Works in Progress

 Lots going on at my hobby station of late! Nothing actually completed, but work progresses on a number of projects per the pictures to follow. 

These are 3D printed Universal Carriers for my 2023 WW2 Greeks project. I found them on Etsy for a steal. What arrived were nice crisp sculpts, though of two different types of Carrier, but I can work with that. They were crew-less though, so I found some spare Soviet infantry and started hacking away and whilst the end result looks somewhat crude up close-and-unpainted (Crew's helmets look close enough to those worn by the Greeks to me.), I think they'll do just fine on the tabletop from 3 feet! I also needed "pintle-mounted Bren Guns" on them so sourced some nice metal bren guns from The Assault Group in the UK, trimmed a paper clip down to stick them upon and drilled holes for the pintle mounts to settle into on the Carriers. Finished result I think looks good enough for gaming! 

*More on said Greeks in a future post.

Sticking with the vehicles theme here's a German Panzer IV Ausf-H that is primed and ready for paint. I plan to add this as an alternative tank option to my Late War Winter Germans collection featured previously. "Where's the era appropriate Schurtzen?" I hear you ask in my addled schizoid brain, well dear reader those are going to be built and painted separately for ease of assembly and painting. 

Along with the tank, featured here are three Soviet riflemen that I had bits left over to build after crafting the Carrier crews shown above. Thought it would be good to have a few spares in squads where I didn't include a Light Machine Gun toting fellow. They need some basing pumice adding then priming prior to being ready for paint.

A less exciting option - these are some mdf tree bases I found on Etsy. After our last game in my previous post, I realised that I need not only more fencing and trees themselves, but also some better defined bases for the trees I do have so they stand out more for gaming purposes. (Line of sight, etc) So far these have been assembled, gritted with sand from a Monterrey area beach, sprayed dark brown then highlighted with a lighter brown craft paint. All that's left is to apply snow, though I'm trying to figure out how best to go about this step in an effort not to use up all of my Woodland Scenics  snow flock but still applying enough for the bases to look good on my Winter table set-up? I'll see what I can come up with.

Last up is a second batch of mdf fencing for much talked about Winter setup. (I did not feature the first set, for some reason, though honestly they are not really exciting enough to feature in their own post, right?) Simple 2-piece kits that I found in an online sale years ago. They have been primed the same dark brown as the tree bases and given a light dusting of white spray paint. Next step will be to pick out the vertical posts with dark brown and then apply snow effects and the odd grass tuft. Densmol was right, one needs far more than just one set of fencing on a 6x4 foot table!

No progress made on my Dieppe Canadians as I've not been in much of a mindset for painting lately, but I feel that'll change next week, so hope to have something new and actually "finished" to show off soon!

Stay well out there.

Another Dieppe Landing post

Here are some pieces I've been working on lately. Fast and dirty paint jobs to fit with the rest of what I've done.


Managed to get the Recon Universal carrier painted up for my Dieppe landing force. It's a Warlord games plastic kit and was fiddly as heck to assemble and paint up but I'm happy enough with the end result. Still needs a few id markings but I'll research those later.

Next up is a Bren Gun duo for my first Commandos squad. You'll notice the fellow on the left has a pretty blobby face - that's due to a 4 month old puppy taking an interest in my hobby. *eyeroll* lesson learnt there... (They are both Wargames foundry sculpts for those interested.)

Lastly I also got a sniper team in gillie suits done. This Warlord Games duo are smashing sculpts and were fun and easy to get painted up. Not sure snipers were present at Dieppe, but Commonwealth tactics liked to use platoon sharp shooters, so I felt it was okay to add them and heck, I liked the sculpts, so there.

I also managed to get the Churchill Mk 1 done for this lot but realized the pics I took were from when I originally painted on the markings and thanks to the Bolt Action Facebook group, was informed that they were incorrect. I've sorted that now, but still need to take pics, so will post that beast up tomorrow or so.


Still hoping all are staying safe and well out there.

