Sd. Kfz. 251 Canvas Covers (FOW)

I just received my order from HEER 46 and wow, these miniatures are great!
I'll do a review of the miniatures I order next week, but for now here is a preview...

But for today I want to look at the canvas covers for the German Sd Kfz 251 half tracks I ordered from HEER 46.

First off, I love variety in my forces, and when I saw these "planen" I knew I wanted to pick some up.
I have a over thirty German armored half tracks and anything to break up the uniformity is very welcome.

Various 251's with canvas covers on over the fighting compartment.

A 251/9 with the rear of the compartment covered.

A early 251, this is also a early Battlefront model.

One of BF's new resin and plastic 251's.

Most of the fighting compartment covered.

 The set comes with 4 different one-piece canvas covers for around $6.50.  I also bought the American M3 half track covers, but I haven't assembled them yet. These are a great buy and I recommend checking out all the conversion bits at HEER46. I received my order from Germany to the state in just over a week, not bad.

Compagnie Découverte de Combat (FOW)

Today's update focuses on the start of my raiding force, a Compagnie Découverte de Combat. 

At my local shop we decided to begin a Raiding Aces campaign, the LRDG  and Autosahariana went quick, but thats okay, I'll give the French a go. I decided on a French Raiding forces mainly for the reasons that I start many of my Flames of War forces, they use captured equipment, are not as common and offer great conversion opportunities. 

A line of Bedford 1.5 ton trucks.

So after some research about LeClerc's Free French in North Africa and the Middle East, I decided on a Compagnie Découverte de Combat around the time of the Battle of Kufra or a little afterwards. More searching brought me a list of the equipment the French used at Kufra. The vehicle that was mainly used by the raiders was the Bedford 1.5 ton truck, unfortunately Battlefront doesn't make that particular model, they used the  CMP 15 cwt truck to represent them in the Empire in Flames book, however I chose the Morris 1.5 ton truck. It's simply an aesthetic choice as both are vaguely similar the the Bedford.

At this time Battlefront also doesn't sell the French FM 24/29 Machine gun separately, which is what I assume most of the MG's were, I used a mix of Italian and British MG's on my raiders.

My HQ Ford V8's.

My first patrol, with a 20mm truck, a light mortar and extra MG's all around.

A captured Italian 20mm on a truck, just to give a little more punch.

I still have a lot of work to do on this force. I've bought several more Morris trucks and plan on using captured Italian vehicles to fill out the rest. Also I bought a bag of Kepi heads to add some distinctively French feel to the crews. I still haven't decided on what support to use, mainly because I haven't bought Burning Empires yet, our Raiding Aces campaign is in it's infancy.

A top-down look.

Daunting Task (FOW)

Well, my painting time has been at an all time low recently with work demanding much of my time. But I do have a few rather daunting projects lined up.

This is only a fraction of the British tanks I'm starting.

These tanks are really cool to work on.

A friend purchased a massive amount of early war FOW minis when they went on sale at our local shop. And since my early war French army has hardly ever seen the light of day, I decided to build and paint an entire early war British Armored Regiment for him so I would have an opponent. Also in exchange I would get the early war German tank company box from him.

My early war Germans.

Speaking of early war in Flames of War, I really have enjoyed building up a beautiful French force and expanding my beloved Afrika Korps backwards, to cover early war. The few games I've played with both forces have been a great deal of fun with forces operating differently than they do in late war. Yet I've been disappointed in the lack of interest in our local gaming group in the early war time period, it seems the allure of the big late war tanks is to strong. I know for some the cost of buying an entirely new army is to much, and I certainly understand that. So my German tank force for early war is going to be a shop army to stay in the display case for others to use, and to give my French an opponent.

Who wouldn't love these little panzers?

 So now with this horde of tanks on the painting table maybe I'll be motivated to really get some painting done.