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Tuesday 29 January 2013

Another hurray for eBay!

The second batch of AXIS & ALLIES MINIATURES that I bought via eBay has arrived, and they have swelled my collection considerably. The batch was made up of twelve(!) Hungarian Turan I tanks ...


... and six Marder II self-propelled anti-tank guns.


Some of the latter have a rather bad case of 'barrel drop' ... but I think that this can be cured with some hot water and patience.

(I have included a 'small' 20mm-scale figure [actually the officer from the original Airfix German Infantry set] in these photographs to give blog readers some idea as to the size of these model vehicles.)

I probably bought more of the two types of vehicles than I will ever need, but at a cost of £1.00 each they were a bargain ... and wargamers love bargains!

10 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    Absolute steal for the price! Well done that man - well spotted! A very unusual tank as well, definitely off the beaten track.

    All the best,

    DC

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  2. David Crook,

    They were a bargain that I just could not resist ... and they should get a fair bit of use once I start my Eastern Front campaign.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. You've got a great bargain there. Very keen on the Hungarian stuff- you can get a decent force of them by 'borrowing' German kit too.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  4. Pete,

    Years ago I had quite a large 20mm-scale force of WWII Hungarians. The figures were a mixture of Germans (WWI and WWII), Austrians (WWI), and SCW Nationalists (in helmets). They were painted in khaki brown and looked a bit of a rag-bag. The equipment was a mixture of German and whatever I had left over from other projects.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. Sounds like a great army. What happened to it? I've a modest force of 20mm Hungarians myself... keeping meaning to do more with them.

    Have you seen the book 'Mygar Steel'? It's a very useful reference for Hungarian armour.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  6. Pete,

    As far as I know my Hungarians are in my garden shed ... which I cannot reach until the laurel hedge next to it is cut back by about six feet!

    It is a job that I plan to do this Spring.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. I really wonder where WotC were looking for their Marders..... odd looking things.

    Have you looked at Zvezda for 15MM tanks yet? They're cheap enough for my tastes, but they're not as good a bargin as these. They don't make any oddball stuff like the Turan I yet though.

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  8. Arquinsiel,

    The Marder II they chose to model is the one built on a variant of the Pzkpfw II chassis that had Christie-style suspension. The chassis was also used as the basis for a flame-thrower tank.

    WoTC also produce a Marder on a Pzkpfw 38t chassis which is much less 'clunky' looking (I have one of these as well).

    I do have some Zvezda models, and they are very nice, but at this price I would have been daft not to buy them ... and as you point out, Zvezda do not yet make a model of the Marder or the Turan.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  9. Just when I think I've seen everything those crazy Germans manage to make another redundant variant.... well, that'll teach me to get complacent.

    I really hope Zvezda expand into the minor powers on the eastern front and possibly expand their early Russian and German tanks. I'd love more Toldi just because Wouldn't mind some T-28 and Pz.35(t) to go with my T-26 and Pz.38(t).

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  10. Arquinsiel,

    That particular version of the Marder looks like it really was designed in a hurry, and is probably one of the ugliest AFVs I have ever seen.

    I agree with you about wanting models of some of the less 'popular' tanks to become available at reasonable prices; they make a great alternative to the massed ranks of T-34s and Pzkpfw Vs and VIs that one tends to see on the tabletop at wargame shows ... and are representative of what was often all that was actually available to the troops fighting on the Eastern Front.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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