Friday, July 27, 2012

15mm Polish 1st Armored Division

A little over a year ago I did a trade with my friend Al.  He got some 15mm Napoleonics from me and I was to get a painted 15mm Polish 1st Armored Division force that he had bought then changed his mind on doing.  It was unpainted at the time and I was in no rush for the force because I had other armies to use and plenty of my own work to do.  Al recently finished up the force and I am very pleased.  The models are all Battlefront (except for my Typhoon air support which isn't pictured).  I really like the way they came out.  He did a great job painting them and put an "Army Painter" finish on them which looked good from the top, but for some reason no shading got captured in/on the tracks at all.  That was easily fixed...I broke out my trusty Apple Barrel "Nutmeg" and gave the vehicles a quick dry brush and then a shot of spray poly followed by Testor's Dulcote and the result is what you see below.  Thanks Al!

Command: 2 Sherman V's + Firefly
 Command Crusader AA Tanks
 3 Tank Platoons of 3 Sherman V's & 1 Firefly each
 Al used Polish 1st Armored Decals on the vehicles as seen below with the "PL" and the Division symbol.
 SPAT Platoon of 4 M10's with 17 pounder guns.
 Recce Tank Platoon of 3 Stuarts
 Motor Rifle Platoon with command MG team, 3 MG teams, 1 Piat & 1 light mortar

I may eventually add some artillery to this force, but for now I like it as it is.  I used it last weekend at a local FOW tournament for the late war period using the "Version 3 Approved" pdf on the Battlefront site. I managed to finish 3rd which isn't bad considering I had never used the army in a game prior to the tournament!  I had a chance to win it, but a poor decision on the first turn of the last game combined with my dice going cold led to me losing the last game without taking out an enemy platoon.  Oh, well...I was ecouraged by how things went with this force and I look forward to using them in a game soon.