Kickstarter Loot 6 - French Vehicles of WWII by Mad Bob Miniatures in 1:56 (28mm)

Another package arrive on the doorstep and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what it might be. I had completely forgotten that Mad Bob Miniatures was in the shipping phase for their WWII French vehicle Kickstarter! Since the weekend was, again, devoted to renovation work I didn't get to really look into this box until this morning. One of the things that really had me invest in this particular Kickstarter was that it included some of the German conversions of French armor used by the 21st Panzer Division in Normandy.

For my 3 vehicle reward I picked out the Pak 40 Auf S307(f) which is the Pak 40 AT gun mounted on a French Unix Halftrack. I could have used the SdKfz 251/22 but I like to use the actual vehicles when I can. I decided to get 2 of these.

For my last vehicles I decided to go with the Geschutzwagen 39H(f). This is the French H39 tank converted to carry either the Pak 40 or the 10,5cm Howitzer. I'm still hoping to successfully finish my conversion but this will do in a pinch for the Kampfgruppe Von Luck mini campaign for Chain of Command. I might ask if I can just order the 10,5cm Howitzer for use in that conversion if I decide to go through with it.

I am quite pleased with these vehicles. The details are good but not quite as crisp as the ones from Trenchworx. From a gaming perspective they are great and the price is right as both Trenchworx and Warlord are a bit expensive. Its especially nice that they have a good selection of uncommon vehicles which means you might not have to make that conversion! The vehicles are starting to stack up I really need to pull out the airbrush and start working on some of these!

You should run over to the web site and take a look: MadBobMiniatures

A few pictures to salivate over:

Maybe not the best packing job in the world and either the UK or US postal service crunched one side of the box,

Here is the Pak 40 auf S307(f)  (Somua MCG on the Mad Bob site). This one has a slightly bent gun barrel (the other kit's barrel is nice and straight), hopefully some hot water will straighten it out. Nice clean castings, with no bubbles on the major exterior surfaces and just a few mold lines on the tracks. Should clean up quite nicely.

Here is the Geschutzwagen 39H(f). The howitzer barrel is also slightly bent. Again another very clean casting. There are bubbles in the interior on the tops of the shell storage. Should clean up quite nicely too.

I was just looking over the website again myself and I found the Lorraine Schlepper that I was trying to convert from the Warlord kit. Now I have to decide if I should just order it or continue on with the conversions!

Kickstarter Watch 3 - French Vehicles in 28mm - Nearing the end

Here we are at the end of the month and my blog doesn't have much to show for it again. I'm alive and well and just way to busy at the moment. But I have been keeping abreast of happenings on Kickstarter and the French Vehicles in 28mm is down to three days.

They have just slid over the 5,000 pound mark so I’m now in for three of the 7.5cm Pak 40 aug Somua MCG, otherwise known as the 7.5cm Pak 40 auf S307 (f). My German forces for the Kampfgruppe Von Luck campaign are quite happy at the moment (despite still being packed away and unopened, the fate of most of my armies).

It would be nice to see some of the more interesting French tanks also become available. At 6,000 pounds is this very cool ACG-1/AMC-35. I haven't seen this one before but it appears to be quite modern compared to some of the other French tanks available at the beginning of the war.

Let's get out there and end this kickstarter with a real bang and add some more vehicles to the catalog!

French WWII Vehicles by MadBobMiniatures

Kickstarter Watch 2 - French Vehicles in 28mm

Its been very quite here lately there has been a lot of stuff going on that has kept me away from the workbench. Fortunately they are good things and not bad things and a little struggling is good for the soul anyway.

I have the Hardware store still on the workbench to be finished along with another section of British Paratroopers. My intention to participate in the Iron Painters League on LAF though has definitely fallen by the wayside, Which is to bad since I actually purchased some miniatures just for that, maybe I'll be able to jump in next year. I have also been toying with post on where I get my inspiration for my buildings but that has started and stopped several times at this point. Hopefully it will see the light of day in the next month or so though. I'm also turning my thoughts towards ReaperCon which is in October this year and sketching out some ideas for that as well.

Now on to the real meat of this post, another Kickstarter! I have been slowly working on collecting the troops I need to run some of the mini campaigns for Chain of Command, in particular Kampfgruppe von Luck, the attack on Le Bas de Ranville. This one appeals to me since it involves the British paratroopers I have been collecting along with some of the converted French armor built for the 21st Panzer division by Alfred Becker. Since the collecting and modeling has benn slow anyway I have tried to keep my eye open for French vehicles that fit the bill. I found a new kickstarter featuring French vehicles in 1/56th scale, on one of the blogs I follow: dhcwargamesblog

That lead me to this kickstarter: French Vehicles of WWII by Madbobminiatures

That certainly seems to fit the bill, although it doesn't feature the vehicle I really want, the SdKfz 135/1, it does include the Pak 40 auf S307 (f). I read some reviews about Mad Bob Miniatures' first kickstarter and it sounds like they did a great job completing it and the vehicles were high quality. While I haven't pulled the trigger on this one just yet because funds are tight right now I'm hoping to be able to jump in and get at least one S307 out of them.

Here are a few pictures I pulled off the kickstarter:

They have definitely picked stuff that has not been produced before and should look really good on the gaming table. I suspect some of them will make good fodder for some Alfred Becker conversions!
You can find their existing line of 1/56th scale vehicles at: MadBobMiniatures