"Holydays done"

Or started, depends on what you call holidays... anyway for more than two months I have been quite silent here... This did not meant that I stopped being a wargamer, just that I stopped finishing decent posts for the blog... anyway things have returned to almost normal, except the fact that I am submerged by lectures to write... yes... I am entering academia from the other side. I am now a Teaching Fellow at King's college, so new that I just received my draft contract...

anyway beside writing lectures on interesting subjects like Cold War strategic air reconnaissance (including also FICON... yes I said that... Fighter In CONvair!) or Operation Barrel Roll I have been able to get some new painting done.

First thing is a 15mm Obejctive Marker. Eons ago I painted a Panzer IV for a friend. He has a transport accident and the poor tank (a Battlefront resin/metal kit) was damaged. He dumped it on me... and after some thinkering I decided to convert it in an objective/scenic base.

Actually the damage was relatively minor, just part of the turret schurzen and the muzzle brake. But I re-positioned turret and main gun to give it the appearance of an abandoned tank and repainted it in my new technique for German armour. I then did a very simple base using a some sand, sponge, and a a bit of a dried natural bush. The raised road is cork covered in sand, the idea is that the vegetation is growing in the uncared ditch.

I think it turned out quite well.

Better Muromachi period bushi (Part 1)

Well my intrepid readers, I promised better close up when I finished the dismounted Bushi.  Bushi and pictures were indeed produced by Monday but then laziness took precedence... now it is Wednesday and I am finally doing what I promised. Here is a small force from the fictional Clan Ogawa. It has a high ranking Samurai mounted, a lower ranked Bushi on foot, and two retainers. It is a bit more than 100 points in ronin. 

 

 Lord Ogawa has just loosened an arrow!

The two retainers look toward the enemy...

I included also a photos of the back armor.

As usual comments are more than welcome.

P... L... A....

They are coming, I finally decided to start painting my Empress PLA. The command pack is the first effort. After consultations with PLA's staff I have gone for the new grayish-green  digital camo.

Now... while I was painting the PLA platoon commander (the figure equipped with handgun) I felt a certain resemblance (that i messed up with my painting) with a real PLA officer...

well I put Empress in touch with him so...


Of course I would have liked to have also the miniature of another real world PLA officer...

In a far distand land....

... during the middle ages (and also a bit of renaissance...) there were fearsome warriors called Bushi.

In a not too distant land there is a crazy soldiers' painter (バカ兵隊の画家？ not sure of the spelling） that is trying to paint some of them for Ronin. Because I gave all my 28mm Perry to mister Oshiro when I switched to 15mm for the Age of War I decided to not do the same period twice in two different scale and insteast opted for the earlier Muromachi period. Why?

Because I like the armor of the period, I like the history, I can use the Mongol Invasions as backdrop, and because... I discovered I had a bag of Curteys 28mm retainers... (ok there is a reason why I have them... I also know the reason but it is a moot point now...). I quickly ordered a bag of mounted and dismounted samurais from Curteys last month... and started painting. Now I have the retainer done, the mounted samurai done, and two of four dismounted bushi also done! That is a record, from internet to blog in weeks. I hope to have the picture of the dismounted Bushi taken Sunday or Monday at the latest, but for now...

 First you can see the retainers...

and then the mounted Bushi:

 I will show the detail picture in "precedence" order now so first Bushi:

I really like painting Curteys. I know people complain about their heads, but the detail of the armors is excellent and they are a joy to paint.

And then the close ups of the retainers:

 The spears are cast. I really like their blades.

Well for this small Japanese project the pictures have ended. I hope you like them.

For the Glory of Greece!

Long long time ago... in a city far away (London) I bought a box of Warlords (formerly Immortal) miniatures plastic Classical Hoplite, it was 2012 and started painting them quite quickly... then the project, after 26 done entered the dreaded backburner... but recently in my organized drive to clear backlogs and finish armies I started working on them again finishing the box....

They are intended to be the core of a Corinthian army to oppose my Athenians (mainly Victrix) using Armati (with my own adaptation of the "intro" basing scheme). They will soon be joined by their commanders, peltasts (half done) and psiloi (the same). They can also be used for a small army in Hoplomachia (with a single base corresponding to a Lochos) or in the Crusader rules (but the light troops will have to be reinforced in this case). It has been a challenge to paint them but I like the result.

I have tried to give them a lot of individuality. I also think that having painted them in two batches one in London one in Italy  (and with 3 years in the middle) has disjointed a bit the project but still the whole phalanx is quite impressive. I also like the figures a lot. Probably the Victrix ones are a tad nicer, but the Warlord ones are not bad either.

