Short round up of 2013 and a Happy New Year!

Well, with the long dreaded arrival of 2014 imminent it's time to make a short round up of the year gone by.
Therefore it's probably useful to  look what I was planning to do in 2013:

• First of all I definitely will be completing my late romans. I'm not that happy with my output over the last weeks as I was hoping to get these guys done in 2012. At the moment there are still 24 footsloggers and four men of cavalry left.-Fully achieved, in fact I did a bit more-

• Second I'm planning on doing some 28mm crusaders for IMPETUS. As I already have some plastics knights and footsergeants from Fireforge Games the headstone for the project has already been placed. With my decision to do base these for IMPETUS I'll be leaving the solid ground of single basing my miniatures for the first time. On the other hand by using multi bases it will be possible to tell a little story with every unit I think. -Big Fail. I did exactly two figures and decided to sell the stuff-

• Third  there are some 15mm Germans and Americans waiting for beeing painted. These guys will be single based again as they will (hopefully) see battles using Bolt Action, Battlegroup Kursk and (or more likely) upcoming supplements as well as Agis Neugebauer's Victory Decision. Why using 15mm for all this? Over the past months it became more and mor obvious to me that I'll never be able to paint up as much 28's for WWII as I would need in order to play the rulesets mentioned above as they need too much time to be painted up to a standard I'm happy with. -Epic Fail. Infact I had to admit I'll probably never get rid of  my addiction to 28mm.

• Fourth I'll maybe (a monstrous maybe) dive into the American Civil War as it's a very interesting setting to me. -Well what else could I say then failed? I did four figures before deciding to turn to other projects.

• Fifth I would like to start a small late WWI german army perhaps using the great 15mm miniatures from Bluemoon Manufacturing. -I'd say success. I didn't go for 15mm but purchased quite a bunch of well painted 28mm figures and am still adding some stuff.

• Sixth there are some Perry Normans laying around for some time now, waiting to complete my norman warband for SAGA. -Fail again. I think they'll probably won't see daylight for quite some time as my interest in Normans suddenly faded.-

• Seventh I'm planning to replace my plastics saxons from Gripping Beast in my saxon SAGA warband with some Westwind saxons and goth/ germans from Musketeer Miniatures as I don't like the look of the plastics any more. -I wouldn't say success but I did some figures and will paint some during 2014 to get them on the table for Dux Bellorum.-

Well, you see... most of my goals for 2013 were abandoned somewhere along the road. But I'm sure most of you will know this problem called shiniytus :-)
All in all I did manage to paint some 179 miniatures. This number includes infantry, cavalry, casualty markers, Artillery pieces armoured cars as well as some tanks. So I think I can be quite happy with what I did in 2013.

What am I planning to do in 2014? 
I have to confess I'm not too sure about it yet. But there are two or three things I really want to do.

• First and foremost I want to get all the stuff painted I prepared for Curt's Annual Analogue Hobby Challenge. This includes some Fallschirmjäger, British Paras for Bolt Action (500 pts. worth of), some more early Saxons, some republican Romans and some odds and ends.

• After the challenge I want to add to my Late Romans and the Early Saxons in order to have two well sized forces for Dux Bellorum and later on Impetus. Actually I think I could already field a 32 pts. Roman force for Dux with 5 or 6 points of allied Saxons. Though there are so much nice figures out there...

•  And as my second big goal I'm aiming at completing a Great War Russian Army to fight my Germans. As an aside I want to use the Russians as Whites to attend to Partisan-Con in 2014. That's a small RCW/BoB Con in Mannheim Germany. You can find some nice pictures from the 2013 Con *here* (text in German).

So you see I'm not as ambitious as for 2013.
Now there's nothing more to say than:


I wish all my followers and fellow bloggers A Happy New Year and may 2014 see you completing all your goals!

