Perry Desert Rats

Better late than never.. I actually picked up a box of the Perry 8th Army figures at Partizan back in June when I was helping Scrivs with his spiffing Bolt Action demo game..

I got them assembled and sprayed with Army Painter 'Desert Yellow' ages ago and then got sidetracked painting Soviets and Germans.

Initially I thought I'd get these painted and based before the Perry Afrika Corps came out. doh!

Yesterday morning I thought I ought to make a proper start.

I have James Morris' article from WS&S magazine on painting these figures and I've been lucky enough to play with both his and Scrivs painted figures. I don't think it's wise for me to try to copy their styles at all, but I have made an effort to organise myself to paint these so that they will at least be 'compatible' should they ever share a table

My plan is..

Desert Yellow basecoat.
Mix of Vallejo Iraq Sand, Khaki and Coat d'arms Roan for uniforms
Black for boots, rifles and bayonets
Coat d'arms  Wood brown for the skin areas
I'm following James suggestion and leaving the webbing etc in the base coat.

Once I have these basic colours blocked in, the next step will be to use the Army Painter Strong tone.
I'm going to experiment here and try using the ink rather than the dip. (Might try a couple and see how it goes first)

After that it will be a case of highlights, picking out the wood on the rifles, the flesh colours and a few details like rifle straps.

Bases will be essentially a Yellow Ochre, with sand and some tufts etc 

Finally a light drybrush with Iraqi Sand.

As I say, that's the plan! We'll see how it turns out.

More Firepower for the Germans

A new job has meant very little time or mental energy for gaming or even painting over the last few weeks. I'm hoping that will change soon as things settle.

Last week it was my birthday and I can always rely upon my brother to send me cool wargamey presents ( he helped in the muster of my Prussian Napoleonic army).. this time it was a Warlord 28mm Sdkfz 234/2.. otherwise known as the Puma.

I reckon this little beastie is going to be just the thing to help my Germans trying to hold back the Soviet horde, they currently have a Stug but no other Anti-tank guns.

Haven't had a good look at it yet, but basically it is a resin body and turret (with quite nice moulded detail), and a bag of whitemetal bits which include the wheels and the gun. This was quite bent, but I'm hoping I can gently tease it back to shape without breaking or kinking it.

I'll take pictures and update as I build and badly paint the Puma.

Wings of Glory cockpits.. the 'Mogpit Mk 1'

Having recently played a couple of games of Wings of Glory, I wondered if i could do something about the 'cockpits' in order to make them more portable and take up less space on the playing surface. I've seen some really nice wooden kits for sale (a bit like glorified scrabble racks) but they are a bit pricey and I fancied the challenge!

Not 100% happy as they are not as 13-year old boy -proof as I'd hoped.. but here's what I came up with..

In Libre Office I designed a simple layout  - these were printed, laminated and stuck to thick card. I then stuck four transparent card holders onto the new cockpits, to hold the pilot and three turn cards.

These are definitely smaller than the originals and they do work. (although they don't help me to win as both Richtofen brothers got shot down last night!)

They don't allow for easily displaying '+1' damage cards however, and are a little prone to knocking. I shall consider them as Mk1.