here are the finished zugs bases dry brushed and static grass added, despite their smaller scale i have added the red wafenfabre to the sholderboards and even gotten some eagles on the odd figure. mad but worth it as they stand out more
so the total painted for September was only 129 figures/vehicles completed, plenty started but work always comes first as no money means no toys.....

close up of zug crew note the red wafenfabre and the white eagle
and these are only 15mm scale

i have been asked how i get the colour for the afrika korps, so for anyone interested here go's

the method was told to me by Colin rumford of rapid fire 'fame' when we were developing the rules at the grimsby club, many years ago....

the basic method was humbrol sand 63 i think, washed in black oil paint, and dry brushed back into sand followed by a linen colour for highlight.

over time i changed the paint colours to my own choice. this lot of DAK were painted with games workshop desert yellow over a white base coat. (note; do not try black as it will not work as well) next wash in GW black varying the amount of water, next dry brush desert yellow , followed by dry brush of Vallejo Iraqi sand, add decals and final light dry brush of bleached bone/any linen colour.

now this method will take time to get right or how you want it to look, but no 2 vehicles in the desert ever look the same as sand changes the colours all the time.

Rommel and the command group are done the same as my dak infantry a wash of GW desert yellow 50/50 water and paint over a white undercoat followed by a wash of catachan green over the sand again alter the amount of water for different looks as the uniforms faded in the desert.

finally this captured 8th army truck is painted in desert yellow followed by Vallejo dark sand heavy dry brush over that and a linen colour for a final highlight.

all work and not much play

this week i have had to work so not much time for painting or playing but i have a game in 2 weeks with Andy Hamilton and his 15mm 1940 army's i did see his game last Monday, very impressive but i did not have my camera with me. makes me want to do a 1940 force next and not the pacific..

anyway i did get to rebase my dak panzer's by adding sand and small stones to the thin basetex i got from partizan. took some doing,


even added this peter pig ak47 dead figure to the kitty base as the track is about the same size as the gap in the body,

the end of the dak for now, next will be the 8th army, then on to some games with them

Diana tank hunters, nice

battlefronts mid war monsters, the zugkraftwagen 12t as used in 1939 in Poland and in 1940 in France in the Von kleist corps.. 10 of these were used looks like im on my way for early war army now.....




the bases still want finishing when they are dry

also finished today after being started over 10 years ago these 20 space rangers from EM4

i painted the power swords as light sabres with the commanders in purple but it looks more blue in this pic.

chunky and cheap but they will do for combat zone games

so not much finished this week, due to working some extra hours, but i have gotten some more valiant figures to do, got a German battalion built today and half based as well. also got some more warlord Romans and my first box of Celts, very surprised about the size difference, i am told that in real life the Romans were about 6 inches shorter than the Celts, just the scale looks odd from the same manufacturer.

as Autumn is approaching TV is looking better, heroes is back, stargate universe is starting in October and a new battlestar galactica movie from the cylon view is a strait to dvd release in October as well

out on Chanel 4 or 5 on Monday is flash forward looks good but will have to give it a few episodes to see,

also some good news as dollhouse is back after being canned by the makers in the USA they have changed there minds due to pressure from the fans, hope they keep it good.

pacific 2

after watching the pacific trailer, i am looking forward to the 10 episodes and have been slowly building my pacific wargame army's

this week i was going to start on my japs i got from partizan but after finding out i forgot to get the lmg teams they will have to wait.

i have done my marine 75mm pak howitzer battery and my 105mm battery, but i only have 2 105mm guns as i also forgot to pick them up at partizan as well!!!

also done this week is my professional troops for AK47 these are for my UN backed force and have been done to look like SAS troops.

my dead marines for use as markers when playing blitzkrieg commander not sure if i have enough but they will look better than the plastic pips they use at the club, (in my view anyway)

still also need to get some jap dead and afrika korps dead, (peter pig order adding up already lol)

my 2 complete 105 howitzers the other bases are done but need the guns !!!