Impressione: Saga 'Clash of Empires'

Last week Chris (Aka Axebreaker) and me had a game of SAGA. He pitted his new Early Saxons (using the Viking Battleboard) against my Late Romans (using the Anglo-Saxon Battleboard). We played the 'Sacred Ground' scenario from the basic ruleset. In this scenario you have to accumulate as many victory points (VP) as possible. These you gain by the number of troops you have on the three terrain features and of course by killing the troops of your opponent. For the Warlord on the terrain you gain three VP's, every Hearthguard warrior gives you one point and every second normal warrior or levy generates one point.

A Wicca Priest as guardian of the holy grove  .

Dark Age Civilians - 2nd Painting Challenge Entry

For the first bonus round I frantically rummaged through my lead mountain as I couldn't remember if I've ever bought any civilian-like figures. The first thing I came over was a set of carts from Gripping Beast unfortunately lacking the drivers. Some time later I discovered these three gentlemen. 

Cross of Iron 'Hauptmann Stransky' - 1st Painting Challenge Entry

Well after more than 24 hours have expired I now can show you the first figure I painted for the Painting Challenge and thereby bring back a bit of life into this very blog.

I'm starting into the challenge with my entry fee figure. Seemingly opposed to all others I didn't go for the Wild West theme but decided (after Curt pointed out to me the film is from Peckinpah also) to do 'Hauptmann Stransky' from Cross of Iron. 

Ludi incipiant! Let the games begin!

Sunday is approaching fast and so does Curt's 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. The whole blogosphere seems vibrant with expectancy and there's lots of chatter about it on the various blogs. I've been told there's even a group on Facebook for all the participants. As I'm not on FB and don't plan to do so I can't verify these rumours but I think this alone tells a lot about the importance of Curt's call to the brushes for the blogging wargames community. So don't stand aside but join the fray and help to encourage us participants by comments, praise and constructive criticism.

Having finished the scope yesterday I decided to put the brushes aside, clean up the painting desk and take a shot of what I plan to do in the next three months hobby wise.

So I'll take a break from painting (well, I originally intended to take a break of at least a week) for the time remaining till the challenge starts. Later on the updates will come a bit belated here as all I paint will be displayed on Curt's blog first and only later on here on the blog. So if you want to stay up to date and see lots of fantastic painted figures by more talented painters then me than keep an eye on Curt's blog!

Fall of the western Empre 16: Saxon Scop

To be able to play Dux Britanniarum against my brother or some friends at the local club normally not too much into historical wargaming I decided to continue with my saxons for Dux.

As there are already some unarmoured guys these will form two units of warriors so there is still a unit of six warriors, two groups of six elite hearthguard, two nobles, one champion and one Lord to do.

At the moment totally useless but great to paint was this little guy I finished today:

The Great War Project #4: Beware the Snipers

There is some very strong leaning at home towards easy victories in unimportant theatres with small casualties and no real results. How on earth one can hope to beat Germany by killing Turks or Bulgars passes my comprehension. It is like a prize-fighter leaving the ring to trounce his opponent's seconds.

Brigadier General John Charteris, General Headquarters, BEF
Taken from 'The Great War: 1914-1918' by Peter Hart.

Following last weeks heavy weapon teams I now managed to get some snipers and a guy with an Anti Tank Rifle done. I don't know when I'll ever use three snipers but the models were too great not to be painted.

The Great War Project #3: Not home before the leaves fall...

A flooded Amazon of steel flowed roaring, immensely fast, over our heads and the machine gun bullets made a pattern of sharper purpose and maniac language against that diluvian rush. Flaring lights, small ones, great ones, flew up and went spinning sideways in the cloud of night; one's eyes seemed not quick enough; one heard nothing from one's shouting neighbour.

Lieutnant Edmund Blunden, 11th Royal Sussex Regiment during the third battle of Ypres.
Taken from 'The Great War: 1914-1918' by Peter Hart.

