Tanith Treadfethers

Just a quick post for today, here're a few shots of the first Heavy Weapons Squad for the Tanith army I'm working on, a Missile Launcher squad. To represent the Tanith 'treadfethers', I thought I'd use Space Marine Missile Launchers as they're quite a bit shorter and a little more rugged looking than the IG equivalent. I tried to add a bit of extra character into each base. I hope you like them.

More to come later in the week.

Cheers

Dave

FOW - Panzergrenadiers - Part 4

Well, I had hoped to get another post in again last week, but it wasn't to be. Following my last post the East Coast of the US felt the tremors of a 5.8 earthquake (centered near the GF9 office in VA) and the wrath of a Category 3-2-1 Hurricane (Irene). While the first event didn't impact my vacation at all (although I did feel it all the way on the Outer Banks of North Carolina), the second certainly did. It was quite the constant topic of conversation, and as it seemed to be growing in strength and proximity, NC was put on a State of Emergency, and we were under mandatory evacuation orders. This meant we had to leave our relaxing paradise a day early and try to prepare as best we could once back in Baltimore for the storm's arrival there.

There has been quite a lot of chatter about whether or not media outlets like The Weather Channel overhyped the dangers posed by the storm. Personally I felt like they pushed it a bit too far, but what else have you got to work with when you're a 24/7 weather channel?

Regardless of the actual severity in my local area (only one tree downed, no power outages) I know that a lot of my friends suffered various levels of deprivation (some are still without power after two days) and that the only road to our idyllic vacation location was cut completely (washed away), so regardless of the "hype" the storm has had a considerable impact all along the Atlantic coast.

Of course, all that time inside waiting for a tropical storm means quite a lot of painting. These shots are overalls of my three platoons of Panzergrenadiers. I went back to the first platoon you saw and repainted much of the webbing black, following the advice of John from Santa Cruz Warhammer (who buys and sells WW2 kit for a living). I then painted up my second platoon, all with the M40 uniform pants, which were the German Fieldgrey rather than the standard grey I used for most of my first platoon.

For my third platoon I assembled them from a donation gratefully received from my mate Brien. Even at 15mm I could tell these guys were a little different. The pants on some of the models were a little puffier, the boots shorter, and they had quite a bit more webbing. I'm assuming these are Mid-Late War troops, and I painted them to match my second platoon as best I could. Now that I have three platoons painted (the most I'll need for any one game) I figure that when it comes to building actual lists I can field the 1st and 2nd platoons first in my Early War lists, and the 2nd and 3rd platoons first in my Mid-Late War lists. At a push I could field all three in any period (which was always the plan).

To match with my "slightly different" troops from 3rd platoon, I figured I'd paint up the four Steyr Kfz 70 trucks that were a gift from my mate Rob. It seems these trucks were a later introduction to the war effort, meaning it was appropriate for my 1st and 2nd platoons to ride in the Krupp Kfz 70 trucks that saw service throughout the war. Again, at a push I'm sure not many folks would mind me using all the trucks together regardless of period. In addition I painted four Kfz 15 field cars for the command teams, although only three are needed at the moment.

As part of my final platoon I used one of the signposts from the plastic bases sprue to add a little bit of extra character. You can see here I've opted for the signpost that would never really exist, but it shows the potential targets for my army, it can be posted anywhere in Europe between France and Russia, that should be flexible enough ; )

Next time around I hope to have the Company HQ underway (if not completed) along with some photos of actual kit from John.

Take care.

Cheers

Dave

PS. You may also have noticed some activity in my "Hobby" tracker. I decided that if each of these 15mm guys was to count as a model, I couldn't leave it as it was. Back when I painted up the tanks for the Heroes of Armageddon project, I awarded myself "10 models painted" for each tank. I went back and removed all those extra points (counting each tank as a single model), then added back in a point for each FOW model painted (one for infantry, one for trucks, one for tanks etc). I feel much more karmically in balance now.

More Tanith on the way

In my now traditional "blogging from the beach" post, I thought I'd start to get you caught up on some of the Tanith units I'm currently working on. These are part of a long-term, slow-burn commission. You can check out my other posts on the commission by clicking on the Tanith tag in my long list of tags on the right.

As I think I've mentioned before, the intent of this army is to create a "best of" army that will eventually include all the major and almost all of the minor Ghosts characters. They're being put on sandy/high desert bases reminiscent of the long march up to Hinzerhaus (from Only In Death).

Above are Meryn's squad. Meryn is the sergeant up front right, with the Maximini commando head, the camo cloak, and tube charges. To his left is Dalin Criid, acting as his vox-trooper (also sporting the beret that his "father" Caffran is/was famous for. Behind them are a mix of Tanith, Verghast, and Belladon troopers. Quite a few of them have their cloaks folded and draped over their backpacks (many of which are from Secret Weapon).

This is Domor's squad. Sergeant Domor was injured in an early encounter in the life of the regiment, and has since sported bulky augmetic eyes that look a lot like an animal native to Tanith. The Ghosts have since called him Shoggy (the animal he now looks like). Above he also wears his camo cloak unfurled, something that'll become a bit of an indicator you are looking at a sergeant (or officer). On the other end of the front rank is Rhenn Merrt. Wounded by Eldar on Monthax, Merrt's clumsy augmetic jaw has been his defining feature. It has caused no end of problems, including the loss of his marksman lanyard. (Spoiler alert: he may be getting that back in Salvation's Reach).

