From MartinN: 20mm StuG III and Opel Blitz (62 points)

This submission has been simmering for a while, but I had a hard time getting started on the weathering.  I quite like the look of the vehicles once finished, but getting there is always a little tedious in my opinion. I'd rather paint some foot sloggers instead. Anyway, here's the latest reinforcements for my German motor pool.

First of a 3D printed StuG III Ausf. F/8 from Night Sky Miniatures with an AB Figures commander. While I was a bit of an early adopter when it comes to resin printing, I never got comfortable with the process. It's smelly, dirty and needs a lot of effort to get right. In short I can stand it even less than weathering the final product. And probably that's the only reason I'm not drowning in unpainted prints and I'd call that a clear bonus. I turn on the bloody machine once or twice a year and that has to suffice.

Anyway, there are certainly upsides to the technology. For one there's lots of niche stuff out there that'd be hard to get commercially and I can scale to any scale I like. So while the file was scaled to fit 28mm originally it was quickly converted to go with my 20mm collection. Especially helpful as I feel that there's less 1/72 stuff available than it used to and if it's available it's just as expensive as 28mm.

Next is a trio of 20mm PSC German trucks. The vehicles are a little too basic for my liking, but went together easily. For a little more variety I printed a box body to go with one of them. Can't remember the sculptor though, I'm afraid.

So, 4 vehicles in 20mm as well as a half figure should give me another 62 points towards my total.

Still quite some way to go to 300pts, so we'll see how much I can squeeze in over those last few weeks.

***

Always such incredible work Nick! I am out of superlatives on the painting, beyond just noting that it meets your usual incredible standard of brushwork and weathering. I love the foliage on the vehicles, speaking very much to the whole "let's hope they think it's just some bushes moving along" amid skies full of Allied fighter-bombers. 

I also love the off-colour look of the barrel on the StuG's 75mm gun. I often don't think of how often barrels on guns like that need to be replaced, and the presence of a barrel which doesn't match the rest of the paint speaks to the under-pressure nature of the German forces late in the war. 

62 brilliant points for you!

GregB

From DavidB: A Deacon and Two Priests Aim at a Bar (310 points)

 

 Dead South-In Hell I'll be in Good Company

These are all 3d prints available from Windham Graves at Thingiverse.

An armoured car...errr truck with a naval gun turret...I have not looked up the provenance of the Deacon but I am pretty certain that the British Admiralty and Army had an idea...

Even with the armoured cab, it would not be pleasant to be at the driver seat when the Deacon speaks.

When I first got my 3d printer this is one of many trucks I found that I had to print.

Built in America, the M7 howitzer motor carrier was dubbed the Priest by Commonwealth troops.  This is due to the machine gun cupola looking like a pulpit from church. It was primarily used by Canadian troops in Europe and in the later years was immediate support artillery for American infantry brigades.

I built two: one with a canvas weather top and the other one ready for action

There is a lot of detail including the wood plank floor and shell racks, even the driver seat has detailed gauges.

A small field howitzer. I shouldn't have stuck the crew down and maybe gave them individual bases, but i also do not see this being of much use in games unless with a very big table and larger forces. 

I added some additional crates to make the crew look busy. This is a Warlord kit and minis.

They will have "Old Ironsides" insignia soon. The Weasel behind them is their vehicle and is another 3d print.

The Weasel is an American machine based on, but larger than, a Bren carrier. Small howitzer- and mortar-teams used them to bring their guns and supplies forward to cover the infantry. Being smaller than the big Deuce-and-a-Half, they were able to go to places the big trucks could not reach and their spry size let support guns keep up with the advancing infantry.

A 3d print of a Zis in canary yellow

I have many trucks and tractors but I like the Zis being unobtrusive enough...and free to be table dressing in Italian campaign and pulp games. Just a nice truck a farmer had to abandon or militias confiscated. Should I ever start a Soviet force, they will have plenty of trucks too.

The bed is lopsided...but I can print more

There is a card stock flat of a Hanomag in the starter set, but panzergrenadiers need their very own trucks. The Fallschirmjagers I have to paint also commandeered their own vicks [vehicles - Minion D]. 

