Zvezda 1/100 (15mm) Pz 38(T).. a review

So just before I went to the Warfare show at Reading this weekend I turned my attention to the two Zvezda kits that I'd taken in replacement for the out of stock Opel Blitz's..

Lest you think this is turning into some kit bashers geek fest, worry not... the Zvezda kits are purpose made for wargamers... This is what you get when you open the box..  the Hanomag experience continues...  just one sprue...

...and when you take the relevant bits (carefully) off the sprue you get the following - even less parts!

I do like these kits, the parts are sharply defined, clean, and lack any flash...  a simple scalpel craft knife is all that's needed to get a clean cut from the sprue...

..but the best bit, is that they don't need any glue..  they quite literally just snap together..  and at the end of it you get this..

Very nice looking tank... 37mm main armament (so a baby compared to the later German tanks), and with twin machine guns..

Nice!! Steve the Wargamer rates this as a very definite 9 out of 10.. next post will show it painted..

Catching up....

Been a few days since the last post so I thought it time to bring the blog up to date... 😀

Much time has been taken in the interim with a fairly important transaction in Steve the Wargamers life...  some of you who have been round here for long enough will know that in those few hours when I'm not thinking about little metal men I also like to sail....

Back in April 2009 [clicky] I bought "Papillon" and since then have had huge amounts of enjoyment sailing here here and there, repairing her (😏), blogging the results [clicky] and generally acting Jack Sparrow....

"Papillon" back in February 2009 when I first bought her...

After four years though, and with huge reluctance, I decided it really was time to move on - so I prepped her for sale and shoved her on eBay, where she sold just over 5 days later......   the money's in the bank, I'll start looking for a new, slightly bigger, one next February with the aim of having a boat ready for the start of next season...  in the meanwhile Pap will stay in the sailing club I'm a member of until next March when her new owner will probably then take her to her new home....   not a dry eye in the house that day.. you do get attached to them...! Either way, that's all taken some time - physical and emotional!

So what else is on the go.....

The second two Zvezda kits are set for completion this evening - the online trader I was buying from didn't have the Opel Blitz trucks I ordered so rather than wait I went for a swap and got a Pz 38T [clicky] and a Pz II [clicky] instead. They were washed in a light detergent last night, the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer is at work this evening, so it seems an opportune time for a little modelling....! I'll post separately when that's done....

Pz 38 (T) & crew in France (June 1940) - superb picture - you can just feel the tiredness of that crew..... courtesy Wikipedia and the Bundesarchiv

Then after that it's time to think about shopping lists as this weekend is Warfare at Reading [clicky] once again though, I don't think I really need that much as my lead piles are largely intact due to a slow painting schedule this year (summer = sailing, so hopefully my output will pick up now winter is here, and the boat sold)....  I'm still enthused by the news from Newline Designs [clicky] of further expansions to their 20mm Sudan range, but I have to say that I'm not overly smitten by the new Dervish casts..  I'll hold fire on making a decision on whether to change the entire Sudan project from 15mm to 20mm until I see a few more in the range... and I'd like to see these in the flesh...

Newline Designs - new Hadendowa from their Sudan Colonial Range

They do have a 25% off  (!) sale though so I may be tempted by some stray bags of American Civil war stuff...!

Other than that, it's basically an opportunity for a damn good mooch., and also time to catch up with DG...  not sure we're going to get a game this time as he's busy..  fingers crossed for Saturday night, where if he can make it it will be finally time to finish the St Michel campaign [clicky] it's only taken us 3 years... 

Zvezda 1/100 (15mm) SdKfz 251 "Hanomag".. completed

The Hanomags are complete.. and I'm very, very pleased with how these turned out...

The paint job was simplicity itself - undercoat in black, heavy damp brush in dark grey (suitable for early war use), then some bolt gun metal for the tracks and MG's...

I also added some stowage for the campaign look - blanket rolls, jerry cans and a wooden box (containing plunder...??  😏)

I've put some crew in one of them - these are Peter Pig 15's from my skirmish collection...

Last of all a comparison showing the Peter Pig model alongside the Zvezda...



My thanks to Keith Flint [clicky] for the heads up that they are Ausf A version, so the gantry MG is correct (see following)

SdKfz250 Ausf A - piccie courtesy of Wikipedia

Wikipedia advises me that there were basically four types, or models, Ausf A through D - the first two models were produced in small numbers from 1939. A and B models are basically the same - the B model didn't have side vision slits, pictures I've seen also show the forward facing MG with the shield (I think the PP model is an Ausf B).

The C model, which started production in mid-1940, featured a simplified hexagonal-shaped forward armoured plate for the engine but was quite complex to build, as it had many angled plates that gave reasonable protection from small arms fire.

