(Editor's Note: After Mike Reese replied to an e-mail from someone who interested in the game that he ran at Cold Wars, he thought the information he sent would be useful to GL members, and submitted it to me for publication.)
Question: I did not make it to Cold Wars, but a few friends did and they commented on your game when they returned. Which rules did you use for your Stalingrad game?
Mike Reese: I used Arc of Fire for the Streets of Stalingrad event. I have made some minor adjustments to the rules -- the main one is the 75-76mm up to L43 now reads 75-76mm up to L42. The close range also has the armor penetration made one worse (number is 1 higher). I also used Arc of Fire for the Streets of Baghdad game run Friday night at Cold Wars.
Which figure manufacturer do you recommend for 25mm figures?
By 25mm, I think you mean 28mm. Battle Honors and West Wind do 25mm. Foundry, Black Tree Design (BTD) and most of the other manufacturers do 28mm. At least one company advertises their figures as 1/48 and they are. 1/48 is 36mm. For 28mm I would recommend the www.brigadegames.com web site for figures, and recommend the following:
- 1. Black Tree Design for U.S., Germans, Russians and British (Canadians!), except for their German Paratroop MG42 figures.
2. Crusader late war British for Canadians, as well as French and early British. Crusader also has some good German paratroops.
3. Victory Force for their U.S. Engineers, U.S. and German infantry with rifle grenade launchers, and LMG teams. They also have some good U.S. and German figures, but a limited selection. You can purchase a figure with different weapons/equipment -- the hand is attachable and you order what you want.
4. Bolt Action Figures - this is a new company. Their selection is somewhat limited, BUT the poses are good.
5. Foundry. They have the only German Cavalry available (in 3 poses), plus some really good poses. However, more expensive and harder to get.
6. Battle Honors. Some of their figures are superb, and some lousy. Late SS are good as are their French. They have some infantry heavy weapons which are good - Soviet 76.2mm Crash Boom is usable. Their French 75mm and crew is excellent. Black Tree Design also has anti-tank guns and infantry guns available. If there is a choice between the two companies - buy the BTD gun.
7. West Wind. I recommend their vehicle crews. They are small and will fit.
What do you use for vehicles?
I use a mix of vehicles.
1. Model kits in 1/48 - Bandai, Frog, Academy, some Chinese companies making moderns. Monogram even made some 1/48 in the "old days." Hard to find except on e-bay. E-bay prices are usually too high. Academy makes both modern and WW II. The Panther, Jagdpanther, Tiger II (H), and Jagdtiger are their WW II vehicles.
2. 1/43 to 1/50 softskins. Die cast by several manufacturers - Solido, Verem, Corgi these will work with the 1/48-1/50 AFV. Corgi has just released a line of AFV, all in 1/72 or 1/76 scale EXCEPT a KW and U.S. jeep. Both of these are in 1/43-1/48. Several Chinese firms also make some good stuff- Opel trucks, KW, jeeps, 3/4 ton trucks that are relatively inexpensive.
3. 1/50 die cast. Mostly AFV. Fair selection of the basic AFV. Solido, Verem, Corgi are the main manufacturers. The best ones to get are those sold without boxes, which moves them from the "Collectible" category to the toy one. Much cheaper. However, the decals are usually bad and all for the same vehicle. The paint schemes for German vehicles are getting better, Verem specializes in upgrading the Solido models. Available repainted with new decals but the cost is 3x the base vehicle. Recommend getting the base vehicle and doing your own paint job. Some models require conversion Ð specifically the German 251 half-tracks from Solido which come only in the /7 and /22 versions.
4. Gaso-Line. This company makes resin kits to modify the 1/48 AFV kits or the Solido/Verem kits, as well as full-up model kits. 76mm Sherman turrets, Whirlwind turret and 20mm quad, Brummbar upper hull and superstructure, 251/9 are some of the mod kits (for Solido 75mm Sherman, Mark IV tank, Bandai Mark IV/H, and Solido 251/7 or /22.) Some of their full-up kits includes the French P-38 armored car, Souma and Char B1bis tanks, Maus, 251/1D, 251/22, Cromwell, 150mm IG, etc.
5. Others. There are a variety of other companies also making resin/metal kits. AFAD, All Fronts Armor Depot, makes gravity cast resin Ôcopies' that won't win a modeling contest, but are usable for gaming. Reasonable prices. Always order five or less vehicles from them, as production capability is two guys pouring and assembling the pieces. Battle Honors makes metal vehicles of about the same quality as AFAD. Jeeps are pretty good, KW are not. The AFV are usable.
Sources:
www.crgrace.com has Solido, Verem, Corgi die cast military.
www.quarter-kit.com has everything.
www.hobbysurplus.com often has the odd die cast - like the STAR Opel truck, or Corgi softskins on sale.
www.brigadegames.com/ is a good source for figures and BTD or Battle Honors vehicles.
www.allfrontsarmordepot.homestead.com/
Try this site for info on AFV: http://www.scalemodelindex.com/armref.htm
homepage.mac.com/brentdietrich/decals.htm Sells 1/60-64 and 1/48 decals plus 1/48 armor. Decals look very good. He is also a source in U.S. for Gaso-line and other 1/48 kits, as well as finished models.
Back to The Herald 59 Table of Contents
Back to The Herald List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by HMGS-GL.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com