A Rather Useful Tool

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I was in my local Games Workshop the other day, stocking up on various paints after the Christmas break, and was idling chatting to the store manager about various painting techniques and the like.

As I was popping a pot of one of their texture basing 'paints' onto the counter, I happened to mention that I used old paint brushes to apply the texture. Ah, said the manager, you should use one of these:

Now I'm all for having the right tools for the job, but this seemed a bit excessive, especially as that finely carved bit of plastic will set you back £5.

However, I was using up a voucher, and had enough left over to indulge, so I thought I'd get one and try it out...especially as I was fully expecting to be disappointed and have the opportunity to be suitably obnoxious about it next time I was in (what is it about GW stores that make me want to be obnoxious? I don't know: but it's true of all of them!).

Anyway, turns out I was wrong. I used this to base the Israeli half-tracks I posted about yesterday, and it really makes the job a hell of a lot easier that using an old paint brush, even when you attempt to carve said old paint brush into a suitable shape. I would go as far to say that that bit of plastic is the best thing as a basing tool since, er, sliced bread.

So, as compensation to GW for being prepared to doubt their products before I've even tried them, I'm posting about their tool here, and recommending one to everyone who needs to smear a bit of basing material onto a base!

More 15mm Poles

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Still working on my 15mm WW2 Poles for the September War, and the Christmas break has allowed me to finally finish the lancers.

I don't know what it is about cavalry, but they seem to take four times as long to finish as infantry. It must be something to do with all the horse furniture!

Anyway, here are twenty lancers from Forged in Battle which, if I say so myself, have turned out quite well.

I've also painted up four two-man anti-tank rifle teams. These are in infantry helmets, but will probably serve as dismounted cavalry as well.

These look okay on the tabletop, but haven't photographed particularly well.

Right, that's it from my painting in 2016. Plenty on the painting table that will just spill over into next year...

15mm Sturmtiger from Zvezda

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You've got to hand it to Zvezda.

Of all the vehicles they could have released to compete in the WW2 wargaming marketplace, they release the Sturmtiger: a vehicle that no wargamer could possibly want more than one of (except for Kev: he needs loads). They only built nineteen of the damn things anyway.

But release it they have, and bought one I have...probably to use as some kind of objective or objective marker.

It's a nice model: easily up to Zvezda's usual high standards. Paints up well. As I said, the only problem is finding an excuse to actually get it onto the tabletop.

Here's a couple of shots of mine:

Mounted Scouts

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Here's a first for me: some mounted scouts for my WW2 Germans.

These are to join my 1939 Germans as they invade Poland as part of the play-testing of my forthcoming Poland in Flames scenario pack. I'm currently on #25 out of #55, so powering ahead!

The figures are from Peter Pig, and I had forgotten what a pleasure Mr Pig's minis are to paint, even if you are only a mediocre painter such as myself.

The great thing is that the figures are so detailed and have so many packs and saddlebags, that even if you just block paint everything and then pop a wash on, then they come up brilliantly.

These are the two 8-man squads I need as infantry mounted scouts. Almost tempted to get some more now just for the craic!

Ferdinands from Zvezda

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Just about the last of the half-term painting, and the last of the mass of Zvezda vehicles I bought myself for my birthday in August: a couple of Ferdinand tank destroyers.

Reading up about these, I was surprised to learn that they are named after Ferdinand Porsche, the designer and how very KV of the Germans, and how early they went into service: summer 1943, making them mid- rather than late-war monsters. It's the modified version of the Ferdinand, the Elefant, that's more of a later war beast.

There were only 91 of them ever modified from the Tiger I hull, so it seems appropriate to only field two of them, and to only pay a few quid for each model...as I can't see them being used very often.

Nice models, easy to put together, easy to paint. Go Zvezda!

More Poles!

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More of the half-term painting to display.

This time it's a four-gun Polish MMG platoon for my force for the 1939 September War.

