This post was originally published on the HMGS site on October 11, 2019.
On September 21, 2019 Lard America hosted a Bridge Too Lard at Huzzah Hobbies. I have played Chain of Command a few times, Sharp Practice slightly less and What A Tanker! a whopping one time but I really enjoy the games and the people the games attract.
As I was thinking about the upcoming event I wondered about whether or not I could put on a game if need me. I quickly realized I don’t own an Allies that would be appropriate for Market Garden. I have no British at all and no US Airborne. Then it hit me that I had eight British Sherman tanks that needed painting for Toys for Tots. I reached out to the event organizer and he told me that the event could use an extra game and if I could run one it would be great.
I know very little about Market Garden so I started on some research. It appeared to me that the 11th Armored Division, The Black Bull, used Sherman tanks and fought the 107th Panzer division in some tank on tank action. Upon further research I saw that the 107th used Panthers, which I didn’t have any painted. Well I guess I needed to paint some of those up too! I figured I might as well paint up all six of the resin Panthers I had and as I was already painting German’s I might as well paint up the three StuG’s for the Open Fire! set as well. Initially I was going to borrow terrain as my 15mm buildings were all Italian but I decided in for a penny, in for a pound and decided to paint up my Total Battle Miniatures buildings that I’ve owned for just under seven years. Oh and after deciding I’d never learn I Ain’t Been Shot Mum in time for the convention I decided I’d put on What A Tanker!. Of course in order to do that I needed to learn how to play and put together game aids. Boy, that escalated quickly!
With three weeks to the event I had set myself up to paint eight 15mm British Sherman’s, three StuG’s, six Panthers and an entire village. Well if you read last weeks post you’ll know I succeeded but it was a close run thing. In fact I wasn’t able to weather the German vehicles as my three digit number decals all disintegrated in the water the Friday night before the event! Oh well. I was able to get some the next day and finish them up.
Oh and if you are keeping track this painting spree put me in the black for both 15mm vehicles AND terrain. Huzzah!
The completed British armor. Ignore the Guards unit symbols, these tanks would playing the role of the Black Bull Armored Division.
The Germans as they’d appear at the event.
The finished Germans with weathering and full decals the next day.
What a Tanker dashboards and cheat sheets freshly laminated.
With enough tape a spray can can be quite effective!
My first attempt at using oils. Dave Taylor, author of Armies & Legions & Hordes, suggested that I apply the base coat, spray it with a gloss varnish, apply oil paint, let it sit for a about twenty minutes, then wipe it off with a rag and some mineral spirits. After wiping it off I let it set up for two days before hitting it with a matte varnish to remove the shine. I really like the effect and will definitely try it again!
Base Coated.
After the oils were wiped off.
All in all I got everything done that I wanted to get done in record time. I’m still shocked that I succeeded! Funnily enough there was another What a Tanker game scheduled in the afternoon and between us we got one player signed up for my game. We decided to play my game so I ended up getting to run and play the game. The other GM had some really cool magnetic dashboards and with his experience he ended up doing most of the running of the game but I’m still counting this as being run by me!
-Wachtmeister
