AHPC XV Submission #3 - First World War German Infantry

 

My third submission for AHPC XV was a group of 28mm First World War German infantry from Renegade Miniatures that I bought along with the Canadians from my last post. It consists of four sections of eight soldiers. Each section contains men armed with rifle and bayonet, fighting knives, entrenching spades, and lots of stick grenades. These sculpts are also a bit on the chunky side compared to other First World War miniatures, but I like the variety in the weapons being carried. The only real criticism I have is that I think the puttees should go higher. These only come up to mid-calf, but photos clearly show them coming up to just below the knee.  Alas, they are also now out of production.

After cleaning up the mold lines, etc. the figures were glued to 1 inch fender washers, and then sand was glued down with PVA. I primed them using a rattle can of Army Painter Uniform Grey primer. The figures were then painted using primarily Vallejo Acrylics as follows: skin - Flat Flesh; uniform - German Field Grey; boots, pouches, and helmet chin strap - German Camo Black Brown; puttees - one of Charcoal Grey, Hemp, or Parched Grass; Blanket - Stone Grey; rifle stock, grenade handle, and spade handle - Beige Brown; spade - Gunmetal; metal rifle parts - German Grey; bayonet and knife blades - Steel; mess tin and gas mask canister - Charcoal Grey; helmet - one of AK Interactive Dunkelgrau, Olivegrun 1 or Olivegrun 2.

Once all the painting was completed, the figures got my usual treatment with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. Again, this worked very well on these figures as the detail is quite pronounced, so the quick shade flows readily into any grooves or corners.

 

 Thanks for stopping by.

 

AHPC Submission #12 - 15mm Imperial Fist Space Marines

15mm/1-100 scale Imperial Fist Space Marines and support vehicles. 3d prints all around.

One of the great things about the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is inspiration provided by fellow Challengers. The inspiration can be a particular jolt when you see another Challenger working on similar projects to yours, and even more fun when those projects are somewhat "niche" by gaming standards. I was pretty happy to see Challenger PeterA sharing some 15mm 30k Space Marines earlier during AHPC XV - and duly inspired, I worked to get some of my own 15mm 30k figures back under the brush!

It was a couple of years ago (during an earlier AHPC, or course) that I noticed Byron starting up with some 15mm 40k stuff. I loved how it looked. I am sure many gamers can relate to that experience of different gaming trade-offs offered by different scales of miniatures. 28mm figures (and larger) offer fantastic, detailed sculpts. Smaller scales, on the other hand, give more room on the table and engagement ranges that "look" a little better on a 6' x 4' table, particularly for settings that involve more vehicles. 15mm size/1-100 scale models can really provide a nice balance between these two aspects of miniature gaming. 

Naturally I immediately thought of GW's Horus Heresy as a great setting for 15mm gaming - and it is! Here are a few reinforcements for the Loyalist side of my 15mm 30k collection. These are all painted in the bright colours of the VII Legion Astartes, the Imperial Fists.

Veteran Tactical Squad

Tactical squad from the VII Legion Astartes.

These are classic Space Marines clad in Mark VI Power Armour - the famous "beakie" helmets.

Sergeant and banner-bearer.

Missile launcher - of the classic "shark fin" variety, and melta gunner. 

We have one officer with a power sword and a bolt pistol, and two other marines in the squad are equipped with support weapons - a missile launcher and a melta gun.

Two regular marines.

View of the rear detail and the power packs.

Two more of the regular marines.

Decals thankfully can be found among the sheets sold for the GW's existing 30k miniature ranges, so that is a nice touch for the shoulder pads.  

Dreadnoughts

Let's party!

The loyalists will be pleased to benefit not only from some extra firepower, but some extra "punch", as you can see from the power fists. One dreadnought is equipped with an assault cannon, and the other a plasma cannon. 

Assault cannon, and an aggressive attitude! Getting results in the defense of The Emperor...

Plasma cannon on this fellow.

I love these dreadnought designs - particularly the one that is pointing! 

Whirlwind  

Whirlwind APC and spotter/observer Space Marine.

The Whirlwind is another "classic" Space Marine fixture, an MRLS-type support weapon based on the ubiquitous Rhino APC chassis.

View of of the back tracks and ramp.

Great details on this 3D print.

I also painted up a figure as a kind of command figure/forward observer type (he's up there by the tank).

Big thanks once again to Byron for printing all of these models for me! Hope to add more during some lazy days of the approaching summer (should summer ever actually arrive). 

