Painting Challenge Submission 9 - WW2 German MMG Team in Winter Kit

28mm German WW2 MMG team - figures from Warlord Games.

I am continuing to work through my Winter WW2 project during Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  Having enjoyed a visit to Burch's Bluffs, I wanted to move to another stop on lovely Challenge Island (see here for more information on the Island and how it works with the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge). The Path Of The New Shiny brings me next to Mudry's Mesa. Named in honour of our very own ByronM, to safely traverse the Mesa one can paint a figure purchased after the Challenge was announced.  This was great news - my 28mm Winter WW2 project fit the bill. I could get back to my project and clear another vista on Challenge Island all at once.

My next destination...

Since there are all sorts of shifty characters traversing the Island, I thought the Mesa could use something helpful for defensive purposes. This is a 28mm German tripod-mounted MG-42 team in winter gear.  They will make great use of the nice, clear, fields of fire scenic views from Mudry's Mesa. These are metal 28mm castings from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range.

The deadly MG-42, ready to tear out a stream of deadly fire on its opponents...

I believe the three figures on this weapon crew were meant to be crowded together on to one larger base, and I was planning to do that at the outset...but the only way to do that, it turned out, was to have the officer right in the path of what I would assume to be a stream of empty casings flying from the MG-42. That seemed wrong to me.  I also remembered that games like "Chain of Command" will, at times, have a weapon team like this under the direction of a junior leader.  So I popped the gun commander onto a separate square base I use to mark NCOs/Junior Leaders, and left the two-man team directly with the gun on the larger round base.

Lots of great detail on these castings.

Ready for action...

As with all of the other WW2 Germans I have been painting so far from Warlord's range, these are excellent figures and were lots of fun to paint. And it was great that these figures could net me another stop on Challenge Island.  As for my next destination...well, it has to do with subjects that my painting/figure collection simply does not support right so. So I might need to summon a Balloon ride...more on that later.

Updated Challenge progress...three spots down, but I need to plot my next destination carefully...

For scoring, this crew was good for 55 points toward my goal of 1,000 points worth of painting.  And my small winter WW2 German platoon now has some scary fire support! Thanks for looking, and have a great day.

Painting Challenge Submission 7 - The Winter WW2 Germans Keep Coming

28mm German late-war infantry from Warlord Games.

More winter WW2 Germans? Yes - sorry everyone, but I'm trying to focus a bit to take a big bite out of this project.  So yes - even more 28mm WW2 Germans in Winter kit.  As with my other entries from this project to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, these are metal castings from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range. I'm in a "winter" state of mind, and the recent local conditions in Winnipeg are helping keep things that way.  This was from the past weekend...

It's January in Winnipeg, after all...

Certainly the winter weather helps inspire to paint these winter-themed figures. This is one of those "something I've always wanted to do projects" so I'm keen to rip through it and get a force big enough for a game sometime soon - certainly before the snow melts.

The Red River, frozen solid behind my house...

The back yard, buried in snow :)

These specific figures are slightly different from the others - these are meant to represent SS troops, hence the adjustment in the winter look.  While there are some white pants and helmets, there are a different assortment of coats and anoraks.  There are also some attempts at German camouflage peeking out from under the winter gear.

The odd cammo pattern peaking out here and there.

View from behind showing assorted kit.

LMG crew trying to get the MG-42 ready for action.

German WW2 cammo is a very intimidating subject, particularly in the context of the Challenge where so many of the participants can paint camouflage so well. Not only was it complex, but German camouflage is the sort of topic that you understand less the more you try to study it. There were so many different types of patterns, spread across so many different types of kit.  Different coats, different cuts, M41 this, M43 that...it makes me nuts.  The Germans apparently had reversible camouflage garbage mittens! This group of figures is like a Mountain Equipment Co-Op with guns - studying up about it makes me a bit mental, and I'm never sure I like the results...but there is only one way to improve, that is to practice, so here we are!

They look glossy in spite of the use of a matte varnish.  Is there any matte varnish out that actually dries matte?

Another view of the riflemen.

For the most part I left the camouflage mostly underneath - on the odd pant leg or helmet cover. The jackets (M41 or M43 or whatever) were issued in grey and tan (but...not white?) so I used a mix of both on the coats. But I did attempt to copy the so-called "Italian" camouflage for the NCO's coat. This is a pattern referenced in the box - I tried to research it but gave up after web searches surfaced a number of contradictory references.

