platoons)
• Panzer Company (3 Pz IV platoons)
• Panzer Company (2 Pz IV platoons)
• Panzer IV Recon platoon
• Partial Panzergrenadier Battalion (Average quality - 383 points)
• Panzergrenadier Company
• 3 Rifle platoons in 251/1
• 1 MG platoon in 251/17 (anti-air)
• 1 251/10 platoon (anti-tank)
• 1 251/9 section (artillery)
• Panzergrenadier Company
• 3 Rifle platoons in 251/1
• 1 MG platoon in 251/17
• 1 251/10 platoon
• 1 251/9 section
• 12cm mortar platoon in 251/1
• Artillery (5+ accuracy - 58 points)
• 105mm self-propelled support group
• 105mm self-propelled support group
• 150mm towed support group

Americans

• Infantry Battalion (Good quality - 529 points)
• Infantry Company (3 rifle platoons, 1 weapons platoon)
• Infantry Company (3 rifle platoons, 1 weapons platoon)
• Infantry Company (3 rifle platoons, 1 weapons platoon)
• 2 MG platoons
• 1 81mm mortar platoon
• 57mm Anti-tank gun platoon with truck
• Paratrooper Battalion (Average quality - 304 points)
• Paratrooper Company (3 rifle platoons)
• Paratrooper Company (3 rifle platoons)
• Paratrooper Company (3 rifle platoons)
• 2 MG teams
• 1 81mm mortar platoon
• Independent Tank Battalion (Average quality - 1145 points)
• Medium Tank Company (2 Sherman(75mm) platoons; 1 Sherman(76mm) platoon)
• Medium Tank Company (2 Sherman(75mm) platoons; 1 Sherman(76mm) platoon)
• Medium Tank Company (2 Sherman(75mm) platoons; 1 Sherman(76mm) platoon)
• Light Tank Company (3 Stuart platoons)
• 1 Recon Jeep(LMG)  platoon
• 1 Sherman(105mm) platoon
• 1 Mortar halftrack platoon
• Artillery (4+ accuracy - 56 points)
• 105mm towed support group
• 105mm towed support group
• 155mm towed support group

Campaign progress will be published on this blog as often as possible.

Heroics and Ros G170 Flamethrower Teams

A look at the G170 Flamethrower Teams pack from H&R.

German soldier with flamethrower 

Contents
The pack contains a single strip with three flamethrower teams. There are two unique sculpts, the flamethrower operator and the assistant, repeated three times. The assistant looks like he is armed with a pistol or a SMG, it is hard to tell.

G170 pack

Scale

The models in this pack scale perfectly with others in the range and mix well with those from the panzergrenadier pack.

Casting

I received a single strip and have seen no quality issues on the miniatures. Only minor cleaning is required.

Overall impression

Exactly what it says on the tin, 3 flamethrower teams for £0.40. The price comes out at £0.07 per model and the quality is excellent for that price. I will be using these guys in my pioneer stands.

Heroics and Ros G103 Cyclists

Yet another H&R review, this time of the G103 Cyclist pack. Models are presented exactly as I received them, with no cleaning done before taking the picture.

The german army was never fully mechanized, indeed most divisions were leg infantry divisions, with individual soldiers marching where they needed to go and heavy equipment being pulled by horses. Bicycles were used extensively, especially in recon units. I will be using these guys primarily for recon stands in my infantry regiments.

German soldiers on bicycles 

Contents
Each pack contains three identical sculpts of a german soldier on a bicycle, with a rifle across his back.

G103 on the left, GR01 on the right for scale.

Scale

The models of this pack scale perfectly with those of the other packs I have reviewed previously.

Casting

I received two packs, for a total of 6 cyclists. Of these, three were missing part of the right arm and one is missing part of the front wheel (can be seen in the above picture). The models required no cleaning.

Overall impression

I absolutely love these models and will definitely be getting loads of them. The minor quality issues are an annoyance, but will not be noticed during games. At £0.40 for three, these models are expensive compared to the regular price of H&R infantry but still cheap enough to employ en masse. Did I mention that I absolutely love these guys?