AHPC XV Submission #2 - First World War Canadian Infantry

 

My second submission for AHPC XV was a group of 28mm First World War Canadian infantry from Renegade Miniatures that I bought at The Sentry Box on a Christmas visit to my family in Calgary at least fifteen years ago. It consists of two Vickers machine gun teams ready to lay down suppressive fire, plus four sections of six soldiers. Each section contains four men armed with rifle and bayonet, a Lewis gunner, and his No, 2, the last heavily laden with extra drum magazines. The sculpts are a bit on the chunky side compared to other First World War miniatures, but the faces have real character. They look like they were inspired by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather's cartoons of 'Old Bill' from the pages of 'Fragments from France'. Alas, they now seem to be out of production.

After cleaning up the mold lines, etc. the figures were glued to 1 inch fender washers, and then sand was glued down with PVA. I primed them using a rattle can of Army Painter Fur Brown primer. The figures were then painted using Vallejo Acrylics as follows: skin - Flat Flesh, uniform - English Uniform, boots - German Camo Black Brown, helmet chin strap and pistol holster - Flat Earth, P08 webbing - Iraqi Sand, SBR pouch and helmet cover - Tan Yellow, helmet and rain cape - Camo Olive Green, rifle stock and entrenching tool handle - Beige Brown, metal rifle parts - German Grey, bayonet - Steel, buttons, buckles, and snaps - Brass.

Once all the painting was completed, the figures got my usual treatment with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. This worked very well on these figures as the detail is quite pronounced, so the quick shade flows readily into any grooves or corners.

 

Shock Troops of the British Empire

Vickers Machine Gun Teams

No. 1 Section

No. 2 Section

No. 3 Section

No. 4 Section

 Thanks for stopping by.

AHPC Submission #11 - Thirty Years War Artillery

Guns ready to tear up Central Europe...plastic figures from Warlord Games' "Epic" range.

My 11th submission to AHPC XV was another historical miniature subject, an assorted battery of Thirty Years War artillery. These are all plastic from Warlord Games' excellent Thirty Years War "Epic" figure range. 

Lighter artillery base - smaller carriage, two crew.

Larger gun - bigger carriage, more crew.

Warlord have two different types of guns & crews in the "Epic" range. The heavier guns are not only larger on the base, but have more crew around them, while the lighter gun is of course a touch slighter, but also has fewer crew on hand to serve it. I opted to use a wide variety of colours on the clothing of the crew and the gun carriages.

Another one of the heavy guns.

Great details on these Warlord "Epic" figures.

I have been working on Imperialist/Catholic forces so far, but when it comes to artillery in the Thirty Years War this branch of the military was still somewhat early in its development/evolution - and this was a setting where mercenaries were commonly employed on all sides. As such, these guns could serve on any side when the time comes on the gaming table, firing in support of Catholic Imperialists or Protestant rebels. 

That's all for this bit - thanks for reading! More to follow shortly. 

AHPC XV Submission #1 - First World War French Infantry

 

My first project for the latest painting challenge was a platoon of 34 Wargames Atlantic French Infantry of the period 1916 onward. It continues my love-hate relationship with multipart plastic miniatures. The box contains five identical sprues of seven figures each, with lots of arm and head options. In fact you get a choice of five different sets of heads. There are also additional sprues with sets of equipment and weapons to make the figures into early WW2 French infantry. On the down side is that each sprue has an officer figure, so five in total. Plus all the little pieces are very fiddly. 

I decided to assemble my platoon using the set of heads with Adrian helmets not wearing gas masks. I intended to use one of the officer figures with my WW2 French, and gave him a fancy kepi. (He will appear in a later post.) Of the remaining four officer figures, one was assembled as an officer with a pistol. I also gave him a map case left over from the Warlord Games Bolt Action Blitzkrieg German Infantry box. while the other three were converted into 'sergeants' by giving them a rifle and various pouches left over from the Warlord Games Winter Soviet Infantry box. Once everything was assembled I painted them following a useful video from Sonic Sledgehammer, with a few modifications.

 

A platoon of the 701st Infantry ready to attack 'The Anthill'

 

Platoon Headquarters

First Section

Second Section

Third Section

Officer and conversion to Sergeant

 

Thanks for stopping by.

AHPC Submission #10 - Dogs of War Characters

Marco Colombo directs a fellow mercenary commander. 28mm figures from GW's "Dogs of War" range.

For my 10th submission to AHPC XV I was back with the Dogs of War again! No new units, but a couple of characters. Here we have the "Mercenary General" and the special character "Marco Colombo". These are old 28mm GW metal figures (although the general's horse is a mix of plastic and metal). 

