More French armour for 1940

 

My collection of French tanks for 1940 has expanded to include a SOMUA S35 and a Hotchkiss H35, from AGNM, originally mastered by Tony Ashcroft of NZWM.

The early war French tanks are my favourites, not based on their actual performance but for their art-deco aesthetics.  It helps that they have more interesting camouflage than the plain grey of the Wehrmacht or the two-tone green/brown tones of the BEF.  Of the French tanks, the S35 is the most interesting of the lot.  Its main drawback is the one-man turret, which overloads the tank commander with too many responsibilities.  The TC needs to load, aim and fire the tank's 47mm gun, as well as maintain situational awareness, locate and identify enemies and direct the driver.  However, in comparison with its rivals from other nations, the S35 had a powerful anti-tank gun (for 1940, at least), good armour thickness, and was reasonably fast at 40km/h.

The Hotchkiss H35 was very similar to the Renault R35.  Both had the same turret and 37mm gun, and the H35 was only marginally different in armour and speed - as in, way too slow, at 28 km/h it was barely faster than the 20 km/h of the R35.  Like the R35, the H35 comes across as an updated Renault FT-17.  

Here are a couple of comparison shots of the H35 and R35 - size difference is minimal, but I am pleased to have both represented in my collection.

I have one more R35 in my collection, a Waffenkammer model painted by Doug to represent the Italian R35s that counterattacked the American Operation Husky landings on Sicily in 1943.

All four French tanks together.

I also finished up a couple of Warlord Games snipers in ghillie suits.  Nominally British snipers, I'm sure they could stand in for snipers from other nationalities as needed.

Renault R35 and some markers

 Happy New Year, everyone!

Today's offering is the Renault R35 from AGNM.  This little tank was one of the replacements for the WWI-era Renault FT. It is similar to its predecessor, also having a 2-man crew, but is better armoured, faster and with a more powerful gun.  It looks a bit out of place compared the the tanks fielded by the Germans, Soviets or British, but it's worth noting that tank development was still ongoing, and following on the success of the FT probably seemed sensible at the time.  The R35 was the most numerous tank in the French Army in 1940.

I used leftover decals from the Italeri Char B1 bis, but ended up painting the national roundel by hand.  I didn't follow any particular standard for the tank name or insignia, I just went with whatever felt right!  I like the 'playing card' symbols on French tanks, as well as the curves and camo patterns, in comparison with the more angular and blocky German tanks.

The tank commander is cast in place.  In reality, he would need to move inside the tank to operate the gun, but I'll just have to ask the other players to indulge me.

You can see how small this tank is when it's next to another. Here are a couple of comparison shots with the Char B1.

Andy from AGNM included some nice bonus pieces, including a small sandbag wall and a selection of tokens.  I can always find uses for items like this (far better than coloured buttons!).

AGNM Supports for the 1940 Germans

 While Army Group North Miniatures (AGNM) is officially on hiatus, I reached out to Andy for an update, and he was able to send me a few models that he still had in stock.  

First up is a Panzer III E, which was one of versions that participated in the invasion of France (at least according to Tanks Encyclopedia).  I decided to assemble it 'buttoned up', first off as I didn't have a tank commander figure handy, but also because I found that in games it's too much bother to swap the TC in and out anyway.

Here are a couple of shots showing the German armour that I've assembled to date, including the AGNM Panzer 38(t) and the Company B SdKfz 221 light armoured car.

Andy was also able to provide me a 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 (7.5 cm le.IG 18), along with 6 crewman (rather than the usual 3, thanks Andy!).  The 7.5cm IG is much more likely to see action on the table, as my Siggy is a bit overpowered for most games.

Here are the crewmen.

And a few glamour shots of Iggy.

And a comparison shot of Iggy, the 7.5 cm light infantry gun and Siggy, the 15 cm heavy infantry gun.  While Siggy would be able to knock down anything in its way, it would be much easier to move Iggy's 400 kg compared to Siggy's 1600 kg!

