The Battlefield

Hi Guys, Blackwolf back again, this time with some pics of my battlefield. My scenery has appeared in a few posts already, as its been used for a recent AAR, and was one of the tables set up for the Breakout mini tournament we ran a few months ago, but I decided to give it its own photo shoot! ;)

When I first started making my terrain, I had a 'Dutch countryside' theme in mind, as our group of FoW'ers were all building Market Garden forces. In the end, I think it could represent either Dutch or French countryside, as its fairly generic. So lets take a look :)

LAAR: 12.SS-Panzer vs 3rd Guards Tank Corps

Hi Guys, Blackwolf again bringing you another light AAR. For a change neither Griddon or myself are playing! A couple of our friends and clubmates, Rob and Andy, are keen to enter the world of FoW, so what better way than to lead them through a battle. Although the game was played down at our local club, the Western Suburbs Wargames Association, the terrain was supplied by yours truly, as were both forces. The battle would feature a Panzergrenadier company from 12.SS-Panzer Division vs a Guards Tank Battalion from 3rd Guards Tank Corps.

The Lists

Andy's SS-Panzergrenadier list comes straight from Earth & Steel.

12.SS-Panzer Division – Fearless Veteran

HQ - Upgrade both to Panzerfaust/SMG's, plus 2 Panzerschrek teams

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon - 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon - 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon - 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Mortar Platoon – 2 sections

Light SS-Anti-Tank Gun Platoon – 3 PaK40’s

SS-Rocket Launcher Battery – 3 Nebelwerfer NW41’s

Heavy SS-Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon – 2 FlaK36’s + extra crew

Field Fortifications – 2 Minefields, 8 Barbed Wire Entanglements, 2 HMG Nests

Rob’s Guards Tank Battalion is from Hammer & Sickle.

3^rd Guards Tank Corps – Fearless Trained

HQ – 1 T-34/85 with Cupola

Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Company – 9 T-34/85’s with Cupolas

Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Company – 9 T-34/85’s with Cupolas

Razvedki Platoon – 4 squads (1 Flamethrower team) with Universal Carriers

Decoy Tank Company – 2 Captured Panthers 

List writing and tournaments

Hi guys, Griddon here. In the wash up from Breakout and in subsequent games and list building activities I've started to wonder a bit about my approach. I thought I'd muse the subject for public consumption ;)

Breakout was our first tourney and running it gave us a good opportunity to stand back and watch some of the games. I think until now Mat and I have been comfortable in our own small meta pushing round pretty historically accurate and fluffy lists while learning the game and having some laughs. After Breakout I realised that this approach probably wouldn't wash in the FoW tourney scene unless I liked getting walloped in every game. (And believe me, I don't! :) )

FlaK 36 Battery

Hi guys. Blackwolf back again with some pics of my finished FlaK 36 Battery.

I've been wanting to add these bad boys to my German forces for a while now and finally got around to it. It just seems no German force is complete without them! ;)

I've put more effort into this platoon than previous ones as I really want to improve my painting. In the past, infantry received a basic base coat plus wash, and maybe a quick drybrush. This time around I went back and did highlighting too, mainly on the uniforms and skin. The vehicles received a little extra treatment as well, with chip marks and scratches being tested out (just a few). I like the way the chips and scratches turned out, so will continue with the same method for future vehicles.

Anyway, on to the pics... as always, comments and criticism welcome! :)

Breakout: Feedback on the Campaign Element

The Breakout mini campaign was run and won last weekend and Mat has already given you the photos from the event. I had a blast seeing the players have a good time and seeing the campaign evolve. Someone asked, ( Thanks Braexen ) so I figured we'd tell you our retrospective thoughts about how the campaign system we used went. 
 

"Breakout" min campaign/tournament results

Hi guys, Blackwolf here with a quick report and heaps of photo's from a small one day mini-campaign/tournament that we ran over the weekend.

In conjunction with the Western Suburbs Wargames Association, we at Bunker3030 decided to dip our feet into the fun looking pool that is tournament organization! We wanted to make it a little different too, so we added a campaign element based on Operation Goodwood, once again pitting the Allies in a desperate struggle to take Caen from the Germans.

The campaign element featured a map of Operation Goodwood with three 'axis of attack'. With six players per side, two from each side would fight on each axis, with the results determining if the Allies would push on, or if the Germans were able to hold their ground. Players were swapped between each axis so no one played each other twice.

By the end, history repeated, with the Allies romping home, encircling and capturing Caen, as the Germans withdrew, battered and beaten.

Beginner with a Panzer Co...

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here with some excuses for not finishing my Normandy Table! I got pretty distracted by my first FoW army project!

