Guns

The view from above.

Observers placed to the side so they can see the fall of shot.

Ammo storage to the rear to protect it from direct fire and to protect the guns if it gets hit by indirect fire.

Ammo handlers.

The gun commanders insure proper target selection.

Defensive Line

German anti-tank guns form a defensive line.

In the hasty defense in the Russian steppes there is not much opportunity for concealment.

When responding to a surprise attack there is little time to do more than set up the guns.

And pull back the prime movers.

The supplies are ready in case the battle goes on for a while.

Now the waiting begins.

ATG

Plastic Soldier Company 5.0 cm ATG with crew.

I like at least one crewman for each 10mm gun size.

So five men is not quite enough, but I count the driver of the prime mover too.

Some supplies, and a small base from Zvezda.

Makes for a nice ammo dump for the gun platoon.

WWII German 5.0 cm Anti-Tank Gun

I got the Plastic Soldier German Pak38, German 50mm anti-tank gun in 1/72nd scale.

The best thing about the Plastic Soldier guns is not merely the crews, but he accessories.

This is a perfect wargame gun.  Plastic so it is not heavy, even if you have a bunch of them.

Parts are detailed but still plenty strong for those ham-fisted wargamers.

Goes together easily with regular model glue.

A good fast build.

Painting

When painting figures I often use white spray primer.

Line up the figures and spray outside, downwind.

I have a tray on top of a stool, so I can turn the tray around as I paint.

The paint must cover the yellow helmet, the white base and grey body.

The figures should be a uniform color.

Troops

Germans ready for painting.

My collection has well in excess of 100,000+ so I generally only paint my troops one single color.

These guys are no exception.

These Dapol civilians are great, generic civilians for the first half of the 20th Century.

This type of simple conversion allows me to make all kinds of figures not available commercially.

Troops

The accordion is common for German troops in WWII.

Waving.

Leaning.

Lunch or ammo box?

A platoon of soldiers.

Troops

Another German with a new base.

These guys will be painted over all one color.

I am not much of a painter.

Sometimes I drill a hole at about the elbow and add a panzerfaust.

Other times they get a machine gun.

Troops

Trim down the head on the figure.

That way the helmet fits better.

Put a daub of Goo rubber cement on the head.  Then press down the helmet.

 This guy is from Ykreol, I replaced his base with a new one so he looks more like the rest of the troops.

Add a few weapons here and there.  I use those from the Fujimi German Infantry set.

People's Army

Nazi Germany finally organized nearly everyone by the last few months of the war.

I use the two Dapol civilian figures sets to represent some of these men.

Many of these were essential war workers who were enrolled to defend their local community as the war approached their factories and homes.

Often they had a hat, or a helmet, perhaps an ammo belt along with their armband to show they were members of the armed forces or armed forces auxiliaries.  

This was important because it gave them legal protections under the Geneva Conventions as lawful combatants and if captured, as POWs.