Tag Archives: DAK

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

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Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Ausf.F1/2 - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, Battlegroup, What a Tanker, 1:100, 1/100

And now we have what will possibly, hopefully, be the last of my Panzers for my Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika army. Of course, that doesn’t include things like scouts, artillery, SPGs and the like (and a few extra infantry-based things like a mortar platoon) – but hopefully this will be the last of the actual tanks. With the same rationale that led me to add a number of additional Panzer IIIs to my previous force of Panzer IIIs and IVs it was time for a little bit of a rejig of the Panzer IVs. I renumbered a few of the previous tanks as well, and added in some more obvious tank commanders to this batch so as to make gameplay in FoW a bit easier as well without the need to squint and see which tank was 121 and so forth.

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Ausf.F2 - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, Battlegroup, What a Tanker, 1:100, 1/100

To start with then, three Panzer IV Ausf.F2s with the aforementioned tank commanders to take over the, well, command duties from the previous closed-top tanks. I had it all planned out in advance, though at this point I am going to need to lay them all out on the table to make sure I’ve got them all correct. Otherwise I may have to change more decals or even paint even more panzers to fill gaps.

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Ausf.F1 - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, Battlegroup, What a Tanker, 1:100, 1/100

The Panzer IV Ausf.F1s I had originally as the command platoon have been moved to a combat platoon, and these two will bring their (maximum) number to four. At least that unit is simpler to figure out!

Battlefront 15mm Panzer IV Ausf.F1/2 - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, Battlegroup, What a Tanker, 1:100, 1/100

Angle shots so the four sides can be seen!

Battlefront 15mm Sd.Kfz.231 8-Rads – Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War

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Battlefront 15mm Sd.Kfz.231 8-Rads - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, What a Tanker, Battlegroup, 1:100, 1/100

With my desert Panzers slowly coming to an end, next up was to get some of the ancillary models painted. I’ve always loved armoured cars, since I had a little Matchbox toy of a Daimler Dingo as a child, and I’ve also always liked the interesting angular shapes of German armoured cars and half-tracks. I probably thought that these unusual designs from the 1930’s and 40s looked futuristic back then. 🙂

Battlefront 15mm Sd.Kfz.231 8-Rads - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, What a Tanker, Battlegroup, 1:100, 1/100

The current incanation of the DAK force list in Flames allows for either one or two units of 2x 231 Scout Cars. With 2021 supply issues, I was unable to find any DAK-specific boxed sets, but I did find a Late-War SS box, so those got painted for the different force in a different theatre. The only difference I can seem to see is that some of the models often painted in desert colours have additional front and/or rear armour. The PSC kit has these as optional extras, but I’ve been unable to get hold of that box, so maybe in the future for a different force.

Battlefront 15mm Sd.Kfz.231 8-Rads - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, What a Tanker, Battlegroup, 1:100, 1/100

I actually prepped and sprayed these months and months ago, but had to wait on my decal order from Skytrex for German Number plates (highly recommended, by the way – their 2-colour decals are actually lined up properly, unlike both Battlefront and PSC who both use the same print house). I also clipped their wonky, bendy, unstable main guns and replaced them with straight wire from a paperclip. I may have lost a tiny bit of gun detail, but I’ll take that in the trade-off of not having them look like limp noodles!

Battlefront 15mm Sd.Kfz.231 8-Rads - Deutsches Afrikakorps/Panzerarmee Afrika for Flames of War, What a Tanker, Battlegroup, 1:100, 1/100

These models were all painted in the same manner as my previous Panzers, with a little of the milliput stowage added here and there to make the models a little more distinct. No unit numbers or designations, but I added an additional Balkenkruz to the upper hull of two of them to designate the unit leaders.