Nesting instinct

Thanks mate, you know where I am if you need my services :P

Quick update here, been pottering away on a few things at once and I have some finished items to show for it! 


8cm mortar nests.


HMG nests


HMG pillbox bunker


Test minefield (signs are still to be detailed)

As you can see, my fortifications are coming along nicely and next up to the painting table will be a few trench lines as they should be very quick and easy to bash out.

I've also realised that the waffenarbe on the infantry platoon I completed last week was totally inappropriate for the actual platoon; I'd given them the bright green piping of Panzergrenadiers, but Panzergrenadier platoons are MG not rifle/MG teams (one LMG per base, not one per squad). As a result I've had to change the shoulder boards and I took the opportunity to not bother with waffenarbe, going for rank boards without coloured piping. By doing this I can multi-purpose my support elements like mortars and anti-tank guns and use such platoons as both grenadier and panzergrenadier units, meaning I don't need duplicate units that only vary by what coloured stripes are on their shoulders.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hans, are we the bad guys?

Greetings folks,


After my detour into Britishness, its back to the Germans.


The first of three panzergrenadier platoons for my Normandy 9th Panzerdivision forces, I've got both trucks and half tracks lined up for them to give me the option of both armoured and conventional panzergrenadiers but won't be painting the vehicles for a bit. The infantry, however, are all done and dusted.


Platoon.


Command team.


First squad


Second squad.


Third squad.

Next up I'll be going on the defensive, building up a large collection of fortifications for the Normandy Festungkompanie lists. Some of these are quite recent, others are a bit older.


HMG pillbox and nests.


8 cm mortar pits.


5cm PaK 38 bunker with removable defilade walls.


3.7cm PaK 36 nests.


8" trench sections (got four of these primed)


Random trench sections (bends are 4", command post is 5" and inner curve is 3")


Barbed wire section, first of about two dozen I'll need to make.


Not sure what I'll pain up first, probably the array of nests as they should be quite quick and easy to do.

One does not simply build an Open Fire Sherman

Greetings readers,

It has been a couple of weeks since I've updated, been busy with real life and multiple different project running simultaneously. As a follow up to the last post, I've been cataloguing and constructing a veritable bucket load of fortifications in preparation for some serious painting action in the future, and I've also got a platoon of Heer Grenadiers on the painting table (they're almost done, probably to the point where WiP shots are basically pointless). 

Today, however, I'm showing off something different. In addition to the up-coming Firestorm Cean campaign, there is a possibility my local club may be running a Market Garden campaign. Now, Market Garden has always been one of my favourite campaigns of WW2; the hopeless optimism, the insane heroism and the sheer variety of forces involved (and thats just the Germans) makes for an exciting setting with a lot of scope for cool scenarios and awesome armies. Having previously inventoried by backlog of FoW stuff I discovered I have rather a lot of British stuff, and my original intention had been to keep things fairly generic on the infantry side of things and use my large array of Shermans to represent a number of different units. After thinking it over, I realised this was a stupid idea as it was robbing me of the opportunity to field a single, truly massive, force for excessive mega gaming. 

Enter the Irish Guards Battlegroup. As it stands just now, I have a full armoured squadron with two rifle platoons in support and a full infantry company with two armoured troops in support. This gives me a total of six Sherman troops and five rifle platoons as well as full command sections for both and the obligatory JOE Vandaleur. I also have some MGs and mortars with carriers, Stuarts and M10s on the way. I've been working away on the first Sherman troop, trying to blend the Open Fire Shermans with the older (and far better) resin tanks, going mad with stowage and camo netting as well as a few tank riders.



These are ready for painting, once they've had a quick wash, and will likely be next on the desk once I finish the grenadiers. I've also converted up a couple of specialist tanks to fill out the squadron, a dozer Sherman and an ARV.









Thanks for looking folks, see you next time! 

The best laid plans. . .

Greeting readers,

It it is often said that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and I think its safe to say I'm my own worst enemy. After making grand declarations about my intentions for the coming year my local FoW ranger announced his intent to run a blood big D-Day game at the local club in early June (to coincide with D-Day, obviously) so I now find myself preparing to defend Fortress Europe. 

Don't really have any plan as such, just going to paint a selection of stuff and see what happens. On that note, I've finished my first fortification, a 7.5cm Feldkanone bunker.

And a scale shot with a German command team.

Currently working on a selection of nests, trenches, traps and other horrible ways to defeat those pesky Allies. And if I get bored of those, I've always got 10,000 points or so of Heer and SS to paint. 

Cheers for now!

Four down, many more to go. . .

Greetings readers.

Been busy over the past couple of days finishing the Ishermans, and I can now happilly say they are done! Lots of picture in this update.







The company 2iC tank







1st platoon's commander







1st platoon's 3rd tank



The whole of first platoon

I must say, I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself for completing four tanks this month, then I turned around and saw this sitting behind me. . .



Yeah, still a long way to go unfortunately. Think I might do the Sho'ts next. There is only two of them.

Thanks for looking! 

Isherman, you Sherman, we all Sherman. . .

Greetings folks.

Just a quick work in progress update of the next three Ishermans.



Left to right we have the company 2iC, 1st platoon's commander and 1st platoon's other tank. Base colour, black, first wash on the dirtiest areas and fists stage of the markings all done; still need to do stowage, crew, wash the whole thing, touch up the markings and then lightly weather them before moving onto something else. Hoping to get these done in the next few days as it looks like I'll be back at work full time soon and it would be nice to achieve something before my hobby time gets curtailed again.

Thanks for looking, C&C welcome. 

An introduction to the state of things

Greetings folks.

Two updates in less than a week? Am I spoiling you? Has the world gone mad? Should I stop with the rhetorical questions? 