Finlay a bit of light relief on painting uniforms this is the 28mm foundry B team figure to go with the b team set i did last month, paint job kept simple with mostly washes and highlighting her only use in games would be as a bystander.

anyway total for the week is at 73 figures/guns finished,

i have also finished my dak 15mm with the basetex for the bases, but it is not the same as all the other Batches i have had as it looks very thin and seems to have sawdust in it not sand, lucky for me i kept my last sand jar and after tipping some of it in i then spent some time adding the sand, the brown is the same as well, very annoying, next time i should open them at the show to check the quality...

speaking of quality i have gotten hold of ANZAC'S the TV show about the great war, not having seen it for 20 years it still looks good today, just a shame you can only get it on R4 coding discs, but it was worth getting

the pacific

IMDb Video: Trailer #1

looking forward to this 'band of brothers 2' by spielberg and hanks again

vikings

not too many finished this week, partly due to making the figures as well as painting them...

all of these are home cast metal figures with prince august molds and scrap metal that i keep saving (flames of war are great for extra metal) 2 molds viking and Saxons making 6 different figures, after looking on the net i noticed they do some others that would fit in to give more variation.

so only 24 finished but i have also started on a 15mm marine 75mm pac howitzer battery i did try to start a jap platoon but noticed that i forgot to get some lmg teams from peter pig last week so the japs are now on hold until i get some.

but i have also started a falange section for my scw project in 28mm scale.

airborne

just a few pics of my latest air force, first up QRF's MiG 15 had it for about 10 years all metal kit, it needed lots of filling and filing and due to its weight it wont sit on its wheels so had to glue it to the base.

still it should make an objective marker for AK47 games

next my pencil sharpener Huey's again for AK47 games cheap and robust I've heard they can be picked up for £1

and last my airfix zero in flight mode must get some more to give my japs some air support and have some on the ground for scenic effect...

I've added a link to dropship horizon blog, very good blog for sci fi games in 15mm scale worth checking out in my view.

last managed to get to see inglorious bastards must say tarantino gets it right again a must to get on DVD great story, uniforms spot on and movie killings in the tarantino style a must see film.

the other partizan

despite the weather looking dull this show was much better than the 1st partizan show.
better looking games and not too busy compered to the last one. no 'British civil war' games in sight this time, mind you not many ww2 games either. the great war seems to be the in thing at the moment, better done this show than the last.

this game by gripping beast Russian/Turks 1916 with a very nice looking train.

a good likeness for uncle Joe Stalin

nice looking WSS game on a very big table,

another train on this ACW game in 28mm scale

this one was very eye catching with the harbour and ships in the background, a Spanish Napoleonic game 1810 era pit on by the bramley barn wargames group.

the terrain would suit a pirates skirmish game with very little changes needed...

another nice looking ww1 game with an italieri house from 1/72 scale looking ok with these 28mm figures.

a nice rail road embankment for the french to fall down

the only ww2 game on show from touching history, 28's scale again

nice looking trench not too many figures

i didn't notice the blue tac until i saw the picture i will make the board section more useful

a nice RIF wars game by rifraf from falkirk a very nice fort on simple terrain boards

Ethiopia 1930's style by James Morris different

and full of caratuer, a nice vignette

and from norf ull wargames club the Russian revolt with more trains, anyone would think wargames are turning into model railway followers lol...

in all a good day out, many purchases starting with some 15mm japs from peter pig, surprising as i met up with Dom of Dom's decals ex grimsby club member and he too is doing japs but with the British 14th army and me with the marines..

some more SCW figures from empress i have asked if they will be doing civil guard heads hopefully they will.. for conversions on the hmg crews for one.

i did get the mid war monsters zugkraftwagen 12t 88mm tank hunter set, not doing early war but you never know and if i do and they stop making them etc etc. best to get them now they will always keep...

Finlay the free figure Clyde. nice not sure were to use him the scw would be a good place time wise.

200

well its the 1st September and i didn't have time to post at the weekend, partly due to finishing this 150cm heavy artillery battery in 15mm scale from flames of war, very nice they are as well, but a pain to paint as afrika korps,
not just as some of the figures are in smocks but as i like to base then paint with all the detail on the bases and not wanting to get paint on the sand colour base they were done in stages.
the staff base was painted old style then glued to the base after it was painted then i was left to struggle with the filling in the gaps in the bases


the full battery minus its transports they are only half done.

the battery HQ base i tried to add some red waffenfabre to these but it didn't show up in this pic very well.

a close up of one of the guns still needs gluing into position a nice set worth the time and investment on it.

Finlay a Matilda Mk 2 a old esci kit with a matchbox German commander with plenty of crosses to show a captured tank. 20mm scale for eBay. it has been sitting in a box half done for more years than i can remember lol,

so the total for the month only 200 but a good 200 with the afrika korps painting finished after the arty tractors are done until i get some more.....

but i will need to get transport for the last two platoons, some panzer 2's panzer command tanks etc oh and some ramke brigade German para's the list can go on and on.

but for now they are a playable force without cluttering up the table, and leaving room to maneuver