Almost finished standing on my workbench were two German heavy weapon teams. Today I did the last touch ups on the bases and here they are:

German 'Granatwerfer 16' from Great War Miniatures:

Impressions: A game of Bolt Action 'Watch on the Rhine'

Saturday last week saw a game of Bolt Action at Axebreakers mansion. Chris' superbly painted 101 Airborne saw action against my Luftwaffenfelddivision.
We didn't field any armour as we wanted to get into the game without too much special rules as it was only my 3rd and Chris' first game. As always my dice rolling proofed to be sub-par and I lost half my force before inflicting the first casualty on the Airborne.

The lay of the land

The Great War Project #2: Tending the wounded

'Take cover!' Too late: I fell on one knee on the ground. A sudden shock went through my left arm. It's behind me, bleeding profusely. I want to straighten it: I cannot. I want to get up: I cannot. I look at my arm as it shudders with the shock of a second bullet, and the blood pours from a second hole. My knees are stuck to the ground as if my body was made out of lead, my head bowed. Before my eyes a scrap of material jerks, the dull thud of a third bullet. Dully, I see the deep furrow of red flesh on my left breast near the armpit. I had to get up, drag myself out of sight. I didn't lose consciousness; my breathing sounded strange, gasping, quick and shallow.
The treetops swirl across a dizzying sky.

Lieutnant Maurice Genevoix, 106th Infantry Regiment during the fight in the St. Mihiel Salient.
Taken from 'The Great War: 1914-1918' by Peter Hart.

Yesterday I finished the first casualty markers for my Great War project. As strange as it sounds I had a great time painting the German casualties from Great War Miniatures. They're full of details. I think I'll need another pack to make some more. Unfortunately, as for any other miniatures range out there, there are much too few casualty miniatures out there.

The Great War Project #1: Over the top!

"The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time"
Sir Edward Grey August 3rd 1914

I know I'm a bit late for remembrance day (not beeing celebrated over here in Germany anyway) but painting and especially basing took longer than anticipated.

This small Vignette (Pinmarker or similiar) of a fallen German soldier of the later period of the Great War is intended to be the start of my next big project. Gaming the Great War in 28mm.

Afghanistan - A Photography Book

I don't normally post about things not related to wargaming in any form. This special Kickstarter really gripped me by the heart though:

Afghanistan - A Photography Book

from the Kickstarter: 

'Portraits that reflect on war's consequences; a photo book about the German army in northern Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

I started this project four years ago and am thrilled to have the opportunity to present it at the Sepulkralmuseum in the Spring of 2014.
Since the exhibition is only going to be on display for a few months, I feel it important to create something more enduring.
A book can deepen the story when paired with an exhibition, and having lived with the layouts I see a new story unfolding every time I flip through. There will be many more images than in the exhibition, and the book will allow for a more in-depth storytelling flow.
It has been an enriching and rewarding experience to build this book, and I am looking for your help now to turn this project into something that can be shared in a lasting way.

Thank you.'

Acceptance for service in the Bundeswehr leaves much to be desired over here in Germany. This unfortunately includes respect for those beeing killed, injured or traumatized during their service. Contrary to the U.S.or Great Britain e.g. where you can speak proudly about your friend or brother serving for his fatherland, there's even almost no sympathy for those left at home in constant fear for their loved ones. Therefore I think it's of great importance to bring the stories of these brave men and women to public. Maybe this project helps to ease the tensions between us Germans and our armed forces.
As I know my brother will leave for duty in Afghanistan some time next year it's a special personal interest to me, too. Therefore I'm happy to participate and wish Jens Umbach good luck with the project.

Rush for Berlin 16: Volkswagen Typ 82 (Kübelwagen)

While lots of you fellow Bloggers probably enjoy a day at Crisis in Antwerp I finished my Luftwaffenfelddivision for 'Bolt Action'. For now my last addition to the force is the Volkswagen Typ 82 or better known as Kübelwagen.

Impressions of 'Operation Squad': Last days of the Reich

As mentioned in an earlier post this weekend saw a game of 'Operation Squad' at Axebreakers and as an exception I managed to take some photos.

