It took me ages to get these finished. A month ago the Wirbelwind and Panzer III had the camouflage base coats painted on, but I was waiting for the puma before finishing them as the wash is time consuming.
The painting the Puma was more of a chore than it had to be, the primer kept flaking off! Vallejo spray paints are useless, even in perfect weather the paint would come off with even the gentlest of touches. Short verson Vallejo - Good paints - Bad primers.
The Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind"
The "Yankmower" to my mind, a tribute to the American M45 Quadmount a.k.a "Krautmower". This beast chops through infantry squad in Bolt Action. Four light auto cannons means 8 shots, which can be further increased by firing HE rounds, and that is before adding the shots for the hull MMG. All protected by mid range tank armour.
This does come at a price however, using up a quarter of the points available in a standard game. In addition is uses up the Tank slot in the organisation chart, which means looking for anti tank solutions elsewhere.
Panzer III Ausf. L
I picked this model up many years before I had heard of Bolt Action. I'm not sure if it was intended to be converted for use in a 40k army or whether I intended to write my own set of rules for 1/48 WW2 gaming.
The Panzer III was retired from service before for Normandy, but the late war colour scheme was intended to match the rest of my force. This probably restricts its accuracy to a narrow period of the Eastern front; from mid 1943 to early 1944. In the game it is a fairly average medium tank, almost the exact equivalent of a Sherman, but without the special rules.
SdKfz 234/2 "Puma"
The anti-tank solution for the Wirbelwind problem. Same average capability gun as the Panzer III on a lighter armoured, faster chassis. Though not as weakly protected as most armoured cars of the game it is not as impervious as a medium tank.
Its main strength comes from the Reece ability, when shot at it can reverse 12" before the shot is resolved, hopefully putting it behind cover or even out of range. The paint caking remains are annoyingly evident round the engine vents.
Something that has been very plesant about painting WW2 vehicles is the decals. In 40k decals tend to be rather superfluous and often have to fix to rounded surfaces. On these vehicle they add a crucial level of detail otherwise lacking.
More soon,
~ Bob
