Schnell!Schnell!

I've finally got myself painting again. It's probably because it's the Easter holidays; not necessarily because I've got two weeks off (ha ha, suckers), but mainly because March is the busiest part of the year for most of us secondary teachers (coursework deadlines and so forth). However, now it's done, I'm able to relax a bit and get some painting done.

So without further ado, my first painting for a month, a Mortar Platoon and a Recon Platoon.

The Mortar Platoon (complete with observer team) will provide support to my slowly expanding Infantry Company and more importantly, provide me with the opportunity to learn how the artillery rules work, as I've never had any before. Finally, they allow me to annoy the hell out of enemy tanks with smoke!

The Recon Platoon were a little bonus that I put together for when I use the Pantherkompanie to prevent the big cats from being ambushed by sneaky side shots. They actually came in a little diorama pack and the command bike is a conversion using an infantry officer and an unridden bike. Also, the bikes with sidecars are useful for 2iC transports in Panzergrenadier companies.

Given how easy I'm finding Flames of War stuff to paint, I'm considering beginning a new army. If I do this, I suspect it will be Russian for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Panthers are suitable opponents for the Russians in both Mid-War and Late-War. Plastic Soldier Company and Zvezda plastics make collecting a Russian army significantly cheaper than smaller American or British forces. Finally, the Russian horde seems to play very differently to my small and tactical Germans - I'm particularly tempted by a wall of T-34 tanks, which look easy to paint too!