I have a background in 40k and other GW games, and I became pretty exited at the prospect of trying a painting project which was very different to what I was used to. I bit the bullet, after months of talk, and purchased a fairly balanced panzer company.

Soviet Guards Tank Battalion - Finished!

Hi, Blackwolf back again, with a look at my completed Soviet Guards Tank Battalion.

I showed some sneak peaks of this force a while ago back in this post. Well, after quite a while of procrastination, I've finally finished it. It had been staring at me from across my hobby desk for quite some time. Basically, at 1750 points, its the HQ T-34/85, 2 companies of 9 T-34/85's, a Decoy Tank Platoon of 2 Panthers, and a full Rota Razvedki Platoon with Universal Carriers including a flame thrower team.

LAAR: 9.SS-Panzer vs 15th Scottish (Operation Epsom)

Hi! Blackwolf here again with another AAR. Once gain its Griddon vs myself, Britain vs Germany, in an epic struggle to claim Normandy and all its fat cattle. The game took place at our local club, the Western Suburbs Wargames Association. My 9.SS-Panzerdivision ‘Hohenstauffen’ boys were pitted against their familiar enemy, the lads of the 15^th Scottish Division.

The Lists

For a bit of fun, I decided to write my list from the ‘Panzerregiment Bake’ PDF from the Battlefront website (You can find it here).

9.SS-Panzerdivision – Confident Veteran

HQ – 1 Panther

Panzer Platoon – 3 Panthers

Schwere Panzer Platoon – 3 Tigers

Rocket Launcher Battery – 3 Nebelwerfer NW41’s + 1 PaK40

Gebirgsjager Platoon – 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

Griddons list was the same as from our last AAR (found here), from Fortress Europe.

15th Scottish Div - Confident Trained

HQ

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Anti-Tank Platoon – 2 6 pdr’s

Machine-Gun Platoon – 2 sections + carriers

Tank Platoon – 3 Churchill VI’s + aplique armour

Tank Platoon – 3 Churchill VI’s + aplique armour (only on 2)

Anti-Tank Platoon (SP) – 4 M10C’s

Field Battery, Royal Artillery – 4 gun sections

The Germans are go!

Griddon here. I finally did it. I decided on a list and I'm sticking with it. Thought I'd share my final list with you guys and a quick sneak peak of how the painting is going.

So the list I have decided upon is from Fortress Europe. It's designed as an  Eastern front list to suit my terrain table.

HQ - 2 Panzer IV H
Combat - 4 Panzer IV H
Combat - 4 Panzer IV H
Support - 4 Brummbar
Support - Panzergrenadiers, 1 x Panzerfaust, 6 x MG + Transports
Support - 3 Pumas
Support - 3 Nebelwerfer 41s with Pak38

Beginners Guide to the German 3 Digit Numbering System

Hi!, Blackwolf back again with a quick and easy guide to the German 3 digit numbering system found on armoured vehicles for people getting stuck into the hobby for the first time, or building up their first German force (good choice!).

Firstly, a brief word on the late war Panzer Division organisation to help us understand how these numbers work. German Panzer Divisions were generally made up of 1 tank regiment, 2 infantry regiments, and a number of supporting battalions (artillery, recce, pioniers, ant-tank etc). Now, lets focus on that tank regiment.

German tank regiments consisted of 2 tank battalions (Numbered I and II in roman numerals), and each tank battalion usually consisted of 4 companies. All the companies in the tank regiment were numbered consecutively from 1 to 8, with companies 1-4 in I.battalion and 5-8 in II.battalion. Occasionally, some lucky tank regiments received a 3rd battalion (III), usually equipped with something exotic, such as Tigers (so so lucky). If so, the company numbers continued on sequentially, 9-12.

Beginners: Late war lists ready to go!

Right. Continuing the Flames of War for beginners theme I wanted to write a couple of 'starter' lists for the Late War period. In this post you'll find some introduction to the lists, the lists themselves and some discussion about the selections. I've also made your shopping experience pretty easy if you want to actually go ahead and buy that exact list. Cut, paste, email your LGS and ask for a quote!

Ok, for starters, it's tough to pick a book for the lists. Each Flames of War source book is specific to a time period in the war. Blitzkrieg deals with Early war. Eastern Front and North Africa deal with Mid War and pretty much everything else is focused on Late War. I've proposed the use of Fortress Europe as it's a good starter source book before but for specific reasons I'll explain further on, I think Turning Tide and Earth and Steel are wise investments for the new Late War players.

Review: The Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Panzer IV

Alrighty then! Griddon here and I'm pretty excited to give you a review of 'The Plastic Soldier Company' 15mm Panzer IVs.

