Walmington on Bromley End, Bloodford - Homes for the Home Guard

As I slowly move through my lead pile of things Home Guard related, the realization set in that I would need terrain and a fair bit of it if I wanted to replicate Dad's Army, Went the Day Well or The Eagle Has Landed. I toyed with making up buildings out of foam core and other materials but practically, that wasn't a realistic option. With some Christmas money in hand, I went shopping. There are many good manufacturers out there with some very nice products in 28mm / 1/56. Some of the resin offerings were beautiful but expensive, and for many companies, their UK styled offerings were focused on terraced housing.

I decided to go with Sarissa primarily because of their very generous shipping terms and because they ship Royal Mail. (As mentioned in a previous post, courier companies like to gouge Canadians for customs fees). The order was placed and a few weeks later, my order arrived in my mailbox. It came in two separate packages, both properly marked as to contents and value and with no import fees payable - a double bonus.

First up is the L016 Stone Cottage.  This is  a pretty little kit with double walls allowing for the outer wall to lean in - see below and for prototypically thick windows and doors. The interior fireplace and flagged floor was an unexpected add on. A reasonable amount of stone detail is laser etched into the MDF but the effect was still too flat for my liking. At various points in the assembly, I used my Dremel tool to deepen the lines and add more texture. The material used by Sarissa is thick enough and robust enough that I was able to significantly improve the appearance especially around the chimney. I used a very small ball cutter to deepen the lines, followed by a grinding point to round the edges and a wire wheel to soften the effect over all. As always when working on MDF, proper breathing  protection against the dust is a must.

Godwin's Cottage

End view

Next is the N005 Small Shop. A basic two level building with removable roof and first floor, it is a great addition to the high street.

Sinistre and Sons Dry Goods

 The astute among you will notice that the front door and and window are reversed compared to the official version shown in the link above. This was intentional. Sarissa uses several standard sized components across different models in their ranges. On opening the shop flat pack, I was delighted to see that it included a wall section with a rather pretty arched door and window. Rather than use this at the back of the shop, I swapped it out with a standard wall and window section from the one of  the single story houses below. To keep the front and back doors in opposing corners, I reversed the shop window and put the door on the left. I like that the  replacement wall gives a barred window effect for what would be the shop stock room.

Anti-theft protection around the back

Which brings us to a pair of  N021 Single Story Houses. First is the stock version:

Foxglove Cottage

A simple little building that will make a good hiding place for a Vickers or an angry housewife with a brace of Molotovs. And the modified version:

The Irises

Swapping the walls gives me two versions of the same building while breaking up some of the same-iness common to MDF structures.

Last of the buildings is the N009 Small House. Another functional building that will blend in on the high street or act alone as a larger farmhouse.

Biggles' Farm

The last piece from Sarissa is the N048 Stone Bridge - Double Arch shown here with a Die Waffenkammer Neubaufahrzeug on its way to put the jackboot to an unsuspecting bucolic English village.

Bloodnok Bridge

It comes in several versions with up to three arches. I went with the double arch version for maximum flexibility. The ends and middle seem to be very stable as is, but I may add rare earth magnets to lock them together if required.  Size wise it is probably a little over scale width, but that is a positive for us wargamers.

With Warlord Sherman

The Sarissa products are quite a bit smaller than my Charlie Foxtrot pub but I don't think that will be a problem. The pub is a large piece for any table.

The Pub Next Door

 Laid out, I think I now have enough buildings for a rather exciting urban fight.

We are the only Germans in the Village!

Overall, I am happy with the results. The price was good and I was able to get some extra variety out of my purchase. There is a lot more work to do on painting, finishing and the roofs, but they're fine for play testing scenarios as is.

The Mighty PzKpfw Neubaufahrzeug V and VI for CoC!

Note: This is a re-post from the Lardie's Forum. I haven't posted here in awhile so I thought I would leverage it I mean share with you. ;)

A large portion of British Home Guard training was focussed on improvised anti-armour tactics. So naturally I needed to pick up some armour for the invading Jerries. To be accurate, this should be a Panzer II, III or IV or perhaps a 38-T or Stug III A at best. But ... none of those really fit into the British propaganda of the period which had fire spitting iron behemoths stomping their way through bucolic English villages (only to be cut down by the local green grocer and postman of course). I wanted something more epic, more menacing.

As it happens Die Waffenkammer does a rather nice resin kit of the Neubaufahrzeug and in Canadian terms at least they are "just up the road" from me so I ordered one (you can too at:  http://www.diewaffenkammer.com/_germany_page_no3.html)  All their stuff is lovely.

This vehicle was designed in the 30s and came in two versions the Rheinmetall designed PzKpfw NbFz V and the Krupp built PzKpfw NbFz VI. The only differences between them was that the two Rheinmetall vehicles had a 75mm L24 and 37mm L45 in the turret in an over under configuration and were made of mild steel, while the three Krupp vehicles had the same armament in a side by side configuration and were made from proper armour plate. Like many designs of the period they had two sub-turrets one each fore and aft. These were modified Panzer I turrets with only 1 MG each. Top speed was 30 Km/h and armour was no thicker than 20mm.  A planned, but never built, variant of the Krupp turret was to have a 105mm low velocity gun for throwing smoke.

The Krupp machines saw propaganda service in Norway, masquerading as heavy tanks. In actual action against the British also in Norway, one was lost when it became bogged down. A Rheinmetall machine was sent to replace it.  As the war progressed after the invasion of Norway, they disappeared into the scrapheap though at least once source says they were used in Russia.

But what does this mean in CoC terms?

Using the latest coculator, and I am very open to corrections, gives:

Rheinmetall PzKpfw NbFz V / Krupp PzKpfw NbFz VI. 
Historical 75mm & 37mm and projected with 105mm & 37mm

Armour: 3 Krupp, 1 Rheinmetall

HE: 6 (10 for projected Krupp 105mm)
AP: 5
Turreted hull and Coax MG
Extra turreted hull  MG
Slow

Support list: 4 (75mm) or 5 (105mm)
Special rules: Only one of two the turret guns or the co-ax mg can be fired using one command initiative. The sub-turrets count as hull mounted MGs. One can fire per command initiative, with the option to also fire by using a separate command dice of 1.  105mm equipped vehicles can fire smoke direct.

Panzer fans will notice that apart from the extra MG turret (and the 105mm variant), these stats are pretty much the same as those for an early model Panzer IV. I suspect this explains why they never went into serious production.

Now since these served as propaganda machines, below is my take on what Herr Goebbels would have liked the allies to think they were:

Neubaufahrzeug Propaganda Panzer - Heavy Tank
Armour: 6
HE: 10
AP: 5
Regular speed
The rest as above
Support list: 6

While the Neubaufahrzeug doesn't add much to the game in pure stats terms, imagine the look on your opponent's face when you say you have bought an entirely historical Panzer VI support for a 1940 battle. ;)

Sources:
German Armoured Rarities 1935-1945 - Michael Sowodny.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neubaufahrzeug
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/leichte-traktor-grosstraktor-i-ii-iii-neubaufahrzeug-pzkpfw-v-vi.htm