Finished FoW Late War Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie... well, more or less!

Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie, II Battalion, 7th Company.  PANZER VOR!

Recently, my first Flames of War army hit a bit of a snag.  For some reason, no one seems to have the decals I'm desperately needing, including Battlefront!  For this reason, the army has been put on hold for a bit until they arrive. (which who knows when that will be)  the army is essentially finished, barring those decals and some weathering (I put the decals on first, then do the weathering so the decals come out weathered like the rest of the tank), so I've decided to go ahead and show it as if it is 100% completed.  Once the decals do arrive, I'll be all too eager to go ahead and get the few remaining tanks fully finished.

Just a few notes though.  First, the harsh lighting has made the pictures come out way more yellow than they are in real life.  I used Vallejo "Middlestone" for the dunkelgelb, to give you an idea of the actual colors.  (I also think the brown tray I shot the pictures on isn't helping either.)  I also need to go back in and fix the coloring on officer the caps when I manage to pick up the correct color.  Second, this is still based off my original list out of the Dogs & Devils book, as the new Italy books had not been released when I initially started the army, thus if any of the point values have changed between the two books then likewise my list will need to be altered as well.  Finally, I have yet to play a game of FoW, the list could be total garbage too for all I know!

In general, the list is:

HQ - 2x Panzer IV's + Recovery vehicle

3x Platoons of Panzer IV's, 4 tanks in each

3x StuGs

2x sdkfz 231 8-rad recon vehicles.

First up, a look at a "finished" tank versus an "unfinished" one.  The one in the front is fully finished, with all the decals and weathering done, while the back one is still needing decals and weathering.  Again, a trick someone on the net showed me was to put the decals on before doing the weathering, that way any paint chips and dirt smudges will also be reflected on the decal as it would in real life.  It just adds a bit of realism, as perfect numbers and perfect bundeswehr would look out of place against a heavily used and banged up Panzer IV!

My sdkfz 231 8-rads, also show what I mean in regards to weathering the decals...

How the dunkelgelb actually turned out on all the vehicles...

I tried to do something a bit interesting with the sdkfz 9 18t recovery vehicle.  I wanted the canvas top, but I didn't care for how the back end worked, being just a flat surface.  My idea was to try and make it appear as if you could look into the back of the truck instead of just painting the flat surface as a black void.  Since there is a window in the canvas so that people in the cab can look back I tried to reflect that letting you see what is in front of the truck through that window.  Since, I'm basing my force around the allied invasion of Italy I tried to depict a small, Italian countryside house.  As you can see, I'm not that great with 15mm freehand stuff, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.  The dunkelgelb in this picture also came out much closer to how it appears in reality. (i.e. not so bright yellow)

Gah!  So bright! =(

Again, the StuGs are not this bright in real life.  I've shown these in a previous post, and since then the only change I've made was to add in the correct Bundeswehr decal...

So, there you have it!  With the exception of 6 Panzer IV's and the recovery vehicle, my first FoW army is finished!  Not sure how long it will take me to get a hold of the missing the decals, but I'd be comfortable enough to throw this down on the tabletop as is, so I'm moving on.  Next up, I'll probably start working on Darby's Rangers force to face off against these guys.  I'll probably also start moving ahead into Bolt Action as well with a HG Panzergrenadier force as well.  Finally, I need to also build my own gaming table for my "Nerd Lair", which is my equivalent of a "Man Cave" in my basement.

PANZER VOR!