Painting Challenge Entry No. 8 - Epic 30k Super Heavy Armour

"Super-heavy" tanks in 6mm from the 14th Space Marine Legion, the Death Guard

My eighth entry to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge takes my brushes back to some Horus Heresy and Epic 30k material - the 6mm(ish)-sized-mass-battle version of GW's science fiction games.  There are two "Fellblade" class tanks and one "Falchion" class tank, and they are all painted in the markings of the 14th Space Marine Legion, known as (charmingly) the "Death Guard".

Lovely little private sculpts - in metal, with great, crisp details.

The Horus Heresy setting features lots and lots of tanks. Lots! Yay! This small scale is ideal for deploying masses of tanks, so playing 30k in "Epic" is great fun! While models exist for these beasts in the regular 28mm size of the game, getting more than one or two of those massive machines on to a regular-sized table is hard.  On the other hand, in the small size of the models in the "Epic" game lets you put whole squadrons of these monsters on a regular table, and do so with comfort!

I had painted a fair amount of Epic 30k material back in a different Painting Challenge...I think edition VII? Anyway, good to have some sci-fi breaking up my otherwise very-historical-focus these days.

I love the silhouette of the Fellblade...just a bonkers tank.

As with the 10mm FPW figures from my last submission, these are models have been painted "on the side of the table" - something I work on while other projects dry, add a layer here, colour there, and then they finish at some point.  This sort of semi-scattered painting approach may slow me down a bit overall, but I find it makes the painting more fun in general.  Particularly when the "side of the table" thing is very different in either subject or scale, it adds some variety overall.   

This angle shows some of the additional heavy weapons mounted in both the front hull and the side sponsons.

Byron already has a great a collection of Death Guard Space Marines for Epic 30k (and in 28mm too), so these are somewhat superfluous in terms of our overall group...but I do like the Death Guard, already had a few infantry and vehicles painted myself. I already had these specific models too, with their Legion iconography was sculpted into the doors, so I thought I would paint them up as intended.  I mean - how could a game where the Death Guard deploy three super-heavy tanks be better? Why, one with six super-heavy tanks, of course! I'm hoping Byron's troops won't mind the company...

The Fellblade, with its bonkers twin-main guns, and demolisher cannon, AND heavy bolters, AND quad laser weapons (on BOTH sponsons!) is one of the most heavily-armed vehicles to be found in the 30k setting (or, at least, thing that it is still a vehicle, as opposed to Titans).  It's bananas, and they are a lot of fun in Epic 30k.  Even if you are commanding just two of them in an Epic 30k game, when it is your turn to shoot...you are doing a LOT of shooting. Fun!

The Falchion - super-heavy-tank-destroyer extraordinaire!

If the Fellbalde is meant to be a kind of "general" battle tank, the Falchion has a much more specific purpose - it is a warped 30k-vision of a super-heavy-tank-destroyer, featuring a massive energy weapon (and, you know, still with the quad laser cannons on the sponsons, one presumes to let the crew have some sport while the big weapon re-charges).  The Falchion tries to knock out enemy super-heavy tanks, and also has sufficient firepower to severely damage or even knock out Titans.  Just look at that bonkers weapon! Oh man, I love the 30k setting...the very best, crazy sci-fi designs, brilliantly done.

A view of the bizarre machinery powering the Falchion's main battery.

These smaller models did not net me a whole lot of "points" in terms of painting, but every little point helps.  I look forward to a great big super-heavy-tank smackdown in Epic 30k sometime soon with the gang!

Painting Challenge Submission Seven - 10mm Franco-Prussian War

Selection of 10mm Franco-Prussian war figures - mostly from Pendraken, but a few from Magister Millitum.

My seventh submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge touched on a familiar theme - more Franco-Prussian war stuff, but this time in a different scale - these are some 10mm-sized figures.

When I dive into a period, I tend to overdo it.  Different scales of games give both different gaming options on the table (bigger battles vs. smaller skirmishes) and different painting & collecting challenges, a chance to experience a different "look".  One big draw for this period is the marvellous uniforms, I just love painting them, and only 28mm-sized castings, in my opinion, truly do these great uniforms justice.

At the same time, 28mm-sized figures bring a number of gaming limitations, namely a very limited ability to represent the main battles on the table.  The key encounters in the Franco-Prussian war were very large, multi-corps-per-side affairs.  I could settle in and paint only 28mm figures from this period and nothing else for years and still not crank out enough castings to represent all of the units for a major battle. And even if I did that anyway, well, no regular table would give a chance to hold all of that stuff for a game in 28mm - it would have to be huge.

So while I am excited to do 28mm "Black Powder" games (which would represent small parts of much larger battles), the only chance I will ever have to try to give the fellows a truly large battle will go to the smaller scales - 10mm or 6mm. I'm still primarily interested in 28mm, but I puttered around trying out both 10mm and 6mm in between painting rounds, but found that in this case 10mm was the winner, in particular the sculpts from Pendraken.

