This weeks reinforcements

Elements of an Aufklärungsabteilung arrive.

I printed the Sd.Kfz 234/3 soon after getting the printer, but had never got around to painting it, in part because the print quality was not as good as I would like. The layer lines are quite visible and there is a line across all the wheels at the lower hull level. But this week I thought I would have a go at painting it to see if I could freehand a half decent camouflage scheme with the airbrush. I threw the 251/1 into to the pot as well, gave the airbrush a strip down and deep clean and the results are better than I was expecting. So much so I consider it good enough for the table.

Figures added, both from the Command Decision range, along with a little foliage for the halftrack.

From a CoC perspective, the Sd.Kfz 251/1 costs 3 support points, and while the 234/3 is not listed in the German support list it can probably be said to cost 4 points - equal to the 250/8 and 251/9 Stummels and one point less than the 234/2 Puma.

Both STL files from TigerAce1945 and free. 

 

The Game Changes part two...

In the previous post I detailed the three game changers that led directly to where I find myself today.  

So where is that ?

At the start of May last year I had no 15mm figures, vehicles nor terrain - Zero, Zilch, Nada !

Today I have 

• Four complete CoC platoons, plus the ability to make a couple more by adding or subtracting figures as required.
• 12 fully painted and table ready British vehicles
• 8 fully painted and table ready German vehicles
• a small village of French styled farm buildings and barns
• a small forest of trees, hedges and table scatter.
• and sufficient road elements to create a realistic road network. 

In addition I have a dozen or so partially or unpainted vehicles, more trees in construction and over 500 STL files covering vehicles, buildings and other terrain features that I can print as required.

All of this has been driven by the move to 15mm, which really hits a sweet spot. The vehicles and figures can be more quickly painted when compared to their larger brethren, and yet retain a good level of detail so they also look good on the table.

 

 

 

The Game Changes...

The Kitchen Table

Chain of Command v2 are "rules for WWII combat at platoon level" which is very much the level at which I enjoy gaming - one figure represents on man. The rules are designed to be scale agnostic, but 28mm, 20mm or 15mm seem to be scales at which the majority of games are played with a table 6' x 4' or larger recommended. 

But what if your table is not that big?

Following a kitchen refurb in 2024 we ended up with the old kitchen table being spare, and much to my delight, my wife suggested it go into a spare bedroom in case it came in handy. At that moment it was no longer a spare kitchen table - it was a wargaming table, it was battlefield. 

Only issue was it measured 5' x 3' and so a little smaller than the recommended (and de facto wargaming standard) 4' x 6'. Still I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Thinking through the options the obvious solution to having a slightly smaller table than ideal on which to play CoC was to reduce the figure size.  

If you could play with 28mm figures on a 6'x4' table then surely 15mm figures on a 5'x3' would work. There was the added bonus that the Chain of Command rules mention that the rules use a ground scale of 12" = 40 yards being 1:120 scale. Close enough to the 1:100 that 15mm is often also classified as. 

Peter Pig

Having not previously thought about 15mm figures I did not really know what my options were. A quick Google search threw up the Battlefront Flames of War range, the Forged in Battle range and company called Peter Pig. The first two sell platoon and company sized forces, but have limited, and in some cases unusual poses. Peter Pig on the other hand offer a wide range of figures in packs of eight figures which allows you to build bespoke platoons matching CoC's platoon lists.

The FDM Printer

At the same time as I was purchasing my first Peter Pig figures, I started to read about a 3D filament printer that even an idiot could use (I'm paraphrasing here). I had been considering getting a resin printer for a while, but had discarded the idea due to the cost, complexity of use and the toxic nature of the chemicals required for printing and cleaning. A FDM printer, which uses a spool of filament and requires no aftercare or cleaning once printed seemed a good way to get into printing and an easy way to print terrain elements and buildings. It also looked cost effective. I purchased a Bambu A1 mini for £160 and within minutes of receipt it was printing armoured vehicles. While there was a bit of a learning curve I was able to print vehicles to a more than acceptable standard using STL files that are available for free on the net. So not only was I going to be able to print buildings as planned but also vehicles and AFV's. 

 

Welcome to 1st Section.

Following retirement a year or so ago I find my self with too much time on my hands to not only paint and wargame, but also to now put pen to paper and write a little about my journey and enjoyment in playing the excellent Chain of Command Rules using 15mm figures.

Chain of Command v2 are "rules for WWII combat at platoon level" which is very much the level at which I enjoy gaming - one figure represents on man. The rules are designed to be scale agnostic, but 28mm, 20mm or 15mm seem to be scales at which the majority of games are played with a table 6' x 4' or larger recommended. 

But what if your table is not that big? - I'll come back to this in a later post

A few years ago when I started getting back into wargaming I was very keen to use 28mm figures as I am also a keen figure painter. (That had been my primary hobby for a good while). I had only painted a few figures when I thought that I would be better off dropping down to 20mm, as this would reduce painting time and figure costs. Having painted a platoon or so of figures I started to consider terrain elements and scratch built a couple of buildings. But again at this stage I started to wonder how much storage space I would need for 20mm. And so last year I again stepped down a scale to 15mm and it was a game changer.