It's May the 6th in the year of the lord 1945. The Führer 'Adolf Hitler' in an act of cowardice has killed himself, Berlin lays in ruins and the Wehrmacht is in full retreat on all fronts. To save huge remnants of the german armies on the eastern front from russian captivity desperate rearguard actions are fought by brave men facing almost certain death. 

In these desperate hours a small battlegroup is caught in a small pocket near Prague. To not let the secret codebooks fall into the Bolsheviks hands the soldiers take up their arms on last time.
The russians in a rush to get their hands on some of the last secrets of the Reich unleash the brutal might of the soviet sledgehammer.

Rush for Berlin 15: Sd.Kfz 234/2 'Puma'

If I did everything right at the time you read this I'm hopefully already tossing some dice in a desperate attempt to stop the red tide... or maybe the allied advance into the Reich.

As I mentioned in the last post today will see another game of 'Operation Squad' at Axebreakers mansion.
With this in mind I decided to get some more support for my Luftwaffenfelddivision done.
I virtually painted till the last minute and the moment I'm writing this I know Franz and Mike are only minutes away to pick me up.

Unfortunately I ran out of Pigment fixer and so I didn't apply to much pigments only using White Spirit to stick the pigments to the model. Once the already ordered fixer arrives here I'll go back to improve the weathering. I hope you like it anyway:

Rush for Berlin 14: New transports for the Felddivision commandeered

As the coming weekend will see another game of "Operation Squad" at Axebreakers I painted another 'Sd.Kfz. 251/1D' and an 'Opel Blitz' transport. Both models are from Warlord Games.

The Sd.Kfz unfortunately isn't one of the shiny new plastic ones I already painted earlier this year but one of those ugly old resin chunks. The rear MG was lost a while back. To be honest I don't really like the kit. Maybe I'll replace it at some later date with a plastic one and use this one as terrain marker.

Senatus Populusque Romanus 1: Velites pro Impetus

Over the last weeks I've painted some figures here and there but didn't manage to get anything finished to a standard I'd show here.

But these Republican Roman 'Velites' by Aventine Miniatures were standing on my desk for some weeks now waiting patiently for basing. So I sat down after work and gave these fellows their 'terra firma'. As I don't like basing that much and wanted to cut some corners I decided to use the Model Scene 'Grass mats with calc stones'. I still have to figure out how to use them best.

This time I used a knive to cut the mat where I wanted to place the miniatures. Then I glued the mat to the 12x6cm Impetus base using PVA. Afterwards I attached the miniatures to the already cut out positions.
Unfortunately at first the figures looked like sunken knee-deep into the ground. That's because there's some kind of felt beneath the foliage. The problem was solved by pressing the mat hard to the base till the glue was rather dry. Next time I'll glue the mat to the base first I think and then attach the figures on top the mat.

Ok now on to the pics:

Improving the gaming experience 1: New Terrain

The last view days were all about making some terrain for my gaming mat. I don't really like making terrain as I don't like modeling in general. I'm more painter than anything else. Even basing I only do as a necessary evil.
But as I'm going to host a game of "Bolt Action" from Warlord Games on Friday down at the club I urgently needed some nice stuff to put on the table.

Therefore I finally painted the "Ruined Hamlet" Set from Warlord Games I had flying around for some months now. Building the set proofed to be a real pain in the ass as most parts were bent and the parts didn't go together well.

Rush for Berlin 13: Further reinforcements arrived

Ok, it's been quite silent round here for longer than I had anticipated.
I was renovating my hobby room and this proofed more of a challenge than I had expected. Especially as missus Moiterei had the brilliant idea to do the sleeping room as well when we're at work already.
But I'm proud to announce this task is done and I'm up for many new and old projects.

First of Chris from Bunker Hill Blog asked me if I had some cattle for our next games of Dux Britanniarum.
As he's always putting that much effort in preparing the table for our games I was happy to answer the call and paint up some cattle from the 1:48 Farm animals set by Pegasus Hobbies.

