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What A Tanker!

What A Tanker!

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Project Blog by dugthefug1644 Cult of Games Member

Recommendations: 197

About the Project

Bit late to the party on this game. Had the rules sat in a draw for a while now. I looked at my pile of potential and decided models need to get made and played with or out the door to make space. With gaming clubs opening again, or at least likely to open again soon, I thought an easy to teach game that's designed to play with more than just two players was just what the doctor called for. Needed to point up some tanks that are off book and joined the game's Facebook page to get help with that.

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Tiger 1.

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Tiger 1.
Lloyd shot.Lloyd shot.

Might be able to get a game soon. If my local gaming club opens soon again as planned. Probably didn’t need to make a Tiger, (never played the game before, juicy on points etc.) but it’s iconic and I tried to rescue this from the black primer I gave it… Still on the sprue. I must have been so worried about missing bits that I went to those lengths. I hit the assembled piece with Plastic Soldier Company Late War German Dunkelgelb spray and then did a highlight from above with Army Painter Desert Yellow. Then I used a home made A4 sheet as a stencil for my pattern. I wish I had used my normal masking with Blu Tak, but I thought the tank was too big for that. Over the stencil I used Army Painter Leather Brown. It came out OK, but I went around the edges of the pattern with a Wyldwood Contrast. This was too shiny so I used some Agrax Earthshade to dampen it down, but with is where the whole paint job got to a stage where it was never going to be my best paint job. If I had stuck to the spray and gone straight to weathering it might have turned out better. As it is… It’s table ready, the tank commander is average and I have lost the love to fight it into a better paint job. I think the black primer on the sprue fated this model not to be my best work.

Half-track Hun Fun. Hanomag Stummel 251/9.

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Half-track Hun Fun. Hanomag Stummel 251/9.
Half-track Hun Fun. Hanomag Stummel 251/9.
Half-track Hun Fun. Hanomag Stummel 251/9.

As I moved some boxes around I found this and another Hanomag still in the cellophane wrapping. I knew I had wanted to have a Bolt Action list where both sides allowed more transports and armoured cars than normal. Didn’t remember picking these up though. The Stummel can be fielded in WAT! at least.

 

Fury she ain't.

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Fury she ain't.
Fury she ain't.

Used my Humbrol Olive drab green primer spray, because I am out of most other things. Used some watered down Vallejo Brown Violet green to tint the colour. Gave it a Nulin Oil wash then highlighted with the Brown Violet. I used model mates oil brown and mud brown on the tracks, bogeys and front and rear. Used Cryptek Armourshade on the tracks with a Leadbelcher dry brush.

The use of the crew seemed worth it on this resin Warlord Games model. There might be the occasional problem with the hatch and head being in the way of the barrel, because the direction of the turret has an effect in-game. But rule of cool prevailed.

Obviously the M4A3E8 Easy 8 Sherman is famous from exposure in the film Fury, but I purposely went for a tabletop ready finish for now and may revisit that at a later date.

Fury she ain't.

Panther in the pink

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Panther in the pink
Panther in the pink

Panther.

Built and painted this a few years ago but given a once over today to refresh it.

The dunkelgelb looked too pale, almost like I had highlighted up to a skeleton bone which is too far from my usual Army Painter Desert Yellow base. I went back in and used a watered down Desert Yellow to tint it all back down. Then used some Brown Violet green and Athonian Camoshade to define some washed out green areas. Also used some Leather Brown and Reikland Fleshshade to bring the red brown areas closer to my other tanks. Some weathering was added, but not much. A bit of Agrax Earthshade and touch of Typhus Corruption here and there.

Hard hitting in game no doubt.

Panther (Ausf. G) stats:

Strike 9, Armour 9, 19 points

Special Rules: Fast.

Panzer IV... Like this one more

Tutoring 2
Skill 2
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Panzer IV with schützen damage (above) compared to the Panzer IV I sold (below).Panzer IV with schützen damage (above) compared to the Panzer IV I sold (below).
Panzer IV... Like this one more
Panzer IV... Like this one more

Used my same method for my the paint job. The schützen was still slightly awkward to put on as I recall it being the first time, but found it easier the second time around. Painted the schützen and the tank separately. Cut away the paint at the places I wanted to connect the struts on and it glued in place fine enough. The instructions said glue the struts to the side of the tank and then glue the skirt to the support. This was a pain last time so I just glued the struts to the skirt, did a rough dry fit against the tank and let it set. As long as I kept the struts at 90 degrees to the skirt, my worry that there would be floating struts and no way to glue it neatly to the tank was a needless one.

Panzer IV... Like this one more

First games in mind...

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First games in mind...
First games in mind...

To help focus my hobby and get some games going sooner I am planning some initial games and lists to begin with.

Seeing as some pointing up has been done for models not in the main rule book, why not start with those. And seeing as a Panzer IV and a Sherman have long been considered the classic dueling tanks of Northwest Europe and vanilla on special rules compared to the other tanks, I figure they make a good initial game.

German Side: 22 Pts

Panzer IV (H) – ARM 6 – STK 7 – 13 Pts

Puma – ARM 3 – STK 5 – 9 Pts (Fast, Fast Reverse, Wheeled, Slow Turret)

USA Side: 23 Pts

Sherman (75mm) – ARM 6, STK 6 – 12 Pts

M8 Scott – ARM 4 – STK 6 – 11 Pts (Tank Destroyer, Fast)

With that in mind I just need to get my Panzer IV on the table. I built it today and just need to get bits painted.

For a bigger game down the club I am thinking of adding the below options to top it up to a 50 Pts game per side (or as close as possible) with 8 tanks in total. I think that might be a club game with maybe two tables.

German additions – 26 Pts

Panzer III (L) – ARM 5 – STK 6 – 11 Pts

Stug III (G) – ARM 7 – STK 7 – 15 Pts (Tank Destroyer, Low Profile)

USA additions – 27 Pts

M3A3E8 Sherman – ARM 7 – STK 8 – 15 Pts

M18 Hellcat – ARM 3 – STK 8 – 12 Pts (Tank Destroyer, Fast)

I have a Pershing and a Tiger, but as these are high point and pretty dominant stats wise I will probably make building and painting these a low priority for now.

Taking Stock.

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Tanks I have in my collection (Not all painted or built.)

US

M26 Pershing

M4 Sherman

M4A3E8 Sherman

M18 Hellcat

M8 Scott GMC

German

Panther

Panzer III

Panzer IV

Puma

Stug III

Tiger I

Great Britain

Honey

Cromwell

AEC Mark III

Valentine II

Japanese

Chi-Ha medium tank

Type 4 Ho-Ro Self-propelled gun.

Renault FT-17 (stretching credulity with the history but too fun not to have.)

 

And then there are models I would still like to collect… Not only but also…

Matilda II

Churchill

Comet

Tetrarch

A Japanese Tankette (one of the cute but sadly rubbish ones in game.)

One of the British Vickers Tankettes (Need to check for a favourite.)

Maybe a Firefly (but feeling a bit Shermaned out with the other variants I already have).

Oh … And a favourite that would probably be really cool in WAT! the Archer… A Cromwell chassis, no turret, with the impressive gun facing backwards over the engine deck. The epitome of shoot and scoot, and such a fun quandary when manoeuvring around a wargaming table.

I also have some vehicles that wouldn’t really feature in WAT! but might make for interesting scenarios as something to be escorted or rescued.

British Universal Carrier Flame thrower (Wasp?)

Universal Carriers

US Half-track

German Half-track

M4 take 2.

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M4 take 2.
M4 take 2.
M4 take 2.

A slightly later attempt at a Sherman but still a few years ago. Gave it a bit of a tidy up. Some weathering with Typhus Corruption tech. paint. Fairly happy with this one now. I over did it with the weathering on the tracks, but other than that I think this looks OK. It looks more interesting with the Warlord tank crew mini added. I had intended to use a driver head from the same crew set, but his shoulders were too wide to slot in and still face forwards. Seems like this was the sort of model these crew were designed for, so this felt like a bit of an odd limitation. I decided not to whittle on the mini to make it fit, but keep it for another tank.

Again I used Brown Violet green in my quick tidy up paint job. I wish I knew what I used first time around, but the Brown Violet has been quite close.

I think I may have shown this off on Beasts of War 1.0 version in a forum post, but with all that gone I guess I will never know. It doesn’t matter a great deal and I guess the test will be when I have to start on a new US tank. Can I get them to look a similar green? Probably.

I might sell this tank, because I already have one and I actually have an Easy 8 that I never finished somewhere. I sold my Panzer IV because I felt I would have too many. Now I have 3 Shermans? Might make sense to drop that back to 2.

My first Sherman

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My first Sherman
My first Sherman

The first Sherman I built several years ago. I spent an hour or so today giving it a brush up and weathering. I lost the hull machine gun piece and improvised with a gob of green stuff and a piece of gun barrel. (German I think). The casual knife stuck down as stowage, the bad hull machine gun replacement and other aspects make this painful to share, but this is how we learn. ??

The Sherman’s stats (bog standard 75mm M4) are:

Strike 6, Armour 6, 12 Points.

No special rules.

M18 Hellcat

Tutoring 4
Skill 4
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M18 Hellcat
M18 Hellcat
M18 Hellcat

US M18 Hellcat.
Painted this years ago, forgot what it was called it was so long (mistaken for a wolverine by me) but I didn’t have a photo booth back then and wanted to sprouse it up. It sadly fell foul of the same fateful drop of the box that my Stug III suffered. The metal barrel snapped off this resin Warlord Games tank. Being resin I was lucky, as the damage could have been far worse. I tarted it up a bit, touched up some areas I had missed and added a bit of weathering. This was one of my first tanks and I can tell where I was scared of getting paint on one area or another in a tricky spot and… just chose not to paint it. Lol. As good as I am fussed with right now.

