Category Archives: Historical Gaming

Battlefront 15mm M7 Priest Field Troop – British 8th Army Desert Rats for Flames of War

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Battlefront 15mm M7 Priest Field Troop - British 8th Army Desert Rats for Flames of War, 1:100, 1/100, What a Tanker, Battlegroup

Well, at least September’s models were quick to get through – and now we’re doing October. So with a table-functional set of Panzers for my DAK force set up, my choices when planning to add those Panzers was to paint those models, then shove the whole lot back into a figure case and forget about them again for several years, or spend the time to build up an opposing force for the Afrika Korps to battle. As you can see, I went with the latter. The tanks I started with were two platoons (well, A Company HQ and one platoon) of the ubiquitous Sherman tanks that saw extensive use across many updates and variants with the Allies throughout the second half of the war.

After painting the Shermans with the camouflage pattern I chose for them, I was in no mood to continue that particular scheme across an entire force. So I went a-googling to see what I could find. I found several variations on the pre-painted display model kit above, and I really liked how it came across so I eventually chose to base my Priests on it.

Later on, I actually found this colourised photo, which I can only assume was the basis (in some form) for the model kit. Photographs from The Desert War being what they are, I can see how the shading on a black and white photo like this could end up being interpreted as either shadows or a different colour in the camouflage. I did assign my unit to the 7th Amroured (Desert Rats) rather than the (UK) 1st Armoured Division as in the photo and reference model.

Battlefront 15mm M7 Priest Field Troop - British 8th Army Desert Rats for Flames of War, 1:100, 1/100, What a Tanker, Battlegroup

Again, a pic to show the four sides of the camouflage pattern applied…

Battlefront 15mm M7 Priest Field Troop - British 8th Army Desert Rats for Flames of War, 1:100, 1/100, What a Tanker, Battlegroup

…and an “aerial” shot.

Oh, and I’ll be counting these four Priests as 12 models for this month. Why? The crew. Even though I don’t tend to count commanders sticking out of a hatch, or spare/additional/turrets. as you can see from the pic above, these crew were painted as distinct individual 15mm models. With not counting commanders and turrets, etc, I figure it evens out – and besides, it’s all about personal motivation, so it’s not like anyone else should give too much of a shit either way! 😉

Battlefront 15mm M7 Priest Field Troop - British 8th Army Desert Rats for Flames of War, 1:100, 1/100, What a Tanker, Battlegroup

And here are the completed Priests on the “Desert” flats.

 

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company – Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War

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Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

Nope, it’s not a repost of my most recent post. It’s another bunch of Panzers for my Afrika Korps force. I could have combined them all into one post, but I’m doing them in two posts to split them so they’re easier for me to find. And yeah, I’m well aware that they look very similar, but it’s really not that different to having two posts for two different Warhammer units from the same force in two posts.

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

I had to pick up a box of Panzer IVs to make up the numbers I needed to have the legal tank company, but I was okay with that. I went with a very similar breakdown to my Panzer IIIs. Two platoons of three Panzer IVs – which should be Ausf. G, all armed with the long 7.5cm KwK L/43. Same painting technique as the Tigers and Panzer III, right down to the chipping. The main difference on these is that I used (most of) my remaining red turret numbers. You might think that Battlefront’s actual Boxes of Afrika Korps tanks with red numbers on the turrets would have red number decals, but no. That’s bloody useful, isn’t it?

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

Also similarly to my Panzer III Company, I was happy enough to leave these units “as-is” when I built, painted and finished them, but I’m now thinking I may circle back around to them and add a few more tanks with other options. They were pretty fun to paint, but unfortunatel;y I didn’t write down all the steps as I did them, so if/when I get to more DAK armour I’ll have to ensure that I document the process properly.

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

I did something a little different for the company HQ – a pair of Panzer IVs, but this time keeping the short 7.5cm KwK 37 L/24 as they work in FoW as an fire support tank with the abiulity to fire as artillery or drop smoke rounds. During assembly, I also found that the Plastic Soldier Company really work so much better aesthetically to my eye on tanks. I don’t mind the dumpy/”heroic”/squat proportions of the Battlefront models on infantry, but some of those watermelon-headed doofus’ sticking out of the turrets really looked bad, and I decided to start substituting the PSC commanders in (and yeah, I tore the BF commander out of that second turret!)

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Company - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War 1/100 1:100

That’s all of my German armour for the time being, and the final models I painted in August. With the addition of these 18 Panzers I painted and have shared over these most recent three posts, I’ve certainly bumped up the scope of my DAK force, and with that, the Stug III Gs are certainly going to be diverted into a different German force for the future.

These Panzers were also painted in August, and so add another chunk of heavy metal that will qualify for Dave Stone’s Season of Scenery Challenge . My next post will be my August wrap-up as well as my Season of Scenery wrap-up – though I do need to take the photos still. I’ll then get to September’s posts! I’m also going to have to take an updated photo of my Afrika Korps force with the armour addition!