Heroics and Ros G088 BMW + sidecar

Here I look at the BMW with sidecar pack from H&R. As always the models are presented as I received them.

BMW R75

Contents

The pack contains two identical motorcycles with sidecar (only one of them is shown in the picture).

Each model has a soldier driving the motorcycle and a passenger in the sidecar manning an MG.  

G088 in the middle, G169 on the left and GR01 on the right for scale

Scale

As can be seen in the picture, the motorcycle driver is significantly smaller than other infantry models I have reviewed so far. Placed directly next to other models, they look like children. They are so small in fact, that I'm not sure I will be using them at all in my games, not even on bases with no other infantry. They just look off.

Casting

I received three of these packs, for a total of 6 motorcycles. On 4 of these, the driver i missing most of his left arm. Other than that the casting is well done, with almost no cleaning required.

Overall impression

These models are priced at £0.40 for two models, this comes out to £0.20 per motorcycle. Considering how small they are, this is very strange. This is the first pack from H&R that I would not recommend. Indeed I will not be ordering more of these motorcycles myself.

Heroics and Ros G169 Motorcyclists

In this review I take a look at the H&R German motorcycle pack G169. Models are presented as I received them with no cleaning done at all.

German soldier on BMW R66 motorcycle

The Germans used a large number of motorcycles during WW2 and this set can be used to represent any motorcycle without sidecar. At this scale it is impossible for me to tell which model MC the figure is sculpted after.

Contents

The pack contains three identical motorcyclists, sitting straight up in the saddle. No weapons are visible on the models.

Scale

The motorcyclists seem to scale perfectly with the models from GR01, with the top of the motorcyclist's head being at about shoulder height of the walking infantryman. 

Strip of G169 on the left, GR01 on the right for scale.

Casting

I ordered the single strip shown in the picture and there were no quality issues with these models and only very minor cleaning is required.

Overall impression

These models are of a quality comparable to the others I have received from H&R so far. At the cost of £0.40 for a single strip of three motorcyclists, I feel these are priced at around £0.12, which is expensive compared to the £0.05 per model of the standard infantry packs. Overall though, the models are affordable and still a good quality relative to cost.

Heroics and Ros G017 Panther G

In this review I look at H&R's take on the Panther G. As always, the model is presented as I received it, with no cleaning done on the model.

The Panther tank was one of the most successful and numerous German tanks during World War 2, with 6,132 produced.

ContentsThe Panther, like all H&R tanks I have received so far, comes as a two part kit consisting of a hull and a turret.

G017 hull side view

Wikipedia lists the Panther is being 2.87m long (without the main gun), which translates into approximately 23mm long in 1/300 scale. The model matches this expectation almost perfectly.

I have also included a top down picture of the turret, for those who are into hatch placement.

G017 turret top view

Fully assembled, the model matches my expectations and looks very much like a Panther should. It should be noted that this model does not have schürzen on, though adding them with thin plastic card would be an easy conversion job. The total length of the tank, with gun, matches the expected 29mm for a 1/300 scale Panther.

 G017 assembled

My one gripe, which is true for nearly all H&R vehicles I have received so far, is that they require quite a bit of cleaning. Especially the rear of the hull, has a big mold line running across details, making cleaning a hassle.

Overall though, I am very pleased with the quality of this model, relative to the price tag of £0.4 per tank.

Heroics and Ros GR08 - Panzergrenadiers

This is a review of the "GR08 - Panzergrenadiers" pack from Heroics and Ros. The miniatures are presented as I received them, with no cleaning done on them.