These are actually a mix of Forged in Battle and Battlefront figures. I happened to have acquired a pack of each, so chose the figures I liked best from both. For example, the FiB MMGs come separately as nice chunky individual weapons, which I like, whereas the Battlefront one come with the tripod and shooter as one piece and the gun barrel as another. The Battlefront faces, however, being more detailed, paint up better, and some of the FiB foot are in very strange poses. A mixture of the best of both is definitely the right solution.

Incidentally, I've painted four MMGs rather than three required for an infantry HMG platoon only so that they can, if necessary, proxy for a typical four-gun cavalry HMG platoon, despite the lack of cavalry Adrienne helmets. I might get around to painting a separate cavalry HMG platoon, but I've already got to find tchanka figures and, if you look closely, the leader in the top right corner of each base is actually wearing an Adrienne cavalry helmet. Hopefully no-one will notice!

Quick German Armoured Cars

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In addition to trying to get my Poles up to strength, I'm also bulking out some of the forces needed to oppose them.

Here are a couple of quick German armoured cars (pun most definitely intended): two SdKfz 222s.

These are Zvezda models, so plastic and snap together. They go together very easily, paint up well, and are half the cost of a resin or metal model.

Now I've already got two lovely Battlefront 222s which have seen quite a bit of usage on the tabletop, so these two new models will let me field (should I ever need to: having eight armoured cars scooting around the tabletop might be a bit much...but then there's always a recce troop scenario to plan for!) the 222 element of an entire light armoured car platoon.

Anyway, nice models: well done Zvezda.

Some More Poles Painted

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With the half-term hols upon us, I've taken the chance to finish a few figures that have been sitting on the painting table for far too long.

First up are a few additions to my early war Polish army:  the HQ mortars and a selection of Big Men.

I'm trying to concentrate on the Poles at the moment, as I need to have enough of them done to start playtesting the scenarios in my forthcoming September War scenario pack. That's a collusion between Anatoli and I, and should, when finished, contain 55 separate Poland 1939 scenarios for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum. Scenarios 1-19 are written already, so just need to playtest them and get some photography done at the same time (which is why I can't use proxies).

Finally, I also got around to painting the Warbases 15mm Pegasus Bridge bunker. Nice little model: it's my paint job that's uninspiring! And the pic is a bit blurred too!

Zvezda BT-5 Soviet Tanks

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Following on from yesterday's post, here's the other platoon of Soviet tanks from Zvezda: this time five 15mm BT-5 tanks. 

I didn't like these quite as much as the T-26's, but they are still great models.

These kits snap together so well that I didn't even bother with reinforcing glue. The turrets come in one piece, which is a huge improvement on anything that requires you to glue a gun barrel in place (not a lot of surface area on the rear end of a gun barrel!), and means that even after undercoat, wash, finish etc, the turrets were easy to swivel.

 

More Zvezda Models

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Rather than dive back into the Polish cavalry, I thought I'd quickly knock-up another lot of the Zvezda tanks that I bought in August.

I've got two platoons of Soviet tanks to build, so here's the first one: a platoon of five T-26 tanks.

These are typical Zvezda models. They come in five parts and can be snapped together with no effort, although I do tend to pop a teeny tiny drop of Superglue just to be sure they stay together. As you can see, detailing is good, and they respond well to a sprayed undercoat, brown wash and then highlight. 

Looking at these, I think they are supposed to be T-26 obr.33, described as having a "cylindrical turret", which would make the Battlefront T-26's  that I have T-26 obr.38 or 39, described as having a "conical turret". If that is the case, then the slight size difference between the two manufacturers matters even less than normal.

Here are my Battlefront models so that you can make your own minds up:

IABSM: Polish Gallery Begun

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I've finally painted enough  troops to make it worth while starting a Polish gallery on the site: elements of a Polish Cavalry Regiment.

You can reach the gallery by clicking here.

People sometimes ask me why I bother to photograph all my troops and then organise them into galleries.

The main reason, or at least the one I admit to most frequently, is that it makes it very easy to keep track of all the figures I have. Yes, I have the sheer numbers of each type kept in an Excel spreadsheet, but the galleries allow me to see exactly what I can field by organised historical force, and help identify the gaps that need filling.

Right: back to the painting table. Ten early war Soviet tanks almost finished, and then it's back to the Poles...