NCO in the middle - square base - sporting "Italian" camouflage (at least, according to the Warlord box...)

I'm perplexed by how often I see photos/miniatures/colour drawings of German troops mixing white-washed helmets and white coats with some of their fancy camouflage.  Would you still wear the "autumn leaf" pattern (or whatever) with snow on the ground? Maybe...woods and forested areas still have lots of brown, even once the snow starts falling? Whatever, this NCO is wearing the camo-edition of his coat, snow-be-dammed.

The pose for the LMG team is a bit disappointing. What is it with sculptors and their determination to sculpt LMG teams in odd poses? At least this group sort-of-looks-like they are trying to get the weapon into action.

LMG crew.

One of their comrades seems to be saying - "hey, maybe use that ***ing MG42?"

Quite a few in this bunch are sporting the later-war STG44 assault rifles, and between these and the panzerfaust launchers overall the weapon loads exude a distinctly late-war vibe to them.  That's OK with me - I like to game the late-war very much, but I'm going to get some more rifle armed figures just to dampen out the number of assault rifles.

Is that guy on the right struggling with the panzerfaust?

The guy on the left looks a little extra-hard-core with the bandaged eye.

One casting is kind of odd - he looks like he is holding the panzerfaust like maybe he is getting ready to use it? The pose is strange...it looks less like he is going to fire it at a tank or hardpoint, and more like he is getting ready to sneak up on one of his buddies and prank him with it...given the power of that warhead, I can see the prank going wrong...

"Group photo" of the 28mm Winter WW2 project to date...

Here is a "group photo" of progress on this project so far - about 37 castings, not bad, but they need to be rounded out with some other bits.  Hopefully that will follow soon. Thanks for visiting and for looking!

Painting Challenge Submission 6 - 28mm WW2 Winter German Command

28mm WW2 German Command and medical assortment in 28mm - figures from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range.

Is it possible to paint even more 28mm WW2 Germans in winter kit? Apparently yes... the brushes are on a roll, so here is a third batch of 28mm WW2 Germans in winter gear, part of my ongoing submissions to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  These are metal figures from Warlord, and include the contents of a command pack as well as a special giveaway figure(s) they were tossing into various packs during their Christmas promotions.

German senior officer, in fur-lined winter coat.

MP-40 slung over the shoulder.

The main officer is on a hex-shaped base, an approach we use to help easily identify senior command figures on the gaming table.  There was already a lot of feldgrau and white among the soldiers, so I tried to make the officer look a little different by giving him a non-regulation fur-lined coat, the sort of thing a more senior fellow might manage.

That said, there are such a dizzying array of "official" German uniforms that it would not surprise me to learn that this, in fact, some kind of "M41 Special Sheep-Leather" coat or whatever...

Artillery spotter (or, could be another NCO if required). Most prone 28mm castings are huge waste of space, but this one isn't bad at all, I actually like it.

The prone figure is intended to be used as a spotter for mortars etc. I really don't like prone figures in 28mm, but at least it's just an individual model, and this case, and I would hit the turf too if I was trying to keep an eye out for falling rounds!  It is a rare moment of a prone 28mm casting being an asset rather than a pain.

This NCO is serious...he has two helmets!

This NCO-type figure has two helmets! Why, do you ask? Well, Greg doesn't often pay close attention when assembling models! Warlord often provides options for separate heads on many of their infantry castings.  I thought this helmet option looked posh, glued it on, primed the figure and started painting it, and it was THEN that I realized "oh, hey, he had a helmet already tied to his belt...I guess I should have picked a head with a cap for this fellow..."

I suppose I could have knocked the head off and swapped in another, but that seemed like bad luck...so instead, I developed a back story.  This fellow is a veteran NCO, but a superstitious one - he keeps his "lucky" helmet - still painted yellow - that carried him from Africa out to the Eastern Front. Now that winter is here, he wears a white-washed herlmet, but keeps his good luck charm still with him, regardless of the extra weight. When the weather conditions change back to spring/summer, he'll put the yellow-coloured lid back on, but until then, he just has it with him, for good luck...

Medic assisting a wounded comrade.

The medic is done by Warlord as a small, two-figure vignette, already helping a wounded comrade who is using his rifle as a crutch.  Several sets of skirmish rules allow for use of battlefield medics, so Warlord's WW2 range often includes medics/orderlies.  In this case, the medic is done more as a vignette-style than as an individual figure.

Really cool sculpt from Warlord.

The sculpting is very nice on all of these figures, but in particular it is great on this pair.  A battlefield wound would always be scary, but in the context of the winter cold this fear is even more pronounced. A wound in the deep winter fighting gets much more serious, much more quickly. The sculpting on the face of the wounded infantryman reflects that grim understanding.

Vignette from Warlord games - this was a "throw in" with one of their 28mm German winter bundle deals.

The sculpting here is really, really well done - on all of these miniatures, in fact.

And speaking of "grim", that leads, last but not least, to another two-figure vignette in this submission, an infantryman trying to assist a fallen comrade.  If things are a little scary for the wounded fellow with the medic, well, they are that much worse here...this fellow may be down for the count, but his comrade doesn't want to give up on him, and is trying to grab him by the lapels, either to get him back up, or just drag him back to the medic, even if there may be nothing to be done...

This figure was included as a bonus in my order, although I suspect that it is available for purchase somewhere in the rabbit maze that is Warlord's web shop.

I am really, really enjoying painting the 28mm metal WW2 figures from Warlord. The sculpts have a lot of character, and are a real treat to paint.  I'm still quite a ways away from playing a game with them, but I'm getting closer! I will also be looking at some other metal castings to augment the collection - I have some figures from Offensive Miniatures and Artizan coming soon - and I may give Empress a try as well.

Painting Challenge Submission 5 - More Winter WW2 Germans.

More 28mm WW2 Germans in Winter kit. Figures from Warlord Games.

My submissions to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge have become pretty focused. In this fifth submission, once again, are more 28mm WW2 Germans wearing winter kit.  These are metal sculpts from Warlord Games' "Bolt Action" range, and if they look similar to the ones in my last submission, it is because they are! When I made the decision to dive into winter WW2 in 28mm, I ordered a few boxes of these of from Warlord.  I will round out the collection with more figures from their range, but these lovely metal sculpts will form the core of the 28mm force.

This pose for German MGs is iconic, maybe a little-overused, but I never get tired of it...looks great. That fellow at the front must have one of the worst jobs...

Great details on the figures.

Most of the figures in this box have separate heads, so I was able to swap them around a bit to ensure these figures were not EXACTLY the same as the last ones. Together with an effort to change the odd feature on the painting - black leather instead of brown, swapping white for grey here and there, if hopefully shakes things up a touch.  That said, there will be a certain tattered uniformity or variety (?) to this collection as it takes shape - these troops are struggling against the winter as well as the enemy...

NCO on the square base, accompanied by one of his riflemen.

Another view of the NCO.

Assortment of troops, lots of late-war goodies here - rifles, grenades, assault rifles, panzerfausts.

Great figures from Warlord.

I am really enjoying painting these figures. The sculpts have a lot of character to them - they look tough and weary, all at once, and it just seems "right", particularly for troops fighting along the Eastern Front in the winter time.  The winter here in Winnipeg continues its plunge towards brutal depths (more snow, daytime "high" temperatures in the double-digit minus celsius figures, wind etc.) I am fortunate to be safe and warm, of course, but the outside conditions are helping to focus my mind on this project - hopefully that focus can continue for another one or two submissions...we'll see...

Ready for some action on the ost front...

Festooned with rifles and kit, ready for some kind of doomed stand...

These figures were worth another 50 points, toward my total goal of 1000 points for the three-month Challenge period.  They are also bringing this new collection of 28mm WW2 Germans toward some sort of playable size for a game of Bolt Action at some point. Stay tuned for more, and thanks for looking!

Panzer IIIs in Winter - 15mm WW2

Panzer III-Ls from Peter Pig - 15mm WW2

One last "clearing of the baffles" project that started on the Easter long weekend.  Here is a group of Panzer III-Ls in winter colours.  The models are from Peter Pig.

That tank commander would be pretty damn cold, I think...

Last fall I started, together with Curt C, a little 15mm winter WW2 project on the Eastern Front. These tanks were meant to be part of that effort, but they have sat there primed yet unpainted for almost six months.  I wanted to get them finished off during a little break from my 40k Legion project. And since there were flurries (AGAIN) this weekend, I thought it was appropriate timing.

The tactical numbers are decals from Plastic Soldier Company

The blue collar late model Panzer III is a favourite tank of mine.  The vehicle has thick plates of extra armour bolted to the front of the turret and the glacis.  The gun has been increased in size as much as it can be for the turret (to 50mm) with a longer barrel to add as much velocity as possible to the shots. This tank design has been tweaked to give everything it possibly can in the face of an increasingly superior Soviet adversary!

