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:

Gorkamorka ork nob

I was actually starting preparing some models for the upcoming historical painting contest but because cutting parts off the frames and assembling winter US infantry is pretty boring, I decided to work on little something, which has been giving me sad look from the back rank of display case for quite a long time... 🥺

There's a story behind this one - just like behind everthing...
A solid while back, when we were still into Necromunda, I was trying to get and paint basic gang for Gorkamorka. The game was dead for a long time already but those days some models were still available on second hand market. I remeber I managed to get placcy ork trukk (with wrecker ball and metal ram) and ork nob - or whatever it's name was in Gorkamorka. Joy, oh joy!!!

Really couldn't wait to strip the paint and start working to give old models new shine 🤗

Sadly back days I used different stuff to wash models and as it turned out shortly - this time I used the wrong one. Plastic trukk got bended and kinda melted, leaving only metal parts stripped properly. The vehicle got ruined so it became reservoir of conversion bits for further projects. Like Dakka-Dakka bot... 🤖

Since there was no Gorkamorka gang anymore and I still had cool model, all I could do was painting it - which I did. I've never played any sort of greenskins so it got display plinth, got some painting and sadly - got forgotten shortly after. Until now. As veteran painter and gamer I am kinda ashamed such a cool sculpt didn't get proper painting so after it's been re-discovered last week decision was made to fix that. Heil Gork and Mork!

It's Gorkamorka range so it got desert themed base and rather bright paintwork contrary to the previous version. In fact it's the second model from GM ork line I painted so far - the previous was sacrificed on COFC mini exchange. Until now I haven't found any practical use for keeping greenskin model so Mister Nob became a souvenir (like Necromunda Cawdor juve), only this time - airplane, or rather: fighta-bommer, goes to the other corner of the planet.

Hope it arrives safe and sound and recipient likes this one.

Scale shot: Dakka-Dakka bot is still the largest orky model I painted so far 😜

And here's the previous, Necronunda styled paintwork (the one and only survived picture I found on the bloggy):

PS. For obvious reason the post has been prepared earlier, but it's been released after the parcel reached the destination. Orkz like surprizezzz 😁

US infantry (winter war) #4

It's winter here (or rather: supposed to be) so it seems to be good idea to paint some more infantrymen for my Bolt Action winter themed force. Especially there's XXIX edition of painting contest on strategie.net forum running, which always works motivating. After dealing with Slaanesh force for Warhammer Fantasy painting some olive green was just breath of fresh air. Plus it's good warm up before painting ordinary G.I.s.

The proper entry for the contest is plastic infantry I got at the beginning of the year. For a long time I prefered metal models over plastics, but Warlord did really great job on this set. I especially like faces which are way better sculpted then faces of most Bolt Action models I have. But last year I also got US headquarters set on Road to Berlin 2025 which is supposed to command winter Bastogne offensive and which you can see below.

Painting scheme is well tested color combo backed with Citadel artifical snow. That white goo makes great contrast to olive and green and therefore infantry looks just more interesting on battlefield. I added magnets to all freshly painted models from Bolt Action range to makes transporting models easier and safer - it's the tip I spotted on Road to Berlin events - definitely recommended!

The HQ set contains officer, medic and forward observer. There's always something to do for additional NCO so there's never enough of them. Medic on the other hand has never paid off during the game but since I painted one quite a long time ago - now I can field a team. Not mentioning the fact model with stretches looks just so cool! Dude with radio is the observer - not sure I am brave enough to call an airstrike on the battlefield, but it can surely work also as an artillery spotter - indirect weapons are always good choice.  The one with white helmet is old spotter from Black Tree Designs range but with head swapped for plastic. It's the third time I am painting this specific model and help me Satan - the last one.

Right - time to start painting some cannon fodder for Battle of the Bulge campaign... 🫡  

As you can see spotter brought dark grimoire instead of military maps:

...which allowed the team to beat gravity!

Necromunda Cawdor juve

I am actually working on some more winter infantry for Bolt Action, but while lining up models for painting - single Cawdor gang juve from oldie Necromunda line appeared, so couldn't resist working on that one first. That brings memories: back days we used to play long Necromunda campaigns on regular basis. During time we were hyped by the game I've managed to collect several gangs - among them Cawdor. 

I've always like those religious freaks, especially after I saw Cawdor gang as Golden Daemon contest entry in WD#218. Despite that I've never managed to paint a single model from that line - until now. No idea why really: each and every mini was unique (just like in other gangs), so painting never gets boring. 

But better late then never after all. Working on this dude was pure pleasure - so much I am actually considering digging out another unpainted gang, so it finally gets proper colors. And because it's kinda special piece I decided to refresh tradition of sending souvenirs - hope it arrives safe and recipient likes it ☺️

In the grim darkness of the far future there are only land mines made of PzKpfw V wheels...

Unknown episode of WW2

Last weekend I had a pleasure to re-enact one of unknown episodes of World War 2:
deadly struggle of my trusty (winter) Americans against Rilian's supercool (desert) Italians...

The idea to face our armies was spawned quite a long time ago actually, but sadly until now we couldn't synchronize the calendars to make thing happen. 

War is mostly logistics after all... 🙄

Since we decided to sactifice whole evening for the match decision was made to prepare larger then standard armies: 1500 points each side. Italian force was early war period army, so I did my best to keep Americans on similar level. Sadly I don't have any vehicles strictly from early war - maybe it's the sign straight from mighty Cosmos to start assembling another force 🤔

The battle was fun - we were playing Key Positions scenario, so once again I was really glad I decided to field solid squads of trusty G.I.s: now tese are double cool thank to Fire and Manoeuvre special rule. During the game we were trying to take some photos, but sadly it's pretty hard to take nice battle report quality pictures in heat of battle and without dedicated lighting. Hammering beers to make crucial strategic decisions easier didn't help much either... 🤪

This was our playground - the buildings were designed by Rilian:

Swarm of saracens advancing towards US positions:

Some supercool Italian toys:

Italian damn scorcher crawling to obliterate squad of G.I.s. with a single, deadly strike... 😖

And war-rugby match: US tanks attacking Italian assault squads at point blank range!

Hope next time I can provide better quality material. But until then - over and out!