A little Panzer

 Life is still very busy, so there has been very little painting for me in the last few weeks.

My brother and the family came to visit recently and he brought me a 1/72 tank he got second hand (built and painted) for the equivalent of about 1.5 Euros.

It is decently built and painted, I just added a drybrush and a base to make it sturdy for the gaming table. 

I guess it doesn't really count as something I painted, but it is in the collection now and since I have little else to post, it will have to do.

German Panzer 38(t). 1/72, Fujimi, refurbished by Ginzio

Terrain pieces and recycling

This will be a slightly odd post, all I'll be posting has been seen on the blog before, but very long ago and in different shape. 

This is a collection of terrain pieces or tabletop accessories that I put together with previously discarded items or broken models. As some might remember, I moved back to Italy last summer and, although the move was fairly smooth, there were some casualties.

Whatever could be salvaged in some way was repurposed and turned into terrain pieces. I also have more old banners from our very early days as hobbyists that became baggage train decors and a few very very old fences that my brother built in the early 90s that after laying around and broken for over thirty years, were finally restored and painted, the principle being that anything that involved some work should not be wasted and turned into tabletop usable items.

Following you can see the eclectic mix of pieces that I repaired and painted for a whole different set of settings and games.

One of the casualties of the move, one of my beloved three winter Panzer IVs. The turret was caved in, it lost a few roadwheels and the tracks were broken in a couple spots, it was definitely not fixable, so I decided to put a ton of snow on it and use it as a piece of terrain in a winter setting of WWII.

 

These are the fences that IlVJ built circa 1993, there were actually more, but after traveling through different boxes, shelves and cabinets, this is what I could salvage. I based them and gave them a quick paintjob and they are ready for the table.

These are the banners from the first incarnation of my dwarf army, built between 1989 and the end of the 90s. Around 2000 I decided to strip them all down and repaint them (I still have 2 units and a catapult to complete). These were the banners that proudly flew over some of the units, now they will serve as a reminder of the old glories of Warhammer third edition on the background of future battles.

This was a 3D printed Daedalus industrial mech that someone from my Canadian gaming group printed for me for a campaign, its loading arm and a leg snapped during the shipping, it now sits as a wreck on the field of battle.

All these were completed on the side, while painting other stuff, so just came along as I was doing something else.

I enjoy giving a second life to little bits and stuff that would otherwise end up in the garbage, with a bit of work anything can be reused and serve a new purpose.

A small addition to my Deutschland Afrika Corps army

 When my brother visited in January, he brought me a few Tamiya kits, amongst which was a German motorcycle with sidecar which I just finished assembling and painting.

Apparently it is really good in game, I hope I'll have a chance to try it out as soon as possible.

German motorcycle with sidecar. 1/48, Tamiya, painted by Ginzio

WW2 British 8th Army in North Africa part 3

 This is the 3rd and final post of my British 8th army infantry for Bolt Action.

I have completed a set of Perry Miniatures with 40 figures and for infantry I should be good. I ended up with three squads, two of regulars and one of veterans, plus command and support teams.

To this I add a few vehicles and the army is playable. In the future I might add a gun and a second Matilda that I got in a trade, but was debating if adding to this army or use it for other projects (Soviet land lease).

Following there are the last squad (veterans) and a sniper team.

Nine men veteran squad, for these I used the heads provided in the Perry set to turn these into S.A.S., that way they can serve dual purpose. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

Sniper team. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

EDIT: a few pictures of the whole army so far

More WW2 British 8th army in North Africa

 These is the second part of the infantry of my British 8th army, there should be another post with the final part of the infantry and the full army at once.

Today we have a forward observer team and the second infantry section.

Forward observer with radio operator. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

Infantry section. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

World War Two British 8th army in progress

 My 8th army project is finally getting some steam and moving along nicely, I have started to complete some units and I should be done with the infantry in a couple of weeks.

I'm still debating if I should paint the second Matilda I have or if I should try to trade or sell it, since I probably won't have many chances to use two of the beasts in a game.

This week I have a finished infantry squad and a command section.

First Lieutenant with aides. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

First infantry squad with Bren light machine gun. 28mm, Perry Miniatures, painted by Ginzio

WWII British 8th army infantry, part 1

 This is going to be the last post from Canada, next Monday I'll be travelling back to Italy and I hope to be able to finish something to post for the following one.

