Cthulhu bust

After 39.M Csaba was done the plan was to work on some more hungarian armor. But since these models are pretty cute I wanted to make them even cooler - by adding the crew. Lucky for me Warlord released hungarian tank crew set which can be used on vehicles remaining in the pile of shame and to replace original german officer running the Hetzer.

Since I was waiting to get the crew anyway, decision was made to splash some paint on other piece of resin chunk waiting on the very bottom of Ye Bucket. It's old Cthulhu bust. The idea to get it done was spawned, because recently I started reading some Call of Cthulhu RPG materials and having good time reading those spooky stories and scenarios. The model cannot help with potencial gaming (both RPG and miniatures) but it might be nice background for taking photos of adventurers or cursed Dagon cultists. It also can be used as office decoration or as melee weapon (that wooden base should easily crush any skull).

As for painting - I wouldn't even think about it without having an airbrush ready for action. Sadly lots of parts are really hard to get (not only for painting but also for cleaning mould lines) so I had to hide these flaws in deeper shadows, properly taken pictures and hobby cheats like that. Original base was resin cast of wooden block, but IMO it wasn't big enough for such a model so I got something bit larger (proper wood this time). 

Any conclusion?
It was huge pain in the ass to paint but I'm glad having one more piece painted. It's always nice feeling having another model saved from the jar of shame (one of few jars actually). This one was eating lots of precious storage space. Hope you like it anyway 🦑

Already in the office - temporarly. Will be guarding the papers until I find better place for the piece:

39.M Csaba (Hungarian army)

Bolt Action is on a roll at the beginning of 2026!

After dealing with two entries for painting contest (infantry squad and vehicle) I decided paint one more toy for VERY slowly growing Hungarian army. 

At first it even wasn't second army project - I simply liked camouflage pattern (nice change after painting US stuff olive, olive and olive) and some weirdo Hungarian vehicles. But during the painting contest on Strategie.net.pl I spotted some printed entries - which were remarkably cool! 

So I got 3 models, which means this with 38.M Toldi and Hetzer makes the armored platoon full... 

In new edition of Bolt Action we can field more vehicles then in the previous one. Hungarians have many rather cheap models available (absolutely most expensive is Hetzer from Axis support: barely over 200 points) so I plan to field full armored platoon: 5 vehicles. Battle experience clearly shows cheap, mostly anti-infantry vehicles are much better investment then expensive, fat über-tank.

For this one I tried another version of ambush camouflage. It's much more "vivid" compared to previous models, because during painting I ran out of olive green and the only color available was light green from Vallejo line. I didn't want to wait for delivery so it was mixed with bronze and violet to make useful base color and all in all final result is acceptable. Maybe not enough dirt for my taste, yet still cool. The turret got magnet to secure it from falling off (this resin or whatever it really is) is quite fragile and I do not want to risk breaking the barrel.

Apparently I f#cked magnet inserting, becuase the gap between turret bottom and hull seems to be just too large. Might put it on hobby station to fix it.
And add more dirt... 😁

And below - new Hungarian ride together with it's tracked cousin 38.M Toldi and Hetzer from German support. Warlord Games sells Hungarian tank crew to I hope to get this set and replace officer in Hetzer:

Alien handmaiden (Crooked Dice)

So it finally happened:

last Saturday night we have finally managed to play Call of Cthulhu role-playing game! 🦑

The last time I was running CoC was maybe like 10 years ago? But my investigators were playing much, much formerly. It was kinda big success to gather old friends together to play the game after such a long time although adjusting date took us like 2 months. Writing a scenario was fun itself (started last November) and I'm glad after 4-5 hours of playing there's one more session ahead.

Anyway while waiting for the session and having recent Sherman crossed off the list, I decided to paint something different before starting another Bolt Action thing. Reaching deep into bucket of shame I've found alien thing from Crooked Dice range I got quite a long tome ago together with some cultists. I never had any idea for this guy but coming RPG session put me into mood for painting something from eldritch horror range. Plus it turned out it was sculpted by my buddy from Chest of Colors times: Mr Bug Man. While assembling the model I realised it had some parts very similar to alien drop pod I from from Nav a while back. Very organic and disturbing piece!

As for painting I used some organic, natural tones hoping to make it look somehow believable. Don't think my investigators will meet somethink like this anytime soon (or anytime at all...) but I am really happy this beautie got the colors. And I am pretty sure Call of Cthulhu wide range of miniatures will get own shelf as soon as new display case arrives...

And below: eldritch horror about to eat Dagon cultists and investigators in perilous Dunwich outskirts:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!!! 🤘🏻

Sherman M4A2(76)W

Having some more foot soliders prepared for winter, the time has come to provide some heavy support for the boys. I always wanted my GIs to have heavy tank support and recently I've found mint condition model on second hand market. Plus I needed the second entry for the painting contest so apparently once again Allmighty Cosmos has been guiding me 😵‍💫

Although it's another tank from Sherman family in the display case, painting this one was kinda challenging, because as it turned out - I run out of all olive paints and the only one I could use was grassy light green tone. It's been mixed with some browns and violet and all in all it turned out fine. It's clearly brighter then it's older brothers: M4A3 Sherman 105 mm howitzer or M4 Sherman T34 Calliope but I think I like such "pale" tone even better: makes bigger contrast on the battlefield and exposes mud, dirt or oil streaks.

Last weekend the model was brought to gaming-bunker for some field tests. It survived (yaaay... 🙄) but didn't perform anyhow spectacular. I know, it's Bolt Action so some bad luck with dice rolling can obliterate the best battle plan, yet I was hoping for little more. On the other hand I was facing Soviet army swarm without armored platoon, so it's cannon didn't get proper target: the meat chopper was much more effective. Oh well, it's nothing new 250 points vehicle for 1000 points game is just too expensive so I think it might re-appear in larger battle.

 

So here're the pictures and hope you like it:

And below Mr and Mrs Flatnoses taking Sunday ride:

US infantry (winter war) #5

The entry for 25 mm - 28 mm infantry unit category for ongoing painting contest just left hobby station. As menioned before - I am more then satisfied with new US winter infantry box, even despite the fact painting the same coats was simply boring. 

What you see below is the basic United States infantry unit I field in Bolt Action v3: no assault weapon, no Browning - just 12 rifles to maximize army's special rule. In fact I am trying no to leave deployment zone without 3 solid units of grunts, so sooner or later you might expect to see more of greatcoats and repainted metal models painted earier. After all not all soliders got proper winter clothing on time for Battle of the Bulge...

The next piece which just arrived on painting station is M4A2(76)W tank. I know most tanks in US disposal ale quite similar, but for this one I chose early hull to make it stand out and of course - this one is equipped heavy anti tank gun, which should make enemy think twice before entering into my fire zone...

The unit was painted for winter campaign, so I tried to take some shots using proper backdrop. Must admit I've found taking photos with such a bright background quite pain in the ass: the camera couldn't catch proper white balance which was kinda weird since most of enviroment is white 🙄

To show the difference I took photos of the same unit also in standard grassy land and straight on the painting desk - as you can see models' colors are different despite it's the same camera, settings and lighting. Taking pics it probably most frustrating element of this silly hobby...

Anyway here they are and I am off to assemble and undercoat zze tank!

See? Same settings, different background and models instantly look better... 🙄

And here're the boys led to battle by the command squad painted recently: