At the start of the game, each side gets 200 points to buy tanks and armored cars as well as Bonus Attack cards if the vehicle has a radio (all the Germans have radios, many French vehicles do not). The French are defending and have the ability to deploy at secret positions known only to their side and the GM. The French forces are divided – with half of the battlefield being under the responsibility of cavalry tanks, and half under infantry tanks.
The Germans are exiting wooded areas on two congested roads heading to two bridges over a river. The German mission is to cross the board and exit the other side (and head to the English Channel) – and gain points for doing so. There are also several possible fords over the river that are minor obstacles.
The French player may also spend points to wire either one or both bridges (or none) for demolition. This status is also known only to the French side and the GM. The French side may attempt to blow a bridge at any time, but failing to blow the bridge or allowing any Germans to cross makes subsequent demolition attempts more difficult. If a bridge is blown while a vehicle is on it, that vehicle is destroyed. Any side that destroys a vehicle gets points for that action as well. As GM, I only announce who is ahead at the beginning of the turn, and I do not share the score so as to maintain a fog of war for the players and try to maintain a crew-focused battle.
Overview of the battlefield from the French side. The French deploy infantry tanks left of the second road on the left, and cavalry tanks on the right of that road. Detail of the town where most of the hidden positions are for the infantry tanks. Both infantry and cavalry had access to Panhard 178’s and H35’s.The right (French cavalry) side showing the river and the bridges. The rocks in the river were designated as fords.The German players deploy.From a hidden position, a Panhard 178 calls for anti-tank support. Using a 47 mm anti-tank support card from the Bonus Attack cards, a Panzer 35(t) is torched before getting to a bridge, while a wary Panzer IVB watches.A German Sd.Kfz. (6-rad) recon car crosses the bridge without incident. Feeling safe, the Panzer IVB tries to cross. The French had waited for a bigger target, and successfully blew the bridge with the Panzer IVB on it – destroying the Panzer IVB. In the rear, another Panzer 35(t) observes multiple burning comrades.The Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad) recons around a building and finds a SOMUA S35. The SOMUA easily kills the German scout car, but not before taking some damage from Bonus Attack card artillery.The battle heats up. The surviving Panzer 35(t) fords the river as does a Panzerjager I with another Panzer IVB behind them. The French activate the hidden Panhard, and the SOMUA S35 takes some more minor damage.The SOMUA S35 is hit by 88 fire and finally taken down by accumulated damage. The black smoke indicates that the tank is knocked out, but the crew survived. I use orange smoke to indicate that both crew and tank are destroyed. Having taken damage from the SOMUA, the last Panzer 35(t) is knocked out by a daring attack by the charging Panhard 178.
At this point the game ended, and the French had a solid victory with the score being 158-112. The French also got bonus points for no German being able to traverse the board. The Germans made a couple of unsuccessful Luftwaffe attacks which hindered them as well as the early casualties.The scenario is pretty solid and the gamers made key decisions that affected the game. I did run this scenario and three other games at TotalCon 34. I will share the results of what happened at TotalCon 34 on a future post and things went differently!.
This post marks the last of my vehicle additions for the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of France in May-June 1940. These German vehicles were completed in late January, but with my personal situation, naturally my posting and hobby activities were put on hold. Time has passed now and I want to return to a certain degree of normalcy – of course that’s not the easiest thing to do. But I’ll try – and now let’s catch up and get back to good old hobby stuff.
Basically, prior to this project I had only 11 German vehicles for the scenario, and the mix was a bit unbalanced to say the least. I had 4 Panzer IIC’s, 1 Panzer IIIE, 1 Panzerjäger I, 2 Panzer IVD’s, and 3 Sturmgeschutz A’s. Now that I have 23 French vehicles, I needed to increase the size of the available German vehicles for the scenario.
Back in May-June 1940, Panzer I’s and Panzer II’s did form a large proportion of the German armored forces in May-June 1940. As Panzer I’s have only machine guns, which are somewhat useless in a tank-on-tank game). As I have 4 Panzer IIC’s in the inventory, I decided to augment the light tanks with Panzer 35(t)’s and Panzer 38(t)’s. These were originally built for the Czechoslovakian Army, and the Wehrmacht happily incorporated these vehicles into their units – and continued building the both after the annexation. I got two metal Panzer 35(t) models (#GFV28) from QRF in the UK, and two metal and resin Panzer 38(t) models (#GE022) from Battlefront. Perhaps later on I might add a Panzer I, we’ll see.
