All Done for Now!

Last Saturday was a busy Day.  I managed to paint an AGNM PaK-38, a BTD Soviet M1897 75mm Feild gun,  and my remaining 8 Crusader Russian infantry on Friday.  On Saturday, I finished up a   German Squad, a German recon Squad, an MG-34 HMG team, and a  75mm IG18 Infantry Gun.

 All infantry & HMG team are Crusader, Russian field gun

is BTD,75mm IG18 is Bolt Action, PaK-38 is AGNM

Then yesterday, I painted my remaining German squad, a Soviet 76mm ZiS-3 AT gun, a 120mm soviet mortar and 4 soviet infantry in recon suits.

Germans are Crusader, 76mm gun is BTD with 

Bolt Action Crew, Mortar is Battle Honours?

and With that, i have finished a platoon for each force.  These are essentially complete now. I may add a support team here and There(especially for the Russians, as i locate sources of BTD support teams)and some tanks that i actually own for the Russians( only the T-28 is mine, everything else is loaned from friends Jon Holmes and Dave Hoyt).

My entire WW2 Eastern Front collection

 

 My Russian Force( T-34s Loaned by Dave Hoyt, 

Green stuff Loaned by Jon Holmes)

My German force(this one is all mine)

I will be expanding my WW2 collection in the future. I plan to do Finnish for the Continuation War, and after that perhaps a British Highlander platoon, using BEF miniatures, after that.

So now that this project  is out of the way at least in the short run, it frees up painting time for a few other things.  I think first upon the painting block is a Friends WW2 Japanese Platoon.

THis weekend was Migscon, and a good weekend to be selling tanks.

So last Thursday I received my Bolt Action 75mm IG-18 infantry gun, and 4 Soviet crew for my 76mm AT gun.  then that evening i got an email from Dave Hoyt that he had received our joint order of Crusader miniatures. This package contained 2 squads of Germans, plus the remaining 3 figures for my recon squad and an HMG team, and the last 8 Russians I need(1 pack each of SMGs and LMG teams)

 

 Tanks I painted Monday and Tuesday

Then Friday night at Migscon, I discovered Don Cameron at Five Arrows Books had a pretty good selection of Army Group North miniatures on hand.   I picked up a PaK-38 for my Germans. I didn't have a lot  more money so I had to wait until Saturday for my terrain to sell in the flea market. one of the guys helping set up the tables at the con also sold me a BTD Soviet M1897 field gun for $10.

Saturday i sold most of my terrain, and picked up an AGNM Pz Ib and  a Pz IIf, and a JFTM Pzkmpf Nbfz-1 from North Bay Hobbies. I very nearly didn't get the Nbfz-1. I was so busy setting up tearing down, and running games(3 back-to-back), that I didn't get to the North Bay Booth until he was starting to carry is boxes to the Truck! Dave also dropped my part of the Crusader order.  Dave went on to by 3 or 4 AGNM vehicles too.  

Sunday I went back to Five arrows and bought 2 Panzer IIIjs and a StuG IIIc. That was basically my weekend.


My friend Jon also bought 1 T-28 and 2 more BT-7s.  He gave me the T-28 to paint up the other 2.  So he now has 3 BT-7s, 1 T-26 twin turret, and 1 T-35.  I think between Jon, Dave and I we accounted for a significant portion of Don Cameron's AGMN sales.

So at the end of the weekend i had 9 tanks, 33 infantry and 5 support teams to paint.  Monday  night I painted the T-28. I chose to use a different scheme from Jon's tanks for easy recognition.

 AGNM T-28

 and yesterday I painted the remaining 8 tanks. I also mounted the JTFM Nbfz-1 on a base to match my AGNM tanks.

AGNM Pz IIf and Pz Ib

 JTFM Nbfz I and AGNM StuG IIIC

 

 2 AGNM Pz IIIJs

and this is what I have remaning on my desk:

MIGSCON XXXI

WEll tommorrow I'm off to MIGSCON.   I'll be helping with set up tomorrow morning/afternoon. I'll be there all weekend.  I'm hosting 4 games this year. Friday night I'll be hosting a Sharp Practice FIW scenario involving a Colonial force attacking s small half-finished french fort.  