Eyes and Ears in the Desert

Whilst work has started on my Kingforce Churchill platoon, I decided to take a quick break from them (As they haven't turned out as simple to paint up as I'd originally envisaged.) and kick out the Universal Carrier Patrol for my 8th Army project. I've showcased a different patrol for my Late War Canadians previously and this set of three were pretty much the same models, though from a dodgy re-caster on Ebay. The sculpts were alright, though the crew (Driver and gunner, the passenger in the rear of the lead carrier is a metal mini I added.) were part of the cast, so were a bit of a pain to pick out, but otherwise, these being tiny vehicles, they painted up super quick. Again, markings and some weathering still in the works and this time I think I have at least 1/2 my Company's markings ready to apply.

These fellows' faces are all rosy to show their desert tans, or sunburn. :)

 This one makes me think these Tommies are sat gorping at the red-headed girl in the distance. :)

Lastly, I'm also trying hard to finish a last minute surprise project in time for the D-Day tournament on Saturday 22nd. I think it will look really cool once completed, just hope I can get it done in time.

A Rack of PIATs (Part 2 - Finished)

The PIAT Battery Carriers are based and decal-ed and finished. Didn't have a "41" unit marking decal, so went and did a horrid freehand job instead. I think I need a brighter blue in future though.

My regular opponent Densmol is currently laid up after some serious knee surgery, so I won't be able to try these out any time soon, but I've already got a lit made up and ready to showcase them once he's back in gaming level fitness!

Hooray for kitchen cooker overhead lighting!

Chap in the middle's PIAT rack was left over night for the glue/greenstuff to set, sadly his one ended up drooping to the side somehow - so now he's the Platoon leader, easier to pick out on the table! (Stuck the NCO in the back too, jus' chillin' in his "ride".)

When I get time or inclination, I think I'll see about adding some strong-bow-type stowage inside the carriers to account for the masses of PIAT ammo they'd have carried.

Supposedly these things were rather effective in the field. Makes one wonder why they weren't more prevalent?

I also managed to put together my Stan Hollis Warrior stand. He's supposed to be one bad mo-fo of a Sgt. Major or something, so I stuck him solo on a small base to show for this, but added a wee terrier-looking pup (Courtesy of Peter Pig.) to run with him as I don't like my troops being so lonely (And if you're going to run at Hun MG nests, man's best friend should be there with you to gnaw on their Bratwursts!)
Think he'll be in my next post.

Next up on the painting table is the conspicuously absent command team for my Land Mattress platoon that I'd somehow forgotten to take care of when I was painting up the rest of the stands, then on to those "terrifying" 25-pounder artillery that I've been avoiding for whatever reason. And of course a smattering of commission work.... I think I'm giving up commissions forever after this - so not fun... ~_~

A Rack of PIATs (Part 1 - WIP)

The PIAT Battery Universal Carrier is another crazy Canadian creation that I just had to have for my 4th Canadians.

There's not much on these WW2 vehicles out there on the interwebs.

Rules-wise they're pretty terrible to be honest, but they look so cool I couldn't help myself when a local FoW gamer said he had some spare conversion kits to make the builds (That are no longer sold by Battlefront - of course.) and I snapped one up.

So far basic painting's done, I just need to finish the basing, add a little mud and slap on some decals and I'm calling them done. No point putting extra work into a unit that will rarely (If ever) see the games table.

When they're finished, I'll take some better lit pics.

A wee front-rear view so you can see them a little better.

Hope to have the completed pics up tonight or tomorrow assuming things go to plan.

Humber Recce Platoon - WIP (Part 2)

These fellows are almost done. I went back on what I declared regarding stowage, they just looked too plain with out any pieces. I still kept it minimal though, not at all like the pictures I've found on the net of similar recce vehicles all laden down with boxes and tarps, etc. I also decided to add some to the universal carrier that I use as Patrol leader to differentiate him from the others.

Carriers seen here with some lovely .50cals to chew up those pesky German 1/2-tracks. The one in the middle has the stowage, tarp on it's flank as seen and oil drum on it's rear. The tarp piece was from the Open Fire Shermans sprues.

