German Panzer IIc Platoon and Halftracks

This is the first of two light tank platoons for my  Leichte Pionierkompanie. Up to now I've been pushing my pioneers as regular infantry pioneers. This platoon is one of two platoons that are key to transitioning from infantry pioneers to mechanized pioneers.

The platoon is made up of five Panzer IIc (early) tanks. These are lightly armored but mount a good AT gun with a rate of fire of 3 shots per turn, amounting to an excellent amount of offensive anti-tank power as well as good machine gun capability should I face Polish infantry or cavalry horde armies, which the local FOW gaming group is fond of. These aren't going to be turning any French or British heavy tanks away, but will serve me well as close support for my pioneers. I think of them filling a similar role that Marders would in mid and late war. This platoon can also serve double duty in a Czech Panzer Company which I think I will work on since it can re-use a lot of the figures and vehicles from my Pioneer force.

I experimented with a few new techniques on these. First I used Flames of War 'War Paint' brand base paint in their 'German Armor' color. This is significantly darker than the Testors Model Master 'Panzer Grey' I've used previously. Because of this I didn't feel I needed a dark wash to bring out the panel lines. I did dry-brush lighter grey over the whole tank as usual and painted the tracks, road wheels and details as I normally would. After this I applied three different applications of Mig detailing powders: Panzer Grey Lightening, European Dust and Dark Mud (in the track areas). Matt overcoat sealed it all in and to my surprise lightened the effect of the detailing powders more than I expected. I like the effect and may actually go back and add the detailing powders to my finished armor.

These are three German halftracks that I've had on my painting table for quite a while. I haven't decided if I'll use them with one of my pioneer platoons or not, but having the Panzer II tanks on the painting table gave me an opportunity to finish them up. These were base coated using the Model Master 'Panzer Grey' spray, and detailed as I have previously done with my other vehicles. I did apply the same three Mig detailing power applications so these will give a good impression of how doing the same to my other older armor will look.

Sorry about the shoddy lighting in the photos. I usually prefer to photograph figures outdoors in natural light but winds here are gusting 30-40 mph and I was afraid they'd blow the figures off the table so I photographed them inside using incandescent light. I really need to invest in a proper photography tent.