20mm Fallschirmjäger and Firefly

First off fthis time is a 20mm 3D printed Sherman Firefly by Arvernes Miniatures. Having painted two regular 75mm Shermans for my Canadians previously I felt the urgent need to add a Firefly for that little bit of extra punch. The stowage is mostly from AB Figures as is the tank commander.

This is then followed by a Squad of 20mm Fallschirmjäger, also from AB Figures. They're a mix of regular Heer figures, mainly with Zeltbahn, and Fallschirmjäger with head swaps as I was aiming for a very late war feel. So these should be more suitable for those battles following the German defeat in Normandy. A time when the Fallschirmjäger were a mere shadow of their former strength. I don't like the hype that surrounds some of the supposedly 'elite' German units and having this hodge podge of grizzled veterans and raw recruits is just my thing.

Thanks for viewing and have a nice day!

Germanic Tribes for Midgard Heroic Battles

Today I've got a bunch of hairy arsed Barbarians for you to enjoy. The figures are a mix of Victrix and Footsore Miniatures and were a lot of fun to paint. They're based on my usual 10x5 cm bases for use with Midgard Heroic Battles by James Morris. As I couldn't be arsed to hand paint all the different shield patterns I decided to use LBM (nowadays available through Victrix) decals instead. Backdrop is by Handiwork Games as ever

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoyed!

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.

AHPC#2: Panzer IV Ausf. A

 

We're just into the second week of this years Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and I already got a second entry in *enter canned applause here*. Somehow I doubt it'll last though...

One thing that was sorely lacking in my Early War German force was a Panzer IV of one of the earlier marks. For some obscure reason I settled onto an Ausführung A variant instead of the more usual B/ C/ or D variants, which were all around and in greater numbers for the Invasion of France. Be that as it may, on first sight this Ausf. A can do service as a D just as well, the overall shape being the same.

Also, nobody likes button counters anyway ;-)

The model is a 3D print from Night Sky Models over on www.wargaming3d.com and I can only recommend their files for their quality. 

I should have probably gone for the grey-brown two tone camouflage it was only at the end of July of 1940 that Panzergrau was to be used as the only color. Yet, while some pictures clearly show the earlier two tone camouflage, just as many seem to show plain Panzergrau. Given that dark brown and grey would be hard to identify correctly on all but the best black and white pictures, it might just as well be that they all still sported two tone camouflage. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered to dig deeper into it.

As I wanted this latest addition to fit in with the rest of my early German motor pool, grey it was to be anyway.

The decals on the turret were a b*tch to apply, due to the curvature on the back and the vision ports on the front. But after many a swear word and a few failed attempts we got there thanks to the liberal use of Micr Sol and Micro Set. I might have overdone the weathering just a little bit, but by May 1940 this old warrior had in all likelihood already seen combat in Poland. As it helps to make the otherwise rather dull looking vehicle look more interesting, I think it's permissable to go a little overboard. 

AHPC#1: French Platoon Command

After a two year hiatus I'm back partaking in the Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. And as I've to write up blog posts for my submissions there anyway, I thought I might just as well share them on here. I have several projects I want to work on during this years Challenge, ranging from some Fantasy Orcs and Undead over 3rd Century Romans to French and Germans for 1940. Also I'm sure I'll mix in some odds and ends as I go along.

So to start things off in my usual style -meaning slow- here's my first entry for this year. A set of Senior Leaders for my fledgling early war French force for Chain of Command. All figures are 3D prints from the excellent Colonel Muller Miniatures over on www.Wargaming3D.com

First is the Big Wig, the Commandant de Peloton, probably a Sous-Lieutenant. To distinguish him from his (even) more junior 2iC he got a big hex base and a second figure added, symbolizing his personal aide/ runner.

Second is the first of two Sergent-Chefs who will be classed as inferior Senior Leaders in CoC terms. This one is armed with a German made Erma sub-machine gun, large quantities of which came into French possession after the collapse of the Spanish Republic and subsequent internment of soldiers fleeing Franco's revenge in France.

And lastly the second of those two Sergent-Chefs, a rather fatherly figure by the looks of it. This time armed with an obsolete Lebel Model 1886 rifle, he probably already carried during the previous war given de Croix de Guerre he's wearing on his left breast. The Lebel was being phased out at the time of the outbreak of war. But given that its successor, the MAS-36, was not in sufficient supply to equip all units, it was still in widespread use. Especially in reserve formations.

So with that, I'm done for today. All that's left for me to do is wishing all of you a Merry Christmas.

[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