From GregB: 20mm WW2 Odds & Ends (54 Points)

20mm WW2 odds & ends - AB, SHQ, Elhiem, PSC.

Early in this edition of the Challenge I had been finishing off some long-delayed 20mm WW2 projects which had been sitting on the side of the painting desk for too long (years).  As I work to complete the task set before me by the Snow Lord, I am also trying to finish off a few of the odds and ends which had been sitting on my painting desk back in December when Challenge X got underway. The assortment of 20mm odds & ends in this submission is a product of those ongoing "side efforts" - might as well collect the points while I can!

Random 20mm German Infantry

This small collection of German infantry here covers three different figure manufacturers. The German NCO is from AB - an excellent casting, as always.

German NCO from AB Miniatures...great sculpt as always.

The MG42 team is from SHQ.  When I first opened up these packs of figures, I was kind of disappointed...I thought they were a touch skinny/small.  But now that I have painted a few of the SHQ figures, I am warming up to them a lot, and will probably add more SHQ castings to the collection.

MG-42 team from SHQ miniatures.

The SHQ sculpts have really grown on me...I quite like them.

The German sniper is from Elhiem Miniatures.  The sculpts from Elhiem have a lot of character, and this fellow is covered in all sorts camouflage, including a canvas mask of sorts...I tried to make the colours pop a bit - something the actual sniper would not want, but I wanted this fellow to stand out a little bit from the muted colours seen elsewhere among the German infantry.

German sniper from Elhiem Miniatures.

Lots of little camouflage features on this sculpt...very nice.

He'll provide some scary marksmanship in 20mm WW2 games to come. 

Raupenschlepper Ost

1/72 RSO kit from Plastic Soldier Company.

This little plastic model kit is a 1/72 piece from the Plastic Soldier Company - it comes in the same box as their PaK40 AT guns.  I painted one of those back in the fall, and I thought for fun I would paint up one of these little "RSO" vehicles to transport the AT guns around the table.

Lots of room to carry ammo, spare parts, fuel and other supplies - or troops.

One can see how this little vehicle would have been important while fighting in the vast and challenging eastern front of WW2.  They towed guns, carried supplies and even troops. Naturally there were never enough of them available, but the Germans built thousands of these things and so I thought it would be a nice addition to my 20mm collection.  It was also good to keep in practice painting non-winter German WW2 vehicles.

SU-76 

1/72 scale plastic SU-76 kit from Plastic Soldier Company.

Over to the Russian army now, here is a 1/72 plastic SU-76 assault gun - another little gem from the Plastic Soldier Company.

The Russians built boatloads of these vehicles, using them for direct fire support, anti-tank efforts and mobile indirect fire in support of Red Army formations.  It seems the vehicle was difficult and uncomfortable to operate - nearly every set of hobby rules refers to how this vehicle was nicknamed "bitch" by its crews.  But getting a 76mm gun into action never hurts, and this vehicle was able to bring the weapon into frontline action in difficult conditions.  Given how many of these were built, it made no sense not to have them on the table, so I thought it was time to get one done.

Crowded fighting compartment in this vehicle...have to paint the crew and gun seperately.

It's a great little model kit - complete with interior detail and options for crew.  Certainly the compartment is cramped and so I suggest you will need to paint the crew and the weapon seperately and complete final assembly when you have finished painting them.  But it all worked out pretty easily, and this is another great kit from Plastic Soldier Company.  I still have two more vehicles from the box, to put an entire battery on the table.

The USSR built thousands and thousands of these vehicles during WW2 - so good to finally have one available for my 20mm Russians.

So for points, I have four 20mm infantry, two 20mm crew (and they are full figures), and two vehicles...so I think that is 54 points, but as always, defer to the Minion overlords. Thanks for reading...now back to things Byzantine!

From DaveD - Grand stuff Greg. the SU76 is always a personal favourite.

We still seem to be having bloggerissues with pictures - so if yours is sitting in draft please check 

with that i am checking out for the day - over to Dr Cooke to bang the rocks together tomorrow

From Dave X: More bad men in 20mm (16 points)

A bit of a quiet week for me in terms of finishing figures but I am halfway through the next bonus round and painting up next Monday's submission.

This week I bring 4 more bad men from Elhiem Figures in 20mm.

These Taliban are really lovely sculpts.  Now I am not a gun person and according to the Elhiem Website there are 4 LMGs here, 1 x RPD, 2 x RPK and 1 x PKM.  Perhaps one of our American Friends can point out what is what :)

These will net me 16 points in 20mm

My Favourite paint jobs and sculpts so far from my Elhiem Taliban.
 Rather chuffed with the evil look in their eyes.