AGNM Panzerkampfwagen 38(t)

And now here is the AGNM Panzerkampfwagen 38(t).  Once I decided that I was going to have WWII German tanks in my collection, I knew that the first one needed to be, well, not really German.  The (t) in the P38(t) stands for "tschechisch" (or Czech), as these tanks were designed and built at the ČKD factory in Prague, and fell under German control after the Nazi annexation of the Czech part of Czechoslovakia.  I'd consider this to be almost more of an interwar tank than a WWII tank, as it was designed before the war.  It was a pretty successful design, as it continued in front line service up to about 1942.  

It was a light tank, it's smaller than many other tanks of the early war, and definitely smaller than mid- or late-war tanks.  

Anyway, I don't have any more information to add, so here are the photos!

First, here are photos of the unpainted vehicle, in the raw resin as it were.  You can see the metal gun barrel and MGs, as well as the resin stowage.

And here is the tank with a basic panzer grey paint scheme.  The German balkenkreuz are decals, but I (obviously) hand painted the numbers.

Here are my two AGNM tanks side by side.

And here it is with a Valentine.

T-34 mod. 1940

Inspired by Doug's enthusiasm for playing What a Tanker at the gates of Moscow in late 1941, I decided to place an order with Army Group North Miniatures in Ontario.  Yes, another Canadian company making 1/56 scale tanks!  I managed to get my order in just before AGNM went on hiatus so the owner could deal with some pressing personal matters (Andy hopes to have AGNM back up and running sometime in spring 2020).

AGNM vehicles are resin with metal fittings (things like MG and main guns).  The resin pieces are the hull and turret, and wow are they solid!  Each model has a nice heft to it.  The tanks have bases sculpted on, which adds to the heft, and will probably make them a bit more durable as well.  The masters were originally made by Tony Ashcroft of New Zealand, who I actually met when I lived in Wellington a dozen years ago.  I wasn't into WWII at the time, but I have several of his Great War models in my collection.

This post is about the AGNM T-34/76 mod. 1940, the earliest of the production versions of this popular Soviet tank.  It first saw action in Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941.  I'm thrilled to have this version, as most other T-34 models available tend to be later production versions (mod. 1941 or later).  Of course the T-34/76 is going to be functionally the same in WaT whether it is a 1940, 1941, 1942 or later, but I like that this one is "right" for the intended battle.

The tank comes with hull and turret in lovely butter-coloured resin, with metal gun barrel, MG and headlights.  It also came with some stowage.


                                      

Turret hatches are closed, so I don't have the opportunity to give this tank a removable commander as I did with previous tanks (and no, I have no intention of chopping or sawing away at the hatch to try to open it!).

I gave the tank a very basic paint job.  I'm not keen on mucking about with painting camouflage patterns; I would likely make a huge mess if I tried, so I'm quite happy that for the most part, Red Army tanks went into action with a basic green.  As you can see in the comparison photo, I wasn't able to match the shade of green I used on last year's T-34/85, which I will explain away with excuses like, "well, they were different batches of paint, they weathered under different circumstances, they're not even supposed to be on the same battlefield" and any other justifications I can come up with off the top of my head.

As you can see, I once again went overboard with the decals.  When I paint British or Canadian tanks, I will try to include all sorts of tank markings, but the Russians tended to use far fewer markings.  But I've got the decals and I want to use them!!!  And of course the red star is crooked :P

Here is a comparison shot with the Rubicon T-34/85.  Short of pulling out the calipers to try to measure some tiny difference, it's clear that the tanks are the same size.  

Here are the Red Army tanks to date.

Also, a few weeks ago my wife gave me a Zvesda 1/100 T-34/85 for my birthday!  It is teeny tiny compared to the 1/56 monsters, but was fast and fun to assemble and paint.

And here she is with her bigger sister, the Rubicon 1/56 T-34/85.