Necromancy

It's been a while!

Nearly 2 and a half years as it turns out. Why, in these turbulent times am I revisiting my blog? To be honest, I am really not qute sure as to why, but I have decided make an attempt at blogging my hobby progress once again.

And what has the last two years of hobby bought me? Quite a lot as it happens. I have a hobby room set up and this year is seeing the final push to get it all finalised. I hope to complete it soon. However, it has been sufficiently equipped for me to be quite productive.

I have been painting a lot of stuff for myself and also taking on some commission work. New project wise, I started a Warhammer Fantasy Orc and Goblin army last year and there is a 15mm Roman Army in the works. I am also experimenting with other smaller scales and games.

For now, here are some pictures of stuff I have completed recently.

I recently completed three Perry Miniatures battalions of French Line Infantry for a client. Considering the amount of white in these, I was really pleased in how they turned out. The order also included three mounted colonels:

The same client has commission four War of Spanish Succession Battalions in 28mm. Here is the first all done and based, the rest are coming along nicely.

Finely, at the recent Hammerhead show I picked up three 7TP tanks in 20mm for my Polish. These are from Early War Miniatures and I painted them up straight away. With a 37mm gun they should give the Germans pause for thought.

And finally, a unit of 10 Spider Riders for my Orcs and Goblins. 

What's coming up? Well, there are more Bavarians, some geenskins and some 15mm Romans - and that's just the start. I am aiming for a ratio of one mini a day sp stay tuned. 

Polish Medic and AT Rifle

Not a fantastically long post, but part of my catching up with what I have panted recently.

In my quest to work my way through the Battlegroup Polish list, here's two more options for the infantry platoon I am currently building.

A Polish Medic:

I couldn't find much on what uniform the medics wore so I coped out and added a simple armband to mark him out.

Also, an AT Rifle:

A nice simple model and quite a pleasure to paint. Although out of date by mid war, AT rifles could make a mess of the early panzers.

All the miniatures are Early War Miniatures. In order tocomplete the infantry platoon I am still waiting for Capitan games to put there Polish back into production so I don't have too many similiar poses.

More Polish Infantry

Managed to get another 10 standard rifle infantry done for the ongoing Polish army project.

All rifle armed and destined to bulk out the platoon's rifle squads, they are all from Early War Miniatures.

Once more I can't seem to get the photos right, one has come out very dark despite some editing and the models being under two massive daylight lamps! Oh well, you get the idea.

As I previously mentioned an order has fallen though for a large chunk of Polish stuff, which was needed to complete the infantry platoon and HQ. I can get the minituares from elsewhere but I am awaiting a webstore to reopen to put the order in.

What that means is that I have an Bofors AT tank gun with horse limber and an AT rilfe to go and I'm done with what I have. Good job the general back log is big enough to keep my busy!

Polish Light Mortar Support

The Polish forces are continuing to grow, very slowly, but I am getting there.

I have managed to add some light mortar support to my forces. In keeping with the Battlegroup Blitzkrieg force structure, I am trying to work my way through and cover all the options. A platoon can have up to two light mortars so I have bought two and painted two. Each has it's crew of three and then the option for three assitant loaders, which I have also painted up.

Here are the photos (some have come out a little dark for some reason).

Team 1:

Team 2:

These are all from Early War Miniatures. There isn't a great deal of variety in posing, especially amongst the 6 extra loaders, who were all the same pose bar one. I had hoped to get some more minis from another company but that order has fallen through, so it's all Early War Mini's at the moment. I don't suppose it's a major issue as they are an extra that might not see much use. They can always double as infantry in any case.

Next up for these guys are a chunk of ten infantry and a 37mm AT gun with Limber. I am hoping to get the infantry done before the end of the month.

Oh, and if you haven't already give the blog a follow or pop over to my facebook page to give me a like, as there is some news coming soon.....

Polish Preparation

Still trying to refind that elusive mojo that I had a few weeks ago that had me wanting to paint every spare moment I could find. I suspect it's just the normal summer malaise and it hopefully won't last too long. The good news is that I am not totally disinterested like normal, and still getting bits and bobs done - albeit not at the pace I was before.

To that end, the other day I managed to muster a little but of enthusiasm. I put it to god use, and assembled a big bunch of 20mm Early War Miniautres Polish for the next phase of the army:

Two light mortar teams:

A 37mm Bofors anti-tank gun team:

And their horse and limber tow. This is actually a french team but I figured I can get away with it:

A chunk of infantry:

And a final, lonely chap to be a medic:

I'm trying to cover all the options as I go, so each of the weapon teams has 6 gunners. Three will be mounted to each base, and the other three on individual bases. In Battlegroup, each weapon team has three gunners and you can purchase three to make the team more effective. I hope that doing this, I can cover most options in the book.

