From GrantH: Germans for the Battle of the Scheldt [Overdue and Returns] (360 Points)

Greetings everyone! 

Happy to be back for the first time in a few years! After letting the "I will surely get around to it" pile go out of control while away at school, the challenge has once again motivated me to chip away at the unpainted things in my collection.

For my first post of this challenge, I present 68 late-war Germans for my Battle of the Scheldt project. I started this project after reading an excellent two-part series by Tim Cook on the Canadian contribution to WW2.  The watery battlefields of the Scheldt campaign immediately stood out as an interesting operation to model a few forces and draft a 'pint-sized' campaign around. Having finished my Canadians in the time between challenges, painting up a worthy adversary was long overdue.

For this particular force, I mainly used Warlord Games plastic SS and Winter infantry kits to create a varied core force of infantry and support specialists for my Bolt Action and Chain of Command games. I equipped them with the idea in mind that by the later stages of the war, they would likely have a mishmash of equipment and uniforms. As such, these troops have varying colours of greatcoats, smocks, and field uniform to reflect the diversity of equipment supplied or scavenged. Some are equipped with darker variations of the German field grey and the more orangey fall camo smocks, while others have been outfitted in more greenish variations of field grey. 

Here they are broken down into some easier to view sections:

German Pioneers with anti-Tank Gear.

Special Weapons Teams - Tripod mounted MG42, Panzerschreck, Flamethrower, and marksmen.

NCO's and Officers with MP44s and MP40s and a few C96s.

Officers 2: Now with more peaked caps!

and the Infantry.

So much infantry. 

Can never have too much infantry.

Some light machine-gunners in the mix with some loaders.

That one guy without a helmet will surely regret his decision.

More infantry!

Some machine gunners to support the horde.

Because there are 68 of the buggers, I did not want to photograph all the webbing, so here is a little selection.

For a grand total of 68 Minis at five points per figure in 28mm, and a submission to the challenge theme 'Overdue and Returns', I believe this post is worth 360 points to kick off my contribution to the Challenge! At long last these figures may face their Canadian adversaries in full Technicolor after one too many games with matte black primer.

Thank you to Curt and the minions for once again organising this fantastic event! It has been a pleasure to see what everyone is working on and to once again be involved in the challenge. I think I will have German armour support to paint next, but after this long project working on cold weather forces I think it is time I turn my attention to something sunnier...

TeemuL: What a nice come back to the Challenge, Grant! Waiting for the last minute to make the first entry and with that first entry almost reaching your points target. :) I do hope you don't let the target to prevent you and you keep painting more and more. Your mixed uniform approach looks good, as well as the muddy bases.

From GrantH - A final Post of WW2 Canadians! (120 points)

 Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well. For my final post of the challenge I have twenty-four 28mm World War 2 Canadians from my assault pioneers project for a total of 120 points. These troops are outfitted in a mix of battle dress and winter equipment to represent some cold weather operations in North-Western Europe. I figure the mix of Green BDUs along with heavier jerkins and greatcoats will give the force a little extra flair compared to the average Commonwealth force. They are mainly equipped with trusty Enfield rifles and have some variation between the Mk.II and Mk.III helmets (Perhaps to illustrate which soldiers were D-Day Veterans as many replacement troops were issued older helmets). Once I have finished their support Wasp IICs and Flamethrowers I believe they will be quite formidable force on the tabletop! However, that is a post-challenge mission along with construction of a suitable force of Germans to challenge them.

The full 24.

NCOs have been given Webley Revolvers to distinguish them on the battlefield.

I used a mix of Plastic and Metal miniatures from Warlord games to vary the figures as much as possible. The only ones identical sculpts are the troops bundled up in winter gear as they came from a metal set. 

Personally, I love having my armies in Greatcoats and winter gear as they can vary an army significantly if you picture the force as something for late winter or autumn. However, I have yet to see very many mid/late WW2 sculpts for Commonwealth forces that cover the winter aesthetic. Warlord and Empress Minis do some, though I am always open for suggestions if people know where to find others!

As always, thank you to Curt and the Minions for organizing and running the Painting Challenge! It is always fun to see what people are working on and to gain fresh inspiration for new projects. I am always thoroughly impressed with what people present from year to year and I hope people continue to stay safe amid the world's craziness and keep painting!

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Wonderful brushwork Grant! These look very fine and as you say, will serve nicely for the operations in the Scheldt estuary. I particularly like the fellows in the greatcoats and winter vests as they seem very apropos for that theatre of operations. 

Thank you for joining us again, Grant. I hope that for the next Challenge you treat us to some vehicles for this project for us to admire. 

- Curt

From GrantH - 28mm Canadian Highlander Recce Team (10 points)

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy out there as the pandemic goes on. It has been a rather busy time for me since I have just started a new job following the winter holidays, so I am sneaking this small post in just before the cut off. I have already begun to make good progress on my backlog, so hopefully I will be able to make consistent posts in the coming weeks now that I have settled into the new routine.

Anyhow, for my first post of this challenge I have prepared a 28mm Canadian Highlander recon team using Warlord Games' plastic British and Canadian Infantry set. Their old commando and infantry plastic sets were definitely in dire need of an update and I was quite pleased with the new designs overall. It definitely motivated me to finally get around to building a dedicated Canadian force for my games of Bolt Action and Chain of Command.

For these lads, I have opted to depict them with the darker green Canadian battledress as it distinguishes them nicely from their British counterparts on the table-top. Having recently read Tim Cook's excellent two book series on the Canadian contribution to WWII, I decided that building a Canadian force themed around the First Canadian Army in northern Europe was the way to go. As such, this recon group will likely be the first part of a force themed around assault pioneers and WASP IIC detachments that were present for the Battle of the Scheldt. 

The spotter is just a little more on edge than the sniper as they navigate the marshy terrain of the Scheldt.

 This recce team are possibly D-Day Veterans as they have Mk. III assault helmets strapped to their packs.

A pair of completed 28mm figures is worth 10 points total if I recall correctly. A small start, but I plan on ramping up quickly since I set a total goal of 750 points back in December!

Ideally, the rest of the Scots-Canadian pioneers will be completed soon so I can move on to new projects. I think every year I participate in the challenge I claim that I will finally get around to the Napoleonics that have been in the backlog for several years, but something tells me the Spanish Civil War will be my new distraction after I finish the Canadians...

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Wonderful to have you with us again this year Grant! These Canadians looks terrific. I like that you have them in their slightly darker battledress, wearing their tams, though I expect the tin hats will be going on quick enough when the Jerry mortars start up. :)   Tim Cook's such a great historian and I can see how his work would get you enthused to get a force of Canucks painted up. I look forward to seeing more from this project!

- Curt

From GrantH - 150 Points of WW2 era Imperial Japanese Army

After many weeks being swamped with work, I finally resurface for another post! Prior to this Painting Challenge, I had finished a fairly fleshed out collection of British Airborne, Chindit, and 1939 Polish armies for Bolt Action and Chain of Command and I realized that it was high time to build an Axis force. Since there are many people who run German armies in my wargaming circles, I decided to turn my attention to fielding something from the pacific theatre. These particular figures are from Warlord Games which offer a reasonably flexible line of plastic IJA.

The full group of 30.

The command unit. The one in the green Jacket is from the Special Naval Landing Force which I am in the process of finishing. I will say that the faces on these metallic figures were far more difficult to paint than their plastic counterparts since some of them lacked definition, though I also just need to practice face painting more. 

Squads 1 and 2. 

Anti-Tank Crew.

It was a nice change to work on something different from an Allied force, however, the yellowish colour of their WW2 uniforms is not nearly as appealing to work with compared to the blues of the Russo-Japanese War era kit. That said, I look forward to finishing the force with a detachment of SNLF soldiers and fielding them once the pandemic restrictions relax a little more. Anyhow, since there are thirty 28mm minis here in total, I am pretty sure that gives me 150 points for a good boost! Ideally, I will be able to finish those SNLF squads for another post before I get buried by work again....

From Grant H: 28mm Delta Green Operatives (20 Points) - ready

Hey everyone, I hope you all have had a good start to the new year! For my first post of the challenge I present four members of an elite kill team for Delta Green, here to battle the minions of Cthulhu. 

For folks who may be unfamiliar with Delta Green, it is a spin off of the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game. The key difference is that instead of focusing on the dilettantes, detectives, and hobos of the 20's and 30's, Delta Green tends to focus on the intense paranoia of the Cold War and modern era. Players take control of seasoned veterans in military and government agencies, in an effort to prevent humanity at large from discovering the horrible truth about the existence of the old gods. My RPG group and I have been playing Delta Green for two years now and I decided it was high time to finally paint up some minis to replace the scavenged D&D pawns we occasionally use for combat diagrams or maps. While I have no issue with elves and dwarves taking on the minions of Cthulhu, it feels much more genuine to have some actual agents in the field. 

Each of the agents I have prepared are from the SAS line of minis from Empress Miniatures. I decided to give each character a different coloured kit to represent how Delta Green operatives often need to "reallocate" (read as: beg, borrow, steal) the necessary resources to combat the old gods and their minions. The result is often that DG teams assemble a hodgepodge of gear from various eras and manufacturers, but these operatives are lucky to be fully outfitted in night-vision goggles, silenced assault weaponry, and combat vests.

 

While I doubt that 5.56 NATO rounds would do much to dissuade the inevitable return of the ancient ones, it is probably comforting for the poor shmucks who have to go track down the deep one cults bent on summoning something unsavory. If I recall correctly, 4 of 28mm figs should round out to 20 points for a kickstart to put me on the board! 

From GrantH: The Polish 10th Motorised Brigade (90 points)

For what is likely to be my last post of the challenge, I have finally found the time to paint up part of a new project! As many people in my local gaming group have decided to start building early war armies for Bolt Action and Chain of Command, I decided it was high time to start expanding into the era with a force of the Polish 10th Motorised Brigade. The Motorised Brigade famously fought throughout the invasion of Poland in the early days of of the Second World War, squaring off against elite panzer units and fighting them to a standstill unit the brigade escaped to France via Hungary. What makes their journey even more increadable, is that they able to escape along with the allies at Dunkirk, later forming the 1st Polish Armoured division while in exile continuing the fight to the end of the war.

Part of what makes this unit so unique were the black leather jackets worn by the officers, NCOs and motor crews. This made the unit stand out to the point where it earned the name "the Black Brigade" from their opponents. While I have not yet painted any officers or NCOs for this post, I have painted the infantry troops of the brigade, outfitted in their trademark greatcoats and 1916 pattern Stahlhelms. I was quite excited to work on an almost exclusively greatcoat equipped force as a change from the the paras and commandos that compose my commonwealth forces.

Closer photos of fire teams 

The full force 

 The challenge has been a blast this year! I have enjoyed looking and seeing all of the fantastic projects people have completed in the last few months. Sadly I did not have time to finish a "Curtgeld" in time due to the time crunch from school assignments, but I have decided that I will be making a suitable donation to a UN global development charity instead as per the rules of a challenge. Perhaps after the challenge and my exams I will try to finish it and send it off anyhow...

Anyhow, for points this post contains eighteen 28mm Polish troops for a total of 90 points. Thank you to Curt and the Minions for facilitating such an excellent event, and well done to all of the excellent hobbyists who took part! I look forward to the next year of the challenge as my backlog of unpainted minis seems to has inexplicably increased in the last few months...


TamsinP:

Those Polish troops do look rather splendid Grant. I suspect that at some point I will end up acquiring early- and late-war forces for Chain of command, and the Poles would be an interesting one to collect.

That is 90 more points for you.