Fall of the western Empire 15: Flavius Pulcher & Turpiculus Ater

After Chris and I still are continuing our "Dux Britanniarum" Campaign we had another game last week.
(Pics will follow shortly...I hope^^)
To anticipate some events a bit, during the battle I lost my two nobles and the champion. The champion was in fact killed during the pre-game phase as Christophers champion 'Wolfhead' challenged 'Gildas' and as a result of a fierce fight he killed him... well, 'Gildas' didn't even deal a scratch to 'Wolfhead' but he was courageous till the end.

During the following battle my first noble 'Eckfrith ap Ynys' called the Bastard and his compagnion 'Eliffer' also known as 'Dungbreath' were killed also. This left my leader facing the saxon onslaught on his own and so he decided to leave the field of dishonour to fight amother day.

This result left me with a tough decision. Wether to play on with my 'killed' nobles or follow the spirit of a campaign and recruit (read paint) new ones.
As I grew somewhat acusomized to 'Dungbreath' I decided to let him life. I think he pretended beeing killed during some hand to hand combat and crushed down between the actually killed. Later the night he shambled into the british camp telling a crude story of a severe blow to the head (a minor scratch was visible at his forehead) and how he escaped the looting saxons. So he was promoted to first noble.

Now what happened to the 'Gildas' the champion and 'Eliffer' you may ask? Well, I'm pretty sure Christophers champion 'Wolfhead' knows his job so 'Gildas' remnants were gathered after the battle and burned to enable his soul to join his ancestors. Despite nothing of 'Eliffer' was ever found he is to be believed beeing killed just as he saved 'Theodosius's' (My Leader) life. It's perfectly possible that the saxons, despite beeing a bunch of dirty dogs, acknowledged his bravery and (after having stripped his corpse from everything valuable) burried him.

So I urgently needed a new champion and a new second noble. And here they are!

May I introduce to you Flavius Pulcher (Second Noble) and Turpiculus Ater (Champion):

Flavius Pulcher (left) & Turpiculus Ater (right)

Rush for Berlin 12: Heavy machine gun, Forward Observer & Footsloggers

This week I've been quite productive, finishing almost 2 miniatures a day. I'm still working on my Late War German Luftwaffenfelddivision but the end is within reach. After having finished this batch there are just 8 figures still to do.
 At least when I stick to Bolt Action, as after having bought the "Chain of Command" by TooFatLardies this week, I realised there are too many automatic weapons in my Platoon. So if I want to expand to CoC I'll have to paint up another batch of 12 Riflemen... though these are things I give a thought sometime in the future.

Ok... and there's still a Puma, an Opel Blitz, a SdKfz. 251and a Kübelwagen to do.

First again the whole bunch I finished:

Rush for Berlin 11: Assault rifles & Panzerfäuste

This week I'm a bit proud on myself as I finally managed to get my ass back on the painting table.
As a result I got some new men for my Bolt Action late war Germans ready for battle.

Rush for Berlin 10: New riflemen & a bit of conversion

I'm not painting that much at the moment but I'm not totally lazy. I spent the last view days converting some of the German Infantry by Artizan Designs. As I don't really like the tiny weapons they have modeled on, I had to replace them, using the new metal StG44's and spare weapons from the german plastic weapon sprues by Warlord Games.

Rush for Berlin 9: Ferdinand & friends

Last day of july and I actually managed to finish some stuff. As the heat finally ebbed away, or at least for now, I felt able to get some painting done.

At some point this year I want to try out the 'Bolt Action' ruleset from Warlord Games and therefore I need some more Germans and definitely some more armour.

Dux Britanniarum Campaign: II & III Game

 

 For more than two weeks I didn't even see my painting table. It was simply to hot to even take up the brush and my profession as an "Airconditioning & Refrigeration" craftsman led to me running round in circles at work. But after Chris writing up a short report about our last games of 'Dux Britanniarum' over on his Blog, I had to get my arse up too. As I can't remember the details correctly I'd recommend to you to check back on his Blog for further details.

Theodosius could almost hear the chatter behind his bag. "The simple" they called him nowadays when they thought he was out of earshot. 'Was it my fault that these drunken bastards didn't get up in time to catch the saxons before they could raid the church of Sheepsend?", he mused.

It was time to knock some heads together, Theodosius decided and went of to get his soldiers back on proper duty. 

"Maybe I should start with Ellifer the old crock...", Theodosius wondered quietly "...the boys don't call him Dungbreath for nothing."

Two weeks later Eliffer stood on a hill and tried to shirm his eyes from the sun. Far in the east he believed to see the towers of his (at least for the moment) kings castle. With a awkward motion he rubbed his head and turned back to the men this son of a humiliore Theodosius has sent with him to scout the western parts of the kingdom for any signs of the saxons. "Of course we didn't see anything near to a saxon" he muttered and spat out. "This dickhead wanted to make an example of me, wanted to silence me because I told the truth about his failure at this church." Caught in his own thoughts he didn't realise the blinking of speartips and the scratching of shields against chainmail to the north. Just as it was almost to late Brutus, his second in command, let out a nervous shout...

Fabula de primo bello:

The first game was about the saxons had to catch a noble, on his way back from scouting, for ransom.

The lay of the land. Maybe you, dear rambler, now get a concept why to fight for this forgotten piece of earth.

Rush for Berlin 8: German PaK40

Cheers Gents,

It's been a while since I last dipped my brush into some paint, but as we all know real life can sometimes be quite tedious. None the less my PaK40 is finally finished... at least I thought so. Having bought the "Operation Squad: Reinforcements" Supplement via the Wargamevault yesterday it took some time till I realized that I need a fourth man for the crew. Same for my mortar... :-/ Means I have to get back to my painting table to paint up at least two figures to bring my heavy weapons up to paper-strength.

Anyway here the pics:

Dux Britanniarum Campaign: First Game

Last week, ok well it's been 9 days since, I had a very enjoyable game of 'Dux Britanniarum' at Axebreakers mansion. Chris himself has written some words about the game.
As he already did the job of explaining the idea behind the game (and I go pretty much along with him) you should really head over to his blog.


Cyrric the Flatulent king of a small province in the outermost southwest of Britannia called Noviomagus Regnorum felt the cold creeping into his old bones as he was starring into the chilly spring night. He knew they were out there. Somewhere in the dark these vain saxon dogs were about to raid his kingdom.
After a rainy summer followed by poor harvest before a hard winter he knew his little realm was in no way prepared to meet the saxon threat. Just as he was about to leave the walls of his little stronghold he saw the luminous glare of burning huts in the otherwise deep black sky.

'Get ready you bunch of lazy bastards!' Theodosius Magnus bellowed at a group of drowsy figures.
This was one of these moments he asked himself why the hell he was here in this god forsaken part of the world.
Born in Rome as bastard of a high ranking officer in the field legions and a young slavegirl, he was part of the last Legions in Britannia as the Emperor decided to withdraw his troops to the continent.

Just hours before he had to embark, Cyrric this drunken piece of sheepdung, now calling himself king of Noviomagus Regnorum, asked him to stay and become leader of his despicable bodyguard. If it wasn't for this little girl having made eyes at him he would have refused the offer.

Now he was in the mud of a true british spring, his girl already in the hands of some other bugger, leading some dirty skits of soldiers to fight a band of marauding saxons. He knew he was already late as he had seen the fires of burning huts in the distance. Now it was all about swiftness to catch these saxons before they were to recover into the safety of the lost lands...

We played the first scenario 'Raiding a church' where I had to prevent Chris's Saxons from plundering the church and take the monk as hostage. The fight would be over when the troops taking the monk with them leave the table.

The real battle began after some rounds of aggressive maneuvering. As Chris's saxons had a headstart of three full movements I had to be quick to get my troops on the board and ready for action. Unfortunately most of the time my troops were standing in the way of each other due to my ignorance of the movement and formation rules.

First troops in contact with enemy warriors were a single group of levies...