And finally, here are a few details of the four named characters from this batch. From left to right: 'Shoggy' Domor, Meryn, Merrt (with his famed 0E4TH punishment lasgun), and Dalin Criid.

There may be one more post this week, or I might be too busy relaxing with my family on the beach or poolside. I love the last week of August!

Cheers

Dave

FOW - Panzergrenadiers - Part 3

Time to knock out another quick, lunchtime post about my Germans.

Last night I painted up some examples of how I'm going about painting my Early/Mid/Late War Germans for Flames Of War. In my last post some folks were interested enough in my approach to basing to ask me for more info. Ask and you shall receive...mostly.

Above you can see the three and a bit stages I'm going through to paint up the plastic rubble bases (from Battlefront). These bases are quite cool, in that there's already a lot of detail on them that takes drybrushing well, but not so much stuff that they're threatening to detract from the miniatures. The "multi-hue" approach is something I learned from friends John Shaffer and Jason Buyaki. I typically use it a lot for terrain building, but not so much for mini basing (until now that is).

Step A: Paint the base with Vallejo Charred Brown (similar to GW Scorched Brown).

Step B: Drybrush Vallejo Dark Grey (similar, but a but darker than GW Adeptus Battlegrey). Pick out the things you want to be "red brick" with Vallejo Red Leather (no GW analog) and dust a bit of the Red Leather around the edges.

Step C: I threw in a base that is entirely drybrushed with Red Leather, obviously in the middle of a town square as there is no building debris (although I may bring some in when I put the modes on).

Step D: Finally, put down a light drybrush of Vallejo Pale Sand (also no GW analog).

By varying the colors as you build up the basing, you can add a lot more depth than you would usually get by doing the old "brown, light brown, lighter brown" progression. The light dusting of the Pale Sand at the end helps tie the colors together.

After this I'll be gluing in the finished figs, filling gaps with putty, gluing down some GF9 Super-fine Grit, painting it appropriately, then adding some very small tufts of Silfor Late Summer Buffalo Grass, just like in the pic below. Easy.

While I was at it I figured I'd show you how I'm painting up my infantry. As you can see, most of the guys are being glued to "popsicle/paddle pop/iced lolly/craft" sticks to increase the assembly line speed.

Step A: All the basecoats are applied. All colors are Vallejo unless specified.

• Tunic and pants - German Fieldgrey WWII

• Helmet - German Cam. Dark Green

• Rifle stocks and tool handles - Beige Brown

• Bread bag - Flat Earth

• Pouches and straps - Leather Belt

• Rifle barrel - Gunmetal

• Flesh - Tan

Step B: The entire model is given a wash with a mix of GW Devlan Mud and a thinned Charred Brown.

Step C: Highlights are added to the flesh (Dwarf Skin) and the tunic and pants (German Fieldgrey WWII).

If the wash has been too dark on some other areas, I'll go back and highlight them with the basecolor.

So, there you have it. That's how I paint my Germans.

Now back to work.

Cheers

Dave

FOW - Panzergrenadiers - Part 2

So, I've been quite busy, painting up bunches and bunches of little mens. Thanks for taking my filler post about the awesomeness that is the pending Ogre release in the spirit it was meant. and yes... I'll post some pics of my existing Ogres when the time is right.

Anyway, last night I finished off the infantry for the first of my Panzergrenadier platoons. One command stand (front center), six Rifle/MG stands (rear), one light mortar stand (front left) and an Anti-tank rifle stand (front right). I'm pretty happy with not only the way they turned out, but also with the speed I was able to paint them despite coming to grips with 15mm again.

I used the plastic Rubble bases for all the stands (except the light mortar and anti-tank rifle), which gave me a good start. I painted everything separately (models and bases) then glued the infantry to the stands. This seemed like a great plan at the start, but it did mean that I used quite a bit of putty and additional basing grit to make sure that everything blended seamlessly.

Over the years I've learned that the key to painting up an army efficiently and effectively is to get into a rhythm with it. I'm pretty sure that by the time I'm finished my next platoon, I'll be in that rhythm and ready to share "the secrets" I've learned then.

With all the prone models in the figures I have, I found the guy holding the mortar to be quite amusing, with his butt sticking up in the air, apparently just begging to be shot in it.

In the comments on my last post JMHahn commented on the differences between certain things in different periods of the war (like the SdKfz251/1C and SdKfz251/1D). Check it out here. His comment was pretty much spot on, but it got me to thinking a bit more about my "accuracy" and the reasoning behind this whole project.

The idea for this is not to be "cheap". As we go along you'll see me spend quite a bit of money. Getting the most out of the purchases will be important, just as getting "reasonably" close to accurate will be important. Building a collection that can span all three periods (Early, Mid, and Late War) will mean that sometimes I'll come up against the 1% of folks who not only know their stuff back to front, but also care enough to call me on it.

JMHahn characterized it as being a 97:2:1 split (don't know the difference: know, but don't care: know and care greatly). Possibly because of the folks I know and circles I travel in, I suspect the ratio I'll encounter will be more like 80:17:3. I'm hoping that should I encounter too many in that 3% I can calm them by pointing out things I have done to achieve accuracy, and remind them, we're all just playing a game.

Of course, I also fully expect that at some stage in the not too distant future, I'll find an army that grabs me so much I'll want to build it as accurately as possible, with all the bells and whistles.

And here's a sneak peek at another project I'm working on at the moment. This is Commissar Hark, the next fig in the long-term, ongoing commission to build a Tanith army.

Cheers

Dave