From early 1943, the D model was developed with the purpose of halving the number of angled body plates, simplifying the design and thus speeding up the production. D models can be easily recognized by their single piece sloping rear (with flat doors).

Piccie courtesy WWII Database [clicky]

Next stop the Pz. II and the Pz. 38T

Zvezda 1/100 (15mm) SdKfz 251 "Hanomag".. a review

Having said that I don't like plastic for wargaming with for more time than I can remember it came as quite a surprise to me that I do actually quite like some of the new wave of plastic kits for vehicles....

Those who have hung around here long enough will know that I wargame WWII in two scales - 15mm for skirmish, and 10mm for larger battles..

I have almost always used Peter Pig for 15mm - I like the sculpting style of the figures and their overall animation, but the vehicles are good but not outstanding, so when DG sent me an Opel Blitz that he had bought at Colours as a (failed) experiment I was quite intrigued as it was very nice - and what's more he told me it was simplicity itself to construct....

Now I've always been a sucker for a Hanomag (them, and Stug's are just so workman-like..!) so I ordered a couple to see what they were like...

Open the box and this is what you see - one box, one sprue....

Five minutes (OK it may have been 7) and I had the following (and apologies for the picture quality)

Five minutes after that I had this...

...and ten minutes after that I had this:

...superb!!

So pro's??  Quick and easy to assemble, sharp lines/edges, cheap (£2.70 a throw plus a little postage), no glue is required (they clip together very securely)..

Con's?? Not many..  they're very light (I'll fix that with some weight in the base), the machine gun provided is for a rear mounting rather than front (uh oh - geek alert), and you have to do that washing thing to get the mould release agent off before you can paint them....

I'll put up a post later in their based and painted state but Steve the Wargamer rates these kits 9 out of 10 - I have a Pz II and a Pz 38T waiting in the wings for my next modelling session....

1356... a review

Just finished the latest from Mr Cornwell and thought it justified a full review rather than a few lines in the book review page..

A very welcome surprise was that "1356" features one of my more favourite (can you say 'more' favourite??? 😏) Cornwell characters - Thomas of Hookton (or rather Sir Thomas of Hookton since events at the end of the Grail trilogy)

The other welcome surprise is that Cornwell has returned to that very fertile ground of the Hundred Years War, where English and Welsh archers using the longbow and under the command of their hugely experienced and professional commanders ruled the battlefield...

I know that Cornwell is probably better known lately for his Dark Ages stories, and they're very good, but this era definitely beats it for me...  not much to dislike here!

So..  here we get Thomas of Hookton, a veteran of Crecy and many other battles, who is now (10 years after Crecy) the leader of a company of mercenary bowmen and men-at-arms based in Gascony.

Edward, Prince of Wales (a good depiction of the "Black Prince" I thought), is engaged on a massive chevauchée [clicky]* into France, but unlike his previous effort (the year before), this time the French have bitten and have mobilised their army, in pursuit..

The 1356 chevauchee - Bordeaux, Bourges, Romartin, Tours and Poitiers

Thomas is called to the standard by his liege lord, but before he can join is given a mission to recover a major religious artefact, supposedly the sword of Peter which was used in the defence of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.... not surprisingly the forces of the enemy are also looking for it, in this case a cardinal with pretensions of being the next Pope, a rabid Scottish noblemen who has come to the French to be able to kill Englishman, and a brilliant (comic?) turn by a French knight who has read a little too many historical romances....

All of these factors come together on the eve of the battle, which is by far and away the best part of the book - the rest of the book was a little "slow" if I'm to be honest - can't help thinking Cornwell would have been better forgetting about the sub-plot with the sword and just focussing on the battle - but hey, I'm not a multi-selling author so what do I know?!

I much preferred Azincourt, and I think the Grail books were slightly better as well, but I can forgive a lot for the fictional description of the battle....  so 7/10...

* From Wikipedia: "For this chevauchee Edward had an estimated 7,000 men and they had set out from Bordeaux under his command. The chevauchée began on 4 August 1356, against the city of Bourges. This chevauchée differed from the first in that, in addition to the raiding, burning and looting, there was also military action taken against objectives away from the main body of the force. Edward burned the suburbs of Bourges, but did not capture the city. However, he did capture the less important city of Audley.

 
Several small forces of French knights were defeated and Edward paused to besiege and capture the small town of Romorantin, where several French leaders were holed up. By this time the army of John II of France was in pursuit (approx. 20-25,000 men). Edward marched West along the Loire River to Tours, burning the suburbs before marching south. By this time the French army was only thirty miles (50 km) away and had superior numbers. The French pursued faster than the English marched. By 18 September 1356, Edward entered Poitiers. The next day, outside the city, the Battle of Poitiers was fought, which resulted in a great English victory and the capture of John II of France (who eventually died in captivity after his large ransom, twice the yearly income of France, went unpaid)".