Rubicon Models Panzer III For Bolt Action

I painted this Panzer III a while back for the Cold Wars event. During games it turned out to be very very effective. I know most ww2 enthusiasts love Tigers, but the Panzer III was the workhorse of the DAK, so it fits my image of desert warfare better.

The trees are part of my ongoing terrain upgrade project. I have been slowly amassing a stockpile of high quality terrain in order to have better battlefields. These trees are really easy to make.

• Branches from woodland scenics
• flock of whatever color you like
• static grass in a variety of lighter colors than your flock.
• Brown weathering powder 
• anti-slip sand
• Heavy washer

The trees are dipped in diluted white glue, and then have flock added to them. In the case of the autumn trees, I used orange flock followed by static grass.

The trees are glued to large metal washers for support. The metal of the washer is coated in a mix of sand, brown weathering powder, and glue. Drippings of flock, tree bits, etc are added to the base while wet.

Bolt Action DAK Display Board

I attended Cold Wars up in Pennsylvania this weekend. I came in 2nd place in painting behind Steve's extra cool Australian desert rat force. Kudos to Steve for setting the bar higher.  I decided to put a display board together the day before I had to drive up to Pennsylvania. Our gaming group's Tobruk table has been under design for a while, so I thought it would be a good time to test out some of the techniques. I am really happy with how this came out. It was my first time attempting water, so it was a big leap.

Stuff that worked:

• Magic merlin as a sealant all over the board
• small slate, large slate, and sand along the sides of the road
• first pour of the water effects. 
• Tallarn desert paint with Secret Weapon Burning sands weathering powder. 

Stuff that failed:

• foam at the waters edge (Vallejo Foam, you are out!)

So what about Cold Wars? It was eye opening. It was great. It was full of snow. Hopefully Dave Taylor will post some photos on his blog so everyone can see some of the inspiring tables. Some of the game masters have spent years putting their tables and scenarios together, and it shows. Game Mastered events are just better. The Bolt Action tournament had lovely asymmetrical terrain, but suffered from 40k-styled uber-lists, and weird scenarios.  

 

Cold Wars Convention: Bolt Action Soviet Army in 48 Hours

I've decided to attend Cold Wars, up in Lancaster PA this weekend, and thought it would be fun to complete at Soviet force for Bolt Action. A while ago Steve and I painted the Warlord Games starter set for a friends 30th birthday. For my army, I wanted to see if I could paint the entire force in two days. That force consists of over 120 troops, one tank, and two artillery pieces. Unlike Owen's force, I decided to give Plastic Soldier Company a go, purchasing their troops. The only Warlord piece in the army is the T34.

What you see here is the result. After realizing the PSC miniatures were sub-par, I decide to just paint fast and loose. I figured that if I did not paint them all at once, that virtually any other miniature on my painting backlog would take priority. This was a paint or eBay moment! The models only cost ~$70 for 3 boxes, so it certainly an economical way to build an army.

Almost all of this force was painted by airbrush. I used the experiment to practice my skills. At the end I did use oils to blend the colors together. That was hit and miss based on the softness of the detail. In the end, all 120+ troops were completed in under 24 hours of painting time. I had to wait for the artillery pieces and the tank to come in, but those took an additional 8 hours of work. I met my goal. An entire Soviet Bolt action force painted in under 48 hours. Given that I had 6 of every pose, and the models themselves were not that good, I used a little trick to spice them up. The brightest spots on the models are the white and yellow flowers. I did this to draw the eye away from the unseemly models themselves. I think it might have worked. Normally I would want to highlight the model's face, but here I wanted the model to slip into the background.

So, you've seen the models, these will never win a painting award, or even come close. They will look good massed on the table top preparing to assault German forces. The will provide hours of fun for our gaming groups.

For all the warts, I am pretty pleased with the experiment. Ironically I now have a larger Soviet force than my DAK force. I'll have to solve that problem right after I complete my 101st airborne.