 

 

Zvezda Panzer 38(t)s

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Alongside the Panzer IIs featured in yesterday's post, I also built and painted five Zvezda Panzer 38(t) tanks. Again, these will be used to flesh out larger tank forces for the bigger or tank-only battles in various Poland '39 scenarios.

These were painted in the same way as yesterday's models: sprayed black then heavily dry-brushed in grey, then black ink on top. Unfortunately, both sets of tanks have come out very black rather than any sort of panzer grey colour. Might be something to do with the fact they are plastic not resin, but is more likely the fact that my black ink should have been watered down. Ah well, I'm sure there were tanks that were more black than grey at some stage in 1939/40!

These are again nice looking models, and so quick and easy to bult that there's really no excuse for not having a company, or at least a couple of platoons, of them!

First of the Zvezda Re-Inforcements

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As previously mentioned, as a birthday gift to myself I bought a whole load of Zvezda kits to flesh out my early war tank forces.

For the Germans, this involved buying a platoon of Panzer IIs and a platoon of Panzer 38(t)s in order to allow me to field some of the larger tank forces that appear within my forthcoming Poland in Flames scenario pack for IABSM v3 (the background and ten of the seventy-one scenarios are written so far. Yes, I did say 71 scenarios!).

Here's the first of the two:  five Panzer IICs. Nice models: easy to put together (my nine year old built them) and very cost effective but a little bit smaller than the Battlefront metal-and-resin kits. There's also something a little insubstantial about them compared to the Battlefront model, which proves that you gets what you pays for! Still, very suitable as a not-used-very-often extra platoon.

IABSM: First of the Mounted Poles

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I've finally managed to finish my first unit of Polish cavalry: a squadron of Dragoon-types in their Adrienne helmets.

These have taken me an age to do. Not sure why: not too complicated, and just a couple of layers on everything. Probably something to do with the horses making each figure the equivalent of two figures, I suppose.

Here they are:

I've painted them the same colour scheme as the dismounted cavalry I finished last month. Some might comment that Polish uniforms should be more brown than the moss shade that I have used. Quite right: but if I'd painted them the same brown colour, then I might as well have used my Russians or my French. At least this way I have a distinctly different look, even if it not quite exactly historically accurate.

And after all, maybe the uniforms were brown and have faded under the rigours of war!

The figures are from Forged in Battle. The horses and basic bodies are very nice, but the faces are very small (accurately so!) and therefore quite difficult to paint well. Hate to say it, but the Battlefront cartoon characters paint up better...well, faces, anyway.

These aren't shiny, by the way, but sprayed with Testors Dullcoat to finish.

15mm Poles: Outpost Wargame Services

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Every time you think you have the complete set, you find out that you have missed one!

That is most definitely true of my list of WW2 15mm figure manufacturers: I thought I had them all, but then someone posts about Outpost Wargame Services, who have a range of 15mm Poles, the very army that I'm currently building. 

Hangs head in shame!

Well I have put that right now: Outpost are added to the list, and below you'll find a couple of pics of some of their Poles. Might have to fill in the gaps in my collection with a few of these...once I get the bl*@dy cavalry finished of course!

Click here to go to the Outpost website.

Polish Infantry from Outpost Wargame Services

Polish Cavalry from Outpost Wargame Services

IABSM: Soviets for 1939

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Here is the final IABSM v3 army booklet for the 1939 invasion of Poland: the Soviets.

It's a set of comparatively simple lists, allowing you to field:

  • an infantry company
  • a cavalry squadron
  • a light tank company
  • a fast tank company
  • a medium tank company

As always, you can download the pdf from the Poland 1939 page of the I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! section of the website, or by clicking on the image to the left. 

That's now the set of the three main nations  - the Poles, the Germans and the Soviets - done. I hope you enjoy playing this fascinating period.

New Early War Gebirgsjaeger Gallery

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My Gebirgsjaeger were originally bought to provide a late war German force for the eastern front...mainly in a desperate attempt to avoid painting the camouflage smocks that I would need for a contemporaneous company of Heer troops!