Saturday I'll be hosting 3 games. in ht morning, I'm running a Sharp Practice FIW scenario in which a french & Indian force attack a British settlement, hoping to capture the British generals daughter.  In the afternoon I'll be hosting yet another Sharp practice FIW scenario where teh british froces gather to counterattack the french staging area. in hte evening I'm running a Disposable Heroes modern game in which the one British platoon must rescue another british platoon from a Iraqi insurgents(and some other unnamed forces...)



I'm also taking along quite a bit of terrain to sell at the flea market.  Some of these(the buildings) were proof of concept models.  others are being completed this afternoon. if you happen to be around at the con Friday night and want something, just ask me, I'll have it all there tomorrow.

Nearly everything I plan to take and sell

(minus the hussars, they are there for scale)

Size comparison with Perry plastic Hussars

 

Rock outcropping close-up with BTD WW2 Soviet scouts

The rail fences are resin-cast. I got sick of building the fences from scratch. it was tedious and time consuming. these will be the first items to be made with the new resin fences.

I've also received the remainder of my WW2 stuff( 2 German squads, the rest of the recon squad, and HMG team, and a 75mm IG18) , and the remainder of my soviet stuff( 8 more infantry and the crew for my 76mm ZiS-3). I'm hoping to grab some tanks this weekend for both sides in addition.  Next week is going to be busy!

If you in southern Ontario this weekend, come out to the MIGSCON .

Desert Compound Completed

 I finished up my new desert compound this evening.  I added some lighter green foliage to break up the monotonous  colour.  Also, the little shed/lean-to adds a bit of much-needed colour as well.

The completed compound

Reverse angle

 With roof pieces removed.

This turned out pretty good. I think it will match the buildings I bought from Chris the Model Maker nicely.

Now i can start planning for my 2'x2' Mosque...

And Now for Something Completely Different: Desert Buildings

 I recently decided to expand my desert building collection.  Right now most of my stuff is small individual buildings. I want to be able to do something that looks more like the outskirts of a city or a a poor city neighborhood.

Middle Eastern compound WIP

I decided to start with a small compound made up of 3 buildings with an inner and outer courtyard.  all the walls and buildings are 1/8" Plywood, and the stairs are mostly basswood. the base is a 12x12' piece of MDF.Look a little rough now but once the whole thing is textured you won't even notice.

Close up of the inner court yard with stairs

I'll be finishing it off tomorrow, Just need to texture and paint it. I'll also be adding some arid looking foliage to the planter beside the stairs. If I can find a source of hinges small enough, I may also add some working doors.

 s

Reverse angle

Russian Vehicles

Yesterday my friend Dropped off a few Russian  vehicles to be painted.  he had a trio of Amy Group North Miniatures he picked up at a convention 4 or 5 years ago, and never got around to painting them.  He has a hard time painting these days due the Physical discomfort caused by an injury.  I offered to paint Them if I could borrow then until I can afford to get my own.

Aside from the obvious benefit of getting to use the vehicles until I acquire some, it lets me experiment a bit with a paint scheme.Work out to be a win-win deal for both of us.

Wednesday was German Day

I've decided to paint up a platoon of  early Germans to fight my Russians.  I always try to do 2 sides of any project, just to make sure if someone disappears I'm not left with only 1 side of a war.  Ive been burned by people before, and i decided then I would not let it happen again.

 I've inherited some extra Bolt Action/Warlord and and crusader early German leftovers from my friend and gaming colleague  Dave Hoyt .   I also picked up the 50mm mortars on a recent trip to London, Ontario. so yesterday i decided to paint them up.  So far i only have enough for a  1 squad a platoon command, and 2 50mm mortar teams.  but i should soon have in the mail  enough Crusader Germans to round my meager force out to 3 full squads, a platoon command, a Recon squad, , 2 50mm mortars and an HMG team.