Macharius Heavy Tank

Some days you just have to paint a one off. The model had been languishing in my display cabinet for quite some time. Rust streaks and grime have not been applied yet, but those are coming. The Macharius is one of my favorite models so it is nice having it finally presentable.

Sons of Horus Razorback

For the past couple of years I've taken part in charity army painting projects. Every year I struggle with my light box. So this time around I think I am going to use a new LED setup. One of the boxes waiting for me when I returned from vacation was a little LED light box from South Korea (Foldio Studio). These are the first test shots. The photos above were taken with both LED strips turned on. I know the LEDS are a bit bright, but I liked how it exposed every bit of color modulation. 

Now, I know the razorback turret is not 30k, but I wanted to be able to use my Sons of Horus in regular games of 40k using the space marine codex. I like the idea of thinking of them existing the warp after some compliance action and finding themselves in the 40k timeline. 

One for Owen One for Me (Warlord Panzer IV)

A while back I ordered a Warlord Panzer IV kit from the UK. It arrived missing a few key parts due to some shipping problems, but Warlord's excellent customer service sorted it out quickly and sent me a replacement.

On to painting. The T34 rekindled my love for vibrant armies, though with DAK on my painting table, I focus that into changing up my recipe a tiny bit. Crazy I know, but this time I added yellow to my armor shading. I think that worked out well.

Next up are a Panzer III, and a long barrel Panzer IV. That should give me a nice hodge-podge mix of tanks to use with the motorized infantry. I think tank war might require more than that, but one of them is a Tiger. That has to count for something.

Bolt Action Russian T34 For Owen's Birthday

Steve and I decided to build and paint an army for a friend of ours for his surprise 30th birthday party.  We somehow managed to paint 80 miniatures and a tank. The scale of the task at first seemed overwhelming. We had one week to do this, and while it was crazy and a bit marathon-esque, it was a great experiment.  It is going to be great fun seeing the army on the table top. I know it will bring a lot of enjoyment to Owen. So, whose birthday is next? If we knock out a Bolt Action army every week..... 

Happy Birthday Owen!

While Steve busily paints up his Australians for our North Africa campaign, I've been sneakily painting up the big cats of the desert war.  Flak 88's and Tiger tanks are iconic of the desert campaign, and give the axis force the right flavor.  Allied tanks rightly feared both. What you see in these photos are the base colors, transfers, and oils completed. Weathering powders and chipping have yet to be applied with exception of the rusty exhaust. I mean, who can resist painting a rusty exhaust right?

The tiger is modeled after the actual tiger 112, which fought in Tunisia before being turned into a parts bucket for other vehicles. After the war, parts from that Tiger ended up in Maryland, a quick drive away from Washington. (Greg, you finally get to see that Tiger!)

The flak 88 comes with two trailer sections that will eventually be painted to match.

When it came to basing the Perry Brother's miniatures, I was at a loss. With so many miniatures to base, and the weird double stacked base that needed filling, what I really needed was a colored putty that I could paint on. That would fill the ridge gaps, and provide the base for the powders. The solution ended up being pretty simple

1. Desert Sand putty (dries rather springy) + Steel Legion Drab mixed in to darken it
2. spread the putty all around the base
3. add a few slate rocks
4. liberally douse with SWM Burning Sands weathering power

At some point we are going to have to play a standard from the book bolt action game. The narrative games have been amazing. Now I am curious how the game stands up with equally matched forces. Would I enjoy playing this game in a tournament?

Another experiment worth trying is playing a game of 40K using hybridized Bolt Action rules.  I love 40K, and I have a fun army to paint, but the rules and game durations have made the game more of a marathon than I like. Why not just bolt on the story and miniatures from 40k onto the Bolt Action rule set? It would be fun seeing Space Marines function they way they appear to in the novels. One 10 man squad should be able to take out a platoon of infantry without much difficulty.