Stuff what I been painting

Back to painting 15mm and I’m turning my attention to some tanks. As I like my ww2 Italian campaign (see my other projects!) I’m going to start building up some US forces. In this case, some tanks for the US 1st Armoured Division otherwise known as the Old Ironsides.

This Division was landed at Anzio and spent several months dug in there while the US and British army groups to the South tried to crack Monte Cassino. While they tried to attack out of the beach head, they also had to repel a number of German attacks, most notably from the Herman Goring Division that was across the battle line from them.

During late May 1944, as Monte Cassino finally fell, they did lead the US break out of Anzio.

For my US tanks, I wanted to differentiate them from my British VIII army ones in painting style. My British tanks are muddied and chipped so I’ve opted for a much cleaner look for the US tanks. I’m also going for a dusty look rather than mud – not entirely historical given the heavy rains and mud during the Gothic line fighting but again, something different.

I’m also trying out some enamel paints here for the first time. Everything is base coated using usual acrylics but I’ve then applied an enamel pin wash. I liked this and it was very easy to use despite the smell. So this might become my go to method.

I’ve also used an enamel dust effect. This I found harder to use and get right and I’ve been a little heavy handed in places. I definitely need more practice here.

So rolling off the production line, we have,

2 M4 Sherman 105mm tanks

2 Platoons of 5 M4 Sherman 76mm tanks

1 Platoon of 4 M5 Stuart tanks

Back to painting 15mm and I’m turning my attention to some tanks. As I like my ww2 Italian campaign (see my other projects!) I’m going to start building up some US forces. In this case, some tanks for the US 1st Armoured Division otherwise known as the Old Ironsides.

This Division was landed at Anzio and spent several months dug in there while the US and British army groups to the South tried to crack Monte Cassino. While they tried to attack out of the beach head, they also had to repel a number of German attacks, most notably from the Herman Goring Division that was across the battle line from them.

During late May 1944, as Monte Cassino finally fell, they did lead the US break out of Anzio.

For my US tanks, I wanted to differentiate them from my British VIII army ones in painting style. My British tanks are muddied and chipped so I’ve opted for a much cleaner look for the US tanks. I’m also going for a dusty look rather than mud – not entirely historical given the heavy rains and mud during the Gothic line fighting but again, something different.

I’m also trying out some enamel paints here for the first time. Everything is base coated using usual acrylics but I’ve then applied an enamel pin wash. I liked this and it was very easy to use despite the smell. So this might become my go to method.

I’ve also used an enamel dust effect. This I found harder to use and get right and I’ve been a little heavy handed in places. I definitely need more practice here.

So rolling off the production line, we have,

2 M4 Sherman 105mm tanks

2 Platoons of 5 M4 Sherman 76mm tanks

1 Platoon of 4 M5 Stuart tanks

This is a model that I have had in my collection for years. I base coated them but then stopped as I found it too daunting to take it further. This is a centre piece of an army and I wanted to do it justice, but didn’t have the confidence to take it on. So it went in a box and stayed there.

But you don’t get better if you don’t try. So I gave it a crack and went to work.

I’ve got a lot of grey plastic skaven and high elves sat in a box, a lot of it from the Warhammer starter set. I find painting whole units tiresome (although with the release of Speedpaints, I may have found a solution) but I do enjoy painting single models. One thing I have never tried before is non metallic metal, mainly because I’m not sure that I really understand the concepts of doing it and the angles that light shines from to make it look realistic.

So, after consuming a few youtube videos, I gave it a crack. I selected a skaven warlord to be my trial subject and decided to try this only on the weapon blades and paint the armour in my usual way. Here’s the results.

In the run up to Christmas, I though I’d introduce my 10 year old son to some RPG action. I’m old and never progressed beyond AD&D 2nd edition so I dug out my old rule books and we set about creating some characters. My son opted for a fighter, liking the idea of running around with a Katana to beat up the monsters, who duly got named Yo. I plucked a dwarf cleric who my son named Gromli and I also created an Illusionist/Thief called Veron. This small party of three covers all of the bases.

My son has never played an RPG which is great news for me, as I don’t have to think too hard about coming up with adventures and encounters. The old tropes for me are fresh for him. So, we started our adventuring life in a tavern, as that’s where all good adventures start and off we went.

Just to get to grips with the mechanics, the tavern owner had some problems with some giant rats in the cellar. We duly dispatched these before being asked by the captain of the guard to investigate some strange happenings in a local cave. This all went well and my son really seemed to be enjoying it, really getting to grips with the story and his character, Yo.

Next up, we headed for a ruined temple complex to assist a Knight who was searching for a lost holy hammer. There, we encountered a Rust Monster, which I thought would be amusing to see how my son dealt with this as his sword and armour disintegrates. After losing his sword, he said “So my katana has just turned to rust? And the monster is just eating the rust on the floor?”

“Yes, that’s right.” I replied. “What do you want to do next?”

“I’ll pull out the metal spikes that we bought in the village and throw those on the floor. Does the monster start eating those?”

The little sod worked that one out quickly! But I’ve yet to try a mimic!

My son is quite a visual learner and it quickly became apparent that having some miniatures to focus on while playing would really help his experience. I’m aware that there are some out there who, incorrectly, believe that miniatures should not be used in RPGs. But then why own miniatures if you aren’t going to use them?

To get what we wanted, we hopped over to Hero Forge and got to work. Here’s the models of Gromli, Veron and Yo.

I got my son to work on painting Yo. It’s the first miniature that he has painted fully.

Gromli got a standard paint job, at least for a dwarf cleric.

I thought I would try some OSL for Veron. I’ve never tried this before but I’ve always wanted to. For this attempt, I painted the model in its base colours first, then shaded and highlighted as you would do for any model without OSL.

To create the shadows, I then glazed a midnight blue over the areas that I thought would not be getting light from the torch. After each glaze dried, I added another glaze but slowly reducing the area to the most shadowed parts.

I took the opposite approach for the areas that would receive light from the torch, using a yellow/orange glaze and gradually building this up. I think I may have slightly over done this but overall, I think it looks OK.

And here’s the three merry adventurers together.

Finally managed to get around to finishing my 3 platoons of German PanzerGrenadiers. This lot are different to the previous 3 platoons of Grenadiers in that every team has an MG! More fire power! Have to admit that production line painting this many figures got a little tiresome towards the end but they are done now.

Like the last lost, I have a mix of plastic figures and metal PanzerSchrecks, Panzerfausts and MG teams. Gives a good blend. Unlike the last lot, I’ve based these with a more arid look. This is in line with the rest of my German force which is based around the forces deployed at Monte Cassino and Northern Italy.

I also painted up a star player, in case my offensive line needs a helping hand.

And here’s the whole team, with the coaching staff, lining up for the pre-season calendar shoot.