Lovely stuff, Dave. I hadn't appreciated you've been painting their eyes! A quick 16 points to you.

Barks

From DaveX: 20mm Taliban RPG Teams (16 Points)

This week I am submitting some Taliban RPG teams.  There are four models in total from Elhiem.  They are 20mm in size.

They will represent RPG teams.  I felt I rushed these just a little to get them done but they look great in among their comrades.

This will give me 16 handy points.

I really like the guy on the right

I really like the guy on the left

A tidy little entry, nicely done and very evocative. Terry Taliban just can't get enough RPGs.

Barks

Dave X - 20mm Taliban - 20 Points

This is my second Painting Challenge and I had my debut last year. I aimed for 750 points last year and smashed it coming in with over 800 points. This year I am aiming for 1000 points and am off to a very slow start but this is the busiest time of the year for me and once things get to normal I will push for my goal.

Kicking off this years AHPC I quickly painted up 5 x 20mm Taliban Infantry. These are from Elhiem Figures and I am a big fan of their 20mm Modern Range. I have already painted up a full platoon of Australians so it was fitting that they have an opposition. I have already painted a few Taliban but they are not eligible for submission in the challenge.

Taliban is such an interesting subject to paint (politics aside). After all someone needs to be the bad guy! I kind of went for some minor uniformity in the models. I am not a gun person and I believe they are armed with AK-47s.

5 x 20mm figures should net me 20 points.

I will be painting much more 20mm Modern for the challenge.

Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave!

Great to have you back for your second Challenge and to have you off and running too.

I'm not familiar with the Elhiem Figures range but they are clearly a real winner. Wonderfully dynamic poses and great proportions.

These are really well executed Dave. I like the muted palette which is suitably drab and workmanlike but at the same time your shading and highlighting really sets them off well. The basing is also top notch and really evocative of the harsh climate.

20 points to start you off this year. Well done!

Cheers,
Millsy

From GregB - 20mm Parting Potpourri (44 Points)

20mm WW2 Soviets from Elhiem

For my final entry to the Painting Challenge I thought I would finish clearing off the painting desk with some leftover bits from the projects that got me up and moving in the first place - 20mm.  The Challenge was my first time working in this scale, and I have come to really enjoy it. 

Up first are some 20mm WW2 Soviets.  These are spare riflemen from a pack of Elhiem figures.  As always, the sculpting can be a bit uneven, but the proportions are somehow still great, even compelling.  The tricks of the sculptor...fascinating! 

More defenders of the Rodina

Ready to battle the fascist invaders

Up next is a more modern set - this is supposed to be a TV news team.  Once again, these are Elhiem figures.  I like having media figures as a "gaming garnish" on modern tables, but I find these sculpts are perhaps too ultramodern - I know cameras are smaller these days, but I still think most TV news people have shoulder mounted cameras.  Maybe that is just here in Canada...

"Reporting live from  20mm game..."

I tried to write "PRESS" on their helmets...that didn't really work...

One more Elhiem tidbit - this is a downed pilot.  It is supposed to be from a modern range, but could work in WW2 in a pinch.  Downed pilots always make for great objectives in skirmish games, as the ground pounders resentfully put their lives on the line to bail out some pampered flyboy...

Long walk back to base...

Great objective for games

And one more vehicle! During the challenge I painted a few T-34s for my WW2 Soviets, so I thought I would finish at least one Panzer for the Germans.  This is a 1/72 scale model kit from Plastic Soldier Company.  I can't say enough about how much I enjoy their vehicle models - they are excellent.

1/72 Mark IV from Plastic Soldier Company

I HATE modeling the schurzen plates...as you can see at the back of the turret, I can never get them to sit quite right...

This is a late model Panzer IV, sporting the long 75mm gun and the schurzen plates, which from a hobby perspective make me !@#!@#!@ing bannas as I hate painting them, then glueing them, etc.  But full credit to PSC - they make the process pretty easy/idiot proof, even for an idiot like me...

Very basic paint job

Ready for action in the eastern front

Last but not least I wanted to toss in a photo of my painting spot - I am quite fortunate that my wife tolerates this (allegedly) mobile painting station near the kitchen. 

My painting area during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

While it is technically mobile, what really happens is that I keep painting until I worry I am pushing my luck, clean it off, put it back downstairs, then bring it back up to start one project, which turns into three....call it the circle of hobby life!

