Over the channel and far, far away...

Just a quick one today as I'm in a bit of a hurry really. At the moment I'm away with work most of the time and thus spare time with family and friends is at a premium. So, let's talk about channels today. When reading accounts about the fighting in Belgium, Northern France and especially Holland in 1940 what becomes clear immediately is the importance of streams, channels and similar water features as obstacles to the German onslaught.

It's a StuG life

Continuing on with my Panzergrau phase todays offering is a early StuG D.  While the diminutive Panzer I's and Panzer II's or their larger brethren the Panzer III's and IV's all have their individual appeal it's always been the StuG which impressed me the most. With its small shilouette and the boxy shape it simply looks both futuristic and menacing. And a StuG in the dark Panzergrau livery of the early days of WW2 is simply the king of 'Bad Ass'... in my books anyway.

50 shades of Grey... err... Panzergrau

I hope you don't mind the rather... delicate title.

To the green fields beyond...

.. probably football fields in this case.

War is full of strange things. Maybe one of the stranger sights during the Great War would probably have been an attack on German trench lines on 1 July 1916. After eight days of constant but little effective shelling German defenders crawling out of their dugouts could see men storming across no man's land frantically kicking footballs before them.

Back to the Great War

"Das Wort Operation verbitte ich mir. Wir hauen ein Loch rein. Das Weitere findet sich. So haben wir es auch in Russland gemacht"

-Generalquartiermeister Ludendorff-

Another year, another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (The ninth so far and and the 6th I'm taking part in) and yet another project. A little more than 100 years ago World War I, or the Great War as it is also known, ended after claiming the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians alike. The tragedy of the whole conflict, especially on the western front, is in my opinion perfectly epitomised by the quote with which I started this post. Translated into English it reads like:

More German Infantry

It's been a few days since my last post. Work and private issues have come in the way of either blogging as well as painting. Actually I still don't really feel like wielding a brush, but at least I've managed to get a few figures done I had standing around half finished for a while. As for blogging it actually felt good taking a break away from it for several weeks. It can be such a drain on already sparse free time that I felt I'd need to readjust my priorities.
But enough of that now. On to the miniatures!

Infanterie greift an - Early War Germans

First of all apologies for not having commented on some of your blogs as of late. Blogger seems to have a glitch as there are a few blogs I simply can't comment on, no matter what I try. WhenI try to send my comment it simply vanishes. Not sure if it's maybe goofiness on my part, so I'll keep tryin'.

Achtung - Panzer!

I was eyeing the plastic Panzer 38(t) from Warlord Games for a good while now, but as I currently wasn't into Early War WW2 I saw no imminent need and thus was in no hurry to get me one.
Well, this immediately changed with the release of the Blitzkrieg 1940 supplement for Chain of Command by TooFatLardies. It's not only crammed full to the brim with army lists for the six nations involved in Fall Gelb and Fall Rot along with rules amandments for even more period flavour, but also contains five new scenarios to give you even more Blitzkrieg for your bug. Well, you see... I'm quite impressed with that latest offering from the Lardies.

Oggi Parliamo Italiano

Well, let's talk Italian for a change. Over the last months I've been painting away on a small Italian unit for fellow Blogger Pat, well known through his blog -Wargaming with Silver Whistle- and Author of the rather excellent "Setting the Scene: Winter Wargaming".
Right now he's working on a second book focusing on the Mediterranean. I've painted a few figures previously for him which featured in his first book and as he asked me if I'd like to paint something for his upcoming book I took the chance to help the Regio Esercito Italiano to "their place in the sun".

2nd Soviet Tank Rider Squad

Due to the ongoing heat wave in this part of Europe I've barely touched a brush over the last few weeks. It was only in the early hours when temperatures outside were down to a bearable 24°C (which didn't mean the flat has cooled down as much sadly), that I got in any painting time. Instead of finishing off the afore mentioned Italians I made best use of what little time I had before the heat struck again, and finished off a second squad of Soviet Tank Riders for Chain of Command.