For the medium tanks, I “assigned” (for game purposes) my two currently-painted Wargame Models in Ohio Panzer IVD’s into ausf A versions – and added B and D variants of the venerable Panzer IV with Zvezda models (SKU #ZD35 or #6151 for each box) from The Plastic Soldier Company. PSC has a reasonable deal for a platoon of 5 so I grabbed those. I already have one Panzer IIIE model for France 1940, and decided that was enough of those (for now anyways).
Lastly, similar to what I did with the French Panhard 178’s , I added 2 Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad) armored cars (#GE320) from Battlefront. I know that the 8-wheeled versions were available and used in May 1940. However, at the time the 6-wheel 231’s were being phased out in favor of the 8-wheeled versions – and I thought having the older ones would give a better feel to the scenario. By building these models and converting the ones mentioned, I now have 23 vehicles available for both sides to choose. I will go through a bit of a WIP with each type – as I did experiment a bit with contrast paints on them – to a bit of frustration which I will share. I’ll also show the Bonus Attack Cards, some eye-candy shots, references, and list of paints for those interested.
General Assembly
The QRF Panzer 35(t) models were all metal, the Battlefront Panzer 38(t) and Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad) models were metal and resin, and the Zvezda Panzer IV’s were plastic. I cleaned and prepped them all prior to assembly and painting, to include magnetizing the turrets. Some green stuff reinforcement and repair was needed. My overall goal was to have vehicles that were more grey and less dark than my previous German vehicles for 1940. The dark colors were also historically correct – I just wanted a bit more variety in the collection that was also historically correct.
The 11 models for this project in their packaging.The Panzer 38(t) models and the Panzer 35(t) models assembled.All of the 11 models are here assembled.I always prime and base coat the tank bottoms first – they are affixed to small plastic plates with poster tack.
The painting process was a bit different for me this time. I basically did this sequence with all 11 vehicles. I wanted to test out the contrast paints, so I decided to try the “Space Wolves Grey” contrast paint over Vallejo “German Panzer Grey” primer – and the chassis were nearly purple.
My Panzer 35(t) model looking a bit too purple for my tastes.
I then went back and dry brushed them with Vallejo “White” primer, then used “Apothecary White” contrast paint and dry brushed with a few more grays and added some shading (see the list at the end of this post).
After redoing with a dry brush of white, added “Apothecary White” as seen with these turrets.ionI shaded these, and more dry brushing, followed by decals. Here are some turrets looking better!Here is a Panzer IV chassis before weathering.
For weathering, I used Vallejo pigments – a combination/blend of two pigments on these with a makeup brush for dusting effect.
Weathering this Panzer 35(t)
Then I varnished the tanks with Vallejo Mecha Color “Matt Varnish”. Now, let’s look at each type in brief.
Panzer 35(t)
These were originally built by Skoda. The (t) stands for the German word for Czech, which is tschechisch. The Germans had 244 of these after the annexation, and used them in both the invasion of Poland and of France. Around 132 were involved in the Battle of France, and they served in the Wehrmacht through the invasion of the USSR until the summer of 1941. By that time, there were no more spare parts being made, was performing badly in the cold, and it was badly obsolete. Some were then converted to other uses, and some sold to Romania.
The Panzer 35(t) had a reasonably good (for 1940) 37 mm gun capable of penetrating 30 mm of armor. It was a light tank, and had maximum frontal armor of 25 mm, with 15-16 mm on the side, 15-19 mm on the rear, and 8 mm on the top. This allowed better speed and greater range than most French contemporaries, with a top speed of 21 mph and a range of 120 miles from its 120 hp 4-cylinder engine. The chassis armor was riveted together. It did have a radio.
Front of Panzer 35(t).
Panzer 35(t) right side.
Panzer 35(t) rear view.
Both Panzer 35(t) models.
Panzer 35(t) models (left side).
Both Panzer 35(t) models (rear view).
Panzer 38(t)
The Panzer 38(t) was another Czech “acquisition” as it were. It was designed and built by CKD. Over the course of the war, the Germans had over 1,400 – of which only about a hundred were used in France.
