20mm Detroit Tank Arsenal

Been busy with job interviews and what not those last few weeks. Also I haven't really felt like lobbying at all. But at long last I've finished something worth posting about. 

First off a 20mm PSC Lend-Lease M3 Stuart for my Soviets. The PSC kit is a sturdy enough kit, able to withstand the rigors of the wargamnes table well enough I imagine. Personally I'm not a huge fan of those kits as they're by necessity very basic with overblown details. Looks nice enough when painted though.

On the other end of the scale we have a 1/72 M4A4 Sherman from Dragon Models. The kit was fun to build and came with etched brass (which I didn't use) and even 3D printed (some of which I used) upgrade parts. Only let down were the vinyl tracks. First of all I managed to put on one the wrong way round and then they're just a smidgen too short, meaning that when you put them on you might snap the delicate plastic connecting the rear idler wheel to the hull... Of course I also managed to break off some of the more delicate parts during painting, but that's a whole other story full of fat fingers and too little patience. The tank commander is from the ever excellent AB Figures range.

Occupying the middle ground in model complexity is a venerable 1972 vintage ESCI M4A1 Sherman nowadays sold by Italeri. I got this one from a friend, so I can't say anything about how it went together, but looking at it I'd be highly surprised if it was any challenge at all, but as with the PSC Stuart the detail is a little basic. I really love the rounded shape of the cast M4A1 hull and hope to add a few more to my collection at some point. 

So that's about it for the moment. Stay save and thanks for watching!

Siegfried the Dragon Slayer

Continuing on from last years theme I'm back, or better still painting away on my Middle Imperial Roman project for Midgard. My Romans are more or less done, so I've to do the opposition now it seems.

Last year I painted Brynhild, so I thought it only sensible to now paint Sigurd (Siegfried for us Germans). While the whole epic cycle around Sigurd probably refers to a later period than what I'm going for with my 3rd Century Romans, we don't really know and that's excuse enough for me.

The figures used are from Footsore Miniatures, Victrix and Armorum & Aquila Miniatures and go together quite well. Converting the chap mockingly holding up the severed head, was fun and indeed the reason to paint this whole little vignette. Sigurd and his banner bearer were collecting dust in my stash for over a decade already, but I couldn't think of a way to tell an interesting story with any of the figures I found. I love the defiant pose of the sculpt, so it had to be something special. And when I happened upon the Dark Age Archers set from Victrix I instantly knew I was on to something. Good thing I'll need archers anyway for this project, eh?

Orc and Orcling

A couple of friends and I spent the last few days together painting miniatures and talking rubbish. A great time was had and as a result of this I came home with something a little unusual for me: An Orc. I'm not quite sure if it's an official GW miniature or not, but it was great fun to paint anyway. 

Roman Lanciarii in for a nasty surprise

28mm Kev Adams Orcs

 For various reasons I've not found much time for painting lately, so you've got to contend with these two fellows down here for the time being.

These two fine specimens of the Orc race were gifted to me by a friend during one of our semi-regular painting meet ups. I've never had much track with Fantasy, but still I've always had a soft spot for the older, more cartoony Orcs of the late 80's, early 90's. So I had a blast painting up these two fine fellows. I might even have a little look-see if I can acquire some more, who knows?

Figures are sculpted by Kev Adams and available through Ral Partha. The backdrop is available from Handiwork Games and I can only recommend you giving them a try. 

3rd Century AD Roman Commanders

What would be a force, or battlegroup (I hate the use of the word army for a handful of miniatures), without its commanders? Looking back in time, reminiscing on my astounding track record of glorious defeats the answer would, in my case, certainly be „better off“.

In games of Midgard by Reisswitz Press (and many other rulesets) the use of commanders on the table top is critical to how your troops function on the table. They're based separately and might roam the battlefield freely in order to perform their mighty deeds without being attached to a specific unit, but only able to influence their assigned units. Thus they're the perfect opportunity to create little vignettes. 

Figures as usual are a mix of Victrix Miniatures, partially converted with heads from Aventine Miniatures and Armorum & Aquila Miniatures. Shields are hand painted as usual and the figures were photographed in front of a Handiwork Games backdrop.

Thanks for watching and stay safe!

3rd Century AD Roman Auxiliaries

And on it goes with my Middle Imperial Romans. I can't remember when the last time was I had so much fun with a project. Though truth be told I'm by now rather looking forward to also paint some opponents for these fellas. For today though I've got two bases of lightly armoured Auxiliaries. Figures are a mix again of Victrix Miniatures and Footsore Miniatures, both converted with suitable metal heads by Aventine Miniatures and interspersed with a few Armorum & Aquila Miniatures. Shields are all hand painted as is the case with all the others throughout this project.

The figures were photographed in front of a backdrop by Handiwork Games. 

Thanks for watching and stay safe!

3rd Century AD Roman Legionaries

All those months later and I‘m still continuing with my 3rd Century Romans for use with Midgard by James Morris. As usual I'm not overly productive, but I have lots of fun with this project. A big part of that fun stems from mixing, matching and converting figures from different manufacturers to tell a story with each base. Figures used are a mix of Wargames Atlantic, A&A Miniatures, Footsore Miniatures, Victrix Miniatures and Aventine Miniatures.

The backdrop used in these photos comes from Handiwork Games. They add a lot of atmosphere without much effort and I heartily recommend you giving them a try.