I hadn't heard much about this company until a few weeks ago when I listened the guys on the WWPD podcast talk about the T34s the company makes. They gave the kit a pretty positive review. (I can't remember the episode number but maybe one of the guys will chime in below and help us out!) When I went looking I found out that they also made PzIVs. My German project needs at least ten PzIVs so I figured I'd give them a go. Straight off the bat, they are a solid value proposition. Delivered to my door by the fantastic Irresistible Force here in Australia for $30 AUD per box.

Each box comes with five injection moulded plastic sprues with one Panzer IV per sprue. The Plastic Soldier Company have been very smart about how they went about making this kit and the box is capable of making four variants of this popular tank.. The PzIV Ausf F1, PzIV Ausf F2, PzIV Ausf G and the PzIV Ausf H. I'll be making the PzIV H for my late war force but that leaves me with five kits and I hope to use them for an upcoming mid war army.

The sprue

Making my Normandy Table: "Trois Ponts" Part 4

Hi Folks,

I've been fairly distracted from the table build this week, because I got a shiny army delivery! So, of course, getting stuck into the assembly was my first priority. I love the smell of resin in the morning... smells like victory!

I did get some terrain done though...

LAAR: 9.SS-Panzer vs 15th Scottish

Hi! Blackwolf here with an After Action Report from a battle Griddon and I played today down at our local gaming club, the Western Suburbs Wargames Association. I was using my SS-Panzergrenadiers from 9.SS-Panzerdivision while Griddon was using his British Rifle Company from the 15^th Scottish Division. Points limit was 1750.

THE LISTS

My list comes from Earth & Steel, using the 2.SS list, as the 9.SS PDF is yet to be updated.

9.SS Panzerdivision - Fearless Veteran

HQ – Upgrade both to SMG/Panzerfaust

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon – 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon – 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon – 3 squads + Panzerfaust upgrade

SS-Mortar Platoon – 2 sections

SS-Anti-Tank Gun Platoon – 3 PaK40’s

SS-Rocket Launcher Battery – 3 Nebelwerfer NW41’s

SS-Assault Gun Platoon – 4 StuG’s

Field Fortifications – 2 HMG Nests

Griddons list was from Fortress Europe. I’ll have to ask him why he didn’t use the actual 15^th Scottish PDF list ;) (Griddon: Because the PDF doesn't allow M10Cs along with a few other points discrepancies for carriers)

15th Scottish Div - Confident Trained

HQ

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Rifle Platoon – 3 Squads

Anti-Tank Platoon – 2 6 pdr’s

Machine-Gun Platoon – 2 sections + carriers

Tank Platoon – 3 Churchill VI’s + aplique armour

Tank Platoon – 3 Churchill VI’s + aplique armour (only on 2)

Anti-Tank Platoon (SP) – 4 M10C’s

Field Battery, Royal Artillery – 4 gun sections

Beginners: De-mystifying Flames of War

Alright then. As I mentioned in my post earlier this week on the subject of the Games Workshop scandal, the Bunker 3030 authors want to put together a series of post designed to help new players or people not familiar with Flames of War. For this post I want to talk about some of the key differences with Flames of War (FoW) compared to my previous love, Warhammer 40,000.

It's certain that Flames of War is different to Warhammer 40,000 in more than just the type of miniatures used and the scale. However, if you have the ability to comprehend the rules of 40k and assembly and paint the models Games Workshop sells, you are more than qualified to start Flames of War. I'll break if down for you.

News: Games Workshop makes Flames of War even more attractive!

After much rumour and speculation, Games Workshop (GW) this week announced new trading terms for their UK independant stores. You can read the full details over at Maelstrom and Wayland Games sites. The upshot of this is that to most Australian gamers the Games Workshop systems just got a lot more expensive from the end of May. I have no doubt that in time other avenues to achieve the same good price from UK indies will surface. (Erm... Ebay?) However, it's more GWs attitude to fixing the price discrepancy. Instead of conducting some price adjustment to make shopping in Australia more attractive, why not just prevent Australians shopping elsewhere? Not cool and I really don't think the move is going to benefit local gaming stores at all. Combined with GW's recent announcement of their Finecast range, which if you can believe it will cost more than the outgoing metal models, and the total picture for Australian GW product fans is financial pain.

LAAR: Germans vs Brits

Folks! Griddon here with a new acronym. Light After Action Report. I had Robin (Dicehex) and Luke over last night to give them a proper introduction game into Flames of War. Robin and Luke had both played before but just not with proper miniatures at a full 1750 point late war game. Mat was away for the weekend so was kind enough to leave us with a collection of his Germans. I wrote up a mixed German list to face my 6th Guards Tank Brigade with 15ths Scots list I recently finished. Robin commanded the Panzer list and Luke debuted my Churchills playing the Brits. It worked out reasonably well as Robin has a big order in transit for his first Flames of War army and he's picked 21st Panzer Div.

