Spoils of war

Last evening there was a lecture about conquering Elbląg 80 years ago, which was mentioned earlier. It was also part of hobby event from last weekend, so results of painting competition were also announced yesterday. 

Just like in case of soviet OT 34/85 painted for the contest, also IS-2 brought me some more hobby stuff: German paint set + some US winter infantry, which is great, because:

1. I am now working on some Foliescu's brilliant German infantry;

2. I was planning to expand my winter G.I. force by another squad so it fits Bolt Action v3 requirements.

So here's the loot - too bad they didn't give some free time so I could deal with it shortly 🙄

And here you can read about last evening event (Polish only). There was also photo report attached (here). As you can imagine on each end every public event there's a chance for a local goof to show up. Here's ours - never miss opportunity to mess somebody's day 🤪

Till the next time.

Captured IS-2 (painting contest)

I was actually going to paint some zee Germanz winter infantry from Foliescu's line (which is brilliant) but last week I was asked to paint something for local painting contest. The overall theme was 80th anniversary of liberating Elblag from under German occupation (just to make it clear: Poland was "liberated" by soviets, so you can imaging the rest). 

Because of this event there's been organised 2-weeks painting / wargaming course in local library, with friendly tournament and painting contest to crown it all. 

Anyway the challenge has been accepted but since I don't play Germans nor Soviets my options were rather limited. While digging through my resources I've found IS-2 heavy tank which was part of prize-loot for other painting contest 🤪

As mentioned earlier I don't play Soviet army but from what I was told in battle of Elblag Germans also used some captured vehicles, so I imagine it surely is one of them. Wasn't sure about the markings but I was pretty sure the crew would't like to be taken as Soviet unis from afar so markings were applied on each side of vehicle plus it got a flag on the hull just in case some lost Stuka decided to pay a visit...

I do not like to work fast with painting (and this was surely hasty paintjob for my standard) but I like the final result. Italeri's stuff is always tops. The commander is metal piece from Warlord's set, but I think as professional he doesn't mind driving Soviet wheeler. To glory!

Yup - from above it surely ain't soviet tank ^^

And some enthusiastic US tank hunters for the scale:

Spoils of war

Yesterday courier delivered the last part of spoils of recent painting contest, which turned out to be more then successful for my hobby zone. Thank to paintjob I did on OT 34/85 (flamethrower tank) and winter infantry assault squad my hobby supplies got by:

 

-    set of resin bases from Micro Art Studio,

-    IS-2 heavy tank from Modelmania,

-    rust & chipping effects from Rebel.

Must say the Cosmos itself must have guided guys, who were choosing this stuff because all is what I am hoping to use shortly!

Right now I am working on bane thralls unit for Warmachine Cryx force, so these skull bases should fit perfectly spectres hovering over ancient battlefield. It's actually the very first plastic unit from Warmachine line I am working on and must sadly admit - it's f#@king crap compared to it's metal predecessors... 🤬

The other piece is IS-2 heavy tank for Bolt Action. Funny thing because before it arrived I was thinking about the entry for the next edition for the painting contest and suddenly, out of the blue, 46 tons of solution came to my door. These tanks come with assault squad (just like this one) so looks like I got entries for 2 categories.

And the last thing is rust and chipping effects set from Vallejo line. Most of paints I use is Vallejo and I really like this brand, so I am more than happy I got new effects to test. It's rather for painting wrecks but I actually might use it on my next contest entry so close the circle. Soviet armour is not much more then mobile wreck after all 😁

Till the next time!

OT 34/85 (painting contest)

And here's the second entry for Strategie historical wargaming painting contest. Once again it's winter themed model but this time from soviet army. Although I don't play this army this model has been rotting in the pile of shame for quite a long time now so I thought I might do it a favor and save it from almost inevitable oblivion.

As for color choice I tried to use similar tones to M4A3 Sherman painted some time ago. Must say I really like that one and in my opinion it's pretty hard to make just boring green tank a bit more interesting. To break basic green some artifical snow was added so the model fits sovied assault squad painted a while back.

This version of tank is equipped with hull mounted flamethrower instead of standard mediom machine gun so I borrowed flame effect from Cryx Defiler. Back days I wasn't sure about using such add ons but now I regret I have only one to swap between models. Must check if I can get any more especially for Cryx death-chickens. That's it for now - back to work 😑

This is what it was when I found it in the bits box btw 😁

Take care o/

Soviet assault squad

After finishing some fantasy stuff (Modred the Damned and ogre halfwits) we're back to witer front of world war 2. The big plan about assembling sovier army for Bolt action is still on, but I've just reailsed available infantry models, except for metal siberian squad and combat engineers, are quite poor... 😕

At least not my cup of tea...

So decision was made to take this project on slow, looking for models I like. Especially the idea is my heir one day will take command over these fellas.

In the meantime I've finished remaining 3 models which came with KV-2 panzer abomination. The plastic box provides lots of conversion options, just check the observer below. These should fit nicely any winter force (early winter - looking at uniforms).

What I wanted to achieve was nice shade of green for uniforms and winter bases. I like the squad alltohether. 5 models were painted a while back so their uniforms are more vibrant. But on the other hand it's early winter, they didn't get proper clothing yet... 😊

And the freshly painted troopers. I really regret there were not enough SMGs for all models, these are much more useful than LMG.

And the last thing: technological improvement!
Models are plastic, whch means light. To make transportatnion easier (and safer) I decided to put a magnet into each base - works just nice so far! 😁

Seeya!

Soviet bunker

Hey,

Last time I mentioned winter was coming?

It's here already so you better find some warm socks before getting into trenches...

Here's little side project: more modelling than gaming piece actually. 

After finishing KV-2 tank I got spare KV-1 turret. Decision was made to turn it into gun emplacement. Some time ago I built dug-in Sherman Firefly, now wanted something more bunker-like. German army has Pantherturm at disposal so tried to build it's soviet version.

All in all it's simple construction:

piece of styrofoam, PVC sheet to cover it plus turret on the top.

The most time consuming part was making plaster texture but the result was worth it.

Here's the result, ready for Operation Typhoon:

KV-2

Winter is coming...

And no, it's nothing related to Game of Thrones. Last month I've almost finished WW2 soviet monster and last week I finally got some artifical snow to get it done properly. I use mostly Vallejo products so I wanted to see Vallajo's snow in action but since is was unavailable I tested Citadel stuff. No complaints about it really:
easy to apply, looks nice dried. Demi approves 👍

So here it is: 52 tons worthy solid 300 points of the coming soviet army.
Those pesky nazis gonna regret stepping into Motherland!

KV-2 (work in progress)

This time heavy piece of soviet w.i.p. rolled in: KV-2 tank.

Looks like it's the beginning of the second Bolt Action army so I can play with my son when he gets little older (by that time I should have enough of painted Soviets for 1000 pts game).
I loved this piece from the very first look: this monster is just so clanky, unproportional and just silly I had to paint it!

I realised until now I painted only like 3 winter themed models so these guys are gonna be white. Dirty white. Whitish...

At this moment I am waiting for the supplies delivery so I can add dirt, snow and more dirt (weathering is just the biggest fun in the painting business), but since model is nearly done I thought I could spill the beans and share the w.i.p. shots from the eastern front:

Fuel truck junk (terrain piece)

 Hey,

This time it's just quick update of project started long time ago : soviet fuel truck.

The model was half-assembled few years back as base for our Necromunda project, sadly I didn't manage to finish it off before we moved to Bolt Action ^^

It's skeleton has been staggering in the bits box 'till last week I decided make something useful of it. It turned out I lost pair of wheels so decision was made to turn it into wreck: 

there's never enough of painted terrain features after all!

Model was roughly assembled, then broken a bit and attached to PVA base. 

Base colose were nice but I screwed the color with overdone use of pigments and oils:
it was supposed to me dusty, but turned out dirty muddy instead... 

Oh well - it's only terrain piece.

All in all I am kinda pleased: despite it's nothing over tabletop  quality it looks just nicey on the battlefield aaand it's one more model crossed off from the list of shame! \o/

Here - with some soviet storm troopers:

Here - pure junk:

Promise to bring something funny next time... ^^

Blood, undead and deep space

Hey again,

Deadcember is nearly over so I am glad I can share a painted deader.
This time it's oldie dire wolf / doom wolf from Warhammer Fantasy (or whatever else it's name is nowdays) range. This one was painted as part of my Mordheim undead warband - which might me finished after wights are painted. Found and painted that is.
The blood I'm sharing is actually for excavation ritual. Hope that works...

Anyway, the model it rather simple:
lump of fur + some teeth and bones but still I had some fun painting it. It's always fun trying to make a piece interesting using mostly washes and pigments.
Still it's more than enough for vampire count's lap dog:

What else?

The last time I've mentioned about painting contest Sherman howitzer was painted for. Since there's still plenty of time 'till the deadline I decided to paint small tank hunters squad from Bolt Action soviet army. I don't use them but that came free with KV-2 tank as tank riders.

Wasn't sure about these models, in fact didn't like them at all at the beginning but after getting them finished and sealed I've changed my mind. They are cool.

I really like the details like the bottle, red stars, caucasian faces etc. Models come with lots of equipment so it's rather easy to change poses to make the models unique.

I also tested using airbrush for painting intantry. Until now I've been using it just for large models. In my case airbrush didn't make work drastically faster, but it was really useful for sculpts which are mostly plain uniforms. Hope you like them.

And there's some more!
Like 2 weeks ago friend of mine brought X-wing game and we had some test playing. I've seen the game like 3 years ago, but back than it didn't impress me much.

This time we had ton of fun with it.
In fact there was so much of it I also got myself a base set (50% promo!!!) and last night infected some members of local Masonc lodge... eee... eee...
Gaming club! Yes, that's right: gaming club...

So I showed the game to some buddies from "the gaming club" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and I'me rather sure the starter box won't be the last word in this matter.
Besides I want to try repainting some ships so it you are into X-wing: stay tuned...

A piece of advice from the beginning pilot: don't drink and fly ^^

Seeya!