Rush for Berlin 7: German mortar

After having suffered under the heat for several days now, yesterday was the time to rock the brush again.
I finally finished the mortar team from Artizan Designs to fit my other stuff for 'Operation Squad'.

Step by step: Cheap & easy sabot bases

As I had a very enjoyable game of Dux Britanniarum (AAR to follow) on saturday at Axebreakers mansion I asserted the urgent need for sabot bases.

Therefore I had a look at the different manufacturers of lasercut mdf bases. Some do quite usefull stuff but none really had exactly what I wanted. I need bases for 6 square and at least one round base as my Warlord and the Nobles are based on  25mm round washers while for the rank and file I used 20mm squarebases. So I decided to do them on my own.

To do your own sabot bases you'll need:

• Footfall sound insulation (In german it's called polystyrol)
• Plasticcard about 1mm thickness
• Hobbyknife
• Blade of a hobbyknife broken down to about 2cm length
• Marker
• Ruler
• Fast curing PVA
• Old brush
• Small clamps
• Magnetic foil
• Scissors

Step 1:
First cut out a piece of polystyrol sized 120mm x 60mm using your hobbyknife. Afterwards you should mark the positions for the bases.

Fall of the western Empire 14: Archers (almost) done

As summer finally arrived in Germany too, it became a bit quiet around here. As my men cave (like the rest of my apartment) is directly under the roof I wasn't really in a mood to paint some lead.
As I've been sick over the last few days I decided to do it anyway.
Therefore I finished the three archers needed for our first game of Dux Britanniarum on saturday at Axebreakers.

The bases still have to be done

Fall of the western Empire 13: First archer

Not much of an update here though I wanted to show you how my archers will look like.

 Figure is again from the Arthurian Range by Westwind.
The bow was bent in shape for better mixing up with the Musketeer archers.

Hope you like it.

Fall of the western Empire 12: Reinforcements & Fatigue markers

Haven't really been very busy over the last weeks but came round to paint some figures for my Late Romans. As I'm planning to use my warband for 'Dux Britanniarum' from the Toofatlardies at some point in the future I needed a new warlord, two heroes and an champion. Also I decided to paint a musician who will be my bard and two monks for spiritual assistance.

The South will rise again 1: First trial figures

Back from vacation I photographed some trial figures I finished before leaving Germany for some days in the sun. As the rather pathetic title allready suggests it's about Confederates for the American Civil War.
With the release of the new plastics Confederates by Perry-Miniatures I decided to finally give the whole ACW  thing a go.

Rush for Berlin 6: MG-34 & Rifleman added/ SAGA: Late Romans vs. Vikings

Finally finished the last of the ordinary footsloggers for my Luftwaffenfelddivision.
As Artizan don't do a late war guy carrying a MG-34 I did a little conversion on a former MG-42  shooter giving him the barrel of a plastics MG-34 from Warlord Games. Still need some guys with Gewehr 43...unfortunately There aren't any available from Artizan.

Sweetwater Forum - Miniature Exchange

The little sparetime I had over the last couple of days I used to get the figure done I recieved  for the `Miniature Exchange` on Sweetwater Forum.
For the `Miniature Exchange` you get a figure to paint from another chap taking part and send a miniature of your choice to somebody else. As I never did any kind of comissional painting it was a nice challenge to paint up something I didn't choose myself.

So I ended up splashing some paint on some sort of cowboy... I have to admit I really have no clue what make this figure is. As I never really was into this whole Wild West kind of thing, except playing cowboy and redskin in my childhood, it was completely virgin soil for me.
Therefore I hope the result is ok:

 

 

Thank you for watching!

Rush for Berlin 5: German Reinforcements

As spring has finally arrived in Germany too, it has been a bit quiet around here. Mainly because the workload increased, but also because I got a bit lazy over the last weeks.
So I needed about two weeks to get the next seven guys for my Luftwaffenfelddivision done.

I decided to paint up some more footsloggers to get a bit pf variation in my list.
So three soldiers with StG 44, three soldiers with Panzerfaust and a Medic are done.