The light part of this AAR is that it doesn't do a turn by turn. It just described what happened in the deployment, early, mid and late portions of the game and shows some photos of the action. Simple. 

Making my Normandy Table: "Trois Ponts" Part 3

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here with another table update. It is amazing how much I can get done when I've got a cold, and I'm waiting for a delivery of little panzer manz!

Orchard:
I mixed some Multi-purpose filler (for cracks in walls, etc) with some paint and sand, until it had the consistency of toothpaste, then smeared it on with a spatula. The shade is a little too grey for soil, but it will be highlighted with a richer brown later on. I then marked in some rough rows, which should be spaced large enough to fit a medium base between.

Eastern Front Table - Part 3

Hi Folks. Griddon again!

A very quick update on my Eastern Front table to show how it's coming together. I got the table out ready for a game Mat and I were going to have tonight. Sadly, Mat deemed grocery shopping more important... Omg... Nein, we cannot stop ze British we have to go buy carrots and Tim Tams. So, the Brit's take the moral victory. Not sure what both sides had in mind on an Eastern Front table but meh. Anyway. I think the table needs more. Which is good, because I have planned more :)

Making my Normandy Table: "Trois Ponts" Part 2

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here with a sit-rep from my forward table workshop. It's quiet and I have a cold.
The picture above is of Royal Engineers in Caen after its capture. Not so picturesque anymore...

MORE SURFACING, and TREES.

I found that some of the natural-style grass flock looked a little too neat, so I sprayed on some urethane glue (can of "spray-grip") and lightly sprinkled some more flock over it, just to blend the two shades of green a little better. After this was dry, to be sure the material had stuck down, I sprayed the sections with matt varnish (an artist sealant product). When the table is finished, I'll apply a heavy coat of matt varnish over everything but the water features, just to add that little bit more durability.

"The Polar Bear Butchers"

Hi, Blackwolf here, with a little post regarding the plans for my next army.

Before I start my next company though, there are a few things I need finish off. First is my Dutch countryside table and scenery, and second, is my small Soviet tank company. I'll post pics of both when they are complete. But in the mean time, I've been planning and buying the models for my next project. Can you guess by the title and the picture? If so, brilliant! You either hail from the fair county of Yorkshire, or, have a firm grasp of British Division nicknames and emblems. If not, let me be your guide ;) So my next project will be an infantry company from the British 49th West Riding Division, who featured a Polar Bear on an ice flow as a divisional symbol (due to being stationed in Iceland in the early part of the war), thus receiving the nickname 'The Polar Bear Butchers' from the Nazi propaganda broadcaster Lord Haw-Haw.

6th Guards Tank Brigade - Part 5 - Finished

G'day folks. Griddon here again with the final installation* of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade mini project. They are finished along with the HMG platoon to turn my Hell's Highway force into a Fortress Europe Confident Trained Infantry list which I'm going to play as 6th Guards Tank Brigade supporting the 15th Scot's.

Not a lot of words for you. Just pictures. Quite a few of them. Tips, advice, comments. All welcome.

Making my Normandy Table: "Trois Ponts" Part 1

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here to share some of the work I've been doing on my most recent wargames table. Having taken the plunge into the exciting world of FoW, I realised I needed a good looking table on which to game. Having a well painted army is great, but putting it on a nice terrain table as well is just awesome. I'd like some more of my gaming group to get involved in Flames, and I figured that an impressive, picturesque setting would be a good way to generate some enthusiasm.

The picture above gives a fairly good idea of the style of table I'm building, with hedges, trees, inset roads, and quaint buildings. I also took a lot of inspiration from other gaming blogs, many of which you can find linked on the right hand side of this page. Instead of using an actual aerial photo for my table map, I decided to invent a little town outside of Caen somewhere, called "Three Bridges", or in this case "Trois Ponts".

Eastern Front Panzer List

The Hornisse / Nashorn

Hi all. Back again with some list discussion. A few weeks back I detailed my plans to get Panzer-Grenadier Division Großdeutschland onto the table. Those plans may be on hold. :) I had some doubts about putting another 'hobby' list together which I already acknowledged wasn't going to be competitive. I've since got a few more games under my belt. I've also been playing World of Tanks a bit. The combined effect was a rewrite of my intended German list.

The aims were quite simple. I wanted competitive. I wanted fun. I also wanted a combined arms list which had Tank Hunters, Panzerspah and a solid back bone of Panzer IVs. Since I also have an Eastern Front table on the go it makes sense to have an Eastern Front list to push about. So, I immediately went to take a look at the Bagration Panzer Divsions PDF available on the Flames of War site. Not bad but aside from some interesting support selections the same lists can be achieved from Fortress Europe and with the later I benefit increased Tank Hunter options.

