More 20mm WW2 Randomness - 76mm Russian Gun

"Get that barrel lower - the fascists are STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

Here is some more random 20mm WW2 painting. This is another project which had been sitting on the desk, primed and base coated for like a year, and once I cleared off the German odds and ends from the same corner of the desk, I thought I should just finish this off as well.  This is a Russian 76mm gun.  The gun, the crew and the accessories are from the Plastic Soldier Company's very nice line of 1/72 scale plastic kits.

I built this more as an experiment than anything else - I had not attempted a large gun in 20mm scale yet, and this seemed like an easy one to try.  The kits from PSC are very, very nice.  In this case the gun could be built either as the 76mm or as (I think) a 57mm AT gun.  I felt the 76mm was a bit more "iconic" so I went with that for the model.

1/72 model kit from Plastic Soldier Company - highly recommended!

I believe the Red Army used these 76mm weapons both as direct-fire support weapons and as indirect artillery support.  I am one of those gamers that hates having indirect artillery pieces of any size beyond medium mortars on the table. But in this case I thought it would be great to have as an AT gun for the Russians...my modelling skillz, however, were not strong in this case - the gun still ended up with a bit of an elevation.  This is a good reminder not to let go of a model piece before the glue is actually dry...

PSC gives you everything you need - gun, crew and accessories...

I really have to credit PSC for the all-around excellence of these 1/72 plastic kits.  And I generally hate plastic kits, so I don't praise them mildly. With PSC you get nice guns, nice selection of crews and accessories like ammo boxes and spent casings.  You really get everything you need in one fell swoop.  I guess they could throw in a base or something, but since every gamer has their own preference for basing,  I don't blame them for leaving that out.

Something for the German players to watch out for when we try 20mm WW2...

This gun will defend the motherland in games of "Battlegroup", "Chain of Command" and maybe even "Bolt Action", and give the German panzer and infantry commanders some pause...

More Random 20mm WW2 Stuff

Assortment of 20mm WW2 stuff from PSC and Wargames Foundry

After a run of painting some Horus Heresy stuff, I wanted to get back to some of the WW2 stuff sitting in my rather aimless painting queue.  I started with some 20mm WW2 material - an odd collection of items from the Plastic Soldier Company and from Wargames Foundry.

Perry 20mm WW2 Panzer Grenadiers

The Foundry sculpts are part of a strangely stunted 20mm WW2 range they still offer.  I wonder if at one point in the past this collection was more established and complete.  I don't know the history of it, but when Foundry switched to its relatively newer and somewhat nicer (sounding) management, it seemed to come forward again.  You can get some 20mm WW2 stuff from Foundry again, and these figures are part of that range.

Fellow on the front right has rifle grenade - interesting sculpt

The figures were sculpted by the Perry twins, and they look really sharp, even if the range is really limited.  I thought I would try and get a few packs to put together a unit of Panzer Grenadiers in 20mm. My thought did not work out very well in practice.  The Perry sculpts are top quality, but the range is profoundly limited.  The MG34 teams are either prone (lame) or marching (terrible) - they are properly done sculpts, but one of the worst things in 20mm and 28mm WW2 gaming are prone MG teams and marching MG teams.  Panzer Grenadier squads have two MGs teams each, so I'm trying to find some more teams from other ranges.

The MG34 team are fine sculpts, but I loathe marching poses for MG teams - they look so out of place among a squad of troops otherwise ready for action

These figures are wearing camouflage smocks and pants...although I think pants can also be just straight up field grey.  I did a mix of pants: some in camo, and some in the field grey to give some variety.  I tried (again) to paint German splinter camouflage on the smocks, pants and helmet covers, but I didn't make much of a go...despite the number of helpful tutorials online, I can't really seem to get the German infantry camouflage to look right.  It's not terrible...just seems off. I hope I can get better with practice, but German camouflage makes me nuts...

251D Hanomag from PSC, 1/72 scale

You get tons of detail in these great kits

The 251D Hanomag is a 1/72 plastic model from Plastic Soldier Company.  Like their other 1/72 stuff, this is a fantastic model.  Very easy to assemble, lots of details, and paints up very quick. You get a number of extra bits as well - stowage, troops to sit inside, a gunner for the MG if you want one - it's great quality and great value.

