Mortarfied

Sorted. 600pts. Ready.
Sorry, in the cabinet rather than on the lawns but it's all you're getting, you ungrateful sods!
The mortars are behind.

And where be the Germans? Blitzkrieg, my arse. Ha, that shut their von trap!

Places, people! Places!

To let you into my plans.

What's my army like? Like so:

HQ

- General + sergeant + standard-bearer

- Second-in-command + soldier

- Komissar with soldier

P1, first squad
- 5 stands o 3 men with rifles
- 3 stand of 4 men + HMG + sergeant
- 1 stand of 3 men - HMG + lieutenant

P3 same

P2 same but with SMGs

These 3 squads make up a company led by:

CPT, a capitain + sergeant + standard-bearer

K, a komissar with a soldier

3 SU122 mobile guns

The army will be finished with mortars

- a capitain + sergeant + soldier

- 2 squads of 3 mortars

In good campany

About time I gave an update on Flames of War.

I've spent yonks leaning over my desk to paint all the figs I've got for this game.



"Here's one I made earlier!" These 2 I did maybe 6 months ago. A good look for winter but these guys are far too similar! For that reason and also due to the lack of winter figs other than basic soldiers, I decided to MIX IT UP! Explained previously.

Presenting you the first finished items.

Me likey.

With my will power at its highest (like the YEaah.. you would get after a Waterstone's pep talk), I got my head down and got stuck into the 2nd squad.

Good start: I painted almost everything in one afternoon/evening. But then, the days went by without progress. I made myself finish them to show Joe (the barbarian) this weekend when we meet again! snif, ehem.

In the end I finished well within the time last wednesday.

So I set myself the challenge of doing the 3rd squad before the weekend!

Dodgy! But upon receiving this on friday:

A light mortar company, I just had to get it sorted!

With painting till 1 in the morning on friday and a few finishing touches at half 6 on saturday before leaving, job done!

So here's ya lot.

And I'm chuffed! Painted figs is still pretty new for me. So long have I faced unpainted piles.

Pics are a bit bit dark, but it's war for fook's sake!

The men are more or less disciplined. Note the bloke having one for the road. Well, it'll probably be his last...

Brave fellows! They advance knowing not fear!

Oh, I see. This explains that. A komissar and his right hand man.

And here's the HQ one. "The first man to retreat shall be shot by this man, comrades!"

My Cossack HQ.

"Get down, fool!"

It's the hardened veteran blisters that really give my army life and character.

Just the mortars to do. I've put 6 in my 600pts list. Pity, all the figs are the same. I'll try to swap some.

Here's my new project. 600pts of Soviets.

What I like about our Russian neighbours is the romance (in the artistique sens you understand, Hugo, Byron, Pushkin. The XIXth century emos) of the harsh climate, the living conditions and the propaganda. I like the power and boldness of communist icons and art.
Russian soldiers, while maybe not being the best fighters, have always been known for their sturdiness. These men suffered far worse conditios of climate and hunger than the rest of europeans. But they shown incredible risiliance against Napoleon, and in the 2 world wars. That inspires me.
So it seemed logical to go for a winter army, in longcoats.
For the army format, waves of men, the soviet image we've come to know, with the terrible losses.
My first purchase was a squad of soldiers in longcoats. There are unfortunately very few figs of this type. Thought to myself "Don't forget the lact of equipment!".
So to represent this along with le chaos in the ranks, men struggling to survive, I bought a squad of regular soldiers and a squad of hardenend veterans, to mix them all.

Before receving them, I undercoated all my winter dudes in an hour and a half. 28 figs. That seement like quite a lot and I was pleased with myself. But now with the others, Yikes!

But the small size and even the Russian armement production style go well with my painting style. Simple but quick. With some embarrassing faults that show up later.

I started by organising each type of fig (normal, winter, veteran) ilteams. Then I randomly re-arranged them.

I spent ages trying to decide on the styles of figs to represent at best the rangs of NCO, lieutenant, co comander, komissar, 2nd in command and general; while at the same time having figs that all the the same for eack rank. You follow? No mean feat! With the various helmets, hats, caps, fur hats and bare heads...
My aim was for brave NCOs, a proud and inspiring co commander, blood-thirsty komissars, 2nd-in command and general with all these qualities.

I'd bought a cossack command for fun and I thought their savage look, fur hats and the sword would be good for the HQ.

I'll give more details when painted.
But here's a pic, with 2 of the 3 SU122 tanks.

To complete my 600pts, I'll need another squad, or heavy support.

I think you'll see a big difference in numbers with BarbarianJ's Krauts. And having the advantage on my side is far from unpleasant.

Tank you very much!

Well, it took some time, but I'm back on the blog with 2 Marder IIIMs, a birthday present from my brother, to join my first German Grenadieren platoon for F.o.W.! I need to re-do the camouflage, as I've since noticed that the actual base colour for summer cammo on Gerry vehicles had a slight green tint, so some Vallejo Middlestone or some such like will be required. I'm taking the opportunity to finally decide on whether to go for Summer or Winter as a theme. The 26.V-G saw its most famous actions at Bastogne, so Winter, and on the Eastern front during the summer... so like a Western Winter.

As it is, the cammo needs some more work anyway, as the base colour should be a lot less visible, with more dominant green and brown strips of paint.

I am rather pleased with the mud effect, though. This was acheived by applying all-purpose D.I.Y. filler, which I then painted in the same colours as the infantry stands, before giving it a coat of gloss varnish, thus obtaining a wet mud appearance... I hope.

Note that as Marders are self-propelled guns, the epaulettes have red piping, rather than the white braiding on the shoulders of the Grenadieren.

As promissed, I have also got back into my E.C.W. project, by doing some G.S. touch-ups before praying the last 1st & 2nd rank pikemen and 8 musketeers with a great can of brown Humbrol undercoat I picked up over Christmas.

Joe the Barbarain, humbly begging your pardon for my tardiness.

Their blood shall flow like vodka

To remind people that BarbarianJ is not the only person using this blog, and to fill up the time between his projects which are as plentiful as they are varied as they are violent, here are some Russians, of the Soviet type for connoisseurs.

I'm starting a modest army. More on that story later.
Here are 2 SU122 self-propeled guns.

Bit of a problem on opening the blister pack.
But with a bit of this...

And a spot of that...

Sorted.

Painting may commence.
Some black.

One green.

2 green.

Mud. LOTS of mud.

Nice motivational slogans. Here, "For the Motherland" and "Onwards to Berlin".

Just the red stars left to do. Or buy...

Shiny shiny!

Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. As many a wargamer before me, I have succumbed to the illness that haunts us all; shiny object syndrome. Whilst working on my Pike & Shotte troops, I started painting The Green Knight, until a new chimera entered my den... 2 F.o.W. German Marder III Ms and a battery of 3 Nebelwerfen (=""smoke thrower"), knicknamed 'Screeming Meemies' by the Allies. Fortunately, Marders are fairly quick to assemble and paint, so I should be back on track with my other two W.i.P. by the end of the weekend. Natürlich, some photos will also be up soon.

A German WWII Marder IIIM