The Panzer 38(t) had a better 37 mm gun than the Panzer 35(t). That gun was capable of penetrating 36-59 mm of armor. It also was a light tank, with a (in 1940) maximum frontal armor of 30 mm. It also had much better speed and greater range than most French (and some German) contemporaries, with a top speed of 26 mph and a range of 160 miles from its 123.3 hp 6-cylinder engine. The chassis armor was riveted together, and the tank had a radio. The tank itself was used by the Germans until 1942, and the chassis was reused for many other vehicles, notably the Grille and the Hetzer, as well as being exported to Sweden (who also built them under license), Slovakia, Romania, and even Peru. Peru also had acquired some from Czechoslovakia and used them in combat in South America versus Ecuador in 1941 in the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War as well as 50 years later against the Shining Path insurgents.
Panzer 38(t) turrets late in project
Panzer 38(t) chassis – I was happy with this shade of grey.
Both Panzer 38(t) models, rear view.
Both Panzer 38(t) models, front.
Both Panzer 38(t) models, front left side.
Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad)
Most modelers and WWII gamers know the Sd.Kfz. 231 8-wheeled version but the 6-wheeled (“6-rad”) version preceded it. Over 900 were built from 1932-1937. The Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad) and the 8-wheeled versions were both known as Schwerer Panzerspähwagen (heavy armored reconnaissance vehicle). The acronym Sd.Kfz. stood for Sonderkraftfahrzeug (special purpose vehicle). The Sd.Kfz. 231 had the same automatic 20 mm gun as the Panzer II, so it had some anti-tank capability (able to penetrate 40 mm at 100 meters and 23 mm at 500 meters). Like the Panhard 178, it could be driven either forwards or backwards with redundant driver positions. Armor was thin (8-15 mm) but it could get up to 53 mph. They served in the Wehrmacht up until the early stages of the invasion of the USSR.
The models did have some QC issues – notably big pieces of resin were missing on fenders and on the rear spare tire. I fixed these with green stuff. These will serve the Germans as (of course) reconnaissance vehicles for my 1940 scenario.
Poor molding on rear of cars
My repairs with green stuff
Repairs of car close up
Rear shot of Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad).
Frontal shot of Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad).
Sd.Kfz. 231 (6-rad) right sides.
Panzer IVB and Panzer IVD
The Panzer IV is iconic and was ubiquitous in WWII in Europe and North Africa. My goal for the game scenario was to have A, B, and D models, all of which participated in the Battle of France. The Germans made only 35 A’s, which had less armor (only 14.5 mm on the front!) than the B’s and D’s (30 mm on the front) and a less powerful engine (247 hp) making it only capable of 19 mph. The B’s and D’s had a 296 hp engine, and more armor, and were faster (26 mph). The Germans made 42 B models and 248 D models. There was a C model, but that did not have a hull-mounted machine gun like the B’s and D’s, so I opted not to build these as C’s (140 C’s were made). All had the short 75 mm gun.
I designated 3 of the Zvezda models as B’s and 2 as D’s. In the game, they have the same stats – and are almost identical anyways. I did use white numbers for the B’s and red numbers for the D’s.
Panzer IVD assembled and mounted for priming.
Panzer IV B chassis later on before weathering added.Panzer IVD completed.
Rear view of the Panzer IVB’s.
Frontal View of the Panzer IVB’s.
Panzer IVB’s moving out.
Panzer IVD’s, rear view.
Side view of D models.
Frontal view, Panzer IVD’s.
Bonus Attack Cards
In my scenario, each side starts at 200 points and must use points to buy vehicles and other combat items. I added Bonus Attack cards, which were optional 5-point purchases apiece for each side. I allow reconnaissance vehicles to buy and have up to two at a time, and others one. The caveat is that your vehicle must have a radio! So the French FT-17, FCM 36, R35, and H35 tanks cannot get these cards. Additionally, there are two bridges that the French player can choose to wire for demolition – at a cost of 20 points each. The river does have fords, but obviously that slows the Germans down. The French player can wire two, one, or no bridges for demolition. Only the French players and the GM know what has been done, and I allow them to try to blow the bridges at any time. The attempts may fail, or they may drop a German tank into the river. Each crossing German vehicle and each failed attempt makes the demolition more difficult. I also added “dummy explosion cards” (with an exploding dummy on it) so that the French player can keep the Germans unsure whether the bridges were wired for demolition or not. The Germans get the Luftwaffe here – and the French Air Force does not show up.