Last spring I painted up a few units of basic 10mm infantry to try and get a feel for painting in the scale, and just to see if I would enjoy it. I did! Now, with Curt's Painting Challenge under way again, and since I have all of the paints I use for Franco-Prussian War figures handy, I have been working on more 10mm stuff.  I have been painting it sort of "on the side of the table", doing a few here-and-there while something else dries etc.  After a few weeks of this now, I thought it would do for a submission, particularly as I don't have anything else to show for this week...

I am intending to try the "1871" rules by Bruce Weigle.  While some of the rules mechanics seem a bit bolshy to me (simultaneous movement? uh...ok...) the books themselves are a must-have for anyone interested in the period, as the research and planning he has put into the scenarios and force lists alone make these so, so worth your time.

In the basic "1871" rules, one base represents a battalion of infantry, two squadrons or cavalry, or one artillery battery.  Command figures are mounted one, two or three to a base depending on seniority. For bases I just used the handy "Flames of War" sized ones I have from Warbases, as they were on hand, and I have a lot of them already!

Prussian artillery, three batteries - sculpts from Magister Millitum

Prussian artillery, three more batteries - sculpts from Pendraken.

So in this submission there are six batteries of guns, a decent down-payment on the artillery complement of a Prussian Corp (a Prussian Corp typically had four batteries per division, as well as an artillery reserve with six or so batteries of the heavy stuff).  Among the guns are three from Magister Millitum - also fine 10mm sculpts, although on this range I have to give the edge to Pendraken.

Prussian Dragoons in 10mm - figures from Pendraken.

Two bases together represent a regiment

The cavalry are Prussian Dragoons, the two stands together representing a regiment.

Tremendous sculpts from Pendraken. Outstanding quality.

The officer is also a Magister Millitum casting (came with the guns).

Mounted Prussian officer from Magister Millitum - a fine sculpt, but I do prefer Pendraken's work in this area.

There is a unit of Prussian Jagers - this would represent the single Jager battalion attached to each Prussian Corp.

Prussian Jagers in 10mm

A splash of green among the green.

And I haven't ignored the French completely, honest! Here is a unit of French Chasseurs.  One battalion of Chasseurs was attached to each French division.

French Chasseurs in 10mm.

The single base will represent a battalion in the "1871" rules.

Of course, rules like "Black Powder" are very flexible, so there are many different rules sets under which these 10mm chaps could be pushed around the table. And "1871" can also be scaled up and down (so that one base of infantry would be regiment, or conversely, two bases could represent a battalion etc).  But, for now, I at least plan to try "1871" at some point. Even at smaller scales, large numbers of castings are needed - there were some big scraps in the Franco-Prussian war, so will call for lots of castings.

Thus, while 28mm will remain my main focus for this period, doing a few 10mm figures here-and-there throughout my painting sessions has been fun and I plan to continue that throughout the Challenge this year. With luck, it will bring a few more units like this to the table.

And will I try painting this period in 15mm too, just to see what it looks like? Yeah...probably...I'm bad for that...

This gave me another 74 points toward my goal of 1200 "points" of painting in Curt's Painting Challenge.  I'm almost half-way to my goal!

Painting Challenge Theme Submission - LOTR Orcs

Arrgh! It's the bad guys from Middle Earth! Orcs from GW's "Lord of the Rings" line.

Another "theme" submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  The theme in this case was "Sport"...I couldn't really come up with something, but I had been painting some Lord of the Rings figures, and wanted to keep in that setting for a bit, so I thought some Orcs would do.  I mean, hunting orc seems like a sporting thing to do in Middle Earth, does it not?

Two-handed weapons and "archers".

These are all plastic sculpts from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line.  There are 12 orcs here, the product of one sprue-worth of orcs from a "Return of The King" box set.

Orcs with polearms...love the one figure with the bonkers mask.

There two orcs with bows, four orcs with spears/polearms, four orcs with hand-weapons and shields, and two orcs with heavier, two-handed weapons.

Good old basic, straightforward Mordor Orcs.

In games of Lord of the Rings, you generally need orcs. Often quite a lot of them. In our gaming group Dallas has always done the heavy lifting of ensure there are lots of orcs on hand for the games, so hopefully I can finally now chip in a bit with a few bad guys of my own.

Sauron is such a great boss!

The Painting Challenge continues to move along at a good clip - be sure to check it out - including some tremendous work from Byron and Mike F!

Chaos Renegade Valkyrie and Hellhound

Well, this week I got REALLY motivated and finished off two models that had been hanging around the painting desk half-finished for literally years.
  

The first one was a rehab Valkyrie that I'd picked up from somewhere long-forgotten. It was assembled and I think it may have been missing some cockpit parts, and I definitely added the rod to replace the broken pitot tube.

You can see that it had a coat of some kind of paint on it before (primer maybe?) but I know I'd bought it with the intention of rehabbing it for my Chaos Renegades.

Once I got cracking, it was a pretty straightforward job. Base of Mechanicus Standard Grey, with Averland Sunset as the contrasting colour, then weathered with Nuln Oil wash and sponge-chipping, and a bit of craft black drybrush soot. The underside was basecoated XV-88 and panel-highlighted with Hoeth Blue. It was a bit bright but looks OK after Nuln Oil and chipping.

