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: