Week One: Dave Griffin

Week One: Dave Griffin Upon looking over the new Forces book I decided to join the Dark Side and choose Germans. Talking with my compatriot, Bruce, I decided to make up a 1500 point Grenadierkompanie for our project since he wanted to run a Panzergrenadierkompanie.

Dave's Army List

Company HQ    Company Command Panzerknacker SMG team & 2iC Panzerfaust SMG team - 60 points. with 2 Snipers - 100 points. Grenadier Platoon    Command SMG team & 8x Rifle/MG teams - 155 points. Grenadier Platoon    Command SMG team & 8x Rifle/MG teams - 155 points. Panzer Platoon 4x StuG III G - 380 points.

Pioneer Platoon    Command Panzerknacker SMG team & 9x Pioneer Rifle teams with Supply RSO - 260 points. Heavy Anti-Aircraft Platoon   Command SMG team & 2x 8.8cm Flak 36 with Extra Loading crew - 180 points.         Artillery Platoon Command SMG team, Staff team & 2 Observers Rifle teams with 4x 10.5cm LeFH18 - 210 points. Total points: 1500 points.

After creating the list, I looked through the Battlefront product range and listed out the codes I need as well as keeping a tight budget in mind:

Product Code Retail Price (US Dollars) GE721 $ 12.50 GSO122 $ 5.00 GE732 $ 17.50 GE732 $ 17.50 GE796 $ 29.00 GE276 $ 12.50 GE550 $ 14.00 GE550 $ 14.00 GBX13 $ 75.00 Total Cost: $ 197.00

Now that I had the basic information in front of me I needed to break up the army into easy bites to keep the wife happy and not choke up production. I created the following plan to take advantage of prices and what I think it will take me time-wise to produce:

Purchase   Build Week One GE550 $14.00 Week One StuG III G   GE276 $12.50   8.8cm FlaK36   GE550 $14.00   RSO   Total: $40.50     Week Two GE732 $17.50 Week Two GE732   GE721 $12.50   GE721   Total: $30.00     Week Three GE732 $17.50 Week Three GE732   GSO122 $5.00   GSO122   Total: $22.50     Week Four GE796 $29.00 Week Four GE796 Week Five GBX13 $75.00 Week Five GBX13

My co-worker Rob was going to play Allies so he and I traded tanks from the Achtung sets since I needed StuGs and he needed more Shermans. I decided to front load the vehicles and 88s since I can spray them all at the same time and hopefully take care of two platoons at once. Both platoons required assembly so by putting them first I also started with a clean slate and no hold-overs from weeks before needing to get finished.

Week One Running a bit behind schedule (don’t we always?) but not badly.  The 88s are painted and on the bases. The trickiest bit of putting together this model is the proper setting of a pin in the base (optional) and drilling a good hole if you want the gun to be able to turn. I still need to finish the bases but they should be ready to be matte sealed by Monday. Right: Dave's '88s' and his RSO.

The StuGs went together well and are painted, decaled, camouflaged, and black-washed. I used the stippling technique out of the hobby book for the camouflage and am relatively happy with how they turned out. I still need to weather and seal them, but I’ll get to it as time permits.

The RSO vehicle for the Pioneer platoon is in the same status as the StuGs, almost done. The first Grenadier platoon and HQ section I got earlier in the week and are already trimmed, cleaned and ready for priming.  It cost me a couple of hours this week with the StuGs, but I think I’ll make up for it by not having them floating around undone next week. ~ Dave. Left: Dave's StuGs.