Tank Destroyer Platoon, M18 Hellcats.

This platoon took me 5 Years to paint. I started painting the first models at the beginning of 2008. But when I realized that I, at that moment, couldn't use the platoon for my army I set the platoon aside. Three models painted. The first Scoutcar was painted somewhere between the middle of these 5 years. With the release of the NUTS armybook I finally had a reason to finish this platoon. Bought an extra Hellcat to get a platoon of 4 and Scoutcar and set to work. Only difficultly was to paint it in the same (ugly) style as I painted the first models 5 years ago. I think I succeeded in that pretty close. The last painted Hellcat is the second on the left and the last painted Scout car is the one on the left.

M18 Hellcat

Tank Destroyer Platoon

Tank Destroyer platoon (top view)

Security Section

Tank Destroyer section

Thanks for looking.

Rocket Battery, RCA.

Finally a new platoon painted. This time it is for my Canadian Company. It was about time.
The Rocket Battery, RCA.
In Flames of War this battery contains a Command team, Observer team and 2 or 4 Land Mattress. Because I bought 2 blisters to get 4 Land Mattress I also got 2 Command teams and 2 Observer teams. This means that I can take the following options. One Battery with 2 or 4 Land Mattress or Two Battery's with 2 Land Mattress each. That's why you will see in most pictures of my painted battery 2 Command teams and 2 Observer teams.
More about the Land Mattress can be read in this PDF: Land Mattress
The picture below is used as reference for the colour of the warheads.

Rocket warheads

Crew loading a Land Mattress

Complete Rocket Battery, RCA (front view).

Complete Rocket Battery, RCA (top view).

Battlegroup Overlord.

Finally a new post. Sorry for being away such a long time. The problem is that work is very time-consuming at the moment (short of manpower). Also I lost a lot of interest in painting miniatures, playing Flames of War and even making new or updating army files. Gladly it seems that things are going the right way now. Started to paint again, had a game of FoW last Sunday and I am even updating army files.

Cover of the Batlegroup Overlord book

Now on to the subject of this post. I and a friend bought the Battlegroup Overlord A wargaming supplement for the invasion of France, 1944. We ordered the bundle (this supplement plus a mini rulebook) but something went wrong in communication so we only got the supplement book and not the complete bundle with the mini rulebook. As my friend knows the store owner he will try to get the mini rulebook separately. It is a little hard to play the game without the rules. :-) The rules can also be found in the Battlegroup Kursk book. The mini rulebook has the same rules but with errata.
It is a hardcover book with a sawn spine. The pages are of a nice quality, thick and a bit shiny.I must say that the whole book is of a great quality. It is 240 pages thick. The book contains a lot of historical pictures but also pictures of painted miniatures and drawings. Roughly speaking, you can divide the book into two parts. First part is about the Invasion itself plus specific battlegroups. The second part is about Battles beyond the beaches with their specific battlegroups. All this for a total of €31.00 (Without 10% discount).
If I have to rate this book with stars it would be 5 stars out of 5.
At first I hesitated about buying the book. I had no intention of starting a new game. But after reading some reviews on blogs saw some AAR and the fact that I maybe can use my FoW models I decided to buy the bundle and see if I will like the rules or not.
Building an army is completely different if you compare it with Flames of War. So different that I still have to figure out how things work but I think it will be easier once I have the rules.
My intention is to see if I can use my Flames of War army's without re-basing the models with these rules. If this works and if I really do like the rules it means that I can use my FoW army's with 2 different sets of rules. But first I have to get the mini rulebook.

Thanks for reading.

Updates for a few armybuilder files.

The following armybuilder files had an update to version (3v1.1).
US Airborne:
NUTS - 101st Airborne Division Parachute Rifle Company (3v1.1)
NUTS - 101st Airborne Division Engineer Combat Company (3v1.1)
NUTS - 101st Airborne Division Engineer Combat Company (3v1.1)
A reader of my blog, Lancelot, pointed out to me that in these files the points for the M18 Hellcat tank-destroyer platoon were wrong. These are fixed now.

US Files

UK & Commonwealth:
Market Garden - Canadian Division Rifle Company (3v1.1)
Market Garden - 52nd (Lowland) Division Rifle Company (3v1.1)
In these files I found that the .50cal MG of the transport section of the Rifle platoons showed no stats on the OoB sheet.
And 1 Canadian Armoured platoon and 1 Canadian Armoured Recce platoon didn't show the Motivation and skill in the OoB sheet.
All bugs are fixed.

UK & Commonwealth Files

Now back to the painting table.

Thanks for reading.

Finally the long wait is over!

Although it was still cold outside and the wind was blowing the garage was, because the sun was shining through the windows, at a suitable temperature to prime my miniatures. So with no moment to loose I grabbed my black spray-can and my miniatures and went to the garage and started to spray. Finally after a long wait.


At the back we see from left to right, A staff team for my Canadian Artillery. This one was never painted because I didn't need it. Now with the new rules it may come in handy. Then in the middle there is a M18 Hellcat tank-destroyer and a scout car. These are the last models for my tank-destroyer platoon. The rest of the platoon I already painted about 5 years ago but because I never were going to use them I never painted the last models. Now this platoon can be used with my 101st Airborne Division from the NUTS book which give me reason to paint these models. At the right is a Stuka D for my Mid War 90. Leichte Afrika Division DAK army.
Next row we have 3 25mm SA-34 guns + Command team for a 25mm Anti-tank gun platoon. An addition for my Early War French Escadron de Reconnaissance Compagnie. These were a gift. Thanks Les.
In front of those we have a Rocket Battery, RCA with 4 Land Mattress and 2 Command teams and 2 Observers. For my Market Garden Canadian Infantry Company.
And last in the front row, Easy Company. An addition for my 101st Airborne Division. Also from the NUTS book.

The plan was to paint the M18 Hellcat and a scout car first but because the weather put me behind schedule and I am going to play in a small tournament in June using my Canadian Company, I have no choice then to paint the Rocket Battery, RCA first.