Just got to find the time and motivation to undercoat and paint the lot.

20mm Polish Army So Far

I recently finished up the last five of my Polish infantry out of the initial orders I had placed. I figured that rather than show you another 5 Polish infantry, I'd do some group shots of what I have so far. Because everyone loves an army shot right?

It's not a large force yet, maybe a third of a platoon, but its got a good cohesive look and sets a good ground work for whats to come. I intend to make this force my focus over the summer, to try to get it playable. To that end, I've got enough stuff either on the pile or on order to complete a HQ element and everything else I need to make a full infantry platoon along with all the support options. Cavalry, vehicles and other stuff will all come later.

Polish Footsloggers

I have recently finished up a couple of sqauds of Polish infantry. I have enjoyed painting these, mainly because of the progress I have made. I very quickly realised that I can finish them in one evening if I work on batches of 5 or 6, and being able to see them done so quickly gave me the impetus to keep going.

The squads are configured for Battlegroup Blitzkrieg rules. A Polish platoon in this rule set is 3 squads of ten riflemen along with another 3 squads of 9 containing an LMG (a polish produced copy of the American BAR I believe). There is also the HQ sqaud and the support options.

Here are the pictures of the squads:

The models are a mixture of Capitan Games and Early War Miniatures. Close up the Early War are larger but at gaming distances, they all blend together ok. I will be buying from both companies to have plenty of variety.

For this project, I still have a long way to go. There are a few more infantry to paint, then the armoured car I got from salute but that is all. I do have a shopping list of stuff I need to complete the infantry platoon in full, which will be the next step once funds allow.  I've got plenty of other things to be getting on with in the mean time.

Ride of the Uhlans!

As those of you who follow my face book page will know, I have not painted cavalry in any scale before. So I have to admit part of my attraction to doing a 1939 Polish force was to push myself and include cavalry, as I like the look of them, just not the idea of painting them.

Since this force is intended for Battlegroup, you can take whole platoons of cavalry for the Poles, including support weapons. I started with a pack of 6, mixed evenly between lancers and sabres, again from Early War miniatures. Support options will come much later, along with dismounted troops.

I found them to be lovely little models, and they painted up simply enough. The riders especially where done in no time at all, whilst I did invest a little more time in the horses (but still only maybe 20 minutes per horse in total).

So here are the picture. I think you'll agree these have come out really well.

And now for the whole squad of 6:

I am very chuffed with these! They have pushed my out of my comfort zone and the results are well worth it. Although there are no more cavalry in the queue currently, I will sooner or later add two more squads at least. I will most probably do a squad of brown horse, then one of black and mix them up from there.

All feedback is appreciated, I hope you like them as much as I do! 

In othre news, got quite a busy work hobby wise. Games of NetEpic and Bolt Action on my gaming table, meaning I am fulfilling one of my key aims this year, as well as a trip to the mighty Salute. That is likely to be a tiring and expensive day out. I will be taking my camera so look out for blog entries on what I see and what I buy, as well as more Poles in the pipe line. 

Polish HMG Team

Just a quick blog post this one. My expanding 20mm Polish have received a little bit of fire support.

This comes in the from of an HMG with crew from Early War miniatures. Good little model this one, painted up quickly and easily. Here's the complete result:

The pack originally came with four crew, but battlegroup only requires three so I have repurposed the outstanding dude into a rifleman. Each platoon can take two of these, so I suspect I will get another in the not too distant future.

I also made a little more effort with the base, adding some tufts and fallen logs. A theme I shall probably carry on with the large bases of my force. Here are some more shots from different angles.

It think you will agree it's turned out quite well. There are plenty more poles coming soon so stay tuned.

First 20mm Polish Infantry

First batch of models completed for Battlegroup, some 20mm Early War Miniatures Polish infantry:

Reasonably pleased with how these have turned out, very quick and easy to do as well, which is always a major bonus. I've got a machine gun and a cavalry squad on the way, here's some sneak peaks:

So once these are done, I have about anohter 20 polish infantry to do. Also in the queue are some more Napoloenics, some modern Brits and that pesky German Puma that I should have finished about 6 months ago. With Salute approaching, I need to try and clear some stuff as I am planning on going a bit mad on the day and getting whatever takes my fancy.

20mm 1939 Polish Test Mini

So it's been a while. A month or more to be precise. I had certainly not intended to leave it so long between blog posts but time and motivation both took a dip in Feb and it was a very unproductive month with no models finished and little progress on other stuff. I did manage to acquire some items though. I've now got the full collection of Battlegroup rules having picked up Kursk via a facebook trading group, as well as pre-ordering the new Battle of the Bulge supplement that should be availabel around Salute.

