WWII 105mm German howitzer emplacement - Bolt Action

This is the German 105mm Howitzer set with a few additional pieces for the sandbag bunker and storage by Baueda.

I entered this set in the painting contest for the historical category at the Siege of August this past January.  I was sure that if I won anything it would be with the limber in my previous post, but surprisingly, this set won a first place prize and the siege bucks given as a prize were quickly spent on some Testudo 28mm knights for a battle of Tannenberg (Grunwald) project. Had a great time at Siege by the way so come visit Augusta Georgia if you can next January!

Lots of nice accessories are included in the Bolt Action set - everything but instructions.  I searched their site high and low but there were no instructions to be found for this piece, though I found instructions for about everything else they make.  Hopefully I got it put together correctly!

Feuer!

Recents Works in Progress - a Varied Collection

Some spotters cleverly concealed in the field of my paint blotches.  They will compliment my growing Waffen SS army for Bolt Action.  You can see below a 105mm Howitzer in need of some front line assistance.

 The artillery is a 105mm Howitzer from Warlord Games, the instructions for assembly were never discovered on their site.  I found the assembly instructions for just about every other artillery piece they make, but this one remained a mystery.  I only hope I didn't put something on upside down!

The sandbag emplacement and the sandbagged ammo storage are pieces made by Baueda.  The other scenic pieces came with the gun.

This was a fun discovery to make.  I have been watching HBOs Rome this week, so was inspired to revisit my pile of unpainted lead and found these gems by Testudo Miniatures.  The Marian Romans in the 3.0 version of DBA are now allowed artillery, so I thought I would paint them up.

 I took these Samurai (and a lot more of their buddies hiding in a box) as trade for selling off a bunch of stuff for a friend, and decided to spruce them up and base them for L'art de la Guerre.  They have a good basic base coat, albeit with some fairly odd color choices for the armor.  I've had to add back banners, swords and arrow bundles, as well as work on the highlighting and other detailing to add some depth.  Three units done and about 15 more to go....

Lastly we have some French Dragoons in 1812 uniforms being painstakingly painted.  There is so much detail in these old metal foundry sculpts - probably not as nice as the new Perry sculpts, but their older work is nothing to sneeze at!  I have three different regiments being prepared for a Napoleonic variant of DBA that is just elegant and wonderful.  DBN - http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/  I really do love these rules when played with the optional rules for attrition.

Bolt Action Stg III

My air compressor is out of commission so I have been enjoying a low tech approach to painting tanks and have come to the conclusion that I can actually do a more skillful job with a brush, than I can with a spray nozzle.  I've always loved the look of the sturmgeschutz, so this was a fun model to paint.

The mud splatter is what happens when your thumb and a toothbrush dipped in paint collide.  It's a little unpredictable, but can yield nice results.  Probably should have dirtied up the wheels a bit more, but maybe the crew just washed them to keep the tracks running smoothly.

The stowage on the back is actually a bunch of wooden crates from the 20mm FAA line, along with some jerry cans, drive wheels and a camouflage net folded up and glued in place.  It was a Pegasus product I believe, but essentially nothing more than died cheesecloth.

Berbers and Bolt Action

Just finished up a few additions for my Berbers and Waffen SS armies

The unit of eight elements of four figures each displaying their standards.  The figures are a mix of Ral Partha Moors, and Ottomans from the condottieri line, as well as a smattering of Citadel Arabs from their Dark Ages line.  The banners are mostly inspired by Little Big Men, but the middle banner is completely scratch built and painted ala El Cid.

I particularly like the way the shields of Ben Yusef's Black Guard came out.  I used a variety of metallics with black lining to bring out the detail.

The black banner is simply folded paper painted and stiffened with white glue, but what really adds a nice touch is the addition of the horse hair tassels on the ends of the cross pole.

 I've really enjoyed the Bolt Action games I have played and painting WWII camo is a nice change from all of the Ancients and Dark Age figures I've been working on.

 

 Flowers might be a bit much and would probably have been trampled into the ground, but you have to love the way they set off the figures.

 Here we have an HMG pouring fire into the unsuspecting Americans (or Russians).  I decided to base them separately to facilitate taking casualties off the board.  The tufts are by a gentleman in Australia known as Leadbear.  I highly recommend them.

Bolt Action Germans Second Squad

 This is my second squad of Germans made from 28mm Wargame's Factory plastics.  These are an improvement over the first squad, as I used a lighter khaki as the base coat of the camo jackets which helped tone down the green overall.  I also like the option of adding a combat leader in a fatigue hat rather than an officer's cap.  I think the squad leader of the third squad will be in a helmet.

Foray into Bolt Action

The halftrack in this photo is the plastic Bolt Action kit.  It is a very easy to assemble model with enough detail to be interesting, but designed primarily for the wargamer.  I decided to use thinned acrylic paints brushed on, rather than going the airbrush route.  Especially for fine lines I still feel like I have better control over a brush.  Weathering was done through a combination of washes, drybrushing and splatter painting with a toothbrush.

The infantry are part of the Wargames Factory set, which at $20 for 30 figures are quite the deal.  The detail is good, but not deeply incised, but still adequate for a good paint job.

I believe I used gale force nine "poison ivy" for the helmet camouflage.

WIP - work in progress

Buildings for a 10mm DBACW army which is slowly taking shape.  Maybe I misread the rules, but it seems like you need 30 or so elements per side, which is a lot of painting when you are putting 7 10mm infantry figures on a base!

Couple of Barker markers for 15 and 25mm games

These are some plastic Indians that I picked up from All the King's Men a couple of years ago.  I'm painting up a dozen for their 54mm American Revolution game.  The indians are slowly coming together, but will make a nice addition to the regular British and Hessian infantry.

I'm still working on my WWII skills.  These are a tad too green I think, but for 30 hard plastic figures from Wargames Factory for $20 how could I say no.  Most of these figures are really quite good and the Russians are even better!

Yet another Barker Marker in progress.  This one was a tongue in cheek present from my daughter, but I must say I am having a blast with it!

Ken at All the King's Men was selling these at Nashcon, but since our gaming shop happens to be right next door to a cigar shop I decided to make my own.  It was a fair amount of work and given Ken's very reasonable prices I would recommend just buying them from him, but I was able to customize my box a bit which was nice.

And lastly I have a HotT army for Terry Webb's Good Bad and Ugly tournament coming up in November.  This year we have a Lord of the Rings theme, so this is meant to represent an Easterling army.  The Cavalry are Donnington Sarmations, the axemen and artillery are Khurasan Tang Chinese, and the wain rider and hordes are Testudo Celts.  Surprisingly they work well together.  I painted them with a limited palette to help the cohesive look of the army and am hopeful once the basing is done they will be an even more impressive looking army.