Mercenary General

Ready to work! Just need to complete a contract...down payments in cash only...

Tilean mercenary armies need a Tilean mercenary general, and that is what we have here! This figure was part of the initial wave of sculpts that accompanied the release of the "Dogs of War" army book back in the day. 

You can see the insignia on the horse's barding, and just peeking out from the left breast of his overcoat.

I imagined this fellow as a tough, no-nonsense warrior, a hardened veteran. He has material success, and so shows some "bling" in the form of nice plumes and combs for his horse and helmet, and beautiful gold armour, along with a purple overcoat. He dares you to comment!

Nice purple overcoat...go ahead and ask him how he has the money for that!

At the same time, he has no specific regional or royal insignia. He has his own symbol on the barding of his mount, and on the breast of his overcoat, but nothing beyond that...after all, he is ready to be hired by anyone! No need to have a specific regional crest limiting him from business development opportunities in the Old World...

Marco Colombo

Bold Tilean explorer, Marco Colombo.

Marco Colombo is a merchant prince and notable explorer from Tilea, and he can join your mercenary army as an independent character. 

"This way to Lustria!"

This is a beautiful figure, but I found it a bit odd that the figure is an instance where the sculpt did not match up with the original rules from the army book - in the rules he is supposed to come with a warhorse, but as far as I know, GW never did sculpt a mounted version, and this fellow is the only "Marco Colombo" that I know of. 

Maps, compass and telescope in hand...a beautiful sculpt.

Even without a horse, he totally looks the part! He has a telescope, some maps and other goodies to lead/incite a Tilean mercenary army to great exploits. Chances are the mercenaries will be more keen on treasure and less worried about exploration and discovery, but Marco doesn't care - his Tilean pikemen will provide protection and help secure his trade missions, discoveries and reputations. 

That's it for today, but still a fair bit more AHPC stuff to go! Thanks for reading. 

AHPC Submission #9 - Hospitaller Banner Bearers

Some 28mm Hospitaller knights - figures from Footsore, sculpted by Paul Hicks.

It can be so easy to stop doing something and...then not get back to it! At least with posting on the blog! The 15th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has wrapped up, but I am well behind on my posts, so I hope to rip through several of them and get caught up in short order. Up first is my ninth submission, some members of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem - the Hospitaller Knights. These are 28mm metal castings from Footsore Miniatures, received from a Kickstarter I backed a few years ago. The figures were sculpted by the amazing Paul Hicks, and the flags are from Little Big Man Studios (now available through Victrix). 

Banner man and fellow warrior - I particularly enjoy the Knights who have some mix of cloth in their headgear...really sets the "period" for me. 

The Crusades are a period that has fascinated me for years. I love reading about this era of history, and as you might expect this interest has naturally merged with my hobby mania such that I am keen to run games set during the period. So you would think I probably have a well-organized collection for the setting, right? LOL. 

"Prepare to believe!"

Translation of my intense interest in the Crusades into hobby output has often floundered on the kinds of mental rocks that I feel would be familiar to many wargamers. Mostly I have waffled between hoping to play skirmish games like "Saga" and then suddenly wanting to do larger games like "Hail Caesar", and then struggling with how to base the figures...inducing paralysis via analysis and causing me to go paint some more 30k stuff instead :) Over the years I have managed to paint what amounts to a pair of large war bands that would work for "Saga" - not nothing, but hardly great progress.

More awesome poses from Paul Hicks...man I love his stuff...

These Footsore figures were meant to jolt me out of this stasis, but instead have been a prime example of this unfortunate tendency to revert to stasis...at first I was using the round bases to paint them - you can see some of the initial figures back in Challenge XIII. Since that time, I have come to my senses and re-based those original figures on more traditional square bases to allow for their deployment in a game like "Warhammer Ancient Battles" or "Hail Caesar". Moving houses last year didn't help with progress on this effort, but in the summer I did get a second bunch of Hospitallers based up and primed and...well, you know how the rest goes...

Love how his hood hangs over his brow...adds to a menacing air...

Another view of the mounted banner man.

But here we with AHPC XV, and I managed to make a bit more progress again! These sculpts are just amazing to paint - beautiful, proper metal sculpts created by the talented hand of Paul Hicks...what else could a hobby squirrel want?? The colour palette for these warriors is fairly basic and muted, but still fun to work with. The shields are hand-painted, not my preference, but it didn't turn out too badly. 

Stay tuned for a flurry of further Painting Challenge submissions as we head into the spring - thanks for reading!