These guns are 'UGE! You get everything you need in the package to make a full battery of 4 guns with Command, Staff and 2 Observer teams - just right for your Flames of War German Artillery! I whipped these guys out pretty quick -- sticking with my table-top painting standard.
THE GOOD
Did I say that these were HUGE? They are amazingly big. The cost of materials in this box must be some of the highest of any Battlefront box - the value here is nice. The guns went together in a snap -- very easy to assemble.
Bigger than a Tiger:
There was a ton of flash on these models. I think I set myself up for some disappointment though - I figured that these were all new models and would have very little flash - wrong. Some of the flash lines are in between rivets too - I wasn't cleaning that out, so I just dealt with it. If you are a fanatic about such things (I usually am), then plan to spend some extra time with these. From 2 feet out, don't worry about it.
THE UGLY
Ugly for your opponent! These guys are AT 17 AND can bombard with a staff team! Checking in at 530 points makes these guys very expensive - but there is nothing like carving up tanks on the Eastern Front from 48" away, baby! This battery does double-duty: great AT assets and great arty!
CONCLUSION:
17 out of 20 "WTF? AT17 ?!?!?"s
IN FLAMES OF WAR
| Weapon | Mobility | Range | ROF | Anti-Tank | Firepower | Equipment and Notes |
| 12.8cm K81 Gun Firing Bombardments | Immobile | 48"/120cm 104"/260cm | 1 - | 17 4 | 2+ 3+ | Breakthrough Gun |
18 comments:
Nice work Jon. Can I ask what color your using for your Infantry? They look sharp! but it doesnt look like Field Grey.
Ouch! 530 points? I don't know if I want nearly 1/3 of my 1750 army tied up in 4 guns.
On the other hand, it's gotta be satisfying to hit someone's IS-2 on the front and go straight to the 2+ firepower check (until you roll a 1.)
This kind of unit is exactly why I don't like having the artillery on the table. :)
Nice models though!
I think I have video footage of one at the War Museum here.. Were these captured Soviet guns? If so, hit this video, roll it to 23:30, and you can see how gigantic these puppies are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZzTRsWxr4
I must say, those are beautiful guns in every sense (except maybe the points cost).
@ Neal
Considering the intensity and confusion of the Eastern Front, I imagine these guys actually did encounter situations where they engaged over open sights. Certainly not ideal but much better than getting overrun by IS 2s.
@Tyler - Yes, I know there are accounts of batteries getting overrun. That's not the issue. The issue is that the guns are on the table, and available, for direct fire even in offensive scenarios. That didn't happen, especially for guns such as these.
The Soviets threw whatever they could in the way, so having Tank Destruction Companies/Battalions on the board is more likely, but again they are in defensive situations.
these are bigger than HUGE the are GINORMOUS! did you have to weight down the bases to keep them from flipping? i am reading a book about the eastern front and it talks about the germans used these and these mortars that fired one ton shells.
Cools guns... great stats... but those models look like a NIGHTMARE to transport! The length of barrel that protrudes over the edge of the base precludes using a standard "large base" slot in a pre-cut foam tray.
If you modelled them with the gun at a higher elevation, I think the problem might actually be worse, because they would STILL be longer than the base, and they would now be taller than most artillery trays!
You can get around that if you're willing to dedicate a set slot in your foam transport for them, then just cut a notch into the wall of the foam for that slot for the barrel. Anything in the slot next to it will probably be low enough so that the tall barrel won't touch them.
This is what I did for my siG33 15cm infantry guns.
@ Neal, you are very true. I guess BF wants players to buy artillery so that's that.
yeah the storage issue is really no different than the challenges of storing assault guns like SU-85s and their bigger cousins.
Can you magnetize the barrels? :-)
Very impressive looking. Good job on painting and presentation. I wondered about the size, 128 mm is odd for the metric centric Germans to pick, so I went over to Wikipedia on this, and it seems that the caliber was based on 5" destroyer guns, but it also mentioned that only 51 of these things were made. That and the carrage was 4 wheeled, not 2.
@Tyler - Yes, that's basically what it's all about. :)
@Phil - I thought I remembered 4 wheels from the ASL counters, but I wasn't sure. If it had 4 wheels, I'd buy them for sure! :)
@Phil -- I really wanna make fun of you using Wikipedia... but I do it all the time too. :)
So, I did some research on the Axis History Forum, which I highly recommend. I found this picture ... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6774301955_69f707b101_z.jpg
It clearly shows a two wheeled chassis. The four and SIX! wheeled chassis' are for the pak44 and not the k81. Most of the two wheeled mounts were converted from French 155mm and Soviet 152mm howitzers.
As for the Pak44, there were two models. The Krupp was four wheeled.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6774301917_c14becc867_b.jpg
And the Rheinmetall had SIX! wheels.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6774301877_cd777c8f28_b.jpg
Here's another pic of the Rheinmetall in firing position.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6774301839_a31ca948cd_b.jpg
I like the Rheinmetall one better. :)
I must apologize for the links, apparently my html-foo is weak. The only way I know how to post links (a href=) isn't working for me. So I've put the raw links in, just copy and paste into a new tab to see the pics.
These are great guns. And to the point snobs up there, save the point pinching for the tournaments. It's fun to throw down a king tiger once in awhile.
After looking for a while, I found this gun in Grey Wolf. While the guns are freakin' huge and have appropriately awesome stats for a huge gun, I could I offer the idea that when you review a unit, give us an idea of in what forces you can field it?
@zsavk: The Grey that comes in the BF German Infantry set.
Post a Comment