So this final entry of eight 20mm foot figures and a single 20mm vehicle should net me 44 points. 

Congratulations to all of the participants.  I fell short of my more ambitious revised target this year, but still managed to get a pile of stuff done.  Thanks to everyone for the comments, humour and encouragement, and thanks to Curt for hosting this Challenge.  See you all next time!


From Curt:

A great 'clean-up' indeed! I've got to try some of these Elhiem figures as they sound quite good and your results are terrific. 

And it's always nice to do up some 'gaming garnish' figures for the tabletop (I quite like that pilot who's legging it furiously). 

I'm definitely going to pick up some of those PSC Panzer IVs as I, like you, HATE dorking around with schurzen plating. Thanks for the tip!

I know that painting spot very well as I've parked there many a day doing some last-minute additions and touch-ups for games! A lovely spot with lots of light and, well, food and booze! 

Thanks for kicking-in with us again this year Greg - your posts are always entertaining and your work is truly inspirational. 

Great job Duderino!

From GregB - 20mm WWII Russian Support (18 Points)

One last batch of WW2 20mm stuff for now...

I am basically ginned up to paint science fiction right now, but I couldn't resist one last quick 20mm project to clean up the painting table a little bit.  This submission is a few more WW2 Russian troops - an MMG team, an AT rifle team, and a forward observer team. 

Lock and load! Figures from Elhiem

The MMG team is from Elhiem.  A water-cooled medium machinegun is kind of a "must" to get that proper WW2 look for the Russians - I love the heavy wheeled carriage, the little shield for the gunner, a nice little piece for the defense of the Motherland.

Could be lining up a shot on a panzer, a half-track, or even an unsuspecting grenadier...

The other figures are from FAA Miniatures.  I found the FAA figures to be a little shorter than the Elhiem and Plastic Soldier Company figures, and a little chunkier, but they have a lot of character and a some really well done figures and poses.

Just imagine how much artillery is on the other end of that phone call

Great sculpts from FAA

The AT rifle team is another Russian WW2 classic.  Generally an "early war" weapon, the Soviet army used these AT rifles pretty much straight through the war.  I find AT rifle figures are often fraught, as the long rifles are not simple to cast, and are not easy to assemble properly.  The FAA pack was done very, very well.

"I can see the fascists!"

The observation team is my preferred way to have artillery involved in games, and the FAA package is excellent - very well done.  I particularly love the observation scope, and I love that the one member of the crew is a female.

Liberate the rodina!

I thought it would be fun to take a "group" photo of the Russian 20mm WW2 stuff painted so far in the Challenge - a couple of figures pre-date the challenge, but most of this stuff done has been done since the Challenge started - very fun. 

From GregB - 20mm Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers (136 points)

1980s West German Panzer Grenadiers from the Bundeswehr; 20mm sculpts from Elhiem and S&S Models

The 20mm insanity continues.  My last entry switched into the "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" setting, and this entry follows along - a platoon of Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadiers.  There are three eight-man sections, a commanding officer, a MILAN guided anti-tank missile team along with a pair of Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles.

That's my driveway this week - 70km/h wind gusts driving the snow through the streets.  Seriously, winter can go f*ck itself

It is winter in the Canadian Prairies, and though I know I am so fortunate to call Canada home, Winnipeg in January can be a bit of a sh*t bomb as Army Group Winter encloses the city in a vice-like grip. Case in point this week a small snow storm swept through (one that none of the clowns at Enviro-guess Canada managed to warn anyone about, but anyway).  The bright side of this weather is that I can really fire up my internal painting machine, put some hockey games on TV, and get a lot of stuff done - not quite as fast as Tamsin or Millsy, but still a pretty good pace.

NATO's front lines

As with the last submission, the infantry figures are all from Elhiem Figures while the vehicles are from S&S Models.  The painting/modeling experience is consistent with the last entry as well. The Elhiem sculpts have some soft details and a manic resistance to primer, and yet I just love them as their overall appearance is quite pleasing, and their proportions are excellent.  The S&S vehicles are suspiciously undersized and plagued with numerous small casting flaws that significantly lower the overall quality of the model.

Platoon commander on a hex shaped base

I did not have a precise TO&E for a West German Panzer Grenadier platoon, so I suspect the sections are understrength.  Each one has an MG3 gunner and a fellow carrying a modern panzerfaust 44 AT launcher.  The balance are armed with G3 assault rifles.  And obviously with only two Marder IFVs, it will be a little harder for this lot to get around.

