US infantry (winter war) #3

Another squad trusty G.I.s has just arrived to winter bitten Ardennes, ready to eat their own guts, ask for second and then kick zee Germans back where they came from! 😋 
I am pretty surprised I've managed to paint these guys so fast but apparently taking a break from Bolt Action was just kinda breath of fresh air for the hobby. Looks like there are about 15 or so models to paint / re-paint to fit winter style and I should be able to field 1000 pts fully painted wysiwyg Battle of the Bulge force. Really cannot wait - that artificial snow looks just great contrasting with rather dull olive uniforms.

This squad is kinda different then previously painted models and the test squad. Although I like the sculpts I really don't like metal heads so this time I decided replace original reads with plastic from US set (big thanks to Marcin for the idea and Mirosław for the body parts!). These simple conversions surely aren't my best surgery works, but I really like the final result: new heads look just SO MUCH BETTER then originals! There are still several spare heads in the bits box, so they will surely be used sooner or later. 

I got this squad second hand and sadly didn't notice some barrels were broken off before placing a bid. Oh well - no one should notice that from distance, when models are placed in the crowd. Besides from afar they kinda look like carrying shotguns 😁 

So here's the current state of Snowball Company: 2 squads, some extra weapons + a taxi:

And below: fresh, regular 58 points worth G.I.s (including BAR and SMG):

Next stop: dragon ogre - most probably... 

Chaos hounds

Painting this unit took me much more time then I expected (there are only 6 models ffs!!! 😡) but I'm just so happy I can finally see them in the glass case. In my opinion these are the best sculpts of chaos hounds and I kinda regret I never got opportunity to slap some paint on them back, back days when we used to play Warhammer 5th edition. Looking from perspective must say it was just crappy game, but it had tons of brilliant figures.

Anyway models were painted as part of display Chaos Warriors army project. Because it's Slaanesh army, I am trying to keep colors bright and warm (no matter I like it or not). Such color combo should look really striking on classic grassy green battlefield. Here they are:

While working on the unit I checked the rules for Warhammer 6th edition and realised I cannot have mounted demonettes in core units section. Apparently there was some bug in Battle Scribe or something. Therefore I did some changes and below is what I want to see painted for 2000 pts army (crossed out unit are painted and it's clickable 😊):

Heroes:

- Exalted Daemon [365pts, 4 Casting Dice, 3 Dispel Dice]: General, Level 2

. Hero of Slaanesh: Master of Mortals, Sporofic Musk

- Exalted Champion of Chaos [212pts]: Gaze of the Gods, Hero of Slaanesh, Shield, Steed of Slaanesh, Sword of Might

- Sorcerer of Chaos [310pts, 3 Casting Dice, 2 Dispel Dice]: Chaos Chariot, Hero of Slaanesh, Level 2, Power Familiar

Core:

- Knights of Chaos [318pts]: Champion, 6x Knights of Chaos, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh

. Standard Bearer: Rapturous Standard

- Warriors of Chaos [260pts]: Champion, Musician, Regiment of Slaanesh, Shield, Standard Bearer, 14x Warriors of Chaos

- Chariot of Chaos [130pts]: Chariot of Slaanesh

Special:

- Warhounds of Chaos [36pts]: 6x Warhound

Rare:

- Dragon Ogres [219pts]: 3x Dragon Ogre, Light Armour

- Spawn of Chaos [75pts]: Fiend of Slaanesh

- Spawn of Chaos [75pts]: Fiend of Slaanesh

Total: 2,000pts, 7 Casting Dice, 5 Dispel Dice

I know such army is just more then lazy painting option but I'd really like to place all painted units on a single army base. Placing more models would make whole thing just too crowdy. Now I should ask someone who actually plays Warhammer 6th edition if this force is worthy anything on battlefield 😁 I am pretty sure there will be some minor changes during painting process - dependable what models I can find in the pile of shame (or if I can find them at all).

Back to western front

Last Saturday is turned out I've finally came back to Bolt Action gaming. Operational gap was over 1,5 year wide but I must say rolling out trusty G.I.s against zee nazis was pure fun.

Not only game was fun but I got opportunity to test "Battle of the Bulge" army project in action. Recently painted infantry set was painted for this actually. All in all Americans did good job and that selector is far from overboosted. At this moment I am also waiting for some plastic heads for field surgery and it turns out I need like dozen or so infantrymen repainted winter fashion and I can move to working of vehicles. Looking forward for more field tests - gotta check if M7 Priest is the best support for the boys.

Post without pics doesn't count so here are some random and uncut pics straight from the battlefield:

US infantry (winter war) #2

After dealing with recent Warhammer Slaanesh Vampire I came back to western Europe WW2 front. Back days I was just so tired of painting everything green but now, after taking a break for fantasy stuff, working on Bolt Action stuff is just refreshing.

My trusty U.S. army hasn't found new owner yet, so decision was made to refresh the boys and repaint them in winter fashion. A while back test squad has been done like that and must admit I really like the result. I'm guessing it's the matter of contrast between uniforms and snow. Would really like to see tanks painted long time ago re-done for winter fighting, but that's not gonna happen until I get enough G.I. to field full winter selector army.

While waiting for the undercoat on infantry is dry and ready for painting I decided to adjust one of old Dodge 3/4 transporters to winter conditions. I don't really like the muddy effect on the car, so some field winter camo supported by artificial snow should improve the look.

I think after the second half of the squad is finished I might come back to terrain building. I was hoping to rebuild piece of forest we use during the summer, but somehow it was pretty busy period. Maybe long autumn evenings can provide better atmosphere for such stuff.

Candy Lobster Duke

This summer was a hobby nightmare. During two ghastly and hot months I've managed to paint only 5 models and play a single miniatures game. Back days I would naver say that, but thank Satan the summer is over. Maybe now the hobby can be put on the right tracks.

This one took me much more time then is should which makes me double happy my unit of Chaos Knighs got proper champion. Exalted champion to be more specific. The unit itself is pretty strking (for my sandards) so I wanted the champion to be even more eyecatching. At first the plan was to use original mounted chaos model, but all in all decision was made to practice some microscale surgery on innocent victim dragged out from the pile of shame 👨🏻‍⚕️

The rider is Red Duke vampire upgraded with demonette claw, Archaon's shield and mounted on oldie steed of Slaanesh. Personally I think Red Duke is one of the best vampire models GW ever released, but sadly - I was never able to give it paintwork it deserves. Same is this time but I deeply hope the claw, shield, bald head and candy pony efficiently distract viewers' attention from, mostly dull as hell, armour.

The model was placed on monster-size base, because of it's oversized claw, and unit champion's mutated arm: it was impossible to put these two in the middle of the  unit. But otoh it's exalted champion so it can ride as big as he wishes. Besides I can always field is as daemonic mount, which is much bigger then steed of Slaansh. After all these purples and candy crap I should more then happy bringing some Bolt Action infantry on painting station...

Magic number of Slaanesh is 6 but because of the large base the champion kinda breaks the composition (unit is actually 7 "normal" bases wide). So I think he will be riding between other units  alone and the sixth proper model will be standard bearer. I always wanted to paint pinkish banner anyway...