DAK battery of 88s, painted by Alex Akers. Click all pix to enlarge.
The Western Desert of North Afrika, circa January 1942, has attracted my attention of late and I have apparently caught the Flames of War bug. This will hopefully be nothing more than a passing fancy as I only intend to have a small division of Deutsche Afrika Korps troops for the FoW game system. My regular gaming group in Milwaukee plays FoW three or four times a year and Bill's accounts of zooming across the sands in his little British tanks sounded interesting. With that in mind, I bought a panzergrenadier box o' figures, some 88s, a few tanks, mortars and machine gun platoons, and some paints and...
I decided that I didn't know a thing about WW2 nor did I have a particular desire to paint any of this stuff. So I did what any self respecting wargamer would do. I sent the whole lot off to a professional painter. It wasn't just any old painter, it was was my nephew Alex (aka "the Heir Apparent" according to Herb Gundt).
I decided that I didn't know a thing about WW2 nor did I have a particular desire to paint any of this stuff. So I did what any self respecting wargamer would do. I sent the whole lot off to a professional painter. It wasn't just any old painter, it was was my nephew Alex (aka "the Heir Apparent" according to Herb Gundt).
A platoon of panzergrenadiers with their supporting vehicles. Painted by Alex Akers.
I thought that the lad did a very nice job of painting the vehicles and the 15mm figures. He also based everything for me. The smaller 15mm figures are a bit harder to photograph and so my pictures probably don't pay justice to Alex's painting skills. He does a lot of Games Workshop figures and enters them into competitions, garnering some awards here and there. I also sent him a few sample 28mm Napoleonics for him to play around with so I can see how he does. I intend to let him help me build up my 1806 Napoleonic collection.
Alex is interested in garnering a few painting commissions, so if you are interested in having some work done, contact him at: alexanderakers@yahoo.com for more information. Alex accepts PayPal to make things easier for you.
So eventually I will have three platoons of panzergrenadiers, one heavy machine gun platoon, one heavy mortar platoon, an anti-tank platoon, the wonderful 88s, and probably a platoon of Panzer III-J tanks. I plan to let the rest of the group supply all of the other allies as well as the British and American opposition.
A closer view of the 88s and their support vehicles, by Alex Akers.
Alex is interested in garnering a few painting commissions, so if you are interested in having some work done, contact him at: alexanderakers@yahoo.com for more information. Alex accepts PayPal to make things easier for you.
So eventually I will have three platoons of panzergrenadiers, one heavy machine gun platoon, one heavy mortar platoon, an anti-tank platoon, the wonderful 88s, and probably a platoon of Panzer III-J tanks. I plan to let the rest of the group supply all of the other allies as well as the British and American opposition.
A closer view of the 88s and their support vehicles, by Alex Akers.
I particularly like the work on the guns and vehicles and their bases. I look forward to seeing what Alex does with the 28mm Napoleonics.
ReplyDeleteDuke of Baylen
A little heavy on the "black lining" effect on the vehicles but nice work... figures are very nice too, but I'm guessing that the uniforms are more sand coloured than the green that the camera has bought out?
ReplyDeleteThe greenish tinge is probably due to the flourescent lighting overhead. He used the DAK uniform paint color from the set of paints that FoW sells for North African armies.
ReplyDeleteSir,
ReplyDeleteFOW is a 1:1 scale game.
For you to have even a small "Division" will require in the neighborhood of 2-3000 figures and multitudes of vehicles, guns, mortars etc.
I think you may want to aim a little lower, or are you being drawn by the dark side and starting to feel the tug on your purse strings as you recognize your properly organized DAK division needs another (pick your poison) support company. The evil demons who market FOW already have it packaged and ready for you to order....
Be strong. Go back to your wonderful uniforms and horses. Don't all sway to the wonder of a Tiger platoon and the havoc it can wreck on the game board.
Chris
NO, no, no, NO JIm! Stay away from this and get back to our beloved 18th Century, PLEASE!!!
ReplyDeleteFrank (Crying into the keyboard)
Of course now you will need British and Commonwealth forces to see off the Nazi swine...
ReplyDeleteGreg
Hi Greg,
ReplyDeleteYours truly has the 7th Armoured.
Der Alte will naer see me!
Zoooom,
Bill
I have no intention of adding any more figures to the DAK. I don't even like painting them. I opened up one packet of tanks and looked at the pieces and said, "uh uh, I can't do it" and I tossed them into a box never to be seen again.
ReplyDeleteI feel a good SYW painting jag coming up after July 18th.
Those clever chaps who run FoW have their marketing down pat. The system lets a gamer take up a new period quickly and easily, with the ability to buy correctly-organized units literally off the shelf. The figures and models aren't bad although I've seen better. It's just a pity - IMHO - the rules suck toast.
ReplyDeleteSo, if this strange disturbance in the Force strikes you again, do we start calling you Der Alte Erwin? Please say it ain't so!
ReplyDeleteBill
No Sir William, I am a fish out of water when it comes to 20th Century warfare. I will probably get clobbered. Why do you think I bought some 88s? So I can sit back and shell Bill P. and his little Stuarts from long range. :)
ReplyDelete