I didn’t know the colours I used back when I originally painted it so I had a guess. I went with a Vallejo Brown Violet green and it matched OK, perhaps coming up as a slight highlight.

Hellcat Stats:

Strike – 8, Armour – 3, Points 12

Special rules of Fast and Tank Destroyer.

Forgotten Preparations

Tutoring 7
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Forgotten Preparations

A pleasant surprise. I checked through the draw I had found the rules in and found a set of 10 dashboards I had printed and laminated and a set of cards. I had forgotten how many I had done. I don’t think I printed any tokens to mark off the changing effects, but perhaps just using a dry wipe pen would be adequate. Looking forward to organising a game soon.

Panzer IV... Out the door

Tutoring 8
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Panzer IV... Out the door
Panzer IV... Out the door
Panzer IV... Out the door

Selling this one. This was the first Bolt Action tank kit I built and painted. Learnt a few lessons since then. Trying to paint camo with washes has probably been the main sin on this one. I have a new Panzer IV kit still on the sprue and want to get that built and painted instead. I just think it will be a better effort and won’t make the mistake of priming on the sprue etc. Probably won’t ever need or want more than one of these in my collection. (Update: Sold on eBay 06/09/2021 £22).

Stug the fug, or Stug in the hood? Pronunciation?

Tutoring 7
Skill 7
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Stug the fug, or Stug in the hood? Pronunciation?
Stug the fug, or Stug in the hood? Pronunciation?

The Stug III had been built quite a while ago and sadly got broken when a box was dropped. Track back on, camo pattern and a mini added and it’s ready for action. I think the main reason for the break was because of the bad call I made in the assembly of it. I was younger, didn’t know any better and… Primed it on the sprue. Having to cut away paint and then add glue to put it back together highlighted the error. Made me cringe at how daft I was to think that gluing painted edges to painted surfaces was going to do the job.

Stug III stats:

Strike 4, Armour 5, 10 Points.

Special rules Low Profile and Tank Destroyer.

The stats don’t always reflect reality fully, because the 4 Strike of this tank versus the 6 Strike of the Panzer III would make you assume the hitting power was quite different. In reality the Stug III had a better gun than the Pz III Ausf L, but the lack of turret maybe and game balance reasons highlight that WAT! is a well play tested game focusing on fun and challenging players, rather than just a historical tank simulator.

Z Germans Tommy...

Tutoring 7
Skill 7
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Z Germans Tommy...
Z Germans Tommy...

First from my pile of potential a Panzer III.

Panzer III Ausf L. This is the plastic kit from Warlord Games. The transfers sheet doesn’t really support this vehicle well. There aren’t any Balkenkreuzs small enough to fit on the side and rear, even though these are shown where to place crosses on the box art. I might revisit and improve my freehand efforts on the crosses. The box art shows DAK and Eastern Front paint jobs, but not anything for the Western Front. The transfers regiment markings and numbers also only seemed to support the box art. I know the Panzer III was being phased out and the chassis used for the Stug III instead, but I wanted this model to be used in my Market Garden plans and my Post D-Day stuff as a hanger-on from the refits etc. I chose to use the same red and white style numbers as my Puma as I know that the Puma was meant to be a 1944 example from that kit’s box art and instructions.

The Panzer III stats:

Strike – 6, Armour 5, 11 Points.

No special rules.

Off book fun - USA

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Rubicon model. Scales well with the rest.Rubicon model. Scales well with the rest.

This M8 Scott GMC was great fun to paint as part of my USMC force and wanted to add him as a bit of a left field option for the game. This pick was so left field that he wasn’t one of the variants that even the What A Tanker! (WAT!) fan group Facebook page had considered.

So after some fun banter and consideration, with some of the  assembled well informed tread heads and enthusiasts, we came to the following conclusion:

Strike – 6, Armour – 4, 11 Points

With special rules Fast and Tank Destroyer.

Off book fun.

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Off book fun.
Off book fun.

The game works off of a wonderful dice mechanic. Check out the Let’s Play on the site for the basics.

When you start to pick tanks to play with there are detailed lists. These point up tanks for balance and give you the Strike stat (base number of attack dice when shooting) and the Armour stat (base number of defense dice).

For the Puma, being an armoured car and low down the pecking order in the scheme of things, there was no entry in the main rule book.

I joined the What A Tanker Facebook group and found people very open to discuss a potential score and a good number of off book tanks already pointed and statted up for armoured fighting vehicles like the Puma.

According to their fan created table the Puma is:

Strike – 5, Armour – 3, 9 Points

With special rules Fast, Wheeled, Fast Reverse and Slow Turret.

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