Some of you might have noticed that I turned off comments on this blog. That was mostly due to all the spam, but also because I decided to move to more of a diary approach, where I only post if I really feel like. And having comments turned off takes away lots of pressure I for some reason felt when not having posted for a prolonged period of time.

So, thanks for reading and stay safe!

3rd Century AD Roman Lanciarii

Winter is finally drawing to a close and neither have I been as productive as I had planned -not that I was expecting much, mind- nor have I been as active as I had intended. While I'm sitting here at my desk I can gaze upon all the figures that I set out to paint this year and it's a bit of a sobering sight. But you're not here to see me dwell on my failures, are you?

Over the last three weeks I managed to convert and paint 5 more Middle Imperial Romans for my fledgling Midgard force. This time it wasn't the heavy infantry type Legionary, but my interpretation of the somewhat enigmatic Lanciarii. We're not really certain as to how these troops fought, or indeed how they were equipped. Rather than regurgitate arguments of men far more knowledgeable as I, I simply present you with my representation of these enigmatic troops, as I’m sure you can use google just as well as I if you’re curious. I for one settled on elite light infantry, armed with short throwing spears for harrassing enemy troops, as well as large oval shields and the Spatha, making them capapble of facing an enemy head on if need be. I was undecided if I should give them helmets, but in the end decided against for no other reason than the rule of cool.

The figures are a mix of A&A and converted Victrix and again I'm rather pleased how they work together. I also used parts of the different Victrix sets to convert some of the A&A figures as frankly I find them a little dated by now. To reinforce the elite status they were all painted wearing the same clothes, very much opposed to my usual view on uniformity in the pre-modern era, with purple ornamental stripes. Rather eye catching I think. Shields are again painted by hand.

As I'm a little bit... special, when it comes to mixing units I painted years ago with freshly painted units, I decided to intermix the 5 Lanciarii I had already painted a while back, with these new models. Giving me two bases for use in Midgard. You almost see no difference in painting style. If that's a good thing or not a leave to you to decide. 

3rd Century AD Roman Legionaries

This week too I'm running with the Middle Imperial/ Late Roman theme from last week. This time I've brought with me a base of Legionaries, which can clearly be dated to the first half of the 3rd century by their old style semicylindrical shields. Also the broad leather balteus, from which the Spatha was suspended, which had by then superseded the earlier Gladius short sword. Most of the Legionaries are sporting the -in my humble opinion- rather fashionable Niederbieber type helmet, also dating to the 2nd to 3rd century. As for armour they're wearing a hodgepodge of Lorica Squamata (scales), Lorica Hamata (chainmail) and the rather famous Lorica Segmentata (banded metal strips), that is featured in so many Hollywood movies.

The figures themselves are a mix of Armorum & Aquila Miniatures, which by now are rather dated but almost the only commercially available figures for the 3rd century. Then there's a single Wargames Atlantic miniature from their Late Roman Legionaries set. The set fits the 3rd century almost perfectly with the inclusion of the Niederbieber helmet, but I find the details on the plastic rather soft and the Spathae much too large. That said they paint up OK. Also included are three heavily converted figures from Victrix Limited' Late Romans. To make them suitable I gave them heads from Aventine Miniatures, sculpted on the broader Balteus and designed and 3D printed  Spathae/ appropriate scabbards and Pugiones, the famous Roman daggers. Despite being noticeably larger than the other figures I do think they work together rather well. Shields are a mix of Aventine and A&A.

Painting wise I tried to give them a somewhat uniform appearance by using broadly the same colours, without painting them all the same. Personally I find it highly doubtful that Roman Legionaries ever wore anything approaching a uniform. For the shields I went with free hands and frankly, I had a blast. While at first I found it a rather daunting undertaking, I quickly realized I quite liked the look. So much so that by now I have more of those shields already painted than Legionaries waiting in the painting queue. First world problems I guess.

3rd Century AD Burgundians...or was it Romans?

I welcome you to my first post this year, and yes, I'm a little bit embarrassed myself. But what should I do? I was busy with important things. Like... procrastinating?

Anyway, enough of that inane blubbering, on to the meat of the subject: Burgundians (no, not THOSE Burgundians, but those of the Nibelungen Saga) in 28mm for Midgard! Or was it Romans? A little bit of both I'd say. Knowing I'm unlikely to finish a complete force anyway I decided on adding a few Burgundian foederati to my very fledgling Middle/ Late Imperial Romans.

Midgard makes use of individually based leaders. To easily indicate the level of said heroes I decided on the number of figures per leaders base. Thus today we have Brynhild, a level 2 leader, and her hearthguard. Brynhild is from Footsore Miniatures, while her hearthguard is a converted Late Roman miniature from Victrix. Not liking the overly foldy (that's no word, isn't it?) cloak I sculpted one myself using Green Stuff and let him hold his helmet in his hand. Rather chuffed with the results I have to admit.

Next we have a base of Funditores, staff slingers, that could be Romans but could equally well be Burgundian. Instead of using the recommended 12x6 for the basing I decided on 10x5, primarily because I like the look of the narrower frontage, but equally because it saves me painting figures. For the unlikely case I'm ever fielding these in anger against someone with the bigger bases I can always add a small 2x4 base. 

Figures are Victrix again and despite the overly busy folds in the clothing, were a joy to paint. I really love the character in the faces Victrix do.