You can see the cards below – the players buy these and get random results:
And finally, a couple of group shots in front of an old Maginot Line fort:
I am repeating my reference section below for those interested.
References
Throughout this project I have used many of the books that I have as references – here are some I have used and strongly recommend. I do not get paid by anyone to recommend these, but I am sharing the links if you want to get them. I did study with BG Robert Doughty at West Point over 35 years ago – and he did give me my copy of the B.T. White book in 1984 – that I still have and used many times. There are certainly other books, but these I recommend. I will be using these in my next phase with my German tank additions.
For history of the conflict I recommend buying:
Doughty, Robert A. (1985). The Seeds of Disaster: the development of French Army Doctrine 1919-1939. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole books. (available at Amazon here)
Doughty, Robert A. (1990). The Breaking Point: Sedan and the Fall of France, 1940. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole books. (available at Amazon here)
Horne, Alistair. (1969, 1990). To Lose a Battle: France 1940. London: Penguin books. (available at Amazon here)
For modelers and gamers interested in the vehicles’ look and history:
Forty, G. and Livesey, J. (2017). The World Encyclopedia of Tanks & Armoured Fighting Vehicles. London: Lorenz Books. (available at Amazon here)
Jackson, R. (2009). Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles Visual Encyclopedia in color. London: Amber Books. (available at Amazon here)
Restayn, Jean. (2007). World War II Tank Encyclopedia in color 1939-1945. Paris: HISTOIRE & COLLECTIONS. (available at Amazon here)
Smithsonian Enterprises. (2017). Tank: the Definitive Visual History of Armored Vehicles. New York, NY: Penguin Random House. (available at Amazon here)
White, B.T. (1972). Tanks and other A.F.V.s of the Blitzkrieg Era 1939 to 1941. Dorset: Blandford Press. (available at Amazon here)
Zaloga, S. (2014). French Tanks of World War II (1): Infantry and Battle Tanks. New York, NY: Osprey. (available at Amazon here)
Zaloga, S. (2014). French Tanks of World War II (2): Cavalry Tanks and AFVs. New York, NY: Osprey. (available at Amazon here)
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE USED ON THESE VEHICLES:
Microscale Liquid Decal Film
1/8″ neodymium magnets
Green stuff (kneadatite)
Gorilla Glue
Poster tack and plastic plates
Vallejo “Surface Primer – German Panzer Grey”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Space Wolves Grey”
Vallejo “Surface Primer – White Primer”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
Vallejo “German Grey”
Vallejo “Neutral Grey”
Battlefront “Dark Gunmetal”
Battlefront “Oxide Red”
Citadel “Typhus Corrosion”
Citadel “Ryza Rust”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (shade)
Vallejo Model Weathering “Dark Rust Wash”
Vallejo Model Air “Gloss Varnish”
Microscale Micro-Set
Microscale Micro-Sol
Appropriate decals from Battlefront
Vallejo “Light Sienna” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
Thanks for looking – please let me know your thoughts and feedback!
During the Battle of France (May-June 1940), there was an amazing variety of vehicles on both the German and the French sides. At this same time last year, I began putting together a collection of period 15mm/1:100 scale vehicles for this period. These were discussed here. I have previously posted about a couple of games (December 2018 and January 2019) that I ran using the What a Tanker™ rules from the UK’s Too Fat Lardies. I have been hoping to return to this period and add more vehicles to both armies. I am starting this augmentation by adding 3 FCM 36 light tanks to my fleet.
The FCM stands for Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, a shipbuilder in Toulon who manufactured this 1936 design – and delivered about 100 to the French Army up through 1938. Cost and industrial manufacturing concerns limited further purchases. They were a little more than 12 tons, with a crew of two. The armor was fairly good – welded, and very sloped for tanks of the day. It also had a diesel engine and reasonable range unlike many other contemporary French tanks. However, like many other French tanks, it was armed with the weak Puteaux SA 18 37mm gun which definitely had challenges fighting German armor. Notably, two battalions of FCM 36’s tried to repel the bridgehead that the Heinz Guderian had established across the Meuse, but they were too little and too late. After the surrender of France, some of the FCM 36 chassis were converted to Marder I’s or self-propelled artillery. Some of these conversions were involved in the Normandy Campaign of 1944. Today, only one FCM 36 survives at Saumur.