Open topped and enclosed Opel Blitzes in German grey.

I also painted up the Sd.Kfz 222 in a panzer grey to use it also in garrison and early war.

I plan on printing several of these, so at least one need the panzer grey for early war before I try out other camouflage schemes.

A Famo Sdkfz. 9...has been a favorite vehicle since seeing Dirty Dozen as a child.

This mover was painted as a seasoned veteran truck from North Africa now moving supplies in Italy.

A Hanomag and a recon/artillery half track with armored crew space

Ochres, browns, greens and lots of stippling

The Hanomag will move panzergrenadiers while the other truck is going to be staffed by HQ.

Some more German armored cars for recon with the panzergrenadiers.

I really do hate painting vehicles. I have been staring at infantry all while painting these. At least the different styles made the German vehicles go quick.

I still need decals to finish the trucks, then I can weather them completely. for now I am happy enough with some more vehicles for some proper games.

14 vehicles for 280 points

 

1 howitzer with 4 crew for 30 points

Squirrel- 40k white scars, fantasy orcs, allied infantry, axis infantry, allied vicks, axis vicks

skulls- 11

stompy robots of death- 0

Yikes! For someone who hates to paint vehicles you've dropped a tracked-and-wheeled points bomb here David - well done. I paticularly like the "ambush pattern" German vehicles. I assume that you've printed at 1/56 scale? Or did you go for 1/48? In any case this is great progress for you.

Three-hundred-and-ten points for your tally!

Dallas

From DavidB: German Panzer Grenadiers (90 points)

 

 canned heat- going up the country

Now that I am retired from military service, I work security for a nuclear power plant. It is the night shift, but since both day and night are 12 hour shifts, I like the nights better since I can wake at 2pm better than 2am. The only issue is I work Wednesday to every other Saturday. If I did not make good headway on my off days, it is easy to fall behind. Like the secure military installations, nuclear plants limit website and wifi so Blogspot has been denied as is most shopping. For some reason I can access YouTube and watch a familiar face from our AHPC (Big Lee and his Miniature Adventures) as well as how not to blow up your airbrush compressor.

Last week I finished painting some Panzer Grenadiers after finishing work. An Arctic blast delivered 3-5 feet of snow that made work interesting for the perimeter zones and also made home interesting too as the 50MPH gusts blew in one of the basement windows. I had JUST finished taking photographs and was asked   ordered to check the window out and make repairs. No problem, the boys wanted to go out especially the Saint Bernard, Roger. Snow drifts, excited dogs and sub zero temperatures gave the infamous gremlin Murphy all the pieces needed.

the last photo taken with my phone before disaster.

I shoveled out a place for my buddy Nova to take his constitutions without snow touching his rear and shoveled a path to the window to get a good look. Roger is infantry and loves to dig when bored. With pie plate sized paws, he digs trenches and foxholes fast. Frozen snow when shoveled can conceal such hazards. I found his latest creation when stepped upto my hip in it. I have no idea where my coffee cup went, my missing shoe went across the street to a neighbors home who brought it by the next day. My phone was absolutely crushed, but we didn't find out how bad until the rice bowl had absorbed all the snow and melt from it....being more exhausted rooster than spring chicken, I needed a few days to recover. Roger and Nova were first responders and although enthusiastic, they made things worse. Roger goes straight to CPR compressions and being 200 lbs, it is very noticeable! ;)

I have a new phone now, It was actually sheer bliss not having one for week. I am only concerned with how much (all data) was recovered from a dead ,crushed ,powerless phone. at least there is no video of Roger doing CPR on an uncooperative victim of his crimes.

These are from Warlord Games and the starter set that also gave me the Rangers. My friends and the Warlord booth crew at Adepticon even gave me extra sprues. I took my time looking for the right greenish grey. As they all are wearing different uniform styles and gear, I leaned into that and gave them a mish mash of camouflage pants and blouses to match the camouflage smocks some have. Some have darker grey uniforms while others have the green grey as well.

