AMX-10P Expansion For TANKS The Modern Age

A closer look at the AMX-10P tank expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age" from Galeforce 9. Set in a fictional 1980ies world war 3 background, this game is the followup to ww2 "TANKS" (also made by GF9) with an slightly advanced ruleset and air units.

As usual, this kind of expansion contains a 1:100 modelkit made by Battlefront Miniatures and some cards for the game. First a look at the kit which came in this box:

The kit comes in one green sprue containing all parts needed to built this tank. I can not see any flaws, there are virtually no mouldlines to remove, no sinkholes were found and any ejectormarks would not be seen when this kit is built. As usual, this is a nice engineered kit, like all of the newer BFM kits.

After a look at the plastic, next are the cards included in this box, first we have the card for the unit itself:

The French AMX-10P is a light support tank with a relatively high Initiative and the "Scout" ability which means this tanks should stay in cover. It has with its Rapid Fire ability 5 dice against unarmoured vehicles and helicopters, and if it is equipped with MILAN missiles it has the ability to attack any unit on the battlefield. But this arnament is needed since its base attack is only 2. For 13 points (including the missile option) you get a light tank which is pretty fragile with only 3 hitpoints and 0 armour, but it may be a threat to any enemy unit.

Beside the actual card for the unit itself, the following crew and equipment cards are included in this expansion:

First there is the equippable "MILAN Firing Post" missile launcher for only 2 points which adds the option to  attack with 4 missiles. This may be a nice option, but I think it will not be used often, to be honest, I think that the French forces for "TANKS The Modern Age" can rely on the AMX-30 with its Rapid Fire 5 ability.

Then there are (as usually) the hero units for the French.

The driver "Henry Delacroix" offers the possibilty to re-roll one Defence dice when the tank has a speed token, this is not bad for the cost of 4 points. When you discard the card, this ability is gone but the tank then can do an additional single move in the movement phase without adding a speed token.

"Andre Mareau", the gunner, adds an additional Attack point and gives the ability to re-roll up to 2 Attack dice when the target is in close range. Costing 5 points, this seems like a must-have for any French platoon, since this card offers a big advantage.

Next is a card which the (French only) "charging" pre-fix, this time it is the "Charging Gunner" for 3 points. He adds an additional Initiative point during the Shooting Phase. Since this is one of those revealable cards, when this is revealed, for that round the tank gets an additional attack die when shooting the side of the enemies tank for that round.

The last card included is the "Artillery Observer", which is well known from the ww2 TANKS. Just read the text on the card for yourself , this card is very useful, if you rely on artillery tanks this is a must have worth two points.

There it is,  a closer look at the third and final expansion for the French.

It offers a light support unit capable in bringing down helicopters. The kit of this model once again has a high standard and the grade of detail in fine for its scale. The new crewmembers offer more tactical choices, especially the "Artillery Observer" is very useful, since the French are the only nation which can use artillery.

But the usefulness of this unit is unclear. For only 2 more points you could choose the AMX-30 which has way better stats. But since all reviews for the French expansions are done, it is time to get a view at the possible tactics and platoon builds for them in a future post.

This has nothing to do with the AMX-10P, but since the tank got painted in the same style and I am to lazy to take a picture of it, here is a picture of the 3Dprinted/bitsbox AMX-AUF1 artillery tanks for my French platoon, in the foreground a potential custom unit can be seen.

It is possible that I will add one or two additional posts tonight, at the moment the "TANKS The Modern Age" Cobra helicopter and another 3Dprinted/bitsbox hybrid are waiting for their sealing with matte varnish.

Rügen'46 Gangs Of Sassnitz (1) Schwere Mechanisierte Infantrie

The first pictures of some 28mm miniatures I finished for lasts years first Rügen'46 game. I built for all players a combat squad consisting 5 - 7 figures, since most of them were done in the last moment, the paintjob is pretty sloppy.

But anyway, I was (still am) very satisfied with the results of these exhausing nights before the game.

For more informations about Rügen'46, I suggest to read this post.

These powerarmoured troopers were built from minis of the "Void" starterpack. There were two factions included, each squad was built from one of those.

The heads were taken from the SHS range of Westwind Productions, I took a closer look at them in this post. Their arnament and additional equipment was taken from the ww2 German infantry box from (now closed) Wargames Factory.

The shields were also included in the "Void" box.

A closeup of some of the figures with the flash of my camera activated, just to give a better look of the two different color schemes. I think the small Balkenkreuz decals came from Dragon Models 1:144 ww2 tanks range.

