Back to the Western Desert: 1/48 Matilda and Perry Afrika Korps

Back to the Western Desert indeed! In preparation for an El Alamein game I recently hosted, I built and painted this 1/48 Tamiya Matilda (yes I know Matildas weren't really a big deal in '42) and some really nice Perry Miniatures Germans. On with the show! 

The model was pretty straightforward to assemble, as are most Tamiya 1/48 kits. But nowadays rather than having a metal lower hull, the newer Tamiya kits are all plastic - albeit with some solid metal tubes to insert inside the hull to add some nice weight to the model.

I painted the model in a weathered Caunter camo pattern. And if you've ever read anything about Caunter camo, you know it's controversial! Some say blue, some say grey, some green... who knows. But I think this ended up looking OK. The base tan is AK Deck Tan, the blue is Thunderhawk Blue, and the slate grey is Vallejo German Uniform. 

For Christmas I got a box of AK Interactive paints and washes - "Rust and Staining" edition. Pretty good stuff and has come in handy, I used the Dark and Light Rust on the exhaust mufflers.

There was a bottle of German Camo Black-Brown in that box as well and I love that stuff, especially for sponge chipping. I used to mix craft black paint and GW Rhinox Hide but I love the pre-mixed GCBB for this work.

I used some of the kit decals on the kit but not all of the ones that were provided for "Defiance". This was because there was already stowage and junk stuck on the turret where the decals were supposed to go. Anyway it's a nice model and I think it turned out OK. 

And here's some models from Perry Miniatures - the German Zug/Platoon Command pack. Really nice models just as you'd expect from the twins. They're painted just like the other Perry Germans I've done thus far. If you're interested you can have a look at some here.
 

You get an MG-34 gunner and assistant...

An officer in some rather casual clothing and a runner...

And an anti-tank rifleman enjoying a drink with an NCO. I made the sign for our recent game, it's from a 1/35 Italeri kit. I used a 0.1mm technical pen for the lettering and skull and crossbones. I love stuff like this as it adds so much to the gaming battlefield.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed looking, back to the brushes! 

More Iron Warriors!

I submitted these lads for the 1980s/Retro Studio in the Challenge. Although these models are relatively new (they're the plastic Space Marines in MKIII "Iron Armour"), they're throwbacks in a couple of ways. I have some of the original metal versions of these dudes in various of my Space Marine armies - those models came out something like 30 years ago. And additionally, the models are "retro" in the sense that GW released them for gaming in the Horus Heresy, a time period 10,000 years before the current 40k timeline. Well, I'm convinced anyway... 

In any case, here they are - 10 Space Marines in MKIII armour, members of the IV Legion, the infamous Iron Warriors. Pictured above is the sergeant with plasma pistol and power fist, a classic combination.

The nine other Marines are all armed with Phobos-pattern boltguns.

The poseability of the plastic models is excellent, I love each of these poses.

The models were painted in the style of my other Iron Warriors models - basecoat in Leadbelcher, trim in Brass Scorpion, armour and trim washed with Nuln Oil (the armour done twice) and the trim washed with Reikland Fleshshade. The yellow pauldron stripes were basecoated Zandri Dust and gone over with Averland Sunset, washed with Agrax Earthshade and sponge chipped with Vallejo German Camo Black-Brown.

The bases were painted with Rhinox Hide, worked up with Mournfang Brown and Steel Legion Drab. The boots and greaves of the Marine were lightly drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab as well.
 

This squad will reinforce the significant bunch of Iron Warriors already in the cabinet. I really do like the colour scheme of this Legion as it's very workmanlike and easy to paint. The yellow hazard striping is a nice pop of colour on the models too.

More to come!

Angels and Demons - Some Models for Idols of Torment

No it's not a ropey Dan Brown novel... "Angels and Demons" is the subject of my post. This was a small project to get some models ready for a game last week. Our group has been playtesting an excellent new fantasy skirmish game called "Idols of Torment" - you can read more about it here, but it's a very cool concept and a super fun game. You only EVER need 8 models for your force, but there's a lot of excitement in the gameplay. Anyway, on to the models...

I needed to paint two angels and two demons for the game - these are essentially statues that animate during the course of the game and create chaos for the players. The angel models are conversions - I went to the local FLGS and bought two winged angel-types but after I got them home, decided I didn't like them. So I went back and got two more female fighter models and transplanted the wings from the original models onto them.

As the fighters had braided hair that would've prevented the wings from going on, I had to cut off the braids and do new hair with greenstuff. I think it turned out OK.

The poses of the fighters are great, aren't they! I think the outfits look suitably angelic too. The models were painted with acrylics, wings were drybrushed mostly but other bits basecoated and highlighted.

Had to do some greenstuff work on this model too.

The demons came out of the box of shame - I've had these metal Khorne Bloodletters for donkey's years and they'd never seen paint. So I thought I'd drag 'em out and paint them for the Idols game.

Bare asses of course :-)

Skin was painted Mephiston Red and highlighted with Evil Suns Scarlet. Brass is painted in with Brass Scorpion, the horns and claws are Mechanicus Standard Grey highlighted with Thunderhawk Blue.

Doing his best Gene Simmons impression...

The swords were painted a bit differently - taking a cue from some LotR models I painted in the last Challenge, I did these blades with a Corax White drybrush and a wash of Biel-Tan Green. I think they look pretty cool.

Just catching up on some cross-posts from the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge... stay tuned!

Wings of Glory - Outnumbered

Last Thursday I ran the latest in our long-running Wings of Glory WWI campaign for the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. We played a 1917 scenario based upon mission 7a of the Knights of the Air campaign setting, “Outnumbered”.  The Germans were the attackers, since they won the last game (which was played before COVID).  

Frederick, the leading German player, had a Deadly Aim 1 ace flying a Pfalz DIII. Hugh, new to WoG, flew a trusty Albatross DII. Kevin is the leading French player, and flew a SPAD S.VII. I flew the colourful Nieuport XI with a wing mounted Lewis gun that allowed firing even if overlapped! Both German planes had twin guns using the A deck, and both French planes had a single gun using the B deck. This would be interesting. 

Under the rules of the mission, if a French plane was shot down, it could basically re-spawn on the French table edge, representing reinforcements. 

The Germans set up within the confines of the green circle, then the French rolled randomly for placement from the mission map. People got stuck in right away, with a damaging pass that resulted in several smoking planes and jammed guns. The two sides kept circling , with my Nieuport also trying to bring the Germans closer to a ground based French AA machine gun. 

Frederick’s ace skill was impactful. For most of the game the Nieuport was flying on only 1 damage point left! I got in the ace’s sights again and was shot down in no-man’s land. My plane re-spawned near my original deployment. 

Fredrick and Kevin’s pilots got into a fight, and an explosion card was finally drawn by Frederick! Under the rules of the campaign, Frederick drew a card from the A deck to determine his ace’s fate. His pilot managed to avoid being killed outright, and crawled wounded from the wreck near the German front line trench, vowing to return to the fray. 

Hugh's pilot, with a plane damaged by both French aircraft and ground fire, managed to accidentally fly off the French table edge into captivity, setting up a later escape and rescue scenario!

Much fun was had by all. Thanks to Frederick, Hugh, and Kevin for playing, and to Dallas for dropping by and showing off his new WWI aircraft book. 

####

The current standings in the campaign (as the moderator, my results do not count):

Frederick's German Flight Leader (suffered 6 wounds in mission 7a): +6 (six sorties flown) +23 (4 and 1/2 planes (18) and one balloon (5) shot down) +4 (drove off two enemy aircraft) -8 (being shot down twice) 7 1/2 victories = 25 campaign points, Knight's Cross, Deadly Aim 1

Kevin's French Flight Leader: +4 (four sorties flown) +10 (2 victories (Frederick's Wingman and Ace and one shared victory) +2 (drove off one enemy aircraft) 4 1/2 victories = 16 campaign points

Brian: +2 (two sorties flown) +8 (two planes shot down) 2 victories = 10 campaign points

Indo: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) = 5 campaign points

Bill (suffered 2 wounds in Mission 1): +2 (two sorties flown) -4 (being shot down) +4 (one plane shot down) 1 victory = 2 campaign points

Frederick's German Wingman  (suffered 1 wound in Mission 4a): +3 (three sorties flown) +2 (drove off enemy aircraft) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point

Kevin's French Wingman: +1 (one sortie flown) = 1 campaign point

Jim: +1 (one sortie flown) +4 (one plane shot down) -4 (being shot down) 1 victory = 1 campaign point

Byron (suffered 3 wounds in Mission 3a): +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down = -3 campaign points

MikeA: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being shot down) = -3 campaign points

Hugh: +1 (one sortie flown) -4 (being forced down = -3 campaign points

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIII Submission #7 - A Short Trip Around the Challenge Studios

 Having completed 'Under Construction' and 'Black and White', I decided to hit the Sci Fi studio next for 'Destination Moon'. I found two highly appropriate miniatures in my retro collection that were wearing spacesuits that looked a lot like the ones worn in the movie. I have no idea who the manufacturer is, so if anyone out there recognizes them, let me know. Like a lot of my minis, I glued these to 25mm fender washers, and added some sand as groundwork. They were then painted using Vallejo acrylics, with the exception of the Partha True Blue. Once again the special challenges are getting me to paint figures that have been sitting in the pending box for a long time.

 

My two astronauts with their rocketship in the background

 

Front View

Rear View

  The next figure is a vintage West End Games Rebel Commando figure that I have painted up in the colours of my planetary militia using Vallejo Gunship Green and a wash of Biel-Tan Green.

Front View

 

Front View

 

 The last stop is the High Adventure studio where we are going to film an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's novel 'King Solomon's Mines'. Our figure is the Big Game Hunter with Shotgun from Grenadier Models 'Call of Cthulu' range. This miniature dates from 1983. It was glued to a fender washer, sand was applied to the base, and it was primed black with an airbrush. The main colours used are Vallejo Flat Flesh, Khaki Grey, and Leather Brown. Iraqi Sand was used for the pugaree, Beige Brown for the gunstock, and Gun Metal for the shotgun barrels. Citadel Reikland Fleshshade was used on the skin areas, and Agrax Earthshade for the rest of the model.

 

The mighty hunter facing a 'charging' elephant

 

Front View

Rear View

 As I wrote at the beginning of this post, the Special Challenges within the AHPC provided some incentive to paint up a few more of the oddball minis that have been sitting in my storage boxes for a while. I am not sure if I will ever have a need to place these on the tabletop, but they were fun to paint. Thanks for reading.