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!

Painting After Midnight: Midlam Miniatures and Warlord Dredd Lawmaster Bike

I had a medical test last week that required me to be "sleep-deprived". And while I consider myself to be generally sleep-deprived most of the time anyway, this had some very specific parameters. So I ended up staying up all night the day before the test.

I figured that I might as well put the time to use, so in addition to watching some PVR'd TV and DVDs that had been languishing, I pulled out some miniatures to paint.

These two are from Midlam Miniatures and date back to the old Metal Magic range sculpted by Josef Ochmann and others back in the late-'80s and early '90s. I really like these models as they are well-detailed, characterful, and importantly, represent many of the fantasy tropes from the time that I'm really fond of.

This is Ochmann's C1038F "Minotaur Lord". It's a one-piece casting and is HUGE - you see how it he towers over the skeleton (C1036K "Skeleton with Great Sword"). Great detail on these as well.

Yesterday afternoon I had some painting time, so I tackled the Lawmaster bike from Warlord's new Judge Dredd: I am the Law! miniatures game. (The Judge is one from the old Mongoose range that I painted some years ago).

The model comes in four pieces - chassis front, chassis rear, and the two handlebars. Quality of the cast was very good, except for the handlebars. They came on a sprue that was heavily flashed, and the unusual soft resin in which they're cast is a bit difficult to clean.

The bike comes in a clamshell blister with Judge Dredd models, foot and mounted. Unfortunately my blister pack was missing the legs from the mounted Dredd, so I couldn't paint those along with the bike. I have a bunch of Judges already from the old Mongoose line and they are comparable in size to Warlord's, albeit cast in (superior) white metal. I really dig the new Lawmaster bike (it is autonomous as well, in the new ruleset) and am looking forward to getting it out in a game.

Analogue Painting Challenge X

Here are some of the models I've completed for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge so far.

Militia Force Commander in Power Armour

Ork Deff Kopta - Puppets War Miniatures

Imperial Militia Brute Squad

I was hoping to complete a few more units for the Hussars, buy I've been painting a lot of red lately and may need a brief distraction.

Targa Japan's 1/48 scale Maniac Collection Sdkfz 181 Panzer VI /Tiger I

I am always on the lookout for a good deal. I recently picked up online a Targa Japan Maniac Collection 1/48 scale Tiger I tank. It comes fully painted, and has multiple cross sections that allow you to look into the interior and crew of the tank. The model comes in 7 boxes, which combine together to give the complete model (and the boxes also look cool on the shelf).




On the back of each box is a breakdown of the boxes' contents.




It's an older "kit", dating from around 2006. Back in the day there were three variants offered for sale, in desert yellow, green and yellow camo, and (as mine) in panzer gray and light gray. The construction quality seems to be pretty good; it holds together quite well without the need for cement. Each box comes with a paper sheet on which there is printed copious amounts of information on the Tiger I tank, in Japanese, of course!






The detail is a little soft compared to modern kits and die-cast vehicles. Some of the mould seams and knock out marks weren't cleaned up before painting. It's designed to be disassembled and displayed, thus the gaping hole seams along the center-line of the tank and turret stowage box are obvious.







The ammunition seems to be accurately color coded according to German doctrine, with the yellow rounds = Sprenggranaten (High Explosive), and black rounds = Panzergranate 39 (Armor Piercing).













I picked it up for about the same price as an unbuilt Tamiya 1/48 Tiger I (Early Production) model kit (and the Tamiya model comes unassembled and unpainted, of course).

The Targa model was well worth the money I paid for it, despite not being a "serious" model kit.




It's perfectly fine for 28mm scale wargaming. Also, I will display it with the turret roof off when I demo "What a Tanker!" at conventions. Though the original tank is huge, there is just not a lot of room inside for the crew to do their jobs. It's a great illustration of why "What a Tanker!" emphasizes the friction of crewing a tank in combat.

Sedition Wars Cthonian - Boss Fight!

This is the latest addition to my Sedition Wars Project: the Cthonian, a large, tough Strain monster used in the final scenario in the Outbreak Campaign rules included in the Battle for Alabaster boxed set. In the above photo, the Cthonian is shown next to a 28mm Hasslefree figure, that I painted in the same colours of the Samaritan infantry that oppose the Strain.

From Studio McVey:

"Phase 5 Exo-form – Cthonian: A massive conglomeration of evolved bio-mass combined with a powered armour carapace. The outer shell is a fully functional exoskeleton wrapped around a squid-like body composed of extremely resilient tissue. Capable of regenerating damage with dark matter conversion, this creature is nearly impossible to kill without the use of high output energy weapons. In addition to its defensive capabilities, the creature is armed with a gravitic beam weapon and a lethal nano-weapon capable of mutating a living target almost instantly."