In that vain, I have finally made a start on my 20mm arimes - in this case a 1939 Polish army. I decided on an early war army after a fun game of the blitzkrieg period using the Battlegroup rules about 6 weeks ago. And I chose Poles as it would give me something different and I would get to use Cavalry.

The down side to Poles is that there are not quite so many companies making them as there are say Germans or Brits. I've found a couple of companies which I have made orders with and the only one to arrive so far is Early War Miniatures. I've purchased a squad of infantry, one of cavalry and a machine gun. I shall be doing a full review of these soon.

In the meantime, as it's a new army I have started with a test mini. It's also my first time painting 20mm, which isn't as close to 28mm as I thought it was.

Here are ther pictures:

I think it came out rather well. It's typical WW2, very drab and unexciting. One thing I am looking forward to is adding some bright pennants to some of the cavalry when I get them done. What I did like was how fast this was, even when having to wait for drying. Batch painting should blast them out.

At the moment I am trying to reign in my purchases so that I can splurge at Salute, which I am very much looking forward to. Only time will tell if this idea works out.

Birthday Swag

Been a little while since I last posted. I've been busy working and had a few days away with the family visiting Legoland and Warwick Castle, which was a nice break away. The main reason we went away was for my brithday, and of course, there were gifts involved. Luckily for me, many of them were hobby related due to having furnished the parents with a Warlord gift list and the wife with an Amazon one. 

Here is what I got towards my various projects:

My Bolt Action British force got another chunk of infantry along with a medium mortar and MMG. This is good news as it means that force is well on its way to being a decent army - I already have a Sherman Firefly waiting to be painted so this will build it up nicely. 

Mr Germans recieved this little diamond:

A Pak40 75mm gun. I like this because it will give me the option to field a good anti tank gun without having to take a tank - something worth experimenting with. 

Final hobby present was this:

I alrady have the core rules and the Overlord book so getting this was a bonus. I think my move into 20mm WW2 will be a new year thing as got a bit much on at the moment and funds only stretch so far. 

Other presents included some various gift cards, cash, a radio control car (which is great fun chasing the four year old daughter around) and I treated myself to a 1600 piece Lego Tie-Fighter, which is taking some work. So overall, a good birthday was had. 

Hobby wise the first four Taliban will be done soon and other things are moving along so there should be a quite a few updates this month. As always, please give my facebook page A Cardboard Fortress a like.

Partizan Show Report and Review

Today was Partizan day! I have never been a massive show goer, but have been to a few recently and I am getting the taste for them. You get to see what's out there, because I imagine quite a lot of people don't have all these companies in their database so it's a nice reminder to see that pretty much what ever you want in the wargaming world someone is likely to be making. The down side of course is that you mentally find yourself starting about a dozen new projects. 

So first off, lets look at the swag:

This guy is the obligatory free mini you seem to get at every show these days. This is apparently some famous local actor as he appeared when he starred as Lawrence of Arabia. He's dressed in some kind of British uniform so I think with a half decent paint job I can use him as a an objective marker for Bolt Action - perhaps an aging British officer trapped behind enenmy lines.

One of the major purchases of the day was this book, for another forthcoming project, 20mm WW2. Should be an interesting read and give me some ideas to pick a force. 

Now these next two I've been considering for some time:

These are Empress Miniatures modern British (i.e Afghanistan) at the top and Taliban at the bottom. These are lovely sculpts, and I have wanted some for an age to try out the Force on Force ruleset I've had a few years. The only downside was nowhere today was selling the rules so I couldn't pick up the Afghan supplement for this game. Soon though. 

And that was it. Aside from a few paints and bases and I didn't get much else. I wanted lots more but managed to resist adding to the painting pile. Special mention to my mate I went with, if he had caved at the Baccus stand I would have too, resulting in me being the owner of several hundred 6mm Napoloenics. I suspect though, that neither of us can resist for too long and this will be another project.

Some pics of some games now:

These are from an excellent Indiana Jones themed game, complete with a giant flying wing:

Next up a rather awesome recreation of the battle of Salamanca in 6mm. I have to say I am not a fan of the hex based terrain (bit boardgamey for me), but 6mm is a big favourite of mine, so I was really impressed by this layout:

I really liked this large scale game as well, using a cold war gone hot theme. There were a lot of tanks on this:

And finally, the battle of Yellow Ford from the "Like a Stone Wall" wargames group. They certainly upped their normal high standards with this board, was really nice to look at. Based around a fight in a bog, the terrain was wonderful. I was offered a chance to play in this game but circumstance conspired against me, however, I managed to drop by and say hello.

So that was Partizan. Another good show. Whilst it's on the smaller side of shows, everyone is very friendly. The only real criticism is the venue, it's a little dark and crowded but I understand they are moving next year. But as a local, twice yearly show, for me, it's perfect. 

As always, my facebook page is here: A Cardboard Fortress