So far as I understand it, it is tradition of a sort on these parts to occasionally review the progress of things and look, not only back on things that have been done, but also forwards towards the future and the things I hope to do. Seeing as we're still close to the start of this new year, I figured now is as good a time as any to review, reflect and plan ahead.

Looking back over the past year I can see that I only posted two updates here and, to be honest, those two updates cover my total output of finished models for 2014; a somewhat sad and sorry state of affairs. This isn't to say that wasn't busy last year, apart from over summer I was hobbying pretty regularly. The problem was that I would be forever jumping from project to project; I would build a bit of this, then convert that, prime this, build that. . . to say I had the attention span of a goldfish would be a pretty accurate measurement. Throw in my general reluctance to show unpainted or WiP models and it made for a seemingly quiet year. If I've learned anything it would be to at least try and concentrate on one project for more than a few days, and off the back of that to be less afraid to show unpainted or WiP models on my blog. 

So, what of the future? Well, if I can take my two lessons from last year forward I should be posting fairly regularly, and I want to be able to post at least every two weeks or less. This should be regular enough to give frequent updates on my quest to paint things but spaced out enough that I won't get burned out or feel bad about missing a post by a few days. Having briefly catalogued the backlog, I have the following things I need to deal with. . .

• Six Day War IDF 7th/60th Brigades - 7 M51 Shermans (already painted 1), 4 Magach 2s, 2 Sho'ts, 5 half tracks, infantry platoon and artillery battery - my current project and one thats likely to see completion this side of summer.
• Market Garden 3 RTR - 6 Shermans/Fireflies (already painted a platoon, but will likely repaint it as I'm not happy with it now) - the basis of a larger army, will see infantry, artillery and recce added in the future
• Market Garden Irish Guards - 10 Shermans/Fireflies and JOE Vandaleur with RAF observer
• Market Garden Grenadier Guards - 8 Shermans/Fireflies, motor company HQ, motor rifle platoon - planning to add two more platoons and some support platoons in the future
• British rifle company - HQ, 3 rifle platoons and MG platoon - will add othher support platoons in future, these are going to be generic and unbadged to use as any standard rifle company for Normandy or Market Garden
• British Assault company - HQ, 3 rifle platoons, full battery of M7 priests, 3 Sherman flails, 3 Sherman DDs and 3 Shermans/Fireflies with deep wading kit - for use in D-Day games, will be adding some other support platoons in future
• British independent tank platoons - 16 Shermans/Fireflies - will be getting split into individual platoons from the different regiments not mentioned above that supported the Normandy campaign
• US 101st  Airborne Glider company - HQ, 2 rifle platoons, weapons platoon and 37mm gun platoon - can borrow regimental support from painted 101st paratroopers, but willl also get their own MGs and mortars in future.
• US 82nd Airborne Paratrooper compmay - HQ and 3 full rifle platoons - will get assorted support platoons in the future.
• US Armoured company - 13 various Shermans,4 jeeps and 5 half tracks - will add M8 scout cars, infantry and various other support platoons in future.
• US Assault company - 3 boat sections (already painted a boat section), HMG platoon, A&P platoon, engineer platoon, Ranger company, NGFS observer and 5 Sherman DDs - more or less complete in terms of models, may add some support platoons in future
• German Panzer Brigade 107 - 8 Panther Gs - will add halftracks and AAA in future, will borrow infantry and artillery from generic Heer
• German motor pool - 1 Tiger I, 3 StuG Gs, 3 Panther As, 6 Panzer IVs, 3 Panzer IIIs, 2 armoured Sdkfz 7/1 (quad 2cm) and 20 assorted trucks - will add more Panthers, more StuG Gs, StuH 42s, self propelled artillery and recce in the future
• German Heer pool - multiple HQ sections, 6+ rifle platoons, assault rifle platoon, 2 mortar platoons, heavy mortar platoon, 2 MG platoons, 10.5cm howitzer battery, 15cm howitzer battery, PaK40 platoon, PaK38 Platoon - not much more to be added to this, maybe more artillery and static AAA
• SS pool - HQ section, 3 rifle platoons, mortar platoon, MG platoon, motorised 10.5cm howitzer battery - will add AT and static AA in future
• Falschirmjager and Luftwaffe - HQ section, 2 rifle platoons, mortar platoon, MG platoon, PaK40 platoon and FlaK36 battery - will add 3rd rifle platoon and artillery to FJ in future as well as more static AAA
• Afrika Corps - HQ section, 3 rifle platoons, engineer platoon, 12 Panzer IVs, 12 Panzer IIIs, 4 Panzer IIs, 10.5cm howitzer battery and FlaK 36 battery - will bring engineer platoon to full strength and add some towed AT

So, as we can see, my backlog is eye wateringly massive and I still have a few random things (like a British glider pilot platoon and a US 105mm battery) that don't really fall into any of the above and will likely form the basis of new armies once some of the above is completed.

In terms of what I want to do over the next year, I'd say I've got a few goals that should be achievable if I put my mind to it. Short terms goals (by June) are:

• Finish the existing IDF and pick up missing jeep and gun tows for 25 pounder battery
• Paint at least 1,500 points of DAK
• Build and paint at least six desert terrain pieces of which half must be suitable for both 6 Day War and WW2 mid war Africa

More long term, to be done by the end of this year I want to: 

• Bring existing US airborne up to 1900 points
• Paint enough German stuff to bring my existing 559 Scwere Panzerjager up to 1,900 points
• Build and paint enough terrain for a 6' x 4' Market Garden table

If I can do all of the above I'll be a happy Dave, anything else I'll consider to be a bonus.

Thanks for bearing with me, next time there will be pictures!