First the hole bunch:

Rush for Berlin 4: Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf. C

After some kind of painting-frenzy I finished my first AVF for Operation Squad.
After having seen it already on Tactica (though I didn't had any money left) I had to get one of the new plastics Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf. C, also known as Hanomag, from Warlord Games.

First of all I've to say it's a great kit! Easy assembly, no irritating mouldlines and quite crisp casting.
The pieces fit together perfectly and building this kit is definitely lots of fun... even for me being all fingers and thumbs as I hate more sophisticated kits.  I think I'll have to get the plastics T-34 for my russians, too. Hopefully Warlord will release some other plastics kits in the future.

Now on to the pictures:

Rush for Berlin 3: Luftwaffen Felddivision

As this week my order from Artizan Designs and Miniaturicum finaly arrived I instantly started painting.
Painting a Luftwaffenfelddivision (Air Force-Fielddivision) is something I wanted to do for a long time. With my Soviets recently finished for Operation Squad I decided to give it a go.

First of the mandatory 500 pts. Squad:

I ain't been lazy Mum!

This week I didn't realy paint up some project related stuff as I (once again :-/) lost a bit focus.
So I ended up painting two "Imperial Arquebusiers" by Freebooters Miniatures a nice & little german company. The figures belong to the "Freebooters Fate" Fantasy-Tabletop. Don't know if it's that well known outside Germany though here it has a ever growing fanbase.
The figures themselves are simply great. The casting is absolutely crisp, almost no mould lines, though therefore an almost unbelievable richness of detail. At least way more detailed as a common painter as me could ever paint^^.
I painted two other Fantasy Pirates too but I just don't know the manufacturer as these were bought by my wife in one of these '...these are soooo cute' moods. IIRC the figures belong to a discontinued range. They are nice sculpts too, though they are not as detailed as the Freeboorers ones.

At first a pic of all of them:

Rush for Berlin 2: Soviet Support Weapons

These are ready since sunday, though I haven't had the time to take pictures of them. Originally intended for 'Secrets of the third Reich' or 'Rules of Engagement' these were sitting in my drawer unpainted for quite some time. I never was quite happy with the old sculpts. Nevertheless I decided to paint them up in order to use them for 'Operation Squad'.
I was totaly surprised by how they act painted. Especially the ZIS-3 Crew turned out quite well (at least in my oppinion^^).

Unfortunately my cam seems to get older as it's not able to catch the colours right. The ZIS-3 Crew comes closest to the actual colours. Have to get a new one soon, I think.

The whole bunch consisting of ZIS-3 with crew, 82mm mortar and Maxim MMG. All figures from the Bolt Action range by Warlord Games.

Rush for Berlin 1: Soviet Rifle Squad for Operation Squad

As I urgently :-) had to buy the plastic Russians from Warlord Games at Tactica I  decided to start a soviet rifle Squad for Operation Squad.
First I was not too keen on the box as I have the German plastic Infantry too and I don't like it. The arms are too slim, the weapons too tiny and the bodys too clumsy.

So I was realy surprised with the new Russians. The weapons seem to have the correct size (at least they don't look like toys), the arms are well proportioned and the casting is crisp.
Painting these guys was sheer fun.

Ok, let's start with the pictures:

First the 500pts. Squad as a whole

Impressions from Tactica 2013

This weekend Mike (http://dreispitz.blogspot.de), Chris (http://christopher-bunkerhill.blogspot.de/), Franz (Sorry, no Blog^^) and me made a trip to the Tactica 2013 in Hamburg.
The weekend was great and we had a lot of fun.
We met a lot of nice people and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

Beside the traders (where I almost not only spent all my money but my soul^^) there were lots of great looking tables. Unfortunately because of the overflow of impressions I didn't manage to take pictures of all the tables though all of them would have earned it.
And for those I photographed I don't always remember who made them :-)

So now on to the pictures!

First of all the amazing "Adventures in Bruegelburg" table using the Bruegelburg Miniatures Range by Lead Adventure Miniatures.