Without any paint, the blue/black painted troopers looked like that:

Of course, these troops needed a worthy leader, and that was was they got.

Take a look at "Karl Heinz von Diskowitz", this mini was built by combining some parts of the "Void" box and "Horace Jackson" of Reaper Miniatures Bones range. The look may be anachronistic, but I like this unusual mini.

For some last minute improvised minis, I am happy with them. For years I had no use for the "Void" minis, but now, used for these minis, I am happy that I did not gave them away.

The next batch of miniatures used in the "Rügen'46" game will be shown soon.

Originally this post should have contained a 3D print timelapse video, but due to some technical issues, the first try of making that video was a fail. But I will give it a second try sooner or later.

Zvezda 1:100 T-72B

A closer look at the 1:100 T-72B modelkit from Zvezda. This Russian producer not only makes scalemodelkits, also it has several ranges of wargames with mostly 1:100 models, but their grade of detail differs from kit to kit.
This kit comes from Zvezdas "Hot War - Battle for Oil" wargame, but I will use it as proxie unit for "TANKS The Modern Age".

I like the design of this tank with its reactive armour, and when I got the chance to get one of those for a reasonable price, I took the opportunity to get it, but no further words, let us take a look at the model kit:

This kit comes in 2 green sprues, containing 14 parts, the flagpiece excluded, to complete the model. All parts are nicely sculpted and casted, I did not find any sinkholes or visible ejectormarks on the sprues. There is no flash, but you have at least to remove the mouldline of the one-piece turret.

But since the used plastic is not as soft as the stuff they use for their for "Art Of Tactics" range, this should be no problem.

This kit can be built without using glue, the fit of the parts is very good. When I built it I was sceptical how the sideskirts would fit, but the fit is excellent, even when sometimes some pressure was needed.

Beside the included instruction leaflet, finally there is the decalsheet of this box. Seems that there is a third set of generic Soviet turret numbers for "Hot War" model kits.

For future reviews I call these decals "type 3", this is now "type 1" while this is "type 2".

Suspecting the same quality than other Zvezda decals, these should be fine.

On the left side you see the built Zvezda T-72B compared to the plastic T-72 from the "Team Yankee" range of Battlefront Miniatures. While the general shape of them is pretty equal, the main difference is the reactive armour of the Zvezda Model.

And while I am at the details of this modelkit, the boxart shows a different version of the T-72B, it was taken from Zvezdas 1:35 kit of this tank.

This is one of the better Zvezda 1:100 kits. A nice amount of details and a sharp casting make this kit very nice. Building this kit should go on pretty fast, even whithout glue, the parts fit and sit very well, and the result is a nice looking Soviet cold war tank

The tracks could have some better detail and the addition of an AA machine gun would be nice, but I recommend this kit beside that minor points. 

There is always the possiblity to add some bits to improve this kit, on this Tank I added the leftover mineplows from my other T-72 and an AA gun which was taken from the bitsbox.

Todays modelling session was successful, beside all that modelmaking, in D.I.Y. tradition I built a handy tool, but at the moment I can not find a matching power source.

Maybe it would be better if I would not find one.

Update:
I almost finished the model, there is only some dirt to be added, just watch the picture below:

Aces Of The Autobahn

While my mate Olli just arrived for another roguish Montagsmaler session, I wanted to share this picture I made some weeks ago.

An actual posting will come tonight.

Victrix 1:100 Ju 87 G2 Stuka

A closer look at the 1:100 JU87 G2 Stuka model kit made by Victrix Models. This is one of their two new kits of 1:100 planes for wargaming, the other kit available at this moment is the Hawker Typhoon IB, also in 1:100 scale. A closer look at the Typhoon is not planned.

First, as usual, let us take a look at the plastic included in this kit:

The kit came in one grey sprue containing all parts needed to build the Stuka. On a first look, the kit seems without any flaws, no injector marks or sinkholes and virtually no flash.

This kit seems great, but more on that when it is actually built.

Some details of the sprue: two pilot figures are included, and a detailed look at one of the 3,7 guns which will be attached under each wing.

Also icluded is a nice flightbase, the socket may be pretty huge, but this thing allows to show different heights by expanding it like an antenna.

Too bad that I already lost the clear plastic rod which should be attached to the sprue, but this will be replaced if I should use this thing.

