Painting 20mm 1940 French

And so the pile of grey resin printed shame must be addressed...

First thing was clearing my painting desk (which is why my missus calls me "Captain Chaos") and just having the paints and brushes I need in front of me.

There are a few colour photos taken in Dunkirk by a German photographer Weper Hermann of 13 German Mobile Assault Unit that included French troops here, here and here. Given the passage of time, these give the uniforms quite a brown tinge, and I also noticed different colour belts and boots too. I will try and add in this variety to the squad.

I am going to focus on the core infantry platoon first, so three squads, V-B squad and senior leaders.

Starting out, I base the figures on 20mm metal washers (that will stick to a magnetic sheet) and supplement with a magnet that fits int he base to increase magnetic stickiness (that's a word I think?).

Next undercoating using Vallejo Grey Primer and applying it with a cheap Temu airbrush that is just about up to the job. I prefer a lighter primer as it makes the resulting paint job brighter on the table top.

Sonic Sledgehammer video is the basis of what I am attempting to do, I like using washes but not in a speed painter style and this one looks pretty much perfect.

So what follows is from Sonic's video with a few tweaks by me to totally convert the paints used to Vallejo:

• Undercoat with 70.601 Vallejo Grey Primer.
• Paint uniform with 70.921 English Uniform and then a very heavy dry-brush with 70.879 Green Brown.
• Paint the skin using 70.815 Basic Skin Tone and then apply two washes of ArmyPainter Quickshade Flesh Wash to bring it to life.
• Main backpack 70.824 German Camouflage Orange Ochre.
• Leather belt, ammo pouches and belt chest 'suspenders' in 70.846 Mahogany Brown plus edges of backpack leathery bits also the chin strap.
• Small bags, water bottle and strap across the chest in 70.821 German Camo Beige
• Rifle woodwork with 70.875 Beige Brown.
• Boots with 70.984 Flat Brown or 70.875 Beige Brown or 70.846 Mahogany Brown.
• Adrian Helmet with 70.888 Olive Grey
• Rifle metalwork base with 70.862 Black Grey.
• Buttons with 70.863 Gunmetal Grey.

At this point all the dull stuff is done and time to feel that your figure doesn't look like a two year old has painted it - the magic of washes!

Give it a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone all over thinned with a drop of Vallejo 71.361 Airbrush Thinner. I usually do a couple of washes as sometimes just one wash isn't strong enough for my liking. 

Figure with all basic colours applied and first washes completed

Suddenly the figure looks like something you would be happy to put on the table! Now to sex it up a little.

Now on to the highlighting (usually a 2 stage process with the original colour and then additional highlight):

• Highlight the uniform with first 70.879 Green Brown with a drop of Airbursh thinner, and then highlight with 70.988 Khaki.
• Now highlight main backpack with 70.824 German Camouflage Orange Ochre and then 70.847 Dark Sand.
• Highlight the leather belt, straps and backpack edging with 70.846 Mahogany Brown land then with 70.818 Red Leather.
• Pick out the rifle metalwork with 70.863 Gunmetal Grey.
• Highlight flesh with 70.815 Basic Skin Tone.
• Highlight small bags, water bottle and strap across the chest with 70.821 German Camo Beige.
• Highlight helmet with 70.888 Olive Grey and then 70.922 Uniform Green. Pick out the helmet rims with 70.863 Gunmetal Grey if you wish in a few places.
• Highlight rifle woodwork with 70.843 Cork Brown.
  

I must say I am pretty pleased with the result, and so a few pictures of the first squad...

Hope you have found this painting guide helpful and I am off to get a better camera and learn how lighting works...

3D Printing for 20mm Chain of Command

With my platoon STLs sourced the next step is to resize, sort out supports and determine resin settings - which anyone who has used a 3D printer will know may well turn out not to be a walk in the park.

My 3D printer is Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S printer which works for me as I have limited space on my desk. It has a relatively small plate as a result but produces excellent prints. I will be using Elegoo 8K Space Grey resin which I find to be a good balance of flexibility, resolution and of course, price.

When resizing STLs I have found that some are more "heroic 28mm" than 28mm but I start with a 78% reduction and then compare to see if a further reduction is needed. With Colonel Muller's files a simple 78% is perfect.

I use LycheeSlicer to batch resize to 78%, repair where needed and add supports. This is where the resizing of files presents the first challenges: rifles and AT gun barrels can get very thin and I faced a challenge with the edges of some of the French helmets which would get damaged when removing supports after printing. 

The fiddly supports on the back of French helmets

Overview of typical supports

I am printing at 0.025mm, so quite high resolution and near the maximum of the printer. As mentioned I support in Lychee, export to Chitubox and then create the print file.

After a lengthy printing (due to the resolution) and cleaning, I let them dry for a day and then a dip in very hot water before very careful support removal.

And voila!

A finished print in 20mm

Updating Blitzkrieg 1940 Vehicles to CoC 2

With the advent of the excellent Chain of Command 2 it introduced some new vehicle aspects to the game - turret speed and smoke generation. As the core rulebook is very much focussed on the late war with its Army Lists it now leaves the Blitzkrieg 1940 players with questions about these new aspects and if they are applicable to vehicles in the relevant Master Arsenal lists. 

These questions have come up in my playing of this period and this article covers our House Rules to bridge the gap.