The detail on the Peter Pig tanks is excellent, without equal in 15mm

I think this version of the Panzer III saw service late in 1942 and into 1943 - all the way to the fighting at Kursk.  The winter of 1942-43 saw some very heavy fighting in the face of the Soviets' shattering counteroffensive around Stalingrad and through the Caucasus region.

There are a lot of nice little details, like the spare track links draped across the front of the tank

These models are from Peter Pig, and once again I am blown away by the quality.  They were easy to put together, a lot of fun to paint, and they are just gorgeous.  I would love to paint a whole company of these models!  Peter Pig is tops when it comes to 15mm WW2.

A thin gel medium was used to represent the snow

Like  my other winter tanks, I put a base coat on ("The Fang" from GW in this case - geez I hate the lame names of their paints) followed by a base off-white to represent the white wash, followed by some  heavy duty weathering to represent the abuse dished out by the elements in a Russian winter.  I stippled various shades of white on the armour, sponged some dark grey chipping along the edges, and then used some "Agrax Earthshade" and "Nuln Oil" washes from GW to pin-wash some specific spots.  The tanks look worn as heck, just the way I like them.

I hope to get these in to a Chain of Command game some time, but I'm finished painting winter stuff for now.  This past winter here in the Canadian prairies has been a relentless soul-crushing hell of non-stop cold.  While I was glad to get these cleared from the painting table, I'm done painting winter stuff for a while.  F*ck winter - just f*ck it in the face - painting winter stuff makes me think too much of it! I'll resume the winter stuff next October :)

The Lingering Winter - 15mm Winter WW2 Infantry

15mm late WW2 German winter troops

While continuing to work on my Legion project (it is taking forever, I know - you would think I am growing them from the gene seeds - more on this in later posts) I came across a small pile of primed individually-based WW2 figures.  They were winter troops, part of a 15mm winter WW2 effort I started late last year.  Since the soul-crushing winter from hell of 2013-14 refuses to let go (we had 10cm of f*cking snow on the weekend), I thought it would be appropriate to knock them off quickly in a little break from painting Space Marines.

From left, an STG 44, rifle, panzerfaust, and rifle

These figures are not a coherent force in themselves - just odds and ends I wanted to round out a late war winter German platoon, with a couple of surplus Russians done for good measure.

I split the MG team up - I found the three-man base too large, and the rifle/spotter on the right is easily removed as a casualty

The German figures are from Battlefront, wearing a variety of winter garb. There are 10 figures all together - three riflemen, one rifleman carrying a panzerfaust, and one soldier carrying an STG 44. Two more guys are based as NCOs (square bases) carrying SMGs.  Another one is based as a senior officer (hex base) carrying an STG 44.  Last but not least there is a two-man team with an MG 42 mounted on a tripod.

Senior officer on the hex base, NCOs on the square base

Dallas and Curt are always very helpful with my endless questions about German WW2 uniforms (and just uniforms in general :) and I had seen among the references they have provided me a kind of reversible jacket and pants combo that had winter white on one side and more general grey-green or camo patterns on the other.  I tried to mimic this on one of the NCOs and one of the grenadiers.

Fellow on the left made the mistake of believing in "spring" - there is no such thing

My theory is the guys wearing the non-winter sides had been duped by a forecasts of melting snow - something I can relate to.

Battlefront castings

I really enjoy these particular Battlefront castings.  As I noted with the earlier batch, they seem to have a hopeless feeling etched into their faces - knowing they are about to face another offensive in the winter - that would feel pretty hopeless. Nice to see that on these castings.

Three lonely Russians defend the Motherland!

The three Russian figures are leftovers to enhance a winter Russian platoon I had already painted.  There is another senior officer (on the hex base) and two regular soldiers carrying SMGs.  These are Peter Pig castings, and every time I come back to a Peter Pig casting I am very impressed by the incredible quality.  They remain the number one 15mm figure maker in my books!

Peter Pig - still the best for 15mm infantry

I still have a few other primed but unpainted bits for this collection sitting nearby on the pending pile, but I'm not about to dive back into mass 15mm WW2 painting any time soon. This was a fun little diversion, a clearing of the baffles on the painting table - and also to keep in practice, so I don't forget my various paint combos for the winter. I want to keep plowing ahead with my Legion Project as I am looking forward to some Horus Heresy games soon - maybe by the end of the month, if I'm lucky! Stay tuned for details...