This aircraft should do well in our ongoing 40K games. I have very few flyers in my armies but after seeing what Greg's Valk-spam can accomplish I felt it prudent to get at least one for the Renegades!

You can see a bit of the underside paintwork here. Unfortunately the previous owner assembled the model all buttoned up so no interior detail except the cockpit.

The sharp end, avec rocket pods...

This was a fun model to paint. The marking scheme was copied off a model I found on another hobbyist's blog. I thought the yellow panels looked great, so cheers mate! :-)

Today being Sunday, I thought I'd continue the Renegade theme by finishing another model that's languished in basecoat for a couple of years - this Hellhound. It's the older version, with cast metal turret and detail parts.

It's also painted in MSG, but brightened up slightly with an MSG-Celestra Grey mix. Nuln Oil, then chipping and rust (powder mixed with water) followed by a Mournfang Brown drybrush around the dirty bits.

Shout out to our old friends on Toxo IV!

I love the Imperial "number plate" decals from the Baneblade transfer sheet, and use them wherever I can.

Promethium tanks used a bit of weathering.

Tracks were basecoated Leadbelcher and weathered with the rust powder-water mix.

Lucky 13! Good to get this one off the painting desk and into the cabinet as well. Unfortunately, there's plenty more models hanging around the desk where this came from. But that's what quiet Sunday afternoons are for, I guess!

Painting Challenge Submission Six: Prussian Artillery for Franco-Prussian War

Prussian artillery from 1870, 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

My sixth submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was modest, but progress is progress and I'm pleased to be making more, even if it is just a bit.  This is a Prussian artillery piece from 1870 for my ongoing Franco-Prussian War project. The figures are all 28mm from the Wargames Foundry range.

Artillery was THE decisive arm for the Prussians in the war against France in 1870-71. In terms of small-arms, the French Chassepot rifle was the class of the period.  But the French artillery enjoyed no such advantage. The French artillery was obsolescent and plagued by things like dud fuses. On the other hand, while the Prussian infantry rifles were greatly out-classed by their French opponents, the Prussian artillery arm was kitted out with the latest-and-greatest of the era: steel breech-loading rifled artillery.  Manufactured by Krupp, the Prussian guns of 1870 were far more deadly and useful than the pieces of the French Imperial Army. The Prussian army made full use of this advantage during their invasion of France, and did so aggressively.

While painting artillery is far from my favourite activity, I do love the 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

Once in place, Prussian guns could easily wipe out the French batteries with fast and accurate counter-battery fire.  The gunners could then turn their attention to the main French lines, and blast whole regiments into dust. It was all rather dreadful for the French, who would slow and halt Prussian attacks with their magnificent Chassepot rifles, only to see a key artillery bombardment open a critical hole in their lines that aggressive Prussians would exploit. A devastating artillery bombardment helped the Prussians to win the battle at Gravelotte-St. Privat, shattering the French right and turning what had certain defeat into a grim but critical victory.

Bit of a stretch to have these on a table in 28mm, but whatever - they will look cool, that is what counts.

These guns so greatly outperform the cannons of the "Black Powder" era that having them on the table as models at all is a bit of a bodge, particularly with 28mm-sized castings. But it is a bodge I am prepared to make just so we can have a more complete, all-arms game of some sort of the table. The gun & crew will represent a battery of Krupp guns.  The Prussian side of my collection now has two of these, an ominous sign for anyone wishing to play the French when the time comes...

Excellent animation in the castings.

"French sighted - fire!"

This submission worked out to 30 "points" worth of painting (my goal for the whole Challenge is 1200).  Not a whole lot in one week, but as I said, progress is progress, and I am very much hoping to keep making progress on this project. I really dislike painting artillery, so it is great that I am getting these things finished and out of the way, bringing a first game that much closer...

15mm PSC Bundeswehr Leopard 1s

If there's one home truth about our participation in the world of Team Yankee, it's that we are subject to constant escalation. My Bundeswehr force hasn't been added to in some time, but I found it hard to resist Plastic Soldier Company's Leopard 1 box... so I didn't!

The rest of the force consists of excellent models from Battlefront, but I saw no reason why I shouldn't try this box of Leopard 1s from PSC. After all, they cost significantly less than the BF models and are also modern injection plastic models...

I certainly wasn't disappointed, either. The PSC Leopards are great. The kit contains parts to build five Bundeswehr (or other Euro) Leopard 1A1 or -A3s, or the Canadian C1 variant. The only deficiency identified with the C1 parts provided is that they don't include the proper pintle MG. However, this wasn't a problem with my build as what's provided is correct for the 1A3.

I also really like the PSC crew. They're super characterful and as the model's turret hatches can BOTH be modelled open, crew can be doubled up too as seen above.

Nice eh?

The only downside of the PSC box is that no decals are provided, but I used some I had left over from my Battlefront West German kits (plus some kindly provided by Conscript Greg), and freehanded the license plates.

Highly recommended! I love the ease of assembly and extras (like crew) provided by PSC, as well as the low price. However, you do miss the decals and unit card that comes with Battlefront's Leopard 1s.