The figures in this post are the first I finished from a Perry Miniatures set that my fiancée gave me for Christmas. They will form the infantry of my North Africa 8th army for Bolt Action.

I had previously completed some vehicles, a Matilda II, a Dingo scout Car and before that, a utility car, it was about time to add some infantry.

This army will be used against my Afrika Corps army that I painted back in 2020 and never used since completion.

The first models I completed are some support weapons, the Bren machine gun will be part of an infantry section, the Boys anti tank rifle and the light mortar will be independent teams.

I'm looking forward to work on the remaining 34 models and have the army ready to play.

British 8th army infantry support weapons: Boys anti tank rifle, light mortar and Bren machine gun. 28mm, Perry miniatures, painted by Ginzio

First part of long announced new project

 These are the first actual figures I completed for my long announced 1/35 scale skirmish project.

It took me quite a while to paint these guys and then I realized that the style I use for smaller scale gives a very cartoony result on a bigger scale.

But I don't think that's a bad thing, after all I want to use these models for gaming, not for display, so it does not really bother me.

I'll see if with future models I'll decide to go another direction or stick to this style.

To give a better idea of what I envision for this project here is a little bit of explanation.

My main WW2 scale will remain 1/72, to play bigger scale games, such as Blitzkrieg Commander or Rapid Fire Reload.

For smaller action games IlVJ and I both have small forces of 28mm figures (which will slowly be expanded) for games such Bolt Action.

The final piece of the puzzle, to play squad level games, is the 1/35 scale that I started with these figures.

My idea is to use "One hour skirmish wargames" and have games to represent actions more "behind the enemy lines", imagine a raid to steal supplies, or free some prisoners, etc

In my mind these games won't involve tanks or other big front line units, but transports, gun emplacements or even livestock or rear guard encampments for more narrative games.

Having figures in three different scales for the same historical period might seem redundant, but I'll try to have different style of games with the different sizes.

I'm also more of a painter than a gamer, so having the opportunity to try my hand at different things is always good.

Anyway, the models I'm posting today are some 1/35 scale very old Esci models, they are really big for the scale, looking almost like 1/32 scale, but they have a huge nostalgic element for me, me and my brother grew up with Esci and even if the quality is not up to more modern stuff, I'd still chose this kind of models and have fun with the process of building and painting them.

German assault engineer with barbed wire shears. This model might be a bit hard to use in games, but it is an interesting pose and might be good as decoration on the table. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Wounded soldier with attending comrade. For these two guys I decided to make a little vignette, I might use them as a mission objective or decoration for the rear areas of the battlefield. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Stormtrooper with assault rifle and cluster grenade. This guy is a very good example of the cartoony look I was talking about. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Assault engineer with flame thrower. A very fearsome piece of kit, this guy will probably only see occasional use on the battlefield. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

 

Stormtroopers NCO. This is another example of "cartoonyness", his face, with those eyes, is quite ridiculous. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

The whole set, 1/35 figures are really more suited for dioramas or display than wargame, but it was fun to paint something outside my comfort zone and it will be great to find a way to use these models in games.

WWII British anti aircraft battery

 These are the last two 1/72 WWII kits I had built and ready to paint, there are not going to be more before I move back to Italy.

It has been quite a while since I did anything for my European theater British, I have some infantry (para) in the works, but it will be a while before they are ready.

Bofors 40mm Anti aircraft guns with tractors. 1/76, Airfix, painted by Ginzio

WWII 8ty army British armour

 These are the last two 1/48 models that IlVJ gifted me a couple of years ago.

They are part of my (very slowly) ongoing Bolt Action project to give my Afrika Korp an opponent.

So far I have collected 3 Tamiya 1é48 models and I will, at some point, add a box of plastic Warlord or Perry miniatures infantry.

I wouuld prefer the Perry figures, my Germans are Perry and I think it would be nice to have the Brits in the same style, but we'll see.

Here are a recce unit and a tank to support my still non existent infantry platoon.

Daimler Dingo scout car. 1/48, Tamiya, painted by Ginzio.

Infantry tank Matilda Mk II. 1/48, Tamiya, painted by Ginzio.