Some more Bolt Action GIs

Hello again,

This time it's just quick update about last preparations to coming edition of Road to Berlin: Bolt Action two days long gaming on march 30-31!
Last year it was just big success:
that event was just friggin awesome! I was taking as much pics as I could between giving orders to my trusty US army and rolling dices - definitely worthy visiting.

This year armies are 1200 pts strong so to fulfill the requirements I had to paint few more infantrymen and one more transport: Dodge 3/4 (a.k.a. Beep).

For uniforms I used olive combo, working really fine on US models.
New thing was using pigment binder - which turned out weird:
see that white spot on the bases with leaves? That white stuff revealed like day after models were sealed with matt varnish.
I think the reason was varnish was applied before binder was totally dry, but it's just a thought: haven't used dedicated pigment binder ever before.

Still like the team - they all look really good together with rest of my infantry:

As for the Dodge 3/4 painting was even easier. In fact, I've found painting the driver more challenging than rest of the model:

base colors were applied with airbrush, chipping medium was very helpful in getting worn look, dirt was painted with oils and thick mud on wheels is ready-to-use Vallejo stuff. Voila!

My invention was the machine gun: according to the rulebook Beep can be armed with mmg or hmg.

I prefer light version - additional 5 shots to support advancing infantry. The gun is spare mmg from M3A1 halftrack mounted on placcy stick (which actually is piece of zombie banner pole).

Gamewise I am actually considering getting one more transport like this:
regular and armed with mmg costs about 40 pts only (cheaper than static machine gun section). It can carry only 8 men but it's just enough for shock squad like full team or engineers or some veteran infantry (carrying 2 BAR and 3 smg). I guess it'll take some field testing before I write a letter to the Santa...

WARZONE still alive!

Heyah,

About once or twice a year I am getting haunted by spirits of all those unpainted miniatures stashed at my place. Mostly - spirits of Warzone miniatures...
OLD Warzone, not that placcy or resin, no character crap. 

There's only one way to bring peace to those restless souls: 

bring some models to the light and give them long awaited paintjob!

Recently I had a break between painting Bolt Action infantry and Bolt Action vehicles (duh!) which was used to finish some old Warzone bits, staggering on my desk for a long while:
centurion and two trusty necromutants.

Painting was fun.
Models might seem to be kinda cranky for modern standards, but who gives a fuck about it?
I really like working or something having history, and (old) Warzone stuff always brings lots of memories from the beginning of my long road through the mysterious world of the hobby.

I remember 2 blisters of necromutants were one of the very first models I ever got. Back days I was sooo excited to bring them on the battlefield.
Remember painting them (also with enamel paints!) just to get them prepared for combat as soon as possible and when the Big Day finally came - they were all shot dead after advancing for a round or two.

Later I realised what a shit unit it really was: each model was like 3x more expensive than ordinary undead legionnaire, which was actually only bit less useless...

Still like each and every one of those. And still should have few more waiting to haunt me...

And there's more of old stuff!

Recently friend of mine was selling some Warzone stuff from RPG. Yup, back days, before miniature game there was RPG and there were even some models released!
I got 2 really old style praetorian stalkers - at this moment the paint it being washed off.
in the end they should feel really good with the rest of the praetorian family...

\m/

M1 57 mm anti-tank gun (Bolt Action)

I am Bolt Action celebrity!!!
Me! Me! Me!

Who's hot? Meeeee! No fat, centaur-ass reality show b!tch but meee!!!
Wooo-hooo!!! 

Just check Warlord Games' gallery of awesomeness!!!

And here's some more in case my infantry ain't enough!!!

Right... Ekhm...

What was is supposed to be about?

Ah yes, an anti-tank gun.

Some time back decision was made to put my medium mortar and it's crew on a single, 60mm round base:

for me it's simply easier to transport, there's no need to search missing (deserting...) crew members while packing for battle and which more (actually: most) important - looks better.  

While preparing army for battle I always try to provide my trusty troops with some anti-tank punch. Medium 57 mm gun maybe is not something spectacular, but it's at least fine for blocking part of the battlefield. Enemy usually thinks twice before parking a vehicle within it's arc of fire. Shit happens after all.
Besides when there's no other hope (and gun around...) you can also use it against infentry: 1" template! Ha!

The cannon was actualy painted over year ago, but there was only single crew member attached to the base, so the loaders can be easily taken out after suffering casualties. But I didn't like the final result (just like in case of mortar), so small bases were ripped off and all models now befefit from gun shield.
And much better look.

Must say that we, Bolt Action celebrities, care about good looking ^^
Also some bits of wood were placed on the front (hopefully for even better cover...).

The job was quick and easy, must keep that in mind while working on another mortar / artillery piece:

Next thing coming:
something old...

More Bolt Action terrain

Heyah,

Looks like once again instead of proper miniatures the bloggy has been stuffed with terrain pieces dedicated to Bolt Action game. This time it's a warehouse from Black Grom Studio and ruined hamlet set from Warlord Games. 

As for the warehouse I got it together with a "House F" and brickworks. Not much to say about the quality - all parts fit well, model is easy to assemble and makes great cover for those goddamn Fallshirmjager...

Definitely recommended - and not only for German Army players.

Basic idea was to cover it with bricks, just like the buildings mentioned above, but since the model was assembled before I got wall texture it was simply painted and weathered with dry pigments and oil wash. 

What's new on this one, is the glass. There's no glass in the windows of the previous buildings - officially I say it's because heavy shelling arround: 

shockwave was so strong it made those poor soilders deaf and glass break. Nice, eh?

Sad truth is there was no glass added because I wanted to see buildings painted as soon as possible on the battlefield and was still looking the proper material to use. Urge to use new stuff was too strong in combat. But I won't make that mistake on the coming construction - this element is just way too cool to give up:

 

 

And some shots from a spy drone:

 

The other one was kinda rescue mission:

My buddy purchased the hamlet set but aparently while assembling he turned into PVA-berserker and when it dried all parts were like sinking in a snow. There was actually so much of it I had to cut the excess off before breaking the parts apart.

Originally there were 3 demolished buildings but because I got pile of walls and bits I decided to turn them into single one: maybe it was post office? Village hall? A chapel?

Whatever it was now it's great cover for even the largest squads and vehicles.

Not far ago it was occupied by Nazis but as you can see it's safe in US hands now. My GI's were rather busy with taking fire so the flags haven't been removed yet ;-)

 

And again - aerial scale photos:

 

Take care!

Brickworks (terrain piece)

Hello,

January belongs to terrain building, no doubts about it.

Just about 2 weeks ago I finished lasercut house for Bolt Action and now added another set, once again from Black Grom Studio: Brickworks.

Must say I've never felt any fondness for lasecut terrain pieces, always liked building stuff myself - from the scratch. But since we got some buildings for Bolt Action must admit I changed my mind a bit.

I am busy. Really, have not much time for hobby so if I want to work on minis it usually takes place late night. Preparing terrain "oldschool way" was fun but also rather time consuming so using lasercut models is just time saver. BIG time saver...

As for these below models were assembled and instead of airbrushing walls (which was initial idea) I printed brick textures (available free on Black Grom blog), cut to fit and attached with diluted PVA glue. 

After glue dried buildings were washed with heavily diluted pigment+was mixture, sprinkled with some powdered chalk and then sprayed with heavu layer of matt varnish (these are gaming pieces after all).

More-less easy as fu*k and the result is quite pleasant.

There's not much room on my desk for such a large models so here's the brickworks on our game table. Some more buildings will be added as soon as GIs staggering around desk are painted and added to the squads. 

There should also be walkthrough about assembling similar models so stay tuned.

Take care!