My Finns are basically an infantry list with some limited support options and some mobile AT. Because I am building the army as a secondary force, I am always looking for platoons that work for multiple time periods. I am especially looking for a good deal when filling out this force and I found a great one at the last HMGS Flea Market -- right on Luke's table!
Luke had this sitting on his table for $10. It took me a while of looking at it to figure out if I could use it - I was REALLY looking for a way to employ 4 AT guns at $2.50 each! In Grey Wolf and Eastern Front, the Finns only get 2-gun platoons, so this is perfect! In looking at the package, I knew that I would have to get some additional crew to make two 2-gun platoons: PaK 40s and PaK 38s. Thankfully, I had a bunch of Finnish winter artillery guys I got from Falcon Figures.
The box comes with all the guns and enough crew for two guns. There is also a gun pit in resin (not pictured). I did find quite a bit of flash on the PaK 40s - I am guessing that this is a very old mold.
I got these guys all assembled and figured out that I had no cheap black spray paint. I used some real, actual grey primer (shocker!) on these. Be careful not to put in on too thick, as some primers can obscure detail. I did two very light coats.
I prefer to paint in the rusty red color first on my Finns. For this, I use the Vallejo Panzer Aces color Light Rust (301). This always looks REALLY bright, but gets toned down with my wash from CGR Painters.
For the green, I use a very, very old pot of Games Workshop Goblin Green (61-42). I think I purchased this pot of paint in the 1990s and it is still going strong!
For the light beige-grey, I use Vallejo Stone Grey (884). I never really think my pattern looks right at this point, but I go ahead and trudge on and it usually comes out ok.
For this build, many of the figures came with no bases - understandable with the kit and the resin gun pits. I decided to just follow my normal procedure of mounting, priming and painting the figures before adding ballast to the bases. Since this is a snow base, I thought that the crew could just be in a spot of deep snow. I also did not go with a ton of figures for these guns - I wanted to get these done quickly and easily. For the command, I used Falcon Figures Finns.
I added guys to the stands with winter garb - I thought that this would tie these platoons together with my winter Finns. I only did one command stand, as the Finns mostly only get one AT choice in lists (and because I am lazy). Below, see some pictures of the finished models!
I am really happy with these guys, and I look forward to getting them on the table. AT assets are sorely needed with the Finns and these should help out a lot.
The PaK 38: 24" Range, ROF 3, AT 9, FP 4+, Gun Shield. Points: 90MW, 70LW
The PaK 40: 32" Range, ROF 2, AT 12, FP 3+, Gun Shield. Points: 170MW, 120LW
Finns just do not have a ton of options from an AT point of view, so these will have to do!
