Flames of War - My Previous Outings

In one of my last posts I explained my current gaming and the fact that I was diving into the heady world of 15mm World War 2 in the form of Flames of War. Well just to highlight that this is not my first foray there are a few pics of my first attempt to get into this game

Panzers, Stugs and Gepanzerte Grenadiers (minus the SdKfz's)

AFV's. Note the lack of Schurzen!

Unfortunately I was completely incapable of achieving two things with this force.

1. I couldn’t for the life of me get the camo scheme to work. I’ve followed several different techniques, painted up many test models and yet have failed completely to make it work. I don’t know why, so please don’t offer up any painting advice as I may lose my mind over so simple a thing. Luckily I do quite like the final scheme that I’ve got. Unfortunately I can only find evidence of Panzer IV H’s being deployed in factory finish Dunkelgelb in one theatre and that’s in the final stages of the war in The Netherlands and the defence of the Reich. Also you may note that I’ve both the Stugs and the Panzers modelled them without Schurzen. Why, well I think they look better like this.
2. I mentioned two things. Well the second one was quite simple - I couldn’t connect with the force. Maybe its my childhood obsession with Commando comics, war films and anything WW2 but I always saw myself as the brave Tommy or gung ho Yank fighting the dastardly Hun. So playing the “bad guy” never felt right, anyone of my age group (childhood in the late 70’s and early 80’s) will probably understand where I’m coming from. My friends and I always argued over which one of us was the “Indians” or “Jerry”, which I guess is now a ridiculous and totally non-pc thing to say

Anyway here’s some more lovely pics of my German late war force (without SdKfz as they’re still on the painting table next to my M4A1’s).

Panzer IV H

HQ Panzer

Stug G's

StuH 42 - I like the increased FP on the 10.5cm gun. Seems to panic my opponent!