Eastern Front Table - Part 2

Hi folks. Griddon here with an update on the Eastern Front table. It's nearly finished. Sweet.

So, Mat updated the blog with our session knocking out some MDF road sections a few weeks ago. Mat very kindly took those home and gave them a coat of textured paint and put some track marks all over them. I received them back last week and set about painting them all dark brown and dry brushing up a little with a lighter shade. I then broke up the edges with a moss green colour stippled on and these areas will be covered with static grass as soon as I can get to the shops to buy some.

6th Guards Tank Brigade - Part 4

Hi All. I thought it would be a good idea to update on my 6th Guards Tank Brigade project.

I've finished the tanks! Hoorah! All six are completely finished including decals, weathering and sealer. I've resisted posting a picture of the whole lot as I want to hold that over until I'm finally finished with the entire 1750 point list. So, for the moment, just a picture of the first one!

I also thought I'd show how I'm doing my machine gun platoon. I have two methods on the go. For the first method I have miniatures glued to the end of a small nail for ease of access. These are the guys from the universal carriers and they might have been quite awkward to paint if glued to the vehicle. I wanted to show this method as it's how I painted the first two of my three British late war rifle platoons. It has its merits for standard 15mm infantry for sure. Ease of access being the main one. This allows you the best chance at catching all the details of the miniatures but once finished you have to glue them to the base and texture / paint the base seperately.

I now prefer to glue my bare metal miniatures to the base, texture the base and undercoat prior to painting. I find this much quicker and with four infantry per base it is usually pretty easy to get in amongst the minis to capture the detail. In the instance of the Vickers machine gun platoon, I'm not sure I had much choice anyway as the Vickers machine gun itself is rather difficult to assemble as it has a very small land area to make the bond for both the Vickers and the belt feed. Super Glue makes short work at messing up paint jobs so it just wasn't worth the risk for me.

Battlefront's Customer Service

Hi, Blackwolf here, just wanting to share my recent experience with Battlefront's customer service.

Recently my lovely Fiancée placed an order through Battlefront's online store for the Battlefield in a Box - Rivers boxed set as a gift for me. A few days later we received an email from the Australasian Manager of Battlefront explaining that the rivers boxed set was out of stock, and that it may be some time before they became available again, but would I be interested in changing my order to four river expansion boxes? Well, this sort of thing can't be helped, so I said yes, that was fine, especially as I was now receiving 12 river sections instead of the 7 that come in the box, though I would be missing out on the bridges the box contains. So I asked if the bridges were available separately, my intention being to purchase them if they were. I received a reply a day later, stating my order had been changed to the four river expansion boxes, and that the manager himself was throwing in a spare set of bridges from his own collection.

We all have many reasons why we love playing FoW... Love of WWII history, beautiful miniatures, gorgeous scenery, kicking your mates arse ;) But the main reason I'll keep supporting Battlefront is due to customer service like that. Not only were the bridges thrown in for free, but they came out of the Australasian Manager's own collection. That my friends, is above and beyond customer service. Battlefront.... You guys rock.

Book Review: Troop Leader - A Tank Commander's Story

Hi all, Griddon here with a quick book review.

While browsing the WWII section in Borders a month or so ago I found a copy of Troop Leader: A Tank Commander's Story. The book covers the activities of 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars through the Normandy breakout campaign all the way to the eventual occupation of Germany and the immediate post war period.

The book is written by Bill Belamy and is taken from his journal written at the time. These journals were against army regulations but in hindsight I think even the top brass can acknowledge the value they add to understanding the conflicts and learning valuable lessons. The author talks about his experiences in the various roles he had such as Squadron Echelon leader, through Troop Leader and subsequently, Reconnaissance 2IC.

Upcoming Mid War Tournament List's

Hi, Blackwolf here, with some musings about an upcoming mid-war tournament.

Hobby store "Realm of Legends" here in Melbourne are planning on running a one day mid-war tournament on Saturday, the 7th of May (link to their WargamerAU post here). I believe this comes at the end of a mid-war escalation league they've recently run. We here at Bunker 3030 couldn't participate in the league as we were concentrating on late war armies, plus Realm of Legends is in Croydon, a suburb about an hours drive from the Bunker. However, we are interested in the one day tournament.

Our problem, as already stated, is that we have late-war armies. But, with a little tinkering, we've written up some lists from the armies we have that should do alright in mid-war (we think, but honestly, we have no idea, we have no experience with the period). I'm planning on the following list from Eastern Front...

