We're all Charlie!

Normally I try to keep this blog strictly related to little toy soldiers but following yesterdays events in Paris there's no way for me to let this be uncommented.

Across all borders this is to our french brothers and sisters:

You're not alone!

6th submission for the Challenge: 28mm Crusader Crossbowmen (40 Points)

Totally forgot to post my other Wednesday submission to the Challenge:

For my todays second submission I visited the hot lands of Outremer again to add some retinue to my Monsieur Jaufrè de Montalban whom I entered for the 'Mount(s) & Rider(s)' Bonus Round.

5th entry to the challenge: 28mm Blitzkrieg German Pioneers (40 Points)

The first of my two latest entries to the Challenge over at the infamous Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge:


With the Challenge already on full steam I had to finally pull out my finger and get going. So here's the first of two submissions for today. Here we have eight 28mm Pioneers from Warlord Game's superb "German Pioneers" boxed set. 

  

Good bye 2014 here's 2015!

It's a nice habit throughout the world to use the arrival of a new year to cast a doleful eye over the goals and achievements of the last year and make new goals for the year ahead.

Plans and achievements in 2014:

What was I planning to do in 2014?

• 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. Well, I got quite some stuff prepped but only a little done so FAIL!

• 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... Epic FAIL! I only got a unit of 10 foot and 2 mounted as well as some rebasing done but that's about it.

•  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). Well, this one  wasn't a complete fail as I got some command figures and 10 foot done but it's faaaaar from ready.

So what did I do in 2014 you may ask. Well, there were some things I previously haven't had on my radar. But let us have a look on the numbers first:

Over the year I painted:
28mm:
188 foot figures
5 mounted figures
7 Vehicles

15mm:
32 foot figures

Compared to a years total of 179 figures (all together) for 2013 I can feel quite satisfied I think. Especially considering a big amount of the figures was painted in the last three months of the year. All in all I painted and sold off far more figures than I managed to buy leading to my lead mountain melting like the arctic ice shelves in the summer. We'll see if the same is true for the new year.

But now let us have a quick look at what I really did in 2014 I haven't had on my radar before (only a selected few):

28mm Blitzkrieg Germans:

These really hit me without warning. I always enjoyed the later period of the war but didn't give much thought to the early years. But when I stumbled over the great plastic Pioneers set by Warlord Games I had to get them. And you won't believe it but I really painted up the whole box till sylvester.

28mm U.S. Army:

I came across a nicely painted and fairly priced U.S. Army for sale while browsing and so I made an old dream of mine come true. Of course I had to add to this force as soon as it arrived on my doorstep. This very force also helped me to overcome a lack of enthusiasm which plagued me for several months.

First Indochina in Greyscale:

Maybe the acquisition in 2014 that surprised myself most. I was pondering over the possibility to do something in Greyscale for quite some time but when inspiration finally struck I knew I had to do it.

15mm World War 2:

A topic I was interested in for quite some time but never really started before 2014. The Battlefront plastic U.S. Paras proofed to be a real treat to paint but at the moment their metal counterparts are sitting in my drawer as they're not even half as nice.

So now it's enough of 2014 and on to the plans for the year ahead!

Plans for 2015:

• 'Completing' my early war German force for Bolt Action. This should be pretty straight forward as there are just a few things left to get to a point where I can call this force ready for battle i.e. the Leutnant and his aide, an Artillery or Air Observer, a PaK 36, a HMG and a 50mm Mortar as well as some bits and bobs. Of course a wargamers army is never really completed so I might maybe even add a second box of infantry as well as the odd vehicle, artillery piece to it-

• Starting a British Expeditionary Force to oppose my Germans. In fact the first metal box from Warlord Games is already sitting on my desk right know awaiting the arrival of their missing heads.... why can't I ever get a complete set of figures from Warlord Games?

• Enlarge my U.S. Force. Well no definite plans but I'd like to add a fourth squad and maybe even a second BAR to each squad.

• Something in 15mm. Here I'm not totally certain about what to do. Maybe the Desert campaign?

• Continue with my First Indochina in Greyscale project. Getting all the figures done I already have and maybe some more, depending on the releases from Red Star Miniatures. And maaaaaybe even do some terrain in Greyscale. The Sarissa Precision 'Far East' line of MDF buildings does look pretty decent and using my airbrush they should be quite easy to do.

So with these plans in my head and the firm knowledge that no battle plan survives the first contact with reality, I'm looking forward to the months ahead!

My entry to the 'Mount(s) & Rider(s)' themed bonus round

The end of the year is almost upon us so it's time for my last blog post of the year. Below you can find my submission to the 'Mount(s) & Rider(s)' themed bonus round over on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Blog. The poll is still open so make sure you head over there to cast your vote for your favourite entries. There's some great stuff on display even dinosaurs with license plates so what you're waiting for?

At the moment I'm listening to Ulf Schiewes excellent Montalban Trilogy (unfortunately there seems to be no English edition) while painting. The novels are set in 12th century southern France and Outremer (modern day Israel and Palestine) with a definite focal point on the Crusades and tell the story of a fictitious Montalban family vassals to the masters of Tolosa. Thus inspired it should be little surprise I wanted to pick up the cross and fight the infidels for this submission.

3rd entry to the Challenge: 28mm M3 Halftrack & US Crew (14 Points)

Here's my latest entry to the Challenge for all of you not following the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge frenzy:

I really didn't expect to get something presentable done before the holidays but these four chaps were not overly difficult to get ready. So this entry is far from being a points bomb others seem capable of but one more tiny step towards the goal.

My entry for the 'Cold' themed bonus round

An integral part of this years Painting Challeng are the (at least to me) highly entertaining Bonus Themed Rounds again. The poll is still running so make sure you head over to vote for your favourite(s)!

Here's what I submitted for the first round themed 'Cold':

When looking out for a suitable figure to represent the first themed bonus round I found it in the excellent Lead-Adventure line of miniatures. Their Post-Apoc range has some rather nice miniatures which should fit the bill. I was a torn between "Igor and the Red Gang" and "Santa Contaminated". Having already seen some of their figures in the flesh but not having painted some yet I decided to first try my luck with Santa instead of doing a whole group.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge: Not "Dorian Gray" Entry Fee Figure (20 points)

I'm a bit behind in my blogging at the moment but as Curt's infamous Painting Challenge has begun last week most of my hobby time is concentrated on painting like a maniac... not that it would make any difference in output anyway.

So here's my first entry to the Challenge:

To bring myself and my brushes up to operating temperature for this years challenge I wanted to stay within the theme of the challenge with my first submission.

Ever since Curt has announced this years topic I knew what I wanted to do for the Entry Fee figure. Back then when West Wind did their "Empire of the Dead" Kickstarter I almost joined in because of the dark and menacing look of the Steampunk world they created which I liked a lot. But as I had (and still have) much too many distractions on my table I passed on the chance and said to myself that one day I could still paint the one or other figure.

So when looking for suitable figures I knew it had to be something from that range and indeed I found a figure which to my mind perfectly matches Curt's description of the to be Entry Fee figure.

So I present to you Mr. Dorian aka as (Not) Dorian Gray.

Second German rifle squad

Hobby wise I've been really busy this week in order to get the next German rifle squad done before the 5th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts.

First German rifle squad

Having been in some kind of an "Early War" painting francy lately I managed to painted my first squad in about six days. If I could only always get my stuff done that fast :-)