1st Fallschirmjager Squad

Time to get back to the Carentan project. Soooo...we have 101st Airborne versus 6th Regiment Fallschirmjagers. Two squads of Americans are done so far, and now we have the first squad of German's ready.

First a couple of shots of German paratroopers in Normandy. An MG42 team...

And a trooper with a panzerfaust.

Here are some color shots of re-enactors. The two on the left are in splinter '41 camo, while the one on the right looks to be in water tan '44.

Here is a handy gear load out shot from the rear.

OK, now for the minis. First, bare metal. Artizan 28mm figs.

I decided to use a faster painting method for these guys than I normally use. First, I started with block painting of the base colors.

Then, an ink wash. Camo painting and details went on after this step.

It's finally warm enough outside to take some photos in natural sunlight. Hmmm, that makes it warm enough to do yard work as well...bummer.

German Fallschirmjager squads were split into two light machinegun sections, one led by the squad leader, and the second led by the assistant squad leader. Section number one...

And section number two.

I tried my hand at three different camo patterns on the jump suits and zeltbahn coverings. Most of the figures are in splinter '41. Two are in the darker brown water tan '43 pattern and one is in the lighter water tan '44 camo uniform. Honestly, I wasn't able to put in enough detail to really tell much of a difference between the outfits, so I'm not sure I'll really try to distinguish them in the second squad project.

I've got an itch for more Warmachine, even though the Carentan project timeline is getting critical. Well...warjacks are up on the table right now...soooo.

'Til next time.

Warmachine Interlude

I made some good progress this weekend on a German Fallschirmjager squad for the Carentan scenario, but no pictures yet.

In the mean time, I was able to complete a couple of Warmachine mini-projects. The first was a set of three Menoth Warjack wreck markers. Here, they are assembled and base colors have been applied.

And here they are completed. A little messy, but hopefully, I'll never have to put them on the table!

The second project I got underway this weekend was a Covenant of Menoth piece. Essentially it is a poor bastard carrying around a heavy book on his back while a priest-guy is reading spells from it. Here, the bare metal is assembled.

Base block colors have been applied here. Where I'll be painting gold, I've base coated with dark yellow.

This is a close up of the finished model. The book text is decal...obviously!

Well...a couple of quick miniature projects for the weekend. Should have pics of some German troops next time.

2nd Squad

Hello fellow gaming nuts. Not these guys...you.

The 101st Airborne project continues. The second squad is now done. Here is the MG section.

And the rifle section.

Looking at the calendar, I might be hard pressed to get all the paratroopers and fallschirmjagers done in time for the MayDay convention...but I'm hoping to get a good start into the German troops this weekend...so who knows? I might still make it. Damn my slow painting. Carentan awaits!

'Til next time.

1st Squad Done

It's slow going on the figure painting front. However, I'm happy to say that the first squad of my 101st Airborne platoon project is now done.

Here is the machine gun section.

And the rifle section.

I was digging around the internet for some 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment photos (the unit featured in the HBO series, Band of Brothers) and found a number of good ones. Here is a shot of some paratroopers in their C-47 transport heading over the channel the night before D-Day.

The 506th did a lot of fighting in and around Carentan. Here is a shot in the city after its liberation.

One final shot of the rifle section.

'Til next time.

Club Night: March 2, 2010

Soooo...Bob had to make a quick trip up to Athabasca today, so club AAR duties fall to me this week!

We had 11 players out tonight, along with a couple of visitors. To kick things off, Dave and Scott played scenario 4 of their Dark Ages WAB campaign, and things are swinging in Scott's favor. Dave's northern warband failed it's impetuousness roll and chased after one of Scott's smaller units, allowing Scott's Normans to rush a unit through the gap and achieve the scenario's victory conditions.

Hairy guys with swords...check. It's the Dark Ages. I think these are Dave's figs.

Chen-song and Bruce had a game of Dirtside II. It was 2050 in Paraguay. Chen-song's technically superior American forces wasted a lot of Bruce's low tech armor...but Bruce took the objective city with infantry and won the scenario.

Justin hosted another game of Command Decision 4. Here, Parker's late war Germans were unable to root out Russ' Soviets. Russians win.