 

With Allied stars stuck on top of the Humbers so some Tiffie doesn't think to confuse them with Hun vehicles, all that's left to do on these chaps is to get unit marking decals (Ordered as you read this.) and they are ready to throw into combat. One issue I'm having is which markings would be the correct ones? The 4th Canadian Army have the Humber Armoured Car option on both the Rifles and Armoured lists, yet my research online has not shown the 4th Canadian using Humbers at all during the Holland operations (Training in England prior to D-Day, yes, hence why I've already painted the black square with 47, though that'll be painted over by the time this is posted.), whereas Staghounds seem to be their Armoured Car of choice. So I'm thinking that I'll have to make this from the lot 12th Manitoba Dragoons that weren't Division specific as far as I can tell and so may well have run with the 4th Canadians.
(Feel free to correct me on this as I'd rather get it right.)

 These are going to be the last units I do for my Late War collections for a bit as I've a new project to get on with, my first Mid-War specific list. With the November tournament being Mid-War and the recent release of the updated Mid-War Brits in Italy lists, I've decided to throw together as much stuff as I already own (Keeping things affordable) to make a company for the tourney. So I've made an 8th Army Motored Infantry list. All I've got to get are transport vehicles and I'll have everything I need - not bad for a completely new army. (I will cheat on the carrier patrols though and use the two I've already got painted up, even though they are marked for Guards and Canadian.... To be replaced at a later date.)

This is my list. I think it'll do poorly as British mechanised companies are not lauded at all for their abilities to win, but I aim to try to prove that wrong! :)

 So along with the commissions I am supposed to already be working on, that's a little less than two months to get most of an army painted. I reckon I can do it. :)

By Request

For Admiral Drax, some closeups of my 4th Canadian Division carrier patrol showing all the weapon loadouts. .50cal, PIAT launcher, plain.

Woot, just realized,  post 100!

Markup

Promised pics of the Canadian 4th Armoured tanks, a carrier patrol and a carrier patrol with guards markings. 

Pic quality is a bit average as I used my new mobile phone.

The last pic shows the Land Mattresses I'm currently working on.

 

Interlude Part 7

I haven't had an Interlude post for a while and seeing as I'm at work, it's the simplest way to get something put up to help me keep track of what I've been getting up to with my hobby.

First of all, I've been getting in a higher than normal amount of games of Flames of War in of late. (ie, more than 1 a week.) I made up a Guards Armoured Recce list from the Market Garden book to become more comfortable running an armoured list. I think I lost only one game out of the 5 or 6 I got to play. Not bad at all. Cromwells are flippin' excellent tanks to move about the table, fast and an okay gun. Only time I was stymied though was when I was up against a Panther and Jagdpanzer heavy list with a slow going train track cutting through the center of the board that totally mucked up my maneuverability benefit. But there ya go. Maybe soon I'll actually get to painting these Cromwells because they really are a great sculpt.
If yer interested, this is the list I played:

HQ 1iC and 2iC Cromwells
2 Platoons of 2x Cromwells and 1 Challenger
1 Platoon of 3x Stuarts
1 Platoon of 4 M10's with 17pdrs
1 Platoon of Infantry
1 Platoon of Universal Carriers with extra MG's

I managed to get my hands on the below awesome Limited Release sculpt by Sodapop Miniatures. I jumped on their Relic Knights Kickstarter and absolutely love the Candy and Cola characters. Lucky for my, my very good mate was to attend GenCon and swiped one of these for me along with a very sexi Kingdom Death White Speaker fig that I am super excited to try to paint.

My hands have not been idle - I've been busy making my Shermans look prettier by finally adding decals so they now all have unit and squadron markings. I'd been hesitant up until now to add definite markings as it means I'll not be able to use them outside of the specific lists their markings would allow in tournament settings. But I sucked it up and knew my tanks deserved far more love than I'd already offered and now they are looking very fine indeed, along with my two Universal Carrier patrols. (Post to show these upcoming, just need to take pics.) I've also finished up painting my Land Mattress battery - just details and basing to do (A post for these is also upcoming).

A full squad of Eisenkern troops (The lovely Dreamforge sculpts) has also been put together and cleaned up, ready for priming. These minis really were a joy to get ready and I am really eager to slap some paint on them. Dreamforge Games just released pics of their amazing looking plastic Mortis Leviathan enormous robot model. I am rather keen to get my hands on one of these.

Lastly, I have for some stupid reason lost my marbles and taken on a couple of commissions..... The plastic Dark Angels Librarian from the 40K Dark Vengeance box and a 7-man Ratling squad of the most recent sculpts. Updates on these, as and when they happen.