Pz IVH Platoon, Forged in Battle

Now then,

This week I have finished off the other 3 Panzer IVH for my battlegroup Kursk German forces. I now have a platoon of 3 and 1 extra tank to support them.

Panzers advance across Russian farmland

Command tank.

Panzer III's and IV's

Also because I like my gaming aids, I downloaded a card deck for battlegroup Kursk from boardgame geek, whoever designed them has done a great job.

These are designed to replace the counters in the rulebook, so no little counters in a cup, when you lose a unit etc, you just take the top card.

cardboard case.

Loads of cards, with all the special ones in there too, so no looking up in the rulebook, its all on the cards.

So, next im working on my StuH42 G assault gun, then that's about everything I have for my Germans done. Ill be painting something completely different after its finished, with some help from my son James.

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Pz IVH test paint scheme Forged in Battle

Now then,

I have 4 Pz IVH's from forged in battle sat on my painting desk. I have done a test paint scheme on 1 of them before i plunge in feet first and do the other 3. As your probably aware the German army had loads of different camouflage schemes that varied wildly even among tanks within the same unit.

I have decided to go with what I think is a scheme that would work well enough for both the mid war (mainly stripes and blotches) an late war (dots) Nothing quite says late war to me more than dots everywhere!

Anyway enough waffling, here's what I came up with.

Personally Im quite happy with how it came out, and im getting there (finally) with the dip, I have been watering it down more every time I use it.

On a separate note, The Forged in battle 15mm miniatures are great, every tank I have is different, with schurtzen in different configurations etc. Highly recommended.

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Forged in Battle Pz III's

Now then,

A quick update.....I spent this afternoon painting up my panzer III's from forged in battle. Nice models! Although they wont stand up to the T34's except at close range!

So I now have a platoons worth for the battlegroup rules and the Pz IIIN (short barrel) will be a support vehicle for some Tiger tanks when I get them. But first I have four Pz IVH to get done, oh and a Stug G.

Cheers,
Steve

Battlegroup Kursk, support troops

Now then,

A while back I got a load of stuff from Skytrex, support stuff for the German forces on the Eastern front. As I had a week off, I have got round to painting it all now.

First up I have painted up the Opel Blitz Radio truck. This took me ages to paint, not really sure why....

This will be a forward signals unit for BGK.

Stretcher bearers (Waffen SS)

 Stretcher Bearers (Wehrmacht)

Dispatch riders (Waffen SS)

Dispatch riders (Wehrmacht)

While Im on about WW2, I thought I would show you these. I had them made for me by Warbases. They are laser cut MDF, with 2 dials inside numbered from 0-9. 

All I did was create the "covers" on word, print them out and stick them on. Now, these are not necessary to play BGK, but im thinking anything that makes a game easier cant be a bad thing....

As it took me so long to paint the radio truck, I have been experimenting. I managed to paint up this PZ IIIN in about an hour (not including drying time).

All I did was paint it dunkelgelb, then painted on the cam, then painted the whole thing with ronseal dark oak stain/varnish.

once dry I drybrushed the whole thing with a light sand colour.

Done.


Maybe a bit rough and ready, but once I have all his mates done then they will look fine.

On the painting desk are 3 Pz III M's.Hopefully using the same speed painting method as the Pz III N above Ill have them all done by Monday...

As alwaysI have been chipping away at the epic Novamarines too...

 More Whirlwinds!

Land raider company!

And finally, here is them all painted so far!....

Cheers for looking,
Steve

The Wars of the Roses

Now then,

I have a long standing interest in the Wars of the Roses, and already have 2 pretty big armies based up for Impetus. I have stated in the past that this project is finished. A bit of an ambitious statement on my behalf I think.

I have recently read the first 2 books by Conn Iggulden, set during the WOTR. All I can say is that they are awesome. See below!


Book 1

Book 2

For more info on these books have a look here - Conn Iggulden, WOTR

Well, all this reading has re-inspired me, and I have ordered the Bloody Barons rulebook by Peter Pig, as well as downloading the Perfect Captain rules "a Coat of steel". If anyone has any links to good reviews of Bloody Barons that would be great.

I think to do the WOTR justice, the games need some very specific rules, and the generic "ancients or medieval" rules out there just dont get to the heart of what it was all about. Im thinking treachery, half starved levy's, cowardice and more treachery! Anyway, ill probably end up doubling the size of my armies.... No point in living in denial!

Cheers,

Steve

Crusades Update!

Now then,

I have finally completed my Muslim army for the 3rd Crusade, its taken far longer than I thought due to dramas with dip, and finding a workable alternative. I ended up using Ronseal oak woodstain/varnish.

Arab Lancers

Here is the result of putting the Ronseal on neat. It turned out really dark, I'm not happy with how this unit turned out, despite my best efforts to tidy them up....

Turkomen horse archers.

Here is experiment 2. I watered down the Ronseal, but its still too dark, again not happy with the results. At this stage I lost interest, as I was getting frustrated so I left it for a while and painted a load of epic stuff instead!

Mamluks, including general.

Saladin, and Tawashi Bodyguard.

The final 2 units, including the army's generals, turned out slightly better (despite the dodgy photos). I watered the Ronseal down again, and found that by gently stirring the pot instead of shaking it, a much smoother result was achieved. Im still not overly impressed with any of the units ive done recently, but they are done now.

I have watered the Ronseal down still further, and will try it out on an old figure before slapping it all over my next army!

So that's the full army done for Impetus, it comes in about 500 points which is plenty big enough for a good game I think.

The dodgy painting on my latest units is hidden quite well when the full army is set up so not all is lost.

Have I ever mentioned I hate painting horses..?

Saladin and his mates can be seen in more detail HERE on the Ayyubid army page.

Thanks for looking,
Steve