15mm Normandy Buildings

I have got all the German forces from the Flames of War boxed set painted up so I decided to make a bit of 15mm terrain for them to fight over because the majority of my scenery is for 28mm (although some bits can do for both) . I have enjoyed painting up the15mm bits and I was particularly pleased with the infantry figures in the set. I am officially a 15mm convert and I have got a few more things to round out the forces a bit. I will have to get some photos up of the finished models soon. I also picked up the battle group rules which me and my son had our first game of at the weekend. They are an enjoyable rule set and I can see us playing them some more.

All these are made from foam core coated in a mix of plaster and sand then painted. Fairly simple and quick to make but look good on the table. The roof lifts off them all and they all fit at least a medium sized Flames of War base in them. At the moment I have not put a second floor in them but I will probably add one at some point so we can have troops on two levels.

Roman Auxiliaries

This is the first of my roman units . These guys are 28mm plastic Roman Auxiliaries from Warlord games. I really like these figures, they are very dynamic and really quick and easy to put together. They also paint up very well. I am very pleased with the shields which are done using the transfers you get in the box. You paint the background whatever colour you want then add the decal over the top. I have another three units of these guys to do, one more with the green shields and then I am thinking of mixing it up a bit by having the other two with blue shields. I am not going to put up pictures of every unit as many of them will end up looking similar particularly the legionary units. I will probably put up an example unit and then some shots of all the units together.

I am building the units with Hail Caesar in mind. I am going to use units of 16 which are individually based on 20mmx20mm bases. I have based them individually so they can be used for skirmish games but also so I can add/remove models if I use different rules. Once I have a few more units done I am planning on making magnetic movement trays and putting magnets in the bases. This should make moving them around much easier.

So far I have finished five units and a Scorpion. Pretty much all the rest of the army is based and primed so I just need to work through it. I do need to get hold of some skirmishers though and I am currently thinking of getting the Wargames factory Numidian box. This would give me various options and would also open up the possibility of some Numidian cavalry conversions.

On top of these guys I have been painting some 15mm WW2 germans from the flames of war starter my son got for Christmas. The figures are going to be based individually as we are planning on using them for rule sets other than flames of war. They could be used for Boltaction, Battlegroup or Chain of command.

Tiger and 250

It’s been a while since I posted anything but I have been painting away. I finished both the Tiger I and the SDKFZ 250 to give some more support options for my German forces. They are both Warlord games vehicles I got as Christmas presents. The Tiger is the Wittmann’s Tiger I model and is a great model and I have painted it up with no modifications. I guess the 250 is an earlier sculpt as its showing its age a bit, there is a lack of detail compared to the more recent releases. I have a few more vehicles to get painted up for the Germans but I am having a bit of a break from WW2 as it’s all I have really painted for a few months now. I will get back to them soon though to finish off the last few bits (although I don’t think they will ever be truly finished as there are so many interesting German vehicles to paint up).

I have put up a quick sneak peak of the next/current project at the end of this post. I have made decent progress already.

And the new project? Its Romans. I have been interested in Roman military history for as long as I can remember. I think it all started with a trip to Housesteads fort on Hadrian’s wall when I was about 7. I have a photo of me from that visit with a helmet on and holding a sword and shield so it was inevitable I would do a Roman project at some point.

 

Die Waffenkammer Panzer IV

This is my Panzer IV from Die Waffenkammer. The Schürzen was a bit of a pain to assemble but other than that it’s a great detailed kit. I will probably add some mud at some point but I will do that when I have a few vehicles ready to go as it’s easier to make up a bigger batch of gloop I use as a mud mix (Normally PVA, sand, tea leaves, plaster and paint in fairly random amounts until it looks right)

  Panzer IV front

Front again but slightly different lighting

Panzer IV Side

Panzer IV back

I am making decent progress on both the Tiger and the SDKFZ 250/1 so I should have them up next week some time. I have also got a couple of other German vehicles assembled and ready to prime so they will be on the workbench soon. On top of this I have made a start on the last 6 German infantry I have still to paint. Once they are done I will probably crack on with the various US bits I have still to finish. All my US infantry are base coated and washed so I should be able to get through them fairly quick.

Dads Army

I have painted up a few bits since the last update but I have not had chance to photograph them until now. First up are these “Dads army” figures from Wargames Foundry. I picked these up second had at a show and they are great figures. I think they were sculpted by the Perry twins and they look very much like the on screen characters that inspired them. Wargames foundry also to a civilian character pack so I think I will pick that up at some point as well. These don’t really fit in with any or my armies but they were fun to paint and will be good for the odd scenario driven game involving my Fallshirmjagers.