8cm mortar team and radio man - 1/72 figures from PSC

Some other bits are also from the Plastic Soldier Company - up first is an 8cm mortar team to provide some fire support for the German infantry sections.  There is also a trooper with a radio.  The mortar team is from PSC's heavy weapon box, while the radio man is from their late-war infantry pack.

Panzerschrek team, 1/72 from PSC

Lots of nice detail on these 1/72 PSC figs

Up next is a Panzerschrek team, to try and hold off the T-34s and other scary Russian things.  Like the mortar, these figures come from the PSC German heavy weapon box.

Medic from PSC, 1/72 scale

Last but not least is a medic, another one of the extras you get from the PSC late-war infantry pack. Some rules like Battlegroup and Chain of Command have small rules that let you makes use of figures like this medic, so it was fun to paint up and we'll see if we can figure out how to work him into a game.

That's it for this bunch...up next, maybe some 15mm WW2...

Painting Challenge Wrap-Up, Part 3 of 3 - 20mm Odds & Ends

20mm WW2 Soviets from Elhiem

For my final entry to the Painting Challenge I just tried to finish clearing off the painting desk with some leftover bits from the projects that got me up and moving in the first place - 20mm.  I started painting some miniatures in this scale last fall, and finished quite a few more of them during the Challenge and I have been really enjoying working in this scale.

Up first are some 20mm WW2 Soviets.  These are spare riflemen from a pack of Elhiem figures.  As always, the sculpting can be a bit uneven, but the proportions are somehow still great, even compelling.  The tricks of the sculptor...fascinating!

More defenders of the Rodina

Ready to battle the fascist invaders

Up next is a more modern set - this is supposed to be a TV news team.  Once again, these are Elhiem figures.  I like having media figures as a "gaming garnish" on modern tables, but I find these sculpts are perhaps too ultramodern - I know cameras are smaller these days, but I still think most TV news people have shoulder mounted cameras.  Maybe that is just here in Canada...

"Reporting live from  20mm game..."

I tried to write "PRESS" on their helmets...that didn't really work...

One more Elhiem tidbit - this is a downed pilot.  It is supposed to be from a modern range, but could work in WW2 in a pinch.  Downed pilots always make for great objectives in skirmish games, as the ground pounders resentfully put their lives on the line to bail out some pampered flyboy...

Long walk back to base...

Great objective for games

And one more vehicle! During the challenge I painted a few T-34s for my WW2 Soviets, so I thought I would finish at least one Panzer for the Germans.  This is a 1/72 scale model kit from Plastic Soldier Company.  I can't say enough about how much I enjoy their 1/72 scale vehicle models - they are excellent.

1/72 Mark IV from Plastic Soldier Company

I HATE modeling the schurzen plates...as you can see at the back of the turret, I can never get them to sit quite right...

This is a late model Panzer IV, sporting the long 75mm gun and the schurzen plates, which from a hobby perspective make me !@#!@#!@ing bannanas as I hate painting them, then glueing them, etc.  But full credit to PSC - they make the process pretty easy/idiot proof, even for an idiot like me...

Very basic paint job

Ready for action in the eastern front

So that concludes another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  In total I netted 1233 points of painting.  I easily exceeded my (low) initial target of 300 points, but in the end I did not achieve my (much more ambitious) revised target of 1500 points.  I finished in 18th place (just pipped by Byron - damn you!), which gives you an idea of just how much painting was going on out there around the world during the Challenge.  Byron and Kevin participated as well, with several excellent entries.  I encourage folks to go check out all of the entries (set aside some time - it will take a while!).  We'll see if Curt does another Challenge next year.

Fifth Painting Challenge Entry - More 20mm WW2 Russians

Russian tanks and tank riders in 20mm - models from PSC, figures from PSC and Elhiem

Christmas vacation was lovely this year, and I was fortunate to be able to bring some painting along for the trip. Here are the results - a whole pile of 20mm WW2 Russians to assist in the liberation of the Rodina. There is a platoon of T-34/76s, a platoon of SMG-toting tank riders to accompany them, a squad of assault engineers and a squad of scouts. 

The 1/72 scale tank kits from PSC are marvellous

Tank commander visible in the hatch to mark the platoon commander

A T-34/76 ready for action on the table

The T-34s are 1/72 scale models from the Plastic Soldier Company. These are excellent model kits, with a three-tank platoon per box.  They are easy to assemble and have very nice details.  Of course, those who know me will laugh (rightly) at my continuous inability to properly assemble tracks - it's not easy to see in the photos but I really managed to screw up one of these tanks, but thankfully from arm's length it looks OK. 

SMG-toting Lieutenant on a hexagonal base

Of course, a fumbler like me prefers one-piece track assemblies, but the fact is these are tremendous models that any normal person (i.e. any of you, anyone reading this, not me) could put these lovely PSC kits together with no trouble at all.

A squad of tank riders - one NCO (on square base), LMG team and four troops

The SMG platoon consist of figures from two manufacturers - the 1/72 scale infantry figures from their Russians WW2 plastic line (just have to say again what a great value that box is!) and a group of metal figures from Elhiem Figures.Elhiem is a 20mm figure maker I have heard a lot about, and I wanted to try some of their figures for myself so I ordered some packs to round out the platoon.

The Elhiem and PSC figures mix very well together

The platoon is organised along the lines given in the Chain of Command rules - a lieutenant (on a hex base) and three squads each with an NCO, a two-man LMG team and four regulars, all armed with the ubiquitous PPSH sub machine guns, for a total of 21 troops.  These troops would have accompanied the T-34s to battle, hitching a ride on the hulls as they advanced into battle.

I like the PSC pose of the fellow ready to toss the grenade

Two spare SMG-armed troops - Elhiem sculpts

I know it would have been cooler to model some of these guys on to the tanks themselves - after all, that is an iconic image of the Soviet army from WW2.  But in a game skirmish game, the amount of time these troops would spend actually on the tanks is very limited - the outside of a tank is a horrible, dangerous place to be when the shells start to come in and the Soviet tank riders would be hopping off in no time once battle was underway.  So I opted for the dismounted platoon.

Russian assault engineers from Elhiem

I was very pleased to note that Elhiem offers many Russian LMG gunners who are not prone - what a pleasure! As a result the LMG teams don't need large, wasteful bases and they fit in much more nicely with the other action-packed poses in the squads.

Another view of the engineers

Up next is a group of Russian combat engineers.  These are also Elhiem sculpts.  These troops carry SMGs, but there is an LMG (not prone either!) and a fellow with a flamethrower too.  They are modelled wearing camouflaged body suit and body armour. They are doing various engineer things (one is digging up a mine) and carrying engineer stuff (one has rope, another is kneeling and ready to set off a detonator).

Flamethrower trooper

Another view - gave him a different-shaped base so he would stand out

Fellow on the left is digging up a mine, while the one on the right is ready to blast something out of the way

Finally is a group of Russian scout troops. Again, they are Elhiem sculpts. They are carrying a mix of SMGs and what I think are semi-automatic rifles, SVTs perhaps?  I'm not familiar with Russian semi-automatic rifles from WW2 - I don't know if many were used or how common they were in the front lines.

Russian WW2 scouts from Elhiem

Some lively colours in the camouflage body suits

The scouts are also wearing camouflage body suits, similar to the engineers, but most of the painting references I found online for these troops had the camouflage suits in very different colours from the engineers.  Where the engineers had olive green suits with brown patches, the scouts seemed to wear either brown or a strange green, one that seems more appropriate for infiltrating a peppermint candy factory or a 70s prom than the German lines of the eastern front. I thought I would give it a try anyway - it certainly looks different!

I love this NCO figure for the scouts - a great sculpt from Elhiem

Interesting assortment of weapons on this group

I liked the proportion of the Elhiem sculpts, but the quality was not the best.  Not the worst, but not the best - some of the hands, for example, or some of the faces, were not that great, not that crisp. But they are still nice, and I look forward to painting more of them.

So in total there are 38 different 20mm-sized infantry troops and three 20mm sized tanks in this submission - however, only one of the tanks counts for the challenge (one had been completed prior to the start of the challenge, and a second had base paint colours applied prior to the challenge). With the scores from this submission I have been able to break through my original (very low) points target for the Challenge, and following a round of goading from Curt, I have increased my target to a new, much higher number - I hope I can meet that target.

Second Painting Challenge Entry - WW2 20mm German Infantry Platoon

20mm WW2 German Infantry Platoon

My second entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is a set of opponents for my first entry - a platoon of WW2 German Infantry.  With one exception, these figures are all from the Plastic Soldier Company's 1/72 Late War German Infantry box sets.  Some of these figures were painted prior to the challenge starting, but I finished most of them after I powered through the Russians.