Bolt Action Early Germans

Crusader Early German Platoon command 

and 50mm mortar teams

Also last Friday,  while in London, I picked up  an Black Tree Designs Russian Maxim team from Imperial Hobbies. Sadly, this was the only Russian support team he had.  He did have a ton of regular BTD Russian riflemen, a few packs of SMGs and 1 or 2 each of Officers and character packs. BTD are hard to find these days, mostly because they withdrew from retail distribution, and then became unreliable with filling orders.  this is unfortunate, because I think they have the most complete WW2 Russian line out there.

 

 Russian scout squad and Maxim HMG team 

by Black Tree Designs

So Saturday I painted the Maxim, and a couple of russian scouts I had kicking around. the scouts are in the camo smock so i decided to do them in the autumn amoeba camo scheme.

Closeup of Maxim team from the other side

I'm still looking for Black Tree Designs Russian support teams. I'm looking fro pretty much everything but 76.2mm AT guns.  if you have any you'd part with, Drop me an email at crucible_orc AT sympatico DOT ca. I have various 28mm Warzone (Sci fi)Epic 2nd ed Eldar vehicles, and a few other items kicking around to trade.

I need some help guys!

Ok,  I'm trying to identify the manufacturer of these 28mm German figures:

I spent the last 2 hours searching for them through all the 28mm figures lines i can think of, with no luck. They seem to be similar in sculpting style to BEF miniatures, but the poses don't quite match up.

The figures standing upright(like the 2nd from the left) are 27mm sole-to-eye or 29mm to the top of the helmet.  They are very nice miniatures.

any Ideas?

Busy Few Days.

Well, Since Tuesday I've been busy.  Yesterday, I painted 2 squads(25 figures) of Russian infantry.  It took me about 6 hours all told.

These are mostly crusader with a few assault group minis mixed in.  I was quite surprised how close the 2 are in size.  I collect a lot of modern, which is almost entirely from TAG.  I always thought them bigger then most other companies.  the crusader minis to me are on the small side. 

Left to Right: Crusader, Crusader, Crusader, TAG

Wednesday I painted a squadron of 10 Forgeworld Death Korps of Krieg Death Riders for a friend. This is an interesting army, because it's very much modeled on WW1 style of troops(with sci-fi weapons of course).  They are painted a little dark and drab for my personal tastes but my friend chose the paint scheme(the 5th Siege Regiment) from the Imperial Armour books, and then approved the test scheme.

Some people wonder why I jump back and forth between projects, sometimes without even finishing a unit(re the Baden hussars from last weekend).  I like to keep 2 or 3 small side projects on the go, so if i get bored of my main project I can switch gears and remain interested. at the moment however, I've just finished painting all my FIW stuff(which was my main project)  and I have not decided which of my side projects will become the primary one.  So sa a result I've been jumping from project to project more then usual,  following my whim  at the moment I sit down to paint.

at the moment, my in-progress side projects are(all 28mm):

WW2 Russian platoon ( 50% done)
ECW parliamentarian army ( 25% done)
Napoleonic Baden Hussar regiment ( 25% done)
Skirmish Eastern Renaissance Polish & Turkish  (10% done)

I suspect  the eastern renaissance will be the next primary project .  I have a few 40K items to paint for some friends however, and I want to finish them before i get back to a big-ish project(which the polish are).

28mm WW2 Russian test scheme

Well this morning I decided to try my hand at painting a few 28mm Crusader WW2 Russians.    I've never
 painted Russians before. In fact, I've only ever painted late Germans  in Wehrmacht Gray.



I have 3 full squads( sgt, LMG team, 2 PPSH, 7 riflemen) as well as one squad with all rifles, and a few extra riflemen.  I figure if i pick up another pack of Crusader PPSH and LMGs I can finish off 4 full squads.

Anyway, I'm interested in comments and Suggestions on the colour scheme, so feel free to post.