Early War French Colour Guide

I've been away from Blogger for more or less two and a half years now. Admittedly sometimes I've felt the urge to share some of my work again, but than reason always asserted itself again. I simply can't see me putting the effort in to really make it worthwile for anyone. I always loathed having to spend hours taking halfway passable pictures only to then spend even more time editing them afterwards so they wouldn't be too dark, too light or whatever. Something I failed in more often than not anyway. That time I feel is  better spent painting… or reading. With other, more transient, social media a quick snapshot with your phone is usually enough. And that's the appeal for me. Combined with the fact that Blogger has become more or less unusable with an iPad… but that's a rant for another time.

Anyway, the one thing I feel I still want to continue doing are my painting guides. I'm still amazed that, while I didn't share anything on here for quite a while, those painting guides still seem to attract quite a number of people. So if you happen to be about to start a French Army for the Early War period, todays guide might be something for you.

Figures by Colonel Muller over on Wargaming3D

[20mm] Panzergrenadier/ Infantry Squad Nr. 4

Just realised I had these pictures sitting in a draft post since February 2022. While I‘m not intending to restart the blog I thought I might just as well share them. Enjoy!

[20mm] PaK 38 & leIG 18

I‘m currently stuck in a lack of mojo, and also I‘m working on several units at once. Thus it’s taken me a while to get todays submission done. 

The PaK38 is a rather nice kit by PSC, but a far cry from Zvezdas offerings. As ever the crew are all AB figures. Frankly the PSC ones, that come with the gun, are utter tosh.

Whenever possible I try to stick with Zvezda with my guns, as they‘re so much nicer than most of what the competitors have on offer. So this leIG 18, leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18, is no exception. The two figures actually manning the gun are als Zvezda figures while the rest, well yes, you guessed it, are AB. Unfortunately AB don’t do a dedicated set of leIG 18 crew, so I had to source these from several different sets. Yet, that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?

 Points: 337

[20mm] Panzer IV Ausf. H

Finally got around to finish this 1/72 Panzer IV Ausf. H by Zvezda. The kit is nice enough and despite some rather fragile parts, like the rails for the side skirts, it should be sturdy enough for wargaming. But it comes with the hatches molded closed, something I really can't stand. It's not like separate hatches are so super difficult to handle during assembly. That said it's something that seems surprisingly common in 1/72 scale modeling tanks.

The kit was painted using the Real Colors range by AK Interactive. While I can't attest for the tonal accuracy the manufacturer claims, the paints work rather well through an airbrush. Much less of a hassle than acrylic paints. That said I miss the ready made modulation sets you get in acrylics. Means you've got to work more with pre-shading in black and white or mix your own modulation colours. Both things I don't really have the patience, nor the desire for.

For a more realistic look I skipped the combined edge highlighting/ micro scratch method I went with for my more recent vehicles but only used a sponge to apply some wear and tear here and there. Not fully convinced though, as a) I find the sponge very hard to control and b) it looks less 'defined', less visually interesting, especially at arms length.

For most of the weathering I used AK Interactive Weathering Pencils. Quite an interesting tool, especially as you can create different effects depending on wether you apply them dry or wet. Only the rust effects didn't really convince me, as they look somewhat off compared to the same effects done in enamels. So they're (of course) not the deal changer they're marketed as, but another useful tool in the tool box.

Points: 273

[20mm] Scouts Out!

 Back to my Soviets again with one of the last support choices I need for the TooFatLardies campaign "Storming the Citadel", which pits the Großdeutschland Division against their Soviet counter parts during Operation Zitadelle, the famous battle in and around the Kursk salient in 1943.

As usual the miniatures are from AB Figures and painted up nicely. Except for the single female figure they're all wearing the Soviet two piece camouflage smock featuring the distinct Amoebae pattern camouflage scheme. The female figure rather unusually wears the earlier (and much rarer) one piece garment. 

The Soviet Union was the only belligerent nation where women actively served in frontline units in any number. All in all there were about 800.000 women serving in the Red Army in different capacities, ranging from medics over snipers and AA-personell (I was quite surprised to read that the majority of AA-batteries in Stalingrad were crewed by women) to pilots, tankers and even scouts. 

Points thus far:

258

[20mm] 8.8cm Flak 36

 Fielding an 8.8cm Flak 36/37 in a skirmish game is probably akin' to overkill, but it's such an iconic piece, I simply had to get me one. Figures are 20mm AB as ever, while the Flak gun is from Zvezda. I had thought about creating a larger vignette style base, but as the gun comes without carriage I decided otherwise. But given the AB figures would let themselves well for a diorama due to their posing I might yet do one.

Wanted to try out a new recipe for Reed Green summer Drillich uniforms, but it turned out way too greenish. Still I couldn't be bothered to correct it. For the moment at least. Given the Wehrmacht used any kind of captured stock and dyes often varied from batch to batch anyway I think I'll get away with it... even if maybe just ;-)

I'm not completely sold on the shrubbery, thus it's not glued in place yet. 

Points thus far:

222

[20mm] Soviet Sappers & casualties

Like many other hobbyists, I‘m sure, I‘m a completist. When there’s a option in the force list, no matter how obscure, my brain goes into overdrive and I‘m off to look where to source that particular option from. Luckily enough since my switch to 20mm with my WW2 painting I‘m generally spoilt for choice. But there are still a few things I can‘t find or not in a configuration/ style I like.

That’s where 3D printing really comes in handy. Chance is someone out there has the files for what you’re looking for. Same with these Soviet Sappers/ Engineers. 

Figures are originally 28mm files from mr3DPrint available on wargaming3d.com. I scaled them down to match my AB miniatures and surprisingly enough it worked rather well. Some of the equipment is admittedly a little flimsy and some minor bits broke off as I‘m rather ham fisted at the best of times. But still I quite like them a lot and they painted up nicely. Should maybe get me a resin that’s a little less brittle nonetheless.

Helmets/ heads and hands are somewhat on the larger side, especially when compared with their AB brethren directly, but not more than usual with wargaming miniatures. I’m still quite surprised by the quality my cheapish 1st generation Anycubic Photon is capable of. Good enough for any wargaming miniatures I‘d say.

Next we have a batch of 10 Soviet casualty markers by AB Figures. A little macabre maybe but I love casualty markers. I tried to make the skin look more corpse like and like to think it worked out surprisingly well.

Total points this year so far:

178

[20mm] Soviet reinforcements and a lone Space Marine

The 12th iteration of the Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is underway and clearly I had hoped I'd have a little more to show for my efforts today, but alas I fell somewhat short of my self imposed goal. Anyway, I've got a few more figures finished for the 20mm Soviet force I started during last years challenge. By now it has grown somewhat in size and I keep adding to it.

In 28mm it's the Germans I keep returning back to whenever my painting mojo is at a low ebb, but in 20mm it obviously is the Soviets. The first few figures I painted for this force where done using the simple triad method, but by now I'm using as many layers as I'd use on a 28mm figure. There's just so much detail packed into these small fellas.

First off the starting block today is a DShK 12,7mm HMG with five crew. The DShK, it's gunner and the loader are from SHQ Miniatures while the other three figures are AB Figures. I'm not particularly fond of the SHQ castings, but once painted they fit reasonably well with AB.

Next we have a 76mm M1927 regimental gun by Zvezda crewed by AB miniatures again. Zvezda make nice and cheap kits in 20mm and while the figures fit quite well with AB I prefer the latter and if it's just for the later uniforms as worn by AB.

This is followed by a RM-38 50mm mortar. Again this is a SHQ casting, as is the loader. As before I opted to replace the other figure as they're so much nicer.

Also on offer today is a ROKS-3 flamethrower team. A nasty piece of equipment you shouldn't leave home without.

And last there is a tank hunter team armed with liberated Panzerfäuste. Not really suited for Kursk but quite appropriate for Operation Bagration in 1944.

Also there's last weeks figure still to be posted:

Those of you who know me, will also know that I’m not big into Fantasy or SciFi. Painting wise that is, as otherwise I quite like the Warhammer 40k universe. Well, as it was about 20 years ago anyway. Be that as it may, once in a while there‘s an itch to be scratched. While cleaning up the man cave and organising my Mountain of Shame …ahem… Mountain of Opportunity I happened upon a handful of Legion of the Damned Space Marines. I‘m not sure where I‘ve got these from, especially considering I haven’t painted Marines in almost two decades.
So, while I don’t really dig their official paint scheme I quite like the figures (for Space Marines). Thus I‘ve been wrecking my brain ever since as to how to paint these fellas. By chance I came across some pictures of really nicely painted Word Bearers and instantly knew the look I‘d aim for.

I fancy mine to be Marines of… let’s say questionable loyalty, and with little to no „official“ imperial iconography the models fit just nicely. On the other hand the distinct lack of spikes and other distinctly chaotic paraphernalia also helps to make them more rogues than outright traitors. Apostates maybe…

I‘m not quite sure where I‘ll go with this as Space Marines never really were my thing, but I might just paint up the rest of the ones I already have. They should be enough for some Kill Team sized games. And admittedly painting Marines can be quite fun for a change. All the big, smooth surfaces make for an interesting challenge and are ideal to try out new things. On another note I‘m quite surprised my smartphone camera makes rather usable pictures, without too much fuss. Unfortunately single figures only, so no groups, and not in a photo cube…

As for points it's:

14x 20mm figures (Upright/ Kneeling) = 56 points
5x 20mm figures (prone) = 20 points
3x 20mm artillery piece / crew served weapon = 24 points

1x 28mm miniature = 5 points

    Total: 105 points