The MG3 sure looks a lot like the MG42 from WW2

The Marder is a very cool-looking IFV - the turret sports a 20mm cannon that would provide some scary fire support in a firefight.  I like the sci-fi look of the turret.  Later models of the Marder also included a mount for a MILAN missile launcher as well.  It's too bad the S&S quality is poor, but black paint covers a lot of issues, so that's what I tried to do.  Some decals would be great too, but I couldn't find any 20mm scale modern West German decal sheets, and so I did the crosses free-hand.  The results were poor, but serviceable.

A view of the Marder 1A3s

Much "Cold-War-Goes-Hot" interest here in North America centers (understandably enough) around the US forces and encounters of M1 Abrams tanks and clouds of T-72s and T-80s in the Fulda Gap.  I love tank battles, but am much more interested in gaming the other NATO countries, and the West Germans in particular - I have quite a bit of West German stuff for Modern Spearhead.

MILAN team lurking

A potent anti-tank system; the MILAN crew set from Elhiem is excellent

In the 80's the West Germans would have been at the very forefront of any resistance to a Warsaw Pact attack. While NATO would have tried to trade space for time in the face of the large Warsaw Pact shock armies driving across the North German plains and through the Fulda Gap, I expect these fellows would have resisted ferociously, motivated as only those who fight with their own homes and families at their backs can be.  I see that as a richer context for scenarios, particularly Chain of Command skirmish encounters.

Assortment of helmets - some plain, some with scrim

For example, perhaps they are disobeying orders a little bit, holding out longer than directed outside a small village to allow more time for evacuation behind them - they will have already lost one or two of their IFVs, and the strength of their sections is diminished, but as long as they have the MILAN launcher and missiles to use, they will dig deep to slow the advancing Red Army.  Should make a fitting opponent for the Motor Rifles I completed in my last entry.

The free-hand crosses turned out poorly - I wish I could find some 20mm decals

This entry includes 28 infantry figures (20mm size) and two vehicles (allegedly 1/72 scale) - in all I think that works out to 136 points.  I still have a fair chunk of 20mm stuff to paint, but I am feeling a bit of an urge to switch over to sci-fi - we'll see what comes next!


From Curt:

Brilliant work as usual Greg. You are really rocking the 20mm stuff - awesome to see. I look forward to getting these guys on the table for a knockabout.

From GregB - 20mm Warsaw Pact Soviet Motor Rifle Platoon (144 Points)

Warsaw Pact era Soviet Motor Rifle Platoon in BTR-80 APCs

My newly discovered mania for 20mm figures continues but it has jumped to another period, from WW2 to another favourite setting of mine - the fictional "cold-war-gone-hot" of the 1980s.  Interest in this period with the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts goes back to around 2007 or so - I can't remember exactly how it started, but once Eureka released a line of 28mm Soviet troops wearing MOPP gear, it seemed suddenly Dallas and I were in an arms race. Today we have clouds of 28mm stuff, including a bunch of helicopters, and we enjoy rolling it out for local gaming events.

A Soviet motor rifle section - figures from Elhiem, vehicles from S&S Models

Anyway, my hobby interest in this setting spread rapidly to 6mm (for Modern Spearhead), and because I dabble constantly, I started to play the setting in even more scales, from 15mm down to 3mm. I even have painted 10mm and 40mm.  The last one I haven't tried was 20mm - and since I was diving into this with WW2, I figured why not modern too?

My mania in one picture - from left: 3mm modern Soviets from Oddzial Ozmy, 6mm modern Soviets from GHQ, 10mm modern Soviets from Minifigs, 15mm modern Russian from Eureka, 20mm modern Soviet from Elhiem, 28m modern Soviet from Mongrel Miniatures, and a 40mm modern Russian from the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company

Another view of the group photo - all scales accounted for :)

So this entry includes a 20mm scale Warsaw Pact-era Soviet Motor Rifle platoon.  The infantry figures are 20mm sculpts from Elhiem Figures, and the vehicles are (supposedly) 20mm-size BTR-80 APCs from S&S Models. The colour palette for these figures is almost identical to the WW2 Russian troops, so I was able to bear down and get this little points grenade finished during my holidays last week.

Ready to fight NATO lackeys

The platoon has three 8-man sections and a small command group.  Each section contains one trooper with a PK-LMG, an RPK-74, an RPG-7 anti-tank launcher, and the balance armed with AK-74 assault rifles.  The commander has a radio man and a trooper carrying an SA-7 shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile unit.