The fellow in the front is a 20mm casting from Warmodelling - everyone else is plastic from PSC

There are enough figures for a full regular infantry platoon, three squads of 10 men each, each with a two-man LMG team. This PSC set has the same challenge as the Russians, in that the LMG figures are either prone (sigh) or marching merrily (useless).  But it is lacking in a figure that looks like a proper platoon commander/officer, so I ordered a metal one from Warmodelling.

One LMG per squad in this platoon of foot sloggers

The figures are based as the Russians, with NCOs on square bases and senior leaders on hex bases and everyone else on round bases.

Prone LMG gunners - a disappointing sculpt, but better than marching!

I find painting German uniforms to be the hardest part of collecting figures for WW2. Even getting the basic green/grey correct is tricky (at least for me), and once you advance past a certain period of the war a wide assortment of camouflage smocks and helmet covers start to appear.  Painting camouflage is tricky at the best of times, and with the Germans and their 700 different versions of camouflage, I go bonkers trying to figure it out.

Different base types visible in this shot

In the case of these figures, they are wearing later war boots/pants/gaiters, and many of them also have some sort of camouflage cover on their helmets.  On most of them I attempted a weak copy of the most "standard" German camouflage that I could find, and on others I imagined that perhaps these covers may have been improvised at times, so I painted them a dark yellow.

Decent modelling of the German kit on these PSC figures

For their overall uniforms I used a few different types of green, grey and green grey to try and vary the appearance a little bit, and washed liberally with GW's Agrax Earthshade, with a few highlights picked up again following the wash.

There are a total of 27 foot figures and three two-man LMG teams.  Of this, eight foot figures and one LMG team were painted prior to the Challenge, leaving a net of 19 foot figures and two LMG teams, which I think works out to 84 points. 

Not sure what I will paint up next - sensible people like Byron have a plan of sorts for the Painting Challenge, but I find that any painting I "plan" never gets done, so I'm just playing it by ear. 

First Painting Challenge Entry - 20mm WW2 Russians

1/72 WW2 Russians from Plastic Soldier Company

Here is my first entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - a completed rifle WW2 Soviet rifle platoon.  The figures are all from Plastic Soldier Company's 1/72 range.  Some of these were painted prior to the Challenge, but the balance were whipped up over the weekend.

Officers on hex-shaped bases

I have painted a lot of WW2 stuff over the years, but 20mm is all new for me and I'm finding I quite enjoy it.  It is, as Curt and others have expressed, a great "compromise" scale between 15mm and 28mm. I don't think these PSC plastics are the best figures out there - some of the poses look a little odd, more "possible" than "natural", if that makes sense - but I was pleasantly surprised by the detail on them, and you get quite a few figures in each box.  I have enough for a rifle platoon, and I still have a bunch of extra fellows with SMGs to finish up. A good value, and a good way to get started painting a new scale.

NCO on a square base with rounded corners

There are enough figures here to represent a rifle platoon - three 10-man squads, each sporting a 2-man LMG team - and a couple of officers.  The basing will be familiar to anyone here who has followed Curt's system - 20mm rounds for the regular fellows, 20mm squares for NCOs and junior leaders, and 25mm hexes for the senior officers/commanders.  Having the different bases makes it a little easier to determine which figures represent leaders at a glance, important in gaming systems like "Chain of Command".

Ready to defend the Motherland!

My only complaint with these figures is the poses chosen for the LMG gunners - prone (and PSC is hardly the only ones doing this - it is very common).  I know lying prone is a very realistic portrayal and something that happened a lot/all the time in real fighting, but in toy soldier fighting, prone figures are lame, particularly at 20mm scale and above. Prone figures require alternate basing, often much large than others and looking out of sorts compared with the rest of the fellows in the unit.  Every time a prone figure is cast in 20mm scale or larger, I'm pretty sure a baby whale gets kicked.  The only prone figures on a table should be snipers!

PSC figures were surprising with the amount of nice detail for plastic figures; much better than their 15mm size figures

Of course, for skirmish gaming, the only worse sculpt than prone is marching - and sadly, the PSC alternative to the prone LMG team is a pair of fellows marching along like they are having a jolly time.  Again, PSC is not the only one that does this. The marching figures look even more out of place on the table, so they went into the spares bin, while the prone figures got the paint.

"Destroy the fascist invaders!"

20mm has been a lot of fun to paint so far, and I'm looking forward to adding more 20mm WW2 stuff during the Challenge and beyond.