I thought these would be a good addition to my French early-war tank collection. In What a Tanker™, these are the cheapest tanks to buy point-wise. The only source I found for these models was Old Glory. They are metal, and quite small of course.
The 3 FCM 36’s in the baggie.I did need to do a bit of filing and cleanup of extraneous molding material and molding lines as you see here. Yes, these are small!The turrets had a small molded pin for mounting on the molded hole on the chassis. I needed to slightly elevate the turret or the underlying paint on the chassis would be worn off, even with a good varnishing. I decided to drill out the pins and the holes with a 1/8″ drill bit. I then used green stuff to fill in underneath the hollow chassis between the tracks and provide a “floor” for the magnets. The magnets were put in place with Gorilla Glue in the chassis and the turrets.You can see here my hodge-podge mounting scheme of the FCM 36’s for painting. I used a 1/4″ square dowel and poster tack to mount the chassis for painting. I primed these, and the used a German green-brown as a base coat. This shot here is after the first camouflage color (blue green) was applied with my Iwata Micron airbrush. Also, I only put the turrets on a tank when I am painting camouflage patterns.Next, I applied the third color (brown) to the camouflage pattern.When I paint turrets, I find this helpful (as the magnets in the turrets hold the turrets to the magnets on the washers). Also, I can easily apply the decals this way, and airbrush on the final two coats of matte varnish.
Lastly, I thought I’d share some group and individual shots and a bit about their debut on the tabletop the day after they were completed.
Top view showing the sloped octagonal turrets.
Left side of the FCM 36’s.Frontal view.
I used a blue diamond, a red heart, and a red club as decals which would also help identify these as different individual tanks on the tabletop. From my research, FCM’s did not seem to have as many markings historically as other French tanks.
As stated above, these made their game debut this weekend at the December session of the Mass Pikemen Gaming Club.
My buddy Mike Morgan was on the French side, and chose the blue diamond FCM 36 as his tank. He then rolled a perfect roll of 6 sixes! The odds on that were 0.01286%!Mike’s FCM 36 moves on the road.His FCM 36 was stalked by a StuG A (player Chris), which kept missing it.Mike successfully maneuvered his tank to the German’s side, and shot point blank. The dice deserted him as the StuG A took only minor damage.Smelling an easy kill, the Germans (Chris’s teammate Christine) brought up a second StuG A in the hunt. It also missed the FCM 36. Note – as there were only 15 StuG A’s in the German invasion force across France, this would have been highly unlikely!Then the Germans brought up even more to the hunt with a Panzer IIIE…And Mike’s plucky FCM 36’s luck finally wore out with the Panzer IIIE (Christine) knocking it out.
On the other side of the table, Mike’s teammate Tom managed to kill Christine’s Panzer 38(t) with a SOMUA S-35. Mike got another FCM 36, and that was killed by Christine’s teammate Chris’s StuG A (in the shot below on the left). Mike replaced his lost tank with an R35. Tom drove his SOMUA around the building but frustratingly could not take a point-blank shot at the Panzer IIIE (as his dice roll failed him). Mike had to leave, and my wife Lynn (no gamer just watching) took over the R35. Lynn drove the tank to the side of Christine’s Panzer IIIE, and rolled three critical hits – and Christine failed to block any. This knocked out the Panzer IIIE!
Lynn’s R35 avenges the burning FCM 36 (on right) by knocking out the Panzer IIIE.Happy wife, happy life! Tom and Lynn are all smiles here.In a final act, Christine maneuvered her remaining StuG A for a rear shot on Tom’s SOMUA S-35. She successfully knocked out the SOMUA.
That ended the game, with the French winning a very narrow victory 32-31. If Lynn had not rolled so well in killing the Panzer IIIE, the Germans would have won. Thanks to the players for a great and fun game!
I have plans for more French and German tanks for this scenario. I hope that you enjoyed this post, and feel free to share your thoughts and feedback with me in the comments section! I have been behind on my blogging efforts and hope that I can share more with you soon! Thanks for taking a look!