6th Guards Tank Brigade - Part 3

Yo. Back again with a quick update. With my exams now over I'm free to concentrate on more fun things. Having prepared my Churchills before the exam I was good to go with some painting this weekend. I managed to get from bare resin / metal to fully painted over the course of a couple of days. Probably about 4 hours total work. They aren't finished yet. They need about 30 minutes of work each with the decals but I'll get round to that this week.

So, for the painting I went with the basecoat, wash and drybrush method for the main armor and did some detail work only on the various bits of gear strapped to the tank.

Here is a quick run down of the process for those who aren't familiar. Let's assume you've got your preferred primer already on the model.

Step 1: Basecoat by brush, two thin coats of Russian Uniform.

I didn't worry too much about getting Russian Uniform where it wasn't wanted at this point as the tracks get a coat of very dark brown later.

Breakout - One Day Mini Campaign

Hello again. Griddon here with a quick post about an event that Blackwolf and I are running in July.

Flames of War hasn't really got a firm foothold in Victoria yet. Probably, the number of regular gamers is around fifty and they are distributed over a large geographical area. With war periods you shrink the gaming group even further. Blackwolf and I are both exclusive to Late War at the moment but over at Realm of Legends, they have just finished up a Mid War escalation league.

With these issues in mind, we wanted to find a way of bringing players together. Our approach here is to run a one day mini campaign. The format is going to be three games of 1750 points late war with themed Normandy breakout lists. We'll avoid blue on blue by having equal numbers on each side of the conflict and we're going to have the results of each round affect the match ups for the following round.

Some Quick Pics

This weekend just passed I took two mates through some introductory games at our local gaming club. While I waited for them to arrive, I took some pics to pass the time. Unfortunately, my camera's uncharged battery didn't last long, so only got a few pics. Enjoy!

6th Guards Tank Brigade - Part 2

Hi all. Griddon here with an early update on the 6th Guards Tank Brigade bits I'm putting together and painting.

I received all my bits courtesy of Viv at Battle Bunker, Northcote. (If you haven't come across Viv yet, he's a bit of a Youtube personality. Check him out. Lots of cool scenery videos.) I cracked open the Churchill blisters and settled in for a quiet Saturday morning assembling all the tanks. As usual, the first process is to check the resin for defects, remove the flash and then wash the resin parts in warm soapy water. While they are drying I set to fixing and filing the metal bits.

6th Guards Tank Brigade - Part 1

Hi all. Griddon here with a introduction into a quick mini project I have planned before I start my Germans in the Aussie winter. I'd like to call this project: "Project Churchill Awesome". 6th Guards Tank Brigade is probably more sensible and accurate. I have six Chuchills and a Machine Gun Platoon to paint and then we can give the Germans something with slightly more resiliance than wet paper to shoot at.

We'll do some history first. This is a bit back to front as I first decided I wanted to get some Churchills on the table and I then went looking for historical justification. Let's pretend I did it the other way around for a moment. (I'll admit this also. When picking a historically accurate unit, I wanted to make sure I could get decals to suit.) So having done some research I decided on representing 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 4th Tank Battalion Coldstream Guards. There is quite a lot of information on these guys online. Google is your friend as always. Some references were contradictory but this is pretty much par for the course for the lesser known combatants in the war. What I do know is that the Bridage landed at Gold and Juno beaches on July 20th 1944 and almost immediately went ito action supporting the 15th Scots in Operation Bluecoat. Here, the 6th Guards Tank Brigade were the unfortunate recipients of some unwanted attention from a Jagdpanther from 654 schwere Panzerjägerabteilung. Let's just say, the Jagdpanther did particularly well. Read more at your leisure. As I mentioned, decal availablilty is important. Dom's Decals has got me covered here and they supply the tank names in decal form too. This info at Northirishhorse tells me what the tank names were for each tank in the battalion so I'm basically fully set.

Product Review - Dom's Decals

Balkenkreuz and turret numbers by Dom's Decals

Hi Guys, Blackwolf here, with a quick chat about Dom's Decals.

I first heard of Dom's Decals while browsing The Gamer's Table blog, and saw a nice review and some cool pics featuring some early war German 8-Rads. At the time I was about to start on my s.Pz.Kp 'Hummel' project, and was looking for appropriate decals to use on my Tiger tanks. Now Battlefront have always made an extensive range of models, but I found their decal range to be lacking. So my prayers were answered when I took a look at the Dom's Decal website, and found a great range of 15mm scale decals, including 10 different styles of turret number (pictured below), 6 styles of Balkenkreuz, registration plates for the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, & Luftwaffe, and divisional symbols for every Panzer and SS-Panzer division. I was in business!

Soviet Guards Tank Battalion

Right-o, Blackwolf back again, with a quick update on my current project.