Finally, I ran a game of late 1917 Canvas Eagles with Matt, John and first-timer, Craig.

Upholding the grand tradition of beginner's luck, Craig's first damage chit draw against John was a fuel tank explodes. At the end of the game, Craig lined up a lucky shot against Matt and drew...wait for it...Pilot Killed. Never mind that Craig lost two planes in the battle...the damage was done!

All around, another fun night at the club.

Painting 28mm WWII US Paratroopers

Well, time to get back to painting wargaming figures. I'm running a Carentan, Normandy scenario for the local convention this spring, so I've got to get hopping on the forces. I'll be pitting a platoon of 101st Airborne against a platoon of Fallschirmjagers (a la episode 3 of Band of Brothers). Here's a little source imagery for the American Paratroopers.

The uniforms are a sand color, with light khaki webbing and packs. Helmet is dark olive green and boots are brown leather.

I'm starting with Artizan 28mm figures. They come in a nice variety of poses and have plenty of character. The bare metal fig...mold lines, bent gun and all!

I prime in white.

I then do a dark ink pass. This isn't for final shading so much as my aging eyes really need help in seeing the detail of the figure. By doing this dip, I can see where I can expend effort to make the final figure pop.

Next I paint the skin (I use the method of painting the figure from the inside out, so to speak).

For skin I've recently switched over to the Foundry three-tone system, and add in a flesh wash after the shade base coat.

Next I move on to the uniform. This is the base coat with field drab and another ink wash for shading.

I layer-paint the cloth. Base coat is Vallejo US Field Drab, mid tone is Green Ochre and highlight is Dark Sand.

Leather is done with Foundry Tan.

I use this paint progression for the olive helmets and reinforcement patches, as well as the light khaki webbing/packs. Starting from the left, dark green bits start with Vallejo US Dark Green and highlight with Khaki. Webbing starts with Khaki, then the mid tone is Buff and the highlight is Pale Sand.

And the result is a US Airborne fig. Base is glue and sand painted in GW Scorched Brown, highlighted with Vomit Brown and Bleached Bone. Grass is GW static grass.

And here is the current state of the US platoon...plenty of painting to go!

'Til next time.

Albatros D.V Builds: Part 5

After six weeks, I'm feeling...relieved. Sometimes, in the middle of a big project, I often think to myself, am I going to finish this? Well, I'm happy to say that 8 Albatros D.Vs are now "table-ready" for games of Canvas Eagles.

Let's start with an inspirational shot of Flashar letting another British flier wriggle away.

The final table shot. Here, landing gear is on, as well as the tail skids and propellers. All planes have been given a matt clear coat to finalize the finish. Now, all they need are pilots (oh, and rigging...but let's be real...I won't rig my game planes 'til I go insane in about 10 years).

Speaking of pilots...here they have been cut down to fit in the cockpits, primed and inked.

And here they are painted...pretty simple leather paint schemes.

Green Tails! The fliers of Jasta 5 were known as the green tails. Here are the five builds, representing planes from July 1917 through to March 1918. See part 1 of these build notes to get short bios of the various pilots.

Two planes from Jasta 12. I'm quite fond of the unit paint scheme. Very simple and sharp.

Finally, the single build from Jasta 79b. This is definitely my favorite of the eight.

A few times over the past six weeks, I felt myself getting bogged down in details; spending too much time on inconsequential areas. My mantra became, "Don't make them good...make them good enough." Examples? Neckel's Jasta 12 aircraft. The wings are lozenge covered. As such, I decalled over the location holes for the struts. The holes were very small, so in most cases I had to guess where to drill out the guide holes. For the right wing strut lower hole, I guessed wrong. This resulted in a wonky, badly angled interplane strut, which I realized after gluing and upper wing attachment. I wanted to tear the upper wing off, take the strut out and re-drill the location hole and patch the first hole. But this would have diverted building time and be a momentum-killer. The strut was "good enough"...heck, the wing was on, right? I left it.

However, on the whole, I have to say I'm very happy with the results. And happier that I can now move onto a new project.

Next up...a platoon of 28mm 101st Airborne troops for a WWII Carentan scenario.

'Til next time!