The detail picture of the clear parts shows that the plastic is very milky, maybe some polishing paste may help, but when I saw the clear parts I was pretty unsatisfied.

The instructions which are included are colorcoded and are kept simple and understandable, I have seen a lot of worse building instructions but only a few in this great quality.

The last item included in this kit is a decal sheet, which allows you to build one of 4 different planes using this sheet. Since I did not use them I can not say anything about their quality but the print looks good.

This is a pretty nice modelkit with a decent choice of decals. The subject of it is chosen nice, I think that this is the only tankhunter version of a Stuka in this scale.

The only flaw is the pretty milky clear sprue, I hope Victrix will fix this issue when new units will be produced. But even whith that flaw, this kit is great in detail, and it seems that it will be nice to build this kit.

I think if Victrix would sell the flight bases only, they would be soldout in short time.

Originally I wanted to use this thing for the "TANKS" thing I am working on, but since this plane is pretty big, I will stay with my 1:144 Stuka, which can be seen in this post.

A lot on mini reviews will follow in the next time, but it will will try to keep the blog content balanced between closer looks at kits and actual hobby posts.

Blog Update August

In the past few weeks I did not find a silent moment to update this blog, but some things happened on my workbench. In this post you will get some infos about future posts.

First of all, I found many pictures in my backup folders which will be added to existing posts, and I see at least 20 more "Faces Of War" posts incoming in the next months(/years).

Two more playtests of my upcoming plane expansion for "TANKS" were made, one final playtest will follow and then it is time to actually write the expansion.

Each nation will at least get one plane with various weapon options and  two different AA vehicles. You may expect this expansion sometime in the autumn. Maybe the plane expansion for ww3 TANKS will come with that, if not, it will come close after that.

But before that second expansion is done, some more custom units for "TANKS The Modern Age", this time armoured AA tanks, will be released.

A lot of closer looks at kits will come soon and with them a lot custom units for "TANKS" and "TANKS The Modern Age".

I already took pictures of the kits on the picture above, this weekend I will upload them and start to write some small reviews.

Also, there are some more kits to show which are not on the picture. And yes, I like the works of William Gibson.

My mate Olli and I continued our roguish Montagsmaler sessions, one of the results from these mettings was Ollis Tiger shown on the first picture of this post. Actually, we may meet next week the first time since months on a Monday.

Maybe we will welcome a new member to our small group, another friend of mine likes "TANKS", not only he joined some normal games, he also helped with testing the new rules for planes.

Last but not least, I finished my French forces for "TANKS The Modern Age", and while this was done, two new French custom units were created. They are not shown on the picture above but they will be published soon, right after the closer look at the remaining French expansion for the game.

AMX-30 / AMX AUF1 Tank Expansion For TANKS The Modern Age & Team Yankee AMX 30 Tank Platoon

A closer look at the AMX-30/AMX AUF1 tanks expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age" by Galeforce 9. This game is a remake of ww2 "TANKS" with extended rules, and a spin-off of "Team Yankee". It contains a 1:100 model kit and some cards for the game.

First let us take a look at the plastic model kit that is included:

The kit comes in 2 green sprues containing enough parts to build either an AMX-30 or an AMX AUF1. Whatever you choose, there will be one complete turret left over for the bitsbox.

The kit came without any flaws. It is made in the same high quality as the other newer BM plastic kits I know. Neither sinkholes nor flash can be found on the sprue, a quick look offered that there are no ejector marks that would be seen when the kit is built.

After a look at the plastic, let us take a look at the cards which are included in this expansion. First there are the cards for the available units from this box:

The French AMX-30 offers with an Initiative of 6 and an Attack of 4 a solid base unit. Having an armour of 1 is ok, but only 5 hitpoints makes this one of the weakest battle tanks in the game. Sure, it is not the best tank in the game, but it is better than it may seem because of the AMX-30 special ability.

This tank is equipped with the "Rapid Fire" ability, granting this tank 5 dice against helicopters and unarmoured vehicles. For 13 points, this tank is a must-have for the French, even when there would be more battletanks to choose from.

The French AMX AUF1 is the only official artillery unit in the game. With a defense of 0 and only 3 hitpoints this thing is at the same level as most light tanks from the game. It has the lowest initiative in the game, with only 1 it moves first but shoots last what is a big disadvantage.

Its strenght is the "Artillery" ability, which lets it shoot over other tanks. "Brutal" is very useful too, it lets you change one hit to a critical hit.

With 10 points this unit is very cheap, but its usefulness may not be given in every game.