Contents
The pack consists of 8 strips with a total of 52 miniatures:

 GR08 pack

Strip A (2 of these strips), each consists of three unique sculpts, repeated twice:

• 2 Prone MG gunners
• 2 Prone MG loaders
• 2 Crouching soldiers with SMG and binoculars

Strip A

Strip B (4 of these), each consists of seven soldiers, with no duplicate sculpts:

• 1 Prone Rifleman
• 1 Kneeling rifleman, firing
• 1 Standing rifleman, firing
• 2 Advancing riflemen
• 1 Rifleman firing from the hip
• 1 Soldier throwing a grenade 

Strip B

Strip C (2 of these), each consists of 6 soldiers:

• 2 MG gunners (different sculpts)
• 2 MG ammunition carriers (identical sculpts)
• 2 SMG soldiers (identical sculpts) 

Strip C

Scale
The minis in this pack are the same scale as those in GR01 and can be mixed on the same base without problems.

Overall impression 
I greatly prefer this pack to GR01 due to the dynamic poses as well as much crisper details. Whether this is due to better sculpts or less worn molds I do not know. I ordered two of these packs and again saw moderate amounts of flash as well is small quality issues with "soft" castings. The "soft" castings were mostly on the grenade thrower's grenade, which is partially missing on a few of the strips. Not really a big problem, since it just looks like he is gesturing to his fellow soldiers.

Again, I am satisfied with the quality, which I feel is great for the price of £2.5.

Heroics and Ros GR01 - German Infantry

Today I received a package from Heroics and Ros, containing reinforcements for my german forces. Over the next week I plan on making blog posts reviewing the various miniatures in the package. Many miniatures have no pictures on the H&R webshop, and part of my motivation stems from my own frustration with buying product purely based on a short name.

This first review is of "GR01 - German Infantry". The package contains five identical strips.

 GR01 - German Infantry, package contents

Each strip has, from left to right :

• 1 soldier carrying a submachine gun.
• 3 soldiers with rifles (pose A)
• 4 soldiers with rifles (pose B)
• 1 MG ammunition carrier
• 1 MG gunner, with the machinegun resting on his shoulder.

GR01, single strip

So a grand total of 50 soldiers, all in casual walking poses. The individual miniatures are approximately 6mm tall, as expected.
I ordered two packs, so received 100 miniatures. There is a moderate amount of flash, so they do require cleaning and out of the 100 miniatures, two had quality issues. Both of these issues being "soft" castings, with the first guy missing the tip of his SMG.

Overall I am pleased with the quality, considering the low price of £2.5 per pack (50 soldiers).

Next review will be of "GR08 - Panzergrenadiers".

Terrain

Terrain is important when wargaming, not just for aesthetics, but also for creating interesting scenarios for the players.

Here's a picture which includes all the different types of terrain, currently in my terrain collection (it also includes half of my human child collection):

The mat: The table itself is covered with a cloth terrain mat from Deep Cut Studios. 

The roads: The roads are built from flexible sections, which I made using felt, caulk and cheap craft paints.

First I cut the felt in appropriate shapes, I used a mix of templates. Then I pushed the caulk into the felt. I used the cheapest dark brown acrylic caulk I could find. It is important to use acrylic caulk, because you want it to remain flexible after it dries and you want to be able to paint it.

This is what it will look like when dry:

Note that the surface of the road sections is rough, which is important for the final step of painting the sections. When painting the sections, I took advantage of the fact that the caulk I used was dark brown. This allowed me to skip the step of applying a base coat, and I went straight to drybrushing on a lighter shade of brown:

I might add some flock along the edges later, but for now it will do. 

Woods: The bases of the woods are flexible and made with felt, caulk and paint, just like the roads. The trees are cheap wire and clump foliage trees I bought from a Chinese company on ebay.

With the base of the woods I went ahead and added flock patches. This was done after the drybrushing step, by applying additional caulk and pushing flock into the still wet caulk. The idea is that the flock will stick to the base and that the base will remain flexible. I guess time will show if this works out as intended.

Fields: Fake fur, cut unto rectangles.

Houses: These are free paper models that I found online, printed on cardstock and folded.

Hedges/field stone walls: Craft sticks with static grass and clump foliage and railroad model ballast glued on.