For the shields the first 26 used a mix between hand painted shields and the included decals, the last 16 have LBMS transfers. Well the LBMS are a blast, but require careful trimming and placing because you do not see what you are doing (you apply them reversing them) and the shield is circular. The edges are all handpainted. Ok some details:

These are LBMS shields. The battle scars are a quite nice touch.

  While here you can see the difference between the LBMS and the Warlords decals (second group of 8 hoplites from your left).

Again a mix. On your left a base with LBMS followed by the original decals to the end.

Well for today we are done, I hope you like them!

PLAN Destroyers

Well, another little post...

this time for two 052B PLAN destroyers. They are 1/3000 white strong flexible from Shapeways ("Objects may appear" shop). They are relatively cheap and quite nice. I am getting used and happy with the WSF mediums for miniatures, at least for ships in 1/3000 scale. Once painted the granular aspect is not as bad as people want it to be. The details is also quite good. 

 A view of both ships (Wuhan and Guangzhou). The 051B are area air defence destroyers designed to protect other ships from air threats. They are thus equipped with SA-N-12 missiles as primary system. Thye also carry ASW weapons (including an helicopter) and SSM. They are quite nice ships. I hope to have been able to reproduce the very light gray (almost white) color used by the PLAN.

 Close up of the Guangzhou

From the top, you can see the SSM launchers amidships and the SAM in front of the superstructure.

In a Race for Tunis....

Well,

I was supposed to post more... but I am not dead (yet) and here are some new (and refurbished) things.

Eons ago I bought an US Tank Company and a British Tank Company for 1942 directly from Battlefront New Zealand (before they had an European division... the import duty were awful and the dealings with the customs byzantine at best... robberies at worst...) The Us tank company was quickly painted, but the British are still packed...

Now I am reinforcing the US guys and refurbishing them to have their appearance tied up with my current painting output. In the box there were 2 M4A1 Sherman and I added a third one (Sergeant Jackson). Because now I am tailoring my 15mm units for Chain of Command and IASBM I decided to get them at full platoon strength and added two M4A1 Early form PSC (now I also own Steve Zaloga "Armored Thunderbolt" and Hunnicut's "Sherman" to allow me to wade through Sherman's versions... by the way if you are reading the blog Steve, again thanks for the excellent book you wrote and also for the recommending me Leland Ness books on the IJA!).  As usual the PSC tanks were a pleasure to build and paint.  All tanks are in the marking of the 1st Armored Division (later white  version, used in Tunisia and Italy rather than the earlier yellow ones). One of the tanks also still sport an US Flag as used during Torch Landings to make sure the French were not confusing the US troops for British ones (after what that dumb fat man in charge had done at Mers el Kebir...)

But I have rambled too much... and here you can see the tanks:

From above

 From the Flank

Yes,

I know it is just a couple of pictures but it is a nice 5 tanks platoon, do not you agree?

Über die Scheldte die Maas und den Rhein Stießen die Panzer nach Frankreich hinein

Well,

for those who are not interest in map games or Vietnam... here is an eye candy post based on some of my most recent painted stuff. All plastic! (More or less...). It is early war at the Forward HQ (at least it was until few days ago) and I have almost finished my 1940 (with 1941 additions) Germans.

Let's see what we have...

A platoon of Panzer III

A couple of Panzer II

 A Sdkfz 222

and two Panzer IIIG for Russia...

Except two Panzer III G from Quality Castings (that I use as F due to the fact that their guns are so small and they lack the Rommelkiste) everything is plastic, the III from PSC and the smaller stuff from Zvezda. I have also used the new German stowage set from PSC to add a Gypsy appearance to some tanks. It is an extremely good set, not only is filled with goodies, but Will and his minions also tell you what the bits are, so you can but the right ammo boxes on the tanks. I was realyl happy with the set. Now lets go do the detail views...

First the Gypsies...

One of the Tank commanders is from the stowage sprue. Will gives you several in various poses and differentiated between early, mid, and late...

 Now the little Zvezda 222... probably it is the most ocmplex WW2 kit in their art of tactics range, and it is not a thing you can build blind, still, it is cheap, and once built it paints very well...

The Panzer II are plain, but crisp and nice. I prefer them to my earlier Peter Pig ones.

Back the full platoon. In the first picture you can see the two QC ones, the Commander is battlefront. I have gone for the camoed look that some tanks certainly sported in France. Before you yell at me I am not just basing this on Flames of War but on the excellent monograph "Case Yellow" by Dennis Oliver published by Firefly. 

 Now we move to compare QC (the one ond the left) and PSC (the other three)... The PSC tank commander is fro their Stowage set, excellent and crisp.

 A PSC with added stowage.

To complete this post a shot of my Platoon Commander: