German Army - Valiant minis Heavy support April 2022

Some days ago I finished other Valiant miniatures for Rapid fire ... Bolt Action and so on. I have to finish the paratroops minis but this time the heavy support is completed.

At the last Milano wargames exhibition I bought two boxes of heavy artillery. They are 10.5 cm leFH18 ... one of the most used German light howitzer used during the Ww2. Adopted for service in 1935 they are included in all divisions and artillery battalions during the war

The standard German medium mortar of the war was the 81mm Granatwerfer 34. It was a very effective and accurate weapon that could provide long-range fire support, and was used throughout the conflict on most thestres.

I modified also some miniatures to have a medical team ... I used the standard artillery crew and some American packs

Below some other minis ... a panzerschreck team

... some officers and a column of soldiers

... a command group

and a MG42 team. The machine gun 42 was une of the most used weapon by Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS during ww2. 

World Word II ... Is 20mm (1/72) a good scale?

My club is close in this period for Covid-19 emergency so I decided to write this post using some old photos

Sometimes I received messages from other wargame lover about the scale to use to play WWII… 15mm, 20mm or 28mm? Thanks to rules set as Bolt Action, Cross fire and so on … the most used scales is the 28 mm. This scale allows you to create great miniatures with high details level ... but also a 20mm miniature is not to discard.

In your opinion, what scale are the miniatures in these photos?

Obviously they are all 20mm

My idea in this post is to try to create a kind of guide for those who approach 20mm (1/72) for the first time.

Let's start with a list of advances:
They have a low cost (generally 9 - 15 euro per box)
They are easily to find (amazon, ebay are just some of the commercial sites ... in addition to the manufacturers’ ones  ... where you can find them)
They are faster to paint than a classic 28mm
You can re-create large scenarios (in particular if yuo want to use tanks, jeeps and so on)

… But there are also some disadvantages:

Poor level of detail
They are difficult to modify
The poses are sometimes a bit "absurd" ... many of the molds still used are a bit "old style"

In our association we play with many World War II rule sets: Bolt Action, Cross Fire, Rapid Fire… … for all these systems we use both 28mm and 20mm without problems.

One of the first problems to start playing with 20mm is: but what are 20mm miniatures like?One of the sites I use is: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=1

It allows you to have a quick review of most of the 1/72 miniature boxes on the market. The site is not designed only for the Second World War but, thanks to the menu, it is possible to view the boxes of this period.

The second problem is… are we sure that the scale of the various manufacturers is "correct"?
This is also a problem for the 28mm but, to try and answer, I took this photo

It allows you to view the miniatures of five of the manufacturers that I usually paint. The miniatures are both in plastic (Caesar, Zvezda) and in lead (AB) and as you can see the scales are compatible. At least among these manufacturers.

I must admit that, the same manufacturer, sometimes builts sets that have not the perfect "dimensions" ... but the beauty of the miniatures overcomes this problem

For example, the Italeri winter Germans (miniature in the center) are a bit larger than the Zvezda miniatures or other Italeri sprues but can easily be combined

Third aspect to consider… they have few details and can hardly be changed.
This is not exactly the truth
This is the original image of a Zvezda frame

As you can see, with a few modifications, you can modify the pose

Without considering the awesome conversions of my friend Maurizio

A lot of wargamers tell me that 20mm miniatures have few details. As an amateur painter I admit that I prefer 28mm for painting but also 20mm… with the right scenario are not bad. The same miniatures out of the table...

And in action

I hope to help someone with this post

General test ... How to play ww2 scenarios with different rule sets - October 2020 Part two

As I explained in a similar post time ago, some months ago we played a lot of ww2 scenarios using different rule sets. 

It was a of general test for our idea to play Stalingrad battle but with different miniature scales and manuals. Unfortunately the Covid forced us to close the club but I decided to share these pics of my 20mm miniatures I took in the last period used for: Iron Cross, Rapid Fire, Bolt Action and so on.

Some Panther (Panzer V) before the action

German HQ

Two sniper teams

Saving private Fritz

A column of Tiger I (Panzer VI)

A panzer crew meeting

General test ... How to play ww2 scenarios with different rule sets - September 2020 Part 1

In the last months we played a lot of ww2 scenarios using different rule sets. 

It is a kind of general test for our next idea that it is to play Stalingrad battle but with different miniature scales and manuals. 

Below there are some pics I took in the last period of my miniatures in 20 mm used for: Iron Cross, Rapid Fire, Bolt Action and so on.

Some panzer crews in action

Some American M10s 

An Italian Autoblinda captured by Germans

Two different US squads

News from the front Covid-19: Rapid fire

Hoping this is the last post I write with my club closed ... I decided to publish some photos of an old Rapid Fire played by my club mates in December

The game was a match between Maurizio and Ezio.  Below some English troops and their vehicles painted by Ezio

A panzer and some German soldier prepared by Maurizio

All miniatures are 1/72 scale ... one of my little contribution to the game, some Churchill 

and to end the effect of German tanks against the English 

Flames of war - Feb, 8 2020

One of things I appreciate more in my club is that my mates play different games every months ... I'm sure that in every wargames clubs there are some system rules that are most popular than other but to change sometimes is good for me. So this time Ezio and Riccardo decided for a match of Flames of war.

Miniatures are 15mm and they are painted by Riccardo (German forces) and Ezio (English troops and tanks).

As usual my post is not a battle report but only a way to share with other lovers of our hobby some pics

Below a photo of the battlefield …

… and some details of Ezio’s army

A battalion of Sherman and another one of M10 …

… ready to destroy a German tank group

To conclude … a German HQ completely surrounded by English troops