Tactica: Panther

Ah yes, the Panther tank. Aside from the US Tank Destroyers probably no other tank has engendered as much discussion amongst the Flames of War community as the Panther. Lately there are those who have been bemoaning its lack of competitiveness and high price in terms of points. They are right...sort of. The Panther probably is a little over-priced, and is not as competitive as it once was. The exact wrong approach to take, however, is to yell about how the sky is falling and making hyperbolic statements about how Battlefront is the worst company, nay, the worst organization, that has ever existed.

What follows is how I've been using Panthers lately.

Detailing Tanks

Hey everyone, today I thought I'd share just a few of my thoughts on detailing tanks/vehicles in Flames of War. These are just the basic effects I try to apply to every tank regardless of nationality, and my thought process behind them.

First, I use the details on the tanks as a chance to apply some contrasting colors to the overall scheme. One of the easiest ways to do this is painting rusted metal effects on exhaust pipes, damaged areas of the hull, or anywhere else that metal may have been exposed to moisture. The best color to use for this is some sort of reddish-brown color. Battlefront recommends using Cavalry Brown, but I tend to mix up a slightly darker version of that:

 Rear of a Sturmtiger.

Panther Redux

For my first meaty post, I'd like to introduce you to my main current painting project.  Lately my gaming has been focused on playing with Americans, after a long stint of playing Finns and Germans.  Since my Americans are now getting all the gaming love, I have decided to revisit my German tanks.  First up, in honor of Devil's Charge, my panthers!

Here is what they used to look like:

That's from several years ago.  For my first LW army I needed something that would be easy on the wallet and simple to paint. At that time 5 Panthers, 2 Tigers, 3 StuGs, and 2 Armored AA vehicles was 1750 points and just 12 models...perfect!! The army grew, but the paint schemes remained this simple, juvenile scheme.

But for a recent birthday my family gifted me with an airbrush (a Badger 105), and it has been a godsend.  So, for my first real project with the new tool (I've had a little practice base-coating my American tanks) I decided to re-do my Germans.  I started by basecoating the Panthers with Vallejo Air - Dark Yellow: