More German Grey

After a spurt of feverish activity in May, I had a bunch of German vehicles almost finished. Then they sat and collected dust for a while, to get that authentic weathered look. Finally, a guilty conscience and the need to clear the workspace prompted me to finish them.

First up, a gaggle of Sdkfz 221 and 222 armoured cars in mid-war dark grey. The models are Old Glory; the awkward screen cover for the turret was difficult to clean up and install properly, so my squadron have taken them off, the better to enjoy the Greek and Russian sunshine.

Dirt and dust were airbrushed on from low angles. I finally managed to get Vallejo Model Air colours to work for me; diluted about 80% with thinner and sprayed on for dirt.

Next up are a pair of StuG F models, again from Old Glory. Presumably there is a third model lurking in "the stash". Nice clean model, sharp details making them a joy to assemble and paint.

Still running with StuGs, a pair of D models from Battlefront, marked for Stalingrad. Aside from extensive dirt spray (on a roll with the thinned Vallejo paints), these also received heavy dusting with gray overspray, to give the impression of operations in an urban wasteland. Various areas around the hatches were cleaned of dust using a cotton bud and solvent before the paint had completely dried. The effect was quite nice, although somewhat understated. I'm being unusually wordy describing this dusting effect because it was mostly lost when I sprayed matt varnish over the finished models. Oh well, next time I will aim for garishly overstated effects before I apply varnish.

Lastly, for now, a lone early-war vehicle, a Panzer I Befehlswagon. This is another Old Glory model, the command vehicle that comes with two Panzerjaeger Is in their three-pack. This one is finished with dark brown camouflage, just for variety.

And now to finish the crew and stowage for a handful of halftracks and some 88s...

Springtime For Hitler

Aah, spring. The flowers blooming, the birds tweeting, the bees buzzing away. Sunshine, green grass and, in 1940, the rumble of advancing panzers as the Germans decided to go on holiday in France, via Belgium.

And so we come to my latest batch of photos, 1940-ish Germans, the second batch of little army men for my early war army for Flames of War.

First up, why are we marching? The bosses might talk about orders, duty, national rights and so on, but soldiers know it is for les femmes and le vin:

Loosely based on some 1930s art deco style postcards.

Many panzertruppen are riding around in Panzer IIs:

Four of the models are from Peter Pig, the fifth is Battlefront; the two brands mix-n-match well.

Lucky panzertruppen get to ride in Panzer IIIs, in this case "e" models, from Peter Pig:

The Germans had discovered pretty quickly that the 2cm cannon in Panzer IIs had to work hard to hurt enemy armour, especially modern tanks such as those used by the French, so they took a particularly hard-hitting Czech gun and mounted it on a Panzer I chassis to create the Panzerjaeger I:

Two of these models are Battlefront and two are Old Glory. Not such a good mix, as you can see, with the BF models being significantly bigger. They'll do for now, though.

The roving Panzers cannot be everywhere, so the Schutzen need anti-tank guns and sustained-fire machine guns to defend themselves against unfriendly types.

The guns are from Battlefront, the figures are a mixture of Peter Pig and Battlefront; again, no problems with mixing-and-matching here.

Something Evil Stirs In The North

It's that time of year again. A new installment of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" movies has been and gone, the Lord Of The Rings rules and models have been dusted off and the league is in full swing. Last year I played a "good" army, so this year I decided to switch things about and bring an evil army. Also, I had the old Games Workshop "Fog On The Barrowdowns" box with some neat models in it.

So, denizens of Angmar have been coming out of hiding to harrass those foolish enough to come within their reach.

Barrow wights:

The wights are supposed to be the skeletons of long-dead kings, so I aimed for "ancient" - ancient bone, ancient cloth, ancient armour. Most of the paint is Humbrol, one colour is 30 year old Airfix (Duck Egg Green), a touch of Vallejo and some Minwax wood stain.

The wights are assisted by spectres (or, in this case, "army of the dead" ghosts. Spectres, ghosts - tomahtoes, tomaytoes).

And, of course, there must be orcs. These are some of the older metal models.

Many of the models in an Angmar force can also be used for a Mordor force, hence the crude red eye on the orc shields and the very dark cloth and metal - the army of Morgul is clothed all in sable.

Back to 15mm. Hereford Hooligans - the Beginning.

A bunch of SAS in Jeeps carefully lining up in formation for the camera. 15mm Battlefront models, paints from White Ensign, Humbrol, Tamiya and Vallejo, along with a coating of Minwax wood stain.

These boys were supposed to be finished in early November 2013 for a Raiding Aces campaign being run at our local store, but there was a navigational error and they ended up at the back of the workbench. Next stop is the storage box, where they can commiserate with the other SAS and LRDG about not seeing any action.

And Back to Three Colour Germans

A platoon of sdkfz 251/1D halftracks to carry late war panzergrenadiers. Three of these are Plastic Soldier Company models, one is Quality Casting. They're all pretty darned similar once you paint them up. Anyway, first platoon of third company makes its debut:

Something Different

Just for kicks. My son bought a clix figure that had a deformed head, so we attached a pumpkin to make:

The much-feared leader of the rebellion, Tricksy O'Treat.

More Steel Beasts

Still on a roll with the 15mm WW2 stuff. This time we have 8 Panther tanks, 3 from Plastic Soldier Company and 5 from Battlefront (Panther A boxed set).

Size-wise, the models from the two companies are a very good match; detail-wise, they're pretty good - the BF models have "busier" engine decks and spare road wheels for the turrets, the PSC models have plenty of track links and storage boxes.

Two of the PSC models have the early production hull MG plate, rather than a kugelball mount. Evidently this unit has a couple of survivors of the 1943 battles.

If Brookhurst ever deliver the Peter Pig Panthers I ordered, I'll add them to the mix for comparison.