Again, cleaning up this resin/plastic model  had its problems, which I outlined when first starting this project some years ago. You can't file it, you can't scrape it easily; you have to cut off mould lines with a fresh, sharp X-acto knife. It took hours with a zirconium nitride blade, and I am still not fully happy with my cleanup job.  I posed the figure lifting one foot, and cocked the head off a little to its left, to add some visual interest. There's a thick piece of wire pinning the right foot to the 50mm diameter plastic base.

I used many very thin layers for the zenithal highlights. Only 6 drops of colour (5 drops Vallejo white and one drop Golden sepia airbrush paints) in the small metal cup in the airbrush, 5 drops of thinner, and the rest water. This was airbrushed downwards at a 45-degree angle all around the model. Then, switching the pigment portion of the mix to 6 drops of only Vallejo white, I airbrushed downwards at about a 60 degree angle from above and in front of the head of the model, giving a spotlight effect on the front of the figure. As I have described before, with such thin coats you don't see the spray pattern of dots of pigment, just smooth transition from light to dark.

The various exposed tubular bits and the flower-like protuberance of the left "arm" (the nano-weapon) were highlighted and shaded with various purples, reds, and pinks from the Army Painter Zombicide Warpaints Sets (Crusted Sore, Toxic Boils, glazed with Zombie Shade).

The chitinous armour plates got several glazes of Citadel Seraphim Sepia shade. The upper portions of the carapace and the armoured face got some punched up highlights with various Vallejo acrylics and artists' oils. I also did some dot filters using oil paints to break up the surface of the plates a bit.









The rear of the figure falls into shadow, but details of its major structures can still be seen.



The gravitic beam weapon on the right arm was worked up from Winsor Blue to Titanium White.



The base was airbrushed with Secret Weapon Stone wash, then finished off with weathering powder and some oils.

After the whole figure got a coat of Tamiya Semi-gloss spray (TS-79), I went back with some Citadel Blood for the Blood God, to add some fresh blood effects. This was used judiciously around the fleshy tubes, the flowery nano-weapon, and seeping from between some of the chitin plates and between the tentacles.

After painting up the figure, I actually like how it looks. It seems to radiate menace, and is a good implementation of the original Studio McVey concept art:

With the 55 figures I have painted up, I can now run all the games in the Outbreak Campaign provided in the basic box, with some extra Strain models to boot.

I recently received some pre-production Strain models, cast in a very crisp resin; easy to work with, and will paint up nicely! I look forward to adding more to this project. With those plus all the extra boxes' contents and some Kickstarter exclusives, I am spoiled for choice

What a Tanker! - Barbarossa

Recently I had folks over for another game of What a Tanker!

Barbarossa-era game, with 1941-era tanks. Same scenario: capture 5 objective markers on the ground for 1 VP each, and be within 6" of a fixed objective (the knocked out armoured car and command tank) at the end of the game for 2 VPs. The small markers would be dropped in place if the tank capturing them was destroyed.

Forces available for use included: T-34-76 (1941), KV-1A, BT-2, T-26 (1933), Panzer Mark IV D, StuG III C, and a couple of Panzer 38(t)'s.

Rolling for sides, Bill and Kevin were German, respectively fielding the 38(t) and the Mark IV. Frederick and I were Soviet, with the T-34 and the KV (I had been itching to play with this model, the oldest 1/48 model in my collection; ironically, I had never played with it until now).

Below, the Germans move to seize an objective. The block of buildings in the middle of the table ended up featuring prominently in everyone's tactics. I placed it so as to shield the two fixed objectives from each other, so no long range sniping by an objective holder.




The T-34 moved behind, then over the sandbag barricade.




Bill's Fast 38(t) whipped around the table, seizing two objectives.



My KV, being Slow, took awhile to get going.




Kevin's Mark IV moved in support of the 38(t).




My KV fired only one shot all game. It was a big one, knocking out the 38(t) with three hits scored and  all Bill's dice failing their Armour roll .






Bill's tank quickly re-spawned, and he soon re-captured his dropped objectives!




Meanwhile, the lumbering KV made its way down the board, grabbed one objective marker, then parked itself beside the German fixed objective.



Frederick's T-34 raced around the centre buildings, capturing two more markers.Both the 38(t) and the Mark IV chased it around the building complex, slamming shells into it but only forcing the T-34 to back up.






Bill moved to the Soviet fixed objective just as the game's time ran out. Final tally: Germans = 4 VPs, Soviets = 5 VPs!



As always, it was a fast, furious game, with a lot of canny maneuver by the lighter tanks. Next time we do early war, I want to run a Fast BT tank!

The boys have also expressed interest in doing some later war stuff. I have several Panthers, long barreled Mark IV's, a later StuG III, a Panzer II Luchs, some Marder III's, an SU-122, a T-34-76 (1942), and even a T-34-85 ready to take the field.