A little while ago while browsing through my LGS I decided to start a Soviet Tank Battalion. I have no idea how the thought popped into my head, it really was a spur of the moment decision. There I was looking at all the shinny boxes (especially the German ones... I'm a sucker for the Germans) when I just decided that yes, grabbing a box of T-34/85's and starting a tank horde was an excellent idea.

Cut to present day, and I have 21 T-34/85's finished, plus 3 captured Panthers (I only need 2, but painted the 3rd for the fun of it). My initial list was something like this...

HQ T-34/85 with cupola

10 T-34/85's with cupola's

10 T-34/85's with cupola's

2 Decoy Panthers

Rota Razvedki Platoon with 3 squads (SMG's) in Universal Carriers.

Eastern Front Table - Part 1

A table. Not my table, but it illustrates the point... It's even an Eastern front table... ish.

Hi all, Griddon here again. It has been a long time coming. I've never had my own table at home but considering the arrival of my first child in January I've come to realise that being able to host a game at home gives me more chance of getting my FoW fix and avoiding agro from 'er in doors... Plus, I consider the screams of a hungry baby to be a home turf advantage. If you're not used to it, perhaps my opponents might become distracted. Evil plans.

All three of the Bunker3030 authors are putting tables together. I've opted for an Eastern front table. As I have plans for an Eastern front army as my next FoW force it seems like a sensible choice. Beyond that I reckoned it would be one of the cheaper and easier tables to organise and both time and money are always important factors for a hobby!

The table will consist of a Games Workshop Battlemat, a Kerr & King Eastern Front Village, some ready made trees and some home made roads. I'll also be adding some wheat fields and hopefully some haystacks made from door mats.

Part 1 focuses on the fantastic Kerr and King Eastern Front village buildings.

Buying Stuff: Local Hobby Store or Cheapest Option

G'day all. Griddon here with a rant. Albeit a rant with factual information. It was meant to be a quick update on my Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutchsland as I said I'd detail where I bought my stuff from but I kinda got mad half way through and thought I'd chuck some emotion into the mix. ;)

Where you buy your stuff is an important factor for Australians. Perhaps not so important for those living in the UK or the US. Before we get into the meat of this, let me say this:

I totally get the need to support local gaming stores and I have done so with my latest Flames of War orders as well as the entirety of my last 40k force and all my Malifaux. However, I feel the viability of local gaming stores are being completely undermined by the pricing policies of a particular and very popular gaming company, Games Workshop. That's my opinion.

Getting things right

Hi all. Griddon here. I read a forum post recently where, responding to a new player asking for the low down on Flames of War, a guy highlighted the difference between a 'recreationist' and a 're-creationist' and how their approaches to the game may vary. Which one was I? I thought I knew but then considering my first efforts at building a Flames of War army I might sit somewhere between the two.

A re-creationist would place high importance on accurately representing their chosen regiment. A recreationist might only care for the rules or the game play. A re-creationist might get annoyed playing an opponent with an unpainted army and sweat at the prospect of someone running an Italian list against an Eastern Front opponent. A recreationist wouldn't care - they just want to roll dice. I'd consider myself more of a re-creationist. I like the 'look' of a battle as much as actually playing it. For me, there really is some reward to seeing nicely painted minis amongst nicely finished terrain.

Irish Guards Column March - Operation Garden

Hi all. Griddon here. About time we got some allies up on this blog. Blackwolf popped over earlier and we did some serious production lining at Dave's to get some roads ready. Post on those later no doubt. Afterwards we took to the garden and got the cameras out.

The Irish Guards are my first force in Flames of War. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I placed the order for the whole lot at once. Needless to say I was massively overwhelmed with 'little manz' when the package arrived. 'I've got to paint how many 15mm infantry?'.

At first I didn't really enjoy painting the 15mm scale infantry. The details were often obscured and it felt like a monumnental task even without block painting or shading. As it was I did the force with simple block painting and washing and the end result is cohessive and I think it has the required table top appeal.

Hobby Day - Roads part 1

Hi, Blackwolf again, back with a quick post about the terrain making session us Bunker 3030 boys had Sunday in Whitey's garage.

So far, we've been playing our games of FOW down at our local club, the Western Suburbs Wargames Association, of which we're all members. The club scenery is pretty good (as can be seen from this AAR I've posted on Battlefront FOW forum), and we're happy to continue gaming at the club, but we also decided that we each want our own FOW battlefield. Also, we each chose to do a specific theme. Griddon chose Eastern Front, Whitey chose Normandy, and I chose Dutch countryside. We've each bought a GW battlemat, and have purchased buildings from Kerr & King (more on those in a future post), and have placed an order for Woodland Scenics tree's. So Sunday we chose to tackle another important piece of scenery we all wanted for our battlefields.... Roads!