The figures will, of course, also do nicely for a Gebirgsjaeger force built from the new IABSMv3 Poland 1939 lists: although they will obviously need a bit of adaption to fit into the earlier OOB.

As always, I find it easier to see these things pictorially, so have now had a chance to put together a Gebirgsjaeger 1939 gallery...and very bare it is too, with lots of the late war equipment stripped right away.

Needs include some more infantry, to represent the bigger platoons, some earlier anti-tank guns, and maybe some pioneer types if only for completeness.

Click on the pic to see the gallery.

Unboxing the Polish Reinforcements

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Some of you picked up on the fact that it was my 50th birthday last week. Thanks for all your good wishes and, to one particular person:  no you can't have my collection when I keel over due to old age!

As it was my birthday, and I'd finished the IABSMv3 lists for Poland 1939 for the Poles, Germans and Soviets, I decided to take the opportunity to fill out my early war collection a bit.

You see, when I first started playing WW2 games, I tended to play IABSM as it was originally designed to be played: with each side consisting of a few platoons of infantry supported by a couple of guns and maybe a single platoon of armour. I also almost exclusively played France 1940 or Barbarossa games, having (at the time) this strange aversion to late war with its big cats and hordes of character-less Shermans.

I therefore only have a single platoon of most types of early war German and Soviet tanks, and understrength platoons at that.

Well, what's the problem, I hear you ask, you have everything you need?

Yes, but, the thing is, these days, although some of the best games I've ever played have been games with small forces on each side, I now occasionally like to play huge, power games, with swarms of tanks everywhere...I think it's an age thing: why buy a sports car when you can command a full company of panzers!

So, for my birthday, I decided to do a bit of filling out:

That's a platoon of Panzer IIs, a platoon of Panzer 38(t)s, a platoon of T-26s, a platoon of BT-5s, and a couple of SdKfz 222 armoured cars as well.

[All bought from Hannants, BTW, a very good source of Zvezda kit: ordered Wednesday, arrived Saturday, discount included in price.]

You may notice that all the tanks ordered are plastic Zvezda kits: cheap but perfectly serviceable...especially as I don't expect to use them very often. 

And that's the point of buying cheaper Zvezda or PSC tanks rather than the more expensive metal or metal and resin vehicles from other manufacturers: if you're not going to use them very often, then cheap but serviceable is the way forward.

Don't get me wrong: these will paint up very nicely. Here, for example, is one Battlefront and three Zvezda Katyushkas in the same picture:

I would go as far to say, with my limited building skills, the rocket rack on Battlefront model looks worse than the Zvezda versions...and I've only ever fielded all four once, as an objective for a German attack. Imagine if I'd bought four metal versions for a single game: ouch!

The Zvezda range is expanding as well. Take a look at the box again. Nestling on the right are two Ferdinands. Together they cost about a fiver: cheaper than a single Battlefront model. Yes, I need them just in case I ever have to field them, but how often will I do so? Cost efficiency is the way forward!

Right: back to painting. All my Polish cavalry still do before I can start on the tanks!

Dismounted Polish Cavalry

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So here they are: the dismounted Polish cavalry of the previous post rescued from their terrible frosting at the hands of a can of GW Purity Seal with a liberal application of olive oil, and then re-sprayed with Army Painter seal:

Now they don't look perfect, being still a little granulated with tiny particles of Purity Seal, but they look a whole lot better than they did before!

What I am also hoping is that they will improve even more with time and a bit of handling i.e. that the granules are worn smooth or continue to be absorbed in some way. They are not a disgrace now, though, and that's the main point.

Battlefront figures, BTW. Quite nice, although the faces were not particularly well defined and were difficult to paint into anything remotely resembling humans. That could be down to coming from an old mold, but is still disappointing. I've gone Forged in Battle for the mounted cavalry, so we'll have to see if they are any better.

Here's another couple of shots. Oh, and they look a bit weird on my custom bases as they don't have any LSW teams, and the bases are designed to take eight singles and a two-man LSW team, not ten singles. Should make playing with them interesting, as that's down one dice on all firing! 

PS the painting challenge scorecard is now updated as well