15mm WWII Germans - Urban

 All,

So, hot on the heels of seeing my Soviets for fighting in urban areas, I present to you their German counterparts.  This is a great looking force, but only because I had nothing to do with it!  As I mentioned in my last post, I'd been messing around, trying to figure out an urban basing scheme, but wasn't happy with anything I'd come up with, and I was talking about it with my buddy AJ and he said he had a great scheme for urban basing.  I'd already painted the Soviets, but all I'd done with the Germans was deflashed them and glued them on bases.  In any case, I boxed it all up and sent the mess to AJ, so in this case, I actually didn't do a damned thing, he painted and based the in their entirety.  And I'm sure glad he did ;)

Here's the whole force, comprised of:
-A Commanding Officer stand
-A Forward Observer stand
-Six Rifle Platoon Stands (consisting of three squads each; I only have enough Platoon Commander -PC- stands for three of them)
-An MG Platoon (three machine gun teams)
-A Mortar Platoon (three 8.0cm tubes)
-An Anti-Tank Gun (ATG) Platoon (three PaK-36 3.7cm guns)
-A Rocket Artillery Platoon (three Nebelwerfers)
-Three 5.0cm Mortar Teams
-Three Anti-Tank Rifle (ATR) Teams

The entire force, minus the two Nebelwerfer stands, is made up of Battlefront metals in greatcoats.

Another look.

The German Commanding Officer, looking like he just stepped out of the movie "Stalingrad."  I love the paintjob AJ put on these guys, and the basing is awesome, too.

Reverse.

The three platoon command stands.

A closeup.

Another.

A different one.

And one more.

The FO stand.

Again.

Once more.

The ATR teams.

A closer look.

A look at his Mauser 98k-armed partner.

A look from above.

The 50mm mortar teams.

Closeup.

And now, onto the rifle stands!  This is my favorite group, firing the MG from a drum while another dude tosses one of those grenade bundles.

Another look.

Another rifle stand, this time with the MG-42 over his shoulder, advancing.

From the opposite perspective.

Another rifle squad.

Reverse.

The MG Platoon.

The MG-42 on a tripod, looking vicious. 

Other side.

From behind.

Ugh, look at that blurry-ass Mortar Platoon...

A closeup.

Another.

Hmmm, didn't get a pic of the entire ATG Platoon, just he closeups.

Opposite.

And from behind.

Much like going with the 120mm mortars instead of 82mm mortars for the Soviets, I'm not quite sure why I went with Nebelwerfers for the Germans, other than I probably had a spare couple lying around...

A closeup.

Opposite.

A squad laying down fire with its MG-42 as another advances the gun.  Not too bad looking, right?

Anyway, that's my German force to square off against the Soviets, in what I hope conjures up visions of Stalingrad.  The mat purchase was definitely a gamble, but I hope it works, and I'm scared to mess with trying to put any colors on it to mute the orange, I'd probably completely screw it up and destroy the mat and be stuck with nothing that comes close to approximating a bombed-out urban environment that matches my basing scheme.

In any case, one more set of urban-based troops to show you.  Actually, two, but the second isn't finished yet, so stay tuned!

V/R,
Jack

15mm WWII Soviets - Urban

 All,

So here's the first 'urban' force I want to show you, my Soviets.  I had tried several different 'urban' basing schemes and didn't like any of them, and I was talking to my buddy AJ, and he said he's got it down pat.  I'd already painted up my Soviets, so I just boxed them up (and some Germans, which you'll see in the next post) and sent them to AJ, asking him to work his magic and base them up for me.

I'm very happy with how they turned out, and they do a pretty good job of matching the mat I bought.  Them not matching perfectly is not AJ's fault at all, I actually bought the mat while he was still doing the painting and basing.

So here's the whole force, comprised of:
-A Commanding Officer stand
-A Forward Observer stand
-Six Rifle Platoons (three squads and a Platoon Commander -PC-, each)
-An MG Platoon (three Maxim guns)
-A Mortar Platoon (three 120mm mortars)
-An Anti-Tank Gun (ATG) Platoon (three 45mm guns)
-An Artillery Platoon (two 122mm howitzers)
-Three 50mm mortar teams
-Three PTRD Anti-Tank Rifle (ATR) teams
-Three Flamethrower Teams 

Another look.  Zoomed out, the bases are an okay mach for the mat.

The Commanding Officer's stand, with three babushkas leading their troops to victory.  Again, I painted the troops, AJ did the basing.  I love the cat lounging on the radio (right).

Zoomed in, the bases are a much better match for the mat.

Another look.

And one more.

The Forward Observer stand.

Another look.  And as I look closely I'm laughing at myself; those are not Soviets, those are US troops from Battlefront.  Whatever...

A look at a couple of the Rifle Platoon command stands.

Pretty proud of my brushwork.  Simple, but effective I think (hope).

Another one, this time with Kommissar.

Some Soviet rifle stands.  I neglected to mention that most of these troops are the new Battlefront plastics from the Soviet Rifle Company box, which is a fantastic deal, coming with riflemen, command figures, machine guns, flamethrowers, 50mm mortars, and ATRs.

A closeup.

Another.

Urrah!

The machine gun platoon, with three Maxims on wheels.

A closeup.

Another.

The Mortar Platoon.  I'm not sure why I went with 120mm mortars vice 82mm mortars, probably what I had lying around at the time...

A closeup.  These are Battlefront metals.

Another.  Those things are massive.

The ATG Platoon, with the venerable M1937 45mm guns.  

A closeup.  These are Battlefront metals, too.

Again.

One more.

The two 122mm Howitzers, also Battlefront metals.

A closeup.

Another.

The three flamethrower teams, plastics from the rifle company box.

A closeup of one of the flamethrower poses.

Opposite side.

The other flamethrower pose.

The three ATR teams.

A closeup.  The only problem is the barrels can be a bit bendy.

Another look.

And one more.  Also plastics from the Rifle Company box.

And the three 50mm mortar teams.

Not great pictures, but nice little sculpts, plastics from the Rifle Company box.

Again.

And a couple stands fighting amongst the rubbled out landscape of Stalingrad, maybe?  

So there it is, for better or worse, my concept for pulling off some WWII fighting in bombed out cities (or on the surface of Mars).  Next, we get ze Chermans!

V/R,
Jack