Panzer Pops (2)

These are the completed vehicles from my earlier 'Panzer Pops' post. They consist of four SdKfz 10/5 (2cm) half tracks, four PajzerJager I tank hunters, two Panzerbefehlswagen I company command tanks, two field staff cars and five Opal Blitz trucks. All of these vehicles are to be used with my Flames of War early war Leichte Pionierkompanie. These vehicles were selected mostly based on their availability more than because they were the best choices to start my escalation league force with. Nonetheless here they are, ready to be used. I'll post a followup post containing my 600-point OB in a later update.

Two I Panzerbefehlswagen command tanks. I'm not sure if it's a good choice to put your company commander in one of these if you're a mechanized infantry company, but I had the models in my 'dead lead' box so I painted them up. If I don't use them in this company I can always use them in a Leichte Panzerkompanie later. These are old-stock Battlefront models I purchased a long time ago. In game terms they're rated as half-tracked, fully armored (1 front, 1 side, 1 top) with a single hull-mounted MG for armament. Nothing to write home about, but at least they'll provide some MG support for my pioneers.

Two staff cars to provide transportation for my pioneer platoon command squads. I'm not sure of the manufacturer for these. I bought them used in a huge lot of other figures. When I got them they had no drivers and some hideous cammo paint jobs. I stripped them to bare metal, re-painted them and installed some drivers converted from figures from my dead lead box. I've gone for an all-gray paint scheme. I know Battlefront is supporting the new two-color cammo theory, but  I know all gray is valid for later in the war and going this route allows me to use these vehicles for mid-war as well as early war.

Four PanzerJager I tank hunters. Predecessor to the very successful Marder series of SP guns, the PanzerJager I mounts the very effective Czech 4.7 cm AT gun on a Panzer I chassis. I'll have to be careful using these as they're lightly armored (0 top, 0 side, 0 front) and can be taken out even by man-packed HMGs. Still they give me a solid anti-tank threat with their AT 8 rating. Also it doesn't hurt that they're very sharp looking models, and they were available. I purchased these from Adler Hobby as old stock. They are Battlefront brand models.

Four Sd Kfz 10/5 (2cm) anti-aircraft half-tracks. Armed with a 20mm AA gun these will not only provide me with anti-aircraft support, but with their rate or fire of 4 and an AT rating of 5 they also provide me with an additional anti-tank and anti-infantry option. Unfortunately the early-war version of this vehicle is not armored so is extremely vulnerable to all threads. I'm going to have to hope that ambush and storm trooper rules provide at least some protection for these. Fortunately they're very inexpensive in the points system. I'll probably be using these until the league escalates nearly to it's completion of 1750 points at which point I'll consider replacing them with either a battery of towed 88s or possibly the portee version, the Bufla bunker flak platoon. I'm still deciding on which way to go on that. These are Battlefront brand models purchased from Adler Hobby. These are mid-war models so were available as current stock.

Transportation consists of five Opal 'Blitz' trucks. These are a mix of manufacturers, including two Battlefront models and three unknown brand models from my 'dead lead' box. These will be used to provide transportation for my Pioneers and one will also represent the Pioneer supply truck. I'm considering loading the open bed truck with some crates and rolls or barbed wire to represent the supply truck, but that's a modeling task for another day. For now these are done. I'm not sure how many of these I'll need, possibly more than five. I painted up all I had on hand. I'll most likely purchase some Kfz 70 trucks to fill out the rest of what I need once they're available from Battlefront.