It's Santaaaaa!!! (Hordes of the Things Christmas armies)

Here's something different. I made these two HOTT armies a couple of years ago. Never really finished the bases and they never got played with either. Some train of thought reminded me that I still had them in a drawer and seeing as it's nearly Christmas, seemed like a good time to fetch them out.

The figures are all made out of FIMO and painted.. they are a little brittle but look nice and bright and fun I reckon. On 40mm bases but I don't know what scale they are!

For HOTT players, the armies are both 24 Army Points:

Santa

Santa  - Magician General @ 4AP

Rudolph  - Hero @ 4AP

Elves  - Warband @ 2AP (x3)

Carol Singers  - Shooters @2AP

Christmas Tree - Artillery @3AP

Reindeer  - Flyers @2 AP (2)

Little Pink Fairy  - Lurker @1AP

Jack Frost

Jack Frost  - Magician General @4AP

Snowmen  - Spears @ 2AP (x2)

Snowballing kids  - Shooters @ 2AP (x2)

Trees and Giant Snowballs - Hordes @1AP (x6)

Gingerbread Man  - Sneaker @3AP

Ninja Snowman  - Sneaker @3AP

Perry Desert Rats Ready!

Well, these didn't take as long as I thought they would. I didn't entirely stick to the plan.. had a bit of a crisis with the flesh colours half way through but pushed through the 'wall' with the belief that they would turn out alright in the end.

Something I learned from railway modelling actually, when building a layout or diorama, there's often a moment where it all looks to have gone wrong and it's so tempting to bin it all and start again. Leaving it for a day or two and then cracking on, trusting in your methods, will often get you through. (Not always!)

Anyway.. one diversion from the plan was to try using the Strong Tone ink rather than the dip. Much more subtle, but clearly without the varnish properties. I also brushed on the Army Painter Matt varnish. I was worried I might get some clouding, but they seemed to have turned out alright.

Right, cruel close up photos.. I prefer to view my figures at arms length on the table!

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.

Veteran German Heer squad?

As most of my Bolt Action games have been with my son, I've needed to provide two armies. The Soviets are definitely a favourite, and the obvious thing to do was to field a German force to play against (and of course they will be handy for many other games). I did consider Japanese instead, as we borrowed a force from Scrivs for one of our games .. but I digress..

The German force is currently smaller than the Soviets. A couple of Heer squads with mortar and MG support and a Stug III.. surely you HAVE to have a Stug?? I started with the Warlord 500 point starter army.

Recently I was looking at how best to bolster the force. Instead of just throwing extra infantry squads at it, I reckon I'll go for small and Elite to counter the Soviet horde. I think a 'Puma' armoured car is probably on the cards too.

Anyway, coincidentally, on ebay, I came across some groups of 28mm WW2 Germans being sold and I picked a 'squad' quite cheaply. I think these may be Artizan mostly (apart from one square-headed chap). One figure is now carrying a LMG from the Warlord sprues. Although I imagine Elite veteran types would probably be less uniform and I picture them in more camouflage, these will stand in a veteran squad for now, which will add around 140 points to the force.

Odd squarehead figure

Painting was by the same block and dip method as I've described for the Soviet figures and I just need to finish off the bases.

I actually really like these figures, I was a little disappointed with the Warlord plastic German infantry.

Painting the Soviets - the last stage

In the last post I had applied the Army Painter 'Strong Tone' dip to the figures. They were left to dry off for a good 24 hours and then given a coating of the Matt varnish. Again I use the Army Painter product. I've tried others but had problems with misting and poor coverage, so I don't mind paying out a bit more and joining the masses by using a 'label' in this instance!

This step makes a huge difference, I see the appeal of shiny old fashioned toy soldiers, but it's not the effect I'm after here.

Once the varnish has had time to dry, I move on to the bases.

Confession - I meant to take pictures here but carried away and got the figures done.

Bases are first coated with PVA and dipped into a old biscuit tin which I have filled with Woodland Scenics Fine brown ballast. The excess is tapped off and then they are left to dry again.

Next up - more PVA in patches and a mix of static grass is applied on top of the ballast. (It's mostly GW at the moment but does vary according to what I have at the time to add to the pot.)

Again - drying time of a few hours and I finish off with some tuft material - this is Army Painter again (I didn't realise I used so much of their stuff!) but there are loads of alernatives. I've used a 'Meadow Flower' mix and applied it to the whole army, and their German counterparts, which helps to tie-in all the figures into a whole.

finished figures

And, apart from a little tidying-up around the base edges, that's it.

It's entirely sensible now to perhaps go back over the flesh, and pick out some other details.. but for me, this is an army that I've painted incredibly quickly and are ready for a game. I think they look great at arms length, which is 'normal' viewing distance for most wargames figures anyway.

Finally a pretty impressive figure courtesy of Tim at Warlord.. he will either be backing up my CO, or perhaps acting as a Commissar in our games of Bolt Action.. An interesting rule where shooting your own troops can force a re-roll of failed command dice!