Matt Varnish's Models painted in 2015 (lame I know) and MORE to do in 2016!!

T-10M, last of the "Heavy Tanks", pulled from Soviet reserves in the early 1990s (aka IS-8)

For the first time ever, I have kept track of models painted over an entire year, 2015. I started off strong with painting TWO ARMIES in late February...though to be fair, half the 15mm Napoleonic French and the tanks for my moderns list were done. Still, not bad.

Then in early march I finished off my Early War Italians, so another 30 or so models, mix of guns, inf and tanks.  My report of it can be found here!

April I did nothing but play ELITE Dangerous May and June I started painting my Historicon British stuff, and then the group got caught up in X Wing.   I did repaint all my X Wing, so count that as 12 models roughly :)

July, the gang got caught up in yet another game, Kings of War, and I busted out all my old WHFB dwarves. and then stopped.. it would be my 3rd dwarf army to paint. I worked on some British stuff though:

Here

America! Part 1

So, this is the start of a journey. A journey to the World War 2 American experience (kind of). I am embarking on Late War Americans.

I was looking to start an Allied Late War force, and wanted to play something "different". Not nessesarily different from the whole meta of Late War, but different from anything anyone locally is playing. That meant armored cars, or recon.

So, with the new books having tons of cool toys for Americans in late war, I hitched my wagon on to the Cavalry Recon train! I plan to run more than the minimum recon requirements, and really play a fast and brittle list. I am artificially restricting myself to ONE (1) Tank Destroyer platoon, to keep the list fun for my opponents to play against (I also don't see the need for more than one to be effective - unless all you want is 2 turn Alpha Strike games).

So, here is the list I have been toying with out of Devils Charge:


Confident Veteran USA Late-War

Headquarters
Cavalry Recon Troop HQ (2nd Cav)
2 M8 armored car

Combat Platoons
Cavalry Recon Platoon (2nd Cav) - 2 Platoons
2x M8 armored car
2x Mortar Jeep
2x Recon Jeep

Cavalry Recon Platoon (2nd Cav) - 2 Platoons
2x M8 armored car
2x Mortar Jeep
2x Recon Jeep

Weapons Platoons
Light Tank Platoon (2nd Cav)
4 M24 Chaffee

Support Platoons
Tank Destroyer Platoon (Veteran)
1x .50 cal Recon Jeep
2x M20 Scout Car
4x M18 Hellcat GMC
Improvised Tank Armour(4)

Armoured Rifle Platoon (Trained)
Confident Trained

1x Cmd Rifle team
5x Rifle team
2x M3 half-track with .50 cal AA MG
3x M3 half-track with AA MG
1x M2 60mm mortar
2x M1919 LMG team
2x  Bazooka team

Armoured Field Artillery Battery (Veteran)
1x Cmd Carbine team
1x Staff team
1x M4 Sherman OP
3x M7 Priest HMC

Company Points: 1655


This is just a jumping off point. The idea is that I get some "basics" that I can then roll into either a dedicated Armored Rifle Company, or Tank Company later on!

This is what I managed to get assembled last night, while hanging out with Matt Varnish and Diragi:

So the ARP and Hellcats are assembled, and as can be seen, I have the urban bases from BattleFront for all my infantry - it's still undecided if I will make the winter urban bases - we'll see.

So stay tuned, I plan to chronicle all the assembly, painting of the army, and any list changes. You may also see the AARs as I learn the play style as I hope to post them as well.

The Cavalry recon units are in the mail, so expect a post in the coming days when I receive them!

Cheers,

CA$H

German Half Tracks

I really had to wrestle with getting down to painting today. Knowing that it was one of the last warm days of summer, I wanted to spend my Sunday outside but I was already 2 days behind on my fairly unforgiving painting schedule.

So instead I set up the table out on the front balcony and went to work. I managed to finish off

the rest of my half tracks belonging to the Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers that I painted up earlier in the week.

I'm not completely happy with how they turned out. The varnishing process ended up highlighting the drybrushing more than I wanted it to and in a perfect world I'd like the camo effect to look more like what Ca$h did in his post, but that would have required an airbrush which I don't have at

the moment. So all told it worked out fine and they'll look decent enough on the table.

I opted for a darker look, painting them the German Armour Dunkleghelb from the FoW paint line and then giving them a decent wash with Gryphonne Sepia from the GW range to highlight the panel lines and bring in some relief on the detail. I then went over some of those lines again with a felt tip pen, I used Germain Feildgray from Vallejo and some Flat Brown for the other camo colour. I enjoyed the red hue to the Vallejo Flat Brown so opted for that instead

of any other kind of brown. I went over the tracks and wheels with black and then highlighted the tracks with Boltgun Metal from GW and then muddied them with a basic brown (Khaki I think). I did the detail work and then drubrushed the entire model with English Uniform to bring up some more detail.

Next week I get to do it all over again as I'll be painting another platoon of Gepanzerte

Panzergrenadiers and the accompanying half tracks.

Lorraine 37L w/ 15cm Howitzers

So, as last week's post stated, this unit rocked vs that Soviet force, single-handedly wiping out/routing a ten-strong unit of T-34's then breaking the back of a depleted infantry unit as it charged my Panzer Grenadiers.. Therefore they earned themselves a good paint job at the top of the painting pile. Here is the entire battery plus 37L objective marker, which was my test model as well.