After a look at the units, let us see which other cards come with his game expansion:

There are 4 crewcards and one equipmentcard in this expanxion. First there are two French hero cards.

The commander "Paul Durand" adds 2 Initiative and 1 armourpoint. You also may place up to 2 tanks not before the game starts but in the first rounds repair phase. For 5 points this commander should join every French Platoon.

The gunner "Laurent Dyre" adds 2 Initiative during the attack phase, its special ability, just read it for yourself, is useful for any tank with a high Initiative. Pretty good for only 4 points.

The next 2 crewmembers are French use only and the new type of "Revealable" cards.

The "Charging Commander" adds for 3 points +1 initiative while the movement phase. When revealed, the tank gets +1 Armour for that round.

Next is the "Charging Driver" who adds +2 Initiative during the movement phase. When this card gets revealed, the tank gets the "Fast" ability for that round. This is a nice addition for only 3 points.

Last there is the "Bomblet Bombardment" for 4 points. Usable only for artillery tanks, it grants you an unmodified D3 attack versus the target tank and all other tanks in close range when discarded. This could be a big gamechanger, especially when combined with the "Artillery Observer" which is included in the AMX-10 expansion.

This expansion is solid, the model comes in a high quality and offers two choices to build. The units for the game are not bad, but I hope that GF9 will make more French battle tank expansions. The addition of the new French crewmembers with the "Charging" tag is nice, I will see how useful they are.

As usual, the only negative point on this model are missing crewmember figures, at least one figure would have been nice, and also there are no decals included.

The main battle tank costing only 13 points, makes me think that the French are a mass army compared to the USA or germany.

I got 2 AMX expansions, but only two of them are not enough for a good game, especially since they are not the best units available and they have a quite low cost of points, that is why I had to get some more AMX tanks trying to score victories by strenght in numbers. Getting a Leopard 2 or an M1A1 down one on one seems pretty impossible, but what if the ratio would be 3:1?

A closer look at the AMX-30 platoon for "Team Yankee" from Battlefront Miniatures. Team Yankee is a ww3 tabletopgame in 15mm/1:100 scale which uses the same models than "TANKS The Modern Age". That is why I choosed this box to improve my French tank platoon.

This box contains 5 AMX-30/AMX AUF1 sprues, which were already shown in this post.

Also included are some unitcards for "Team Yankee". At the moment they do not interest me, but since my mate Olli and I have rulebooks for the game, it is not impossible, that you may read some Team Yankee battlereports in the far future.

More interesting than the unitcards are the other things which came with this box.

First there is a small sprue with 6 tankcommander figures. It is made from the new plastic which is used for Battlefronts Miniatures figuresets. It feels minimal softer than resin or the Restic stuff used by Mantic.

This addition is very useful because the figures could be used for other nations.

Finally there is a small decalsheet with names for the tanks included. I did not test them, but I know, there are two different types of decals available from BM.

They are very thin and either they will need very long in the water, like the "Flames Of War" decals, or they need only a short period of watering before they can be applied, like their "Team Yankee" counterparts. No matter which type they are, all BF decals I used before were pretty fine even when sometimes it got tough to apply them properly.

I already started to work on the first tanks from these boxes.

On the picture you can see another bitsbox/3Dprint hybrid.

Due to the fact that I will get 7 spare turrets when I will have built all of one or the other AMX variants, I searched through Thingiverse, looking for possible spare parts and found this AMX AUF1 file.

Printing the hull took about 4 1/2 hours, but when it was finished, I saw that I will have to recallibrate the 3D printer since the surface details were not printed properly.
I can replace this anytime with a better print, but for now it is ok, I think the big turret distracts from the hull. The turret was magnetized using the method I used before.

I think I will print 3 more of these hulls, a platoon of 4 AMX AUF1, each under 20 points with useful equipment, may be pretty fragile, but with the right support units they may be a tough challenge.

A simple desert pattern was chosen, at least for the AUF1. The paintjob is not finished yet, there are some things left to do, highlights, decals, varnish, all that stuff.

All artillery units will get commander figures. To have something different, I used a "Flames Of War" tank commander with a French head with Kepi (also FOW), just  to let them look like the troops of the French Foreign Legion.

After I have uploaded the next closer look at the last remaining French expansion for "TANKS The Modern Age", after that and the first games using them I may write a post about the French forces for the Game. And since the amount of available choices for the Germans and French is very low, you may expect some more custom units for the game.