Schwere Panzer Kompanie 'Hummel'

Blackwolf again, presenting the second FOW company I've finished and gamed with. This time its the mighty beasts of Schwere Panzer Kompanie 'Hummel', using the Tiger tank list found in Hammer & Sickle.

Being a bit of a history nut (There's a lot of us out there!), I like to base all the force's I collect on actual unit's. These can either be units of convenience, like my 9.SS-Panzer Division Grenadiers, or units that fascinate me for a particular reason. Schwere Panzer Kompanie 'Hummel' is definitely a unit that fascinates me. First off, Tiger tanks.... need I say more? ;) Secondly, a Tiger unit that fought during Operation Market Garden was a good fit, as our gaming group focussed on this battle when we started out. Thirdly, and most importantly, were the specific vehicles that made up Kompanie 'Hummel'. For the brief history of this unit, visit here. But let me go in to a little detail about the vehicles used...

9. SS-Panzer Division 'Hohenstaufen'

Hi, Blackwolf here, with a look at the first* company I collected when we got into FOW, a Panzergrenadier Company from the 9. SS-Panzer Division.

First off, a bit of background on my choice. The first thing to decide upon was the nationality... This was pretty easy, I've always been a big fan of German machinery in WWII, from their uniforms to their tanks and planes. I'm sure there's heaps of guys out there like me who built model Tiger tanks as a child/teenager, as I'm sure there are more model Tiger tanks in the world than the real thing! ha. Also helping my decision to take Germans was my regular opponents were all taking Allied armies. So, decision made, too easy, on to choosing the actual list to use.

We all decided, strangely, to build infantry companies. Being an avid reader of the FOW Forum, I was aware that newbie's would be better off with tank companies, as its easier to get to grips with the rules and game mechanics. But still, we all decided we wanted the true workhorses of the war to start with, the Poor Bloody Infantry.

Panzer-Grenadier Division Großdeutschland

Hi folks, Griddon here.

This is to be the very first post detailing the development of my German Late War Flames of War army. It starts with a discussion about the list in this post, but in the coming weeks and months i'll be putting a lot of effort into documenting how I go about pretty much everything in the process of concept to table top.

Firstly I will say this. The list wont win tournaments. It isn't designed to. The list is a step in the process of getting a good selection of Germans painted and available and should be fun to play in casual games. This list is an elite four platoon list that will be cheap and easy to get ready and gaming with.

I have chosen to represent the Panzer-Grenadier Division Großdeutschland on the Eastern front around 1944. These guys were known to be really quite well equipped. Infact this was one of the reasons I picked them. In my very first list I had a squad of armoured Panzergrenadiers. During late war, it was actually quite rare for Panzergrenadiers to be issued with halftracks so finding a regiment that definitely did receive them was top priority.

And a Blackwolf wandered in...

Hi, Blackwolf here, launching into a quick introduction.

I'm the "Mat" Griddon spoke of in the opening post, and its great to be involved enough in this great hobby of ours that myself and the guys feel its time to give a little back to the FOW community. I've been reading heaps of FOW blogs over the last few months, and have been captivated by just about each and every one of them. I find them quite inspiring, and will often race off in pursuit of my next painting project after reading a good article or seeing some awesome pics. I hope that we at Bunker 3030 can do the same for others, as well as entertain and inform along the way.

I'll be spewing forth a cavalcade of modeling logs, battle reports, product reviews, funny photo's, tournament news, and anything else that takes my fancy concerning FOW and WWII in general. After all, FOW is awesome, WWII is fascinating, and there's so much to see and do (and have done to me?) that there's barely enough time to see it all, and do it all (and have it all done to me!).

See ya soon, and cheers for reading.

Welcome and Introduction

Thanks for swinging by Bunker 3030!

Based out of Point Cook, Victoria in Australia, Bunker 3030 is a blog on the subjects of Flames of War (FoW) World War II miniature gaming and a lot of what that entails. We'll also be very keen to discuss topics linked to FoW including but not limited to: Movie Reviews, Hobby Articles, Battle Reports, Tournament Reviews, Product Reviews, Tactics Discussions and anything else that takes our fancy.

The three main contributors are all keen table top miniature gameing enthusiasts. The cool thing about this blog is that each of us are at a different stage of the hobby. Dave has yet to start his first army and has yet to play his first game. By comparison, Mat has played many games and owns a good number of armies. I sit in the middle. I picked up the game last year and have just finished painting my first army. I'm hooked.

Over the coming months we'll be sure to show you why FoW is such a great and addictive game.

Thanks and catch you soon.