More pics and text...

WIP: Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie

Well October 16th is fast approaching which means that most of us are furiously painting what minis we need to before the tournament.

Because I opted to make an entirely new Late War German army rather than update my Mid-War British, I've got a lot of painting to do! So

I've mapped out a daily painting schedule which

will have my entire army list and objectives painted with a few days to spare before the tournament.

I've got a lot of vehicles because I went with the motor company in the Fortress Europe book for the Germans, so everything gets halftracks. In my list I have 11 halftracks

between the command platoon and the two Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers platoons that I took as my compulsory choices.

I also opted to take a full group of 5 Panzer IV H, from my buddy Dennis on the understanding I'll replace them and I've rounded out the list with 3 Brummbars and 3 Puma scout cars to harry flanks and artillery lines.

More after the break.

Flammen auf Mittagsmahlzeit (Flames of Lunch)

(the above is for inspirational music as you read the post.. something German for you guys..



Ive been busy with Flames of lunch the last few weeks.. Ill let the pics do the talking

21 Panzer Grenadiers done, with funky camo.

(above) the whole unit, done thanks to Flames of Lunch, where I use my stupid hour lounch at work wisely and paint at my cubicle. 4 x U304(f) Halftracks and a full unit of Gepanzerte Panzer Grenadiers. The tan helmets is because they are veterans of North Africa. The weird camo scheme is actually how they were painted, not like the studio painted them in Earth & Steel. Haven't put markings on the halftracks yet since I don;t know how I'm going to highlight/weather them yet.



Next up afterwards: 6 Tigers, 4 StuG 39H's (PaK40 on a Hotchkiss) and 4 Tiger II's

Late War 21 Panzer WIP

Well, with 8 months of Mid War madness behind us, and Skirmish is in the books, it is time to think to Late War. We are going to be doing another escalation league of some sort, whether it is Infantry Aces or just plain Escalation so people can do whatever, we don;t know, but I have been busy. Above is a tonne of resin before going in the warm water/dish soap bath to get rid of the mold release.



6 PzIV and 7 StuG 39H assault guns, drying.



French halftracks, enough to do Gepanzerte HQ and 2 full units of GPGren's.. not shown: the infantry, that is at work for Flames of Lunch, Season 2



Some toys: an 88 battery, plus 3 french SOMUA Panzerwerfers.

My first 600 points looks like:
Command HQ GPGrenadiers, 2 x panzerfausts 80pts
Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers, 3 sections, Panzer Fausts: 225 pts
Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers, 3 sections, Panzer Fausts: 225 pts
2 Raketen VielfachWerfers (the SOMUA things), 65 points

595 pts.

The Hills are alive..................

With the sound of Brummbars!!

 Base coats complete - detailing remains

Orks in Progress

So, Orks it is. I have officially started an Ork army! So far I have assembled 40 boyz, 3 Deff Copters, a unit of Nobz and a Warboss. I have also started building some custom vehicles for the lads to tour around in. First up is a rokkit buggy I made as a prototype out of a deff copter and some bits - I plan to make a full unit of 3 all similar. Take a look:

click to enlarge

I have also built a trukk, and what may become my first battle wagon.....



The first trukk was built from scraps. I had to build the frame, mounts and all, from plasticard and whatever I can find :

click to enlarge

Last up the the 2nd trukk, which may or may not become a battlewagon, depending on how my attempts to build one using a Bane Blade hull turns out. Stay tuned for the work with the Bane Blade hull!

click to enlarge

PS. I welcome all comments and suggestions for improvement to my creations, I am open to any/all crazy ideas!

CA$H out.

To5G: Changing it Up!!

If everyone around you is making 40k their priority, and 40k is your favourite system, its hard to begin work on a brand new army for another system.

Thus I am changing my To5G army to be Imperial Guard. Specifically my Elysian 77th.

The army was mostly purchased second hand from a friend, but I have to assemble and paint all the air cavalry transports (8 Valkyries, 4 Vendettas and 1 Vulture), so there is a lot of work to be done.

Oh yeah...I am repainting all the infantry too...

Here is the first project...

A Heavy Bolter Section...

Marauder WIP

Here is where my Marauder is at, after about 3 hours work. As can be seen, some fine details are still required, and the basing needs to be done. Should have it all finished up by tomorrow.









I am going for a "mid-campaign" look. Dirty, worn, and too busy fighting to keep things pristine. I like to think I have captured that. I hope the weathering comes out in the photos. I would really appreciate any/all feedback you readers have - Thanks!

CA$H out.

The Cygnar Horde Starts!

Ok so I spent a couple hours on my first Cygnar model last night. He isn't finished but I'm getting a feel for the colours.

Be warned...he isn't anything like the Cygnar colour schemes I have seen...


Let me know what you all think...

Chaos Work in Progress (WIP)

As promised earlier, here are a couple shots of the Obliterator and Sorcerer prior to being primed. I plan to paint the Vindicator tonight while these two dudes are drying.
So here they are: