Goonhammer Historicals: Happy Tanksgiving 2k25

It’s Tanksgiving again, everygoon. We choose to celebrate this year by showing off some of the coolest, wonkiest, weirdest, sweetest tanks we’ve read about, seen, or used in a wargame. Grab those Tanksgiving Pants (the ones with the motor oil stains and wrench loops) and close the hatch as Goonhammer Historicals presses you into service in the -ageqfE">best job you ever had.

Jagdpanther. Credit: Lenoon

Lenoon

Jagdpanther, but with Zombies

Country of use: Germany, technically

Dates of use: 1944-45 (and through to the Konflikt in 47)

Model: Rubicon Jagdpanther

What if you took a Panther, stuck an 8.8cm Pak gun in it and wasted a ton of time making a tiny number of massive tanks? You’d get the Jagdpanther, probably the nicest looking of the late war German tanks, and the poor, fascist, cousin to the mighty SU-100.

This is the only tank* I’ve built and painted this year, but luckily it’s also one of the models I’ve had most fun with in 2025. Taking a Rubicon kit, with all of the typical lovely detail, precise moulding and expert craftspersonship and jamming rusty spikes through it, slathering it with mud and painting it like a 90s childrens toy was just a huge amount of fun, and I’m half convinced to go and get some of the other big cat tanks to do much weirder stuff. There’s a trend of treating gaming models like scale models at the moment, which is producing incredibly detailed, lovely work all over the world. This is the exact opposite, a scale model treated like a batch-painted leman russ. On the table this will sink like a stone - for all that it’s a heavy anti tank platform, for Konflikt 47 it’s going up against tesla tanks, railguns and weird war shenanigans, armed only with that the factory gave it. Except for those rusty spikes, of course - anti-bear proofing. *at 28mm, I think I painted at least a few more Toe Tanks

Zuul the Cat - Jagdtiger, STuG III AUSF G, Carro Armato M13/40

Jagdtiger. Credit: Zuul The Cat

Jagdtiger

Country of use: Nazi Germany

Dates of use:1944-45

Model: Warlord Games

This was a fun kit to build - even though I got it by accident. I thought I was buying a Jagdpanther, but apparently I cannot read. In any case, it was fun to paint up and add a little chipping to it. I got to use this guy in a game of Achtung Panzer! This year against Class Warcraft. This thing is a brute - 22 front armor! I still may go back and add some weathering to the treads, which you’ll see below I’ve been experimenting with this year.

Stug. Credit: Zuul The Cat

Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. G

Country of use: Nazi Germany

Dates of use:1942-1945

Model: Warlord Games

Hell yeah. Of all the Second World War tanks, I don’t think I like any of them better than I do the STuG. This was a really fun build this year, because I got to try 3 new things. First, the commander - I actually tried to create a historical representation of the piping on his shoulders. I know I probably got this wrong, so please do not count the buttons too closely, but I enjoyed doing it and I think it looks great. Secondly, this was really the first time I’ve tried playing around with weathering pigments for the tracks and lower hull. I started by stippling on AK Interactive’s Wet Ground, then used a few different weathering pigments. There was a style="font-weight: 400;">really great video I watched on how to actually use weathering pigments, so it was fun to take a crack at. Lastly, the top piece of this kit comes off and is magnetized underneath. I have a bunch of Fallschirmjäger tank riders that I magnetized to go on top of this.

M13/40. Credit: Zuul The Cat

Carro Armato M13/40

Country of use: Kingdom of Italy

Dates of use:1942-1945

Model: Rubicon Models

This was my first real unit I completed for my upcoming Italian Army project for Bolt Action. I’m basing my army around the Italian invasion of Greece, which took place between October 1940 and April 1941. The action was marked by tons of mud, so I really tried to make it thick on this tank. Also, I just really love early war tanks. They’re so tiny. Important to note - this kit is a dream to build. Rubicon models are always fantastic, but this kit I enjoyed so much I bought 2 more of them to add to my force - which can alternatively be built as a Semovente Comando M40.

Avanti Savoia!

M3A1 Satan. Credit: Michael O "Mugginns"

Mugginns - M3A1 "Satan"

M3A1 Satan

Country of use: United States and China

Dates of use: 1944-1945

Model: Company B Miniatures

Flamethrowers in WW2 are terrifying to me. They’re inescapable, inflict awful damage on humans, and must have been just as terrifying to use. Putting one on a tank just makes them even more terrifying, in my opinion. The Pacific war was hellish - the Japanese military was extremely dug-in during the island-hopping campaign, with huge bunkers and lots of other fortifications. The Marine Corps doctrine was based on using flamethrowers to push them out - but infantry-packed flamethrowers were susceptible to enemy fire.

They started taking the man-packed flamethrowers and mounting them through the pistol port on the M3A1 Stuart. This is terrifying! Imagine being inside that thing with the flamethrower shooting out of it. The smell, the heat, the potential to go wrong. It was also limited in field of fire because of the pistol port. Eventually they figured out they could replace the 37mm main gun with the Ronson flamethrower and mount 170 gallons of fuel inside the tank. 24 of these tanks served after being engineered by Seabees in the Pacific.

This is one of the first WW2 tanks I ever painted, and it shows. I think it still stands up but I could do a better job weathering the tracks, and I need to re-do some of the decals as they’ve come off with use. Company B produces sweet kits that were both pewter and resin (at the time I bought one).

Ilor

Panzer IIIG. Credit: Ilor

Panzer III Ausf G

Country of use: Germany

Dates of use: 1939-1945

Model: Warlord Games/Italeri

Workhorse chassis is right, no other tank frame saw more use by the Germans in the 2nd World War than the venerable Pz III. Not only did it have a large number of variants on its own, it was also that chassis that the StuG III was built on.

This one is one of the Ausf G variants, which saw action in North Africa. These had the medium-barreled 50mm cannon, up-gunned from the 37mm cannon fielded by the previous versions. Though outgunned by later in the war, throughout 1940-41 it was more than a match for anything the British fielded in North Africa with the notable exception of the heavily armored Matilda IIs (though those had a comparatively weak 2-lb main gun themselves).

My maternal grandfather served in the Army Air Corps during WW2, and after the war he and his brother started an automotive garage. I spent a lot of my time there as a kid and while the ordinary repair work was cool I was always fascinated by the occasional restoration project they did. I always thought that process would be fun. When a buddy of mine on reserve duty sent me this photo with the caption “Got a spare 20 grand handy?” I had to remember that I was married and have two kids to put through college. But don’t think for a moment that I wasn’t tempted, because as it turns out there’s even a Chilton’s manual for the Pz III.

Tarped tank. Credit: Ilor

I’m ready to turn my back yard into Bovington. Some day. Some day…

Panzer IIC. Credit: Ilor

Panzer IIC

Country of use: Germany

Dates of use: 1939-1945

Model: Warlord Games

This model is near and dear to me because it was the first 2nd World War tank I ever painted. On top of that, as one of the small, early war tanks it’s just kind of cute! Early war tanks are amazing - most nations had something that was the equivalent of an armored machinegun carrier at the beginning of the war, but the Pz IIC bumped the armament up a notch and sported a 20mm autocannon. With armament exceeding simple MGs, it was one of the first true tanks the Germans fielded.

This one is one of Warlord’s earlier resin tanks, so for as small as it is, it’s actually kind of beefy on the table. Though working with resin vehicles is often a challenge, this one was pretty cleanly cast and easy to put together.

Variance Hammer Eric - Stridsvagn 103

Stridsvagn 103. Photo credit: Garnisonsmuseet Skaraborg

Stridsvagn 103

Country of use: Sweden

Dates of use: 1967-1997

Model: Various

The Stridsvagn 103 (aka the S-Tank) is a wondrous relic of a time in tank design where nobody quite understood how a modern tank should work. Is it more armor? Higher speed so you won't get hit in the first place? No turret so you can't get hit in the turret? A delightful little wedge-of-cheese shaped tank with a sophisticated hydraulic system to move the gun (and the rest of the tank) up and down while retaining a low profile, there's nothing else quite like it. It's also a great subject for the debate as to whether or not a "tank" is a question of form (a tracked, turreted vehicle) or doctrinal function, in case you need to occupy the time of a group of a particular type of nerd for a half hour or so. That type of speculation is also enhanced by the fact that the tank never actually saw combat, so the theories that created it remain untested.

While some people paint tanks (see above), I've mostly confined myself to doing math about them, trying to come up with rules for the S-Tank for Seven Days to the River Rhine. A small force of them for that game is on the docket for next year through, and thankfully there's actually a plethora of kits, especially at 15mm, in both plastic and 3d printable resin, where the tank's fairly simple geometry and lack of turret are something of a blessing.

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