Here are my thoughts on the Blitzkrieg 1940 supplement and how those new vehicle aspects could be applied - I do not claim to be an expert but I have carried out internet research as much as i can to try and back up my suggestions. 

Note: I am marking the general assumption that all turret speeds are "Average" unless otherwise noted - while the rotation speed can often be found through research, the cut off of when that becomes slow is a mystery wrapped up in an enigma to me.

Belgium

Captured Carden Loyd in 1940 with open top

Image: www.armedconflicts.com

Smoke

Belgian vehicles did not deploy smoke on their T13/T15 and the AGC-1 is a French pattern tank that also didn't use smoke. Sadly no smoky fun for the Belgians.

Turrets and Notes

The wonderfully bizarre Carden Loyd MK VI with FRC 47mm was only able to have a 10 degree traverse so its turret would be "Fixed". I would also add the attribute "Open Body" to this vehicle as can be seen here where destroyed or captured Carden Loyd's can be seen with no top armour. 

The rear facing gun on a T-13 B1/B2 had a limited 120 degree rotation with it's armoured plates up, 360 degrees if these were dropped (and I would suggest a corresponding drop in vehicle armour to 1 whilst deployed like that).

Gun Shields

The 47mm FRC M1931 was equipped with a gun shield.

The Netherlands

7- veld 75mm Field Gun
Peeters Ben, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Smoke

The vast armada of impressive, powerful and numerous Dutch armour did not avail itself of any smoke (to be fair it didn't avail itself of any armour either...).

Turrets and Notes

I would suggest adding the attribute "Open Body" to Carden Loyd MG Carrier.

Gun Shields

The 7-veld 75mm Field Gun, although ancient, did have a gun shield.

Britain

Vickers Light Tank Mk.VIB

Image: IWM (MH 3585)

Smoke

At last we get to some smoke capabilities that were present in the Early War period. As per the inter-war period and British tank development it is mostly the "infantry" tanks that have smoke capability and the faster "cruiser" tanks didn't. These "infantry" tanks could use their smoke to assist the accompanying foot troops in their movement on the battlefield.

The Vickers Mk VIB, Vickers Mk VIC, A11 Matilda I and A12 Matilda II all had forward facing smoke mortars.

The Morris CS9 Armoured Car was also equipped with a smoke bomb thrower (that little tube centred on the turret).

Turrets and Notes

I would suggest adding the attribute "Open Body" to Bren/Scout Carrier.

Gun Shields

Both the "1 Pounder" and "2 Pounder" both have gun shields.

Germany

Panzer III
User:Fat yankey, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Smoke

The German approach to the use of smoke evolved during the war. In the later war there was an assessment of German use of smoke by American Military Intelligence Service:

"Smoke shells are fired from the 75-mm guns of the Pz. Kpfw. IV's [1], and also, it is reported, from 88-mm guns on other armored vehicles. Smoke shells are not fired by the Pz. Kpfw. II [2] or the Pz. Kpfw. III [3], both of which are equipped to discharge "smoke pots" with a range of approximately 50 yards. These pots are released electrically, and are employed chiefly to permit the tank to escape when caught by antitank fire."

Smoke-Shell Tactics Used by German Tanks" from Intelligence Bulletin, Aug. 1944 

The German use of smoke was markedly different, it was not to assist or support infantry, rather a defensive cover to use for tactical withdrawal.

In the early war, tanks did not have forward facing smoke grenade launchers, instead they had Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung (N.K.A.V.), a rear mounted grenade dispenser used to disperse up to five Schnellnebelkerze 39 smoke grenades when the commander activated them from the turret. It was succeeded from about 1942 onwards by the turret mounted Nebelwurfgerät launcher.

In game terms I would suggest this means the tank (as per 15.3 Vehicles Deploying Smoke), when deploying smoke the player places a 6” wide by 3” deep area of smoke directly behind the vehicle (and not 6” in front).

Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung were equipped on:

• Panzer I A-B
• Panzer II A-C
• Panzer III A-C
• Panzer IV B-C. 

Turrets and Notes

Other amendments to vehicle characteristics would be:

• Adding "Low Profile" to Stug IIIA
• Adding "Open Body" to Kfz 13, SdKfz 221, SdKfz 222 
• Adding "Low Profile, Open Body" to SdKfz 250/1B 

Gun Shields

The Pak 35 3.7cm, IeIG 18 7.5mm Infantry Gun and sIG 33 15cm Infantry Gun all had gun shields.

France

French Armoured Fighting Vehicles Image: IWM (MH 8513)

Smoke

France and the use of smoke don't mix - I could not find evidence of smoke use in any French AFV.

Turrets and Notes

To reflect the rather adhoc nature of the Laffly W15 TCC and Laffly SA-34 TCC I would suggest adding the following attributes:

• Laffly W15 TCC:  Slow turret with a a limited 60° rear facing gun traverse and "Open Body"
• Laffly SA-34 TCC:  Slow turret with a a limited 60° forward facing gun traverse and "Open Body"

Additionally I would add the note of "Radio" to the best AFV the French have (IMHO) - the Panhard 178.

Gun Shields

The Canon de 25mm L/72, Canon de 47mm L53 and Canon de 75mm M1897 all have gun shields.

And so ends my exploration of sprinkling some version 2 over Blitzkrieg 1940 support options. Thoughts and feedback appreciated.