Officer with a radio man and a trooper carrying an SA-7 SAM

Elhiem's Cold War era Russian line is admirably complete, with a wide selection of troops wearing body armour, so most of the regular infantrymen are from that section of their line.  I love the look of the body armour and it really fits the setting to my mind.  One of the things I respect most about this Elhiem range is just how complete it is - most modern collections (or those north of 10mm in size) are very limited, often lacking in key areas, with strange mismatched assortments of figures (Eureka has a lot of this).

NCO on a square base for quick recognition during the game

The Elhiem sculpts themselves are an uneven quality.  Some of them have very soft details.  And the castings themselves are heroically resistant to primer.  But its a strange thing - in spite of the many challenges and limitations to these sculpts, these figures have an excellent overall appearance - I think that is the magic of the sculptor! The Elhiem poses are nice, the figures are not too heavy or too chunky, and there is a great selection. Even with their challenges, I strongly recommend them.

Elhiem figures...they have their challenges, but I really like them

I can't say the same for S&S Models.  My first concern is the size of the model - these are allegedly 1/72 scale models, but it just doesn't add up.

Actual BTR-80 - cramped, yes, but still larger than the men - unlike the S&S Models

Soviet-designed APCs and IFVs are notorious for cramped conditions, but this is still supposed to carry 10 men (including the crew) and the MG in the turret is supposed to be a heavy calibre 14.5mm weapon. Looking at it beside these 20mm figures, there is just no way this is a 1/72 model.  Do you see a whole section of these guys crowding into that vehicle?  This looks to me more like a 1/87 scale model - the effect is similar to seeing 1/56 scale vehicle models beside 28mm figures.

I rusted out the exhausts...make them look a little used

Beyond the size of the vehicles, there are serious quality issues with these models as well.  It is not readily apparent in the photos, but there are numerous flaws and small bubbles all over the vehicles.  Many small details - like vision ports, hatches or headlights, are missing or have holes due to small bubbles that formed during casting. One fender area on one of the vehicles was particularly weak. And at 12 GBP per model (which works out to about $20 Canadian as our stupid third-world-petro-dollar plummets in value, and that's before shipping) let's just say I'm way less than impressed - and this was a surprise as I had always heard good things about S&S.

Note the gap over the front wheel, and the missing headlight in the same area - an example of the shoddy quality of the S&S casts

The BTRs received a very basic green paint scheme and some mild weathering, mostly on the exhaust, which I can imagine rusting out in almost no time.  The armour on these vehicles is almost non-existent by modern combat standards, enough to deflect light bullets and shrapnel and little else.  I don't think these would have lasted long enough to look worn out!

We must protect our revolution...

Units like these would have filled the armoured and motor rifle divisions from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, and would have been at the forefront of any assault toward the Rhine by the Warsaw Pact.  Thankfully for the world this remained a fictional event - but it is great fun to game.  I understand the Too Fat Lardies are working on a modern variant of their Chain of Command Rules - I hope to try that with these fellows!

This submission includes 27 infantrymen and three vehicles, all in 20mm scale (although I don't know about the vehicles).  Now I just need to get some opponents finished off for these fellows.  Gotta love 20mm!

From Curt:Ah, I was wondering when we'd see the modern stuff begin to roll out as a result of your new 20mm mania. Seriously beautiful stuff Greg! I really enjoyed the pictures depicting your mental 'I love every scale known to man'. Nonetheless, it's a wonderful, wonderful madness. 

Don't even get me started on vehicle scales as the topic usually makes me want to snap my crayons. Okay, I'll start anyway... I think the only companies that come close to getting relative scales right are the old-school model making companies like, Esci, Revell, Tamiya, Milicast, etc. Otherwise the 'new kids' often seem to subscribe to a mythically elastic sense of scale where the figures would need a healthy dose of pixie dust to be able to fit into the vehicles that are 'designed' for them. My memory of this starts with the 'Rhino' APC in 40K (introduced in 1988) where a squad of huge, genetically-tampered armoured freaks were supposed to fit into the equivalent of an Austin Mini. Talk about a clown car. Anyway, apparently S&S has this same level of 'scale optimism' that we see so much of in the hobby - it's too bad because, quality issues aside, they look quite nice on their own. 

The Elheim figures look very nice. By your description Greg, they seem to fit that class of figure that at first looks a bit questionable out-of-the-pack but once painted, based and seen as a unit they really 'bloom'. The great groundwork has really benefitted them as well. 

Wonderful work Greg!