The platoon leader flanked by his NCOs all equipped with smgs

I can take three in the squad, but settled for two with antitank . there was plenty of rifles to make sure everybody had one.

Two squad support MG teams

It was not until I painted them I realized I used all the running bodies here.

I really like the options on the kit and it was very easy to make them look like hard bitten veterans slowing Allied advances in Italy.

I will definitely get a full kit to make a larger force of Panzer Grenadiers. I plan on using these as more QRF or Reconnaissance by Force with German Armor.

18 gives me plenty of options for a squad at present.

So now a week late 18 Germans for 90 points and squirrel

squirrels- 40k white scars, fantasy orcs, allied infantry, axis infantry

skulls- 11

stompy robots of death- 0

Wow David that's quite a lot to take in! Lost phone, snow and dogs aside, the Panzergrenadiers look very nice, and 18 of 'em makes a nice variety to equip your force. Late-war Heer infantry could certainly be a rag-tag bunch and your mix of uniform colours and camo bits is quite appropriate. Ninety points for you!

Dallas

From FrederickC: Early WW2 German Kradschützen and one more Circle of Paradise [The Wise] (285 Points)

Talk about sliding in under the wire. This morning I managed to finish off my last submission for this year's AHPC - two squads of German Kradschützen for a total of 28 men on 24 motorcycles or in sidecars for Bolt Action.

Kradschützen, vorwärts!

These are all 3D prints using STL files purchased from MyMiniFactory of German motorcycle troops either as single bikes or bikes with sidecars. Of the various sources for 3D prints I have seen, I thought these did an excellent job of rendering the Mauser Kar98k rifles and the M35 helmets. Where they fall down a bit is in depicting the standard German ammo pouches, which look more like the German Army flashlight. A few figures even had them positioned where the flashlight was often hung from the Y-straps. There was also in figure that had pouches for MP40 magazines (yeah!) but was still equipped with a rifle (boo!). Also the motorbikes don't quite look like either a BMW or a Zündapp, primarily in the position of the muffler.

All the bikes were mounted on popsicle sticks using PVA glue. They were then primed with Vallejo German Panzer Grey Surface Primer using an airbrush. Painting was done primarily using Vallejo acrylics (Army Painter colours indicated by AP) as follows: faces and hands - Flat Flesh; jackets - German Fieldgrey; trousers - AP Uniform Grey; canteen covers - Flat Earth; gas mask canister - Luftwaffe Camo Green; helmets - Charcoal Grey; belts, jackboots, ammo pouches, and bike tires - Black; rifle stocks - Beige Brown; rifle slings - Mahogany Brown; metal weapons parts - German Grey; motorbikes - German Panzer Grey; motorbike seats, and goggle straps - AP Leather Brown. When all was done, the figures got a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. Once the Quick Shade was dry, the bikes were mounted on bases that are either Warlord Games cavalry bases, or larger ones cut from old plastic restaurant gift cards.

The final figure for my final entry is an old school West End Games Star Wars figure of Obi Wan Kenobi to represent the Circle of Paradise - The Wise. This figure has been sitting primed black in a box with other Sci Fi/Star Wars minis along with Luke, Darth Vader and the Imperial officer I did for an early submission. He was painted with Vallejo acrylics (Flat Flesh, Dark Sand, Chocolate Brown, Stone Grey, White) followed by Citadel Reikland Fleshshade on the face and hands, Army Painter Mid Brown Wash on the robes and cloak, and Army Painter Blue Tone on a white base for the light saber. 

 “Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”

             - Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

“An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”

“Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

The points being claimed are as follows:

29 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points = 145 points

24 x 28mm 'mounts' (motorcycle or sidecar) @ 5 points = 120

1 x Circle of Paradise - The Wise = 20 points

Thanks for stopping by. See you at the afterparty.

 

Sylvain: Especially for me, because I have an acute interest in the period, it's always a pleasure to read your posts about early WW2. I like your precise observations on the accuracy of the models. And I also enjoy the final result, a neat little formation of bikes that will buzz around some helpless French or British (or Dutch, or Belgian, or Norwegian). And Obi Wan is just like the mythic character we all love. Excellent last (?) post!