Captain Mainwaring

Sergeant Wilson

Lance-Corporal Jones

Private Pike

Joe Walker

Godfrey

In addition to these guys I have finished off the Panzer iv and painted the plague faction starter from Deadzone so I will get photos up of those soon. I have started work on my Tiger and sdkfz 250/1 as well. On top of that the German vehicals from my trade arrived to I have more halftracks and soft skins to be getting on with.

More fallschirmjäger

I have just finished off some more offensive fallschirmjäger. Only two more to go now for the full platoon plus various supports. The two remaining guys I am converting to be a LMG team as I was one short for a chain of command platoon.

I have also finished off a few Foundry Home guard figures that I bought second hand at a show and picked up just to paint for fun rather than for a particular force.

My eldest has also just bought Deadzone and I have been assigned the Plague faction (I always get given the bad guys). They are going to be a bit of a distraction from the main projects but they look fun to paint and I have a scheme in mind that should come together quickly.

Fallschirmjäger Panzershrek

 fallschirmjäger LMG teams

Squad Leader

Fallschirmjäger Panzerfausts (The guy in the middle is a great sculpt)

More guys for the squads

WW2 Trucks

I would like some trucks for my WW2 forces but I am reluctant to buy those from Warlord etc as they come in at £18-20 each. This is a bit much for something that is likely to be killed pretty quick in a game or that will only be on board a short time as troops are dropped off.

One solution I have seen to this is to use Lledo days gone by die cast vehicles. I had a quick look on ebay and managed to pick up a couple of trucks for a total of £3.50 including postage. They certainly match the cheaper requirement then!

One thing I was worried about was the scale. They don’t have a scale listed and as far as I was able to tell the scale various between models as they are modeled to fit the box rather than a consistent scale over the range. I think they actually fit pretty well although they are possibly a bit on the small size. I will let you judge that based on the photos below.

The figures in the picture are a warlord and an Offensive miniatures Fallshirmjager

The trucks are pretty much the same size as this Die Waffenkammer sdkfz 251.

I do have a Warlord games German Phanomen truck coming soon that I got for a good price second hand. Once this arrives I will put up some pictures comparing this to the Lledo trucks as that will probably given an even better idea of scale. It’s a shame that I can’t seem to find and die cast German trucks such as an Opel Blitz so my German forces might have to be in captured trucks.

I am also going to be repainting these as I suspect going to war in a birds custard van would be frowned on.

US Armour

I have not finished anything for a week or so because I have been concentrating on getting stuff base coated. I should have a few bits done soon but having nothing new to show I thought I would put up a couple of pictures of bits I have done previously. In a bit of a departure from the previous posts I went for some US armour I have painted up.

These are both Warlord games.

Warlord Games Greyhound

Sherman Front

More WW2 finished photos

A few more bits. The FOO team and the MG42 team were painted in the last week or so the other bits were things painted earlier on that I have just got round to photographing.

To finish off the FOO team fully I need to find something suitable for the areal on the radios. I have seen brush bristles suggested several time but none of the brushes in the house seemed to be suitable. I will have a hunt through the brushes next time I am at the shops to see if I can find anything better.

At the moment I seem to be in the mood for painting infantry figures so I have been making the most of this particular batch of motivation. On the workbench I have a load of US infantry and the last of the airborne. I have tried doing things a little differently and I have got pretty much every US figure I have base coated and washed so I can now work through and highlight them up.

I also have just got the last of the Fallschirmjager figures I needed to finish off a platoon for Chain of Command. These are Offensive miniatures figures again and are currently in the process of getting primed. I think they might jump the queue over the US guys as I really enjoyed painting the last batch and it would be good to get the platoon all done.

Heer MG42 team

FOO team

Heer Mortar

Panzershreck

Warlord games plastic 251

German Armour

Still painting away and getting things done. In the last week or so I have finished a Heer MG42 team, the warlord games German FOO guys and a Heer LEIG 18 Gun. I need to finish off the bases for the MG42 and FOO so I only have a picture of the Gun at the moment.

I have taken a few pictures of my existing German amour as well to flesh out the post. I still have a panzer iv, a tiger and a SDKFZ 250 to paint (The panzer iv about 50% done)

I still need to improve my photography skills but I think I am getting better. I think I need to get to know the manual settings on my camera better. The best photos of this bunch were done in manual mode.

LEIG 18 Gun Infantry (Warlord)

SDKFZ 222 (Warlord)

SDKFZ 251/7  (Die Waffenkammer)

Puma (Die Waffenkammer)

Stug III (Warlord)

Kubelwagen (Company B)