Weekend madness

About this time last year I received a large stack of miniatures.
As I'm currently doing several projects, something dawned on me if I didn't get down, switch off mobile and get painting my pile would be getting larger and larger and I'd effectively have no minis to play ANY of the several games and periods I'm looking at...for awhile longer anyway! Given my current passion for the excellent Blitzkrieg Commander rules, I got down and dirty and, spray can at hand, gave it a good crack. Here's the result of the weekend's endeavors.

First up my Germans, which now include the following completed (ready to roll, that is!) roster
4x Staghound
4x Kubelwagon
1x HQ truck
13x Infantry bases
3x Tiger
4x Panther
3x Elephant
3x captured M10 (I got a few of these in a trade and had too many to use in the US army alone!)
10x StuG III
17x Pz IV
3x Opel trucks
3x SdfKz 151

The Russians thus far feature
4x Gaz jeeps
13x infantry bases
3x Su76
3x JS1
4x M18 (Wolverines I believe...more raided US stuff...no wait it's "lent and leased" right?)
4x M8 Greyhound
4x M8 Scott
12x T34/76
10x T34/85
3x Zis6 quad .50 cal trucks
5x GAZ trucks
4x Katyusha rocket trucks
The US doesn't have any based infantry as yet (it's painted, though!)
Their forces on the table feature
17x Sherman
10x M3 halftracks
5x Pershing
5x Stuart
3x M18
3x M36
9x M10
3x Greyhound
10x Scott
8x Priest


How'd it all come about so quickly given my usually dysmal painting record?
Well I started off undercoating everything with a dark base color (Brunswick Green for US, Mechanical German for Wehrmacht and Dark Brown for the Russians)
The paints are Chinese from the local Chinaman shop, total cost about AU$10. The second picture

Next I the wheels/tracks in dark brown then painted all the models in a lighter shade of the base color (Humblor acrylics and GW base colors) then went over them one more time wasting gallons of paints cleaning the color on my hand to give a very light drybrush. Lastly little details were picked out and then the whole model was gone over in a highlight of very light brown because I like the look of battleworn vehicles. First along the sides then a few flicks in an upward motion from belows to provide mud/rust effect. A little flick across the turret for more dirt/mud then coated in.....hairspray!
Cheap, great sealant, very sticky when first applied but then works a breeze at protecting the figure (and they smell kind of nice, too! LOL!)

The infantry was set up along long sticks with blue tack or self adhesive and painted the base color, touched up with a lighter color, then black for boots and weapons, light brown for pouches then hands (two quick, determined dots), a few arms where the little man had his sleeves up and lots facial detail. All in all I think they came out ok, and look fine en masse.




Lastly, they were based on little 2.5x2cm squares of AU$1 self adhesive builder's tiles, which means when I decide whether I want to give them magnetic or steel bases they're ready for the protective peeling to be done away with and magnetically prepared. I also chose this material because it offers instant texturing of the bases, so after the men were attached I slapped some more dots of glue on them and dipped them in flock for an instant basing effect.
Does the trick just fine for me!



The vehicles cost about AU$250 from C-in-C and the infantry about AU$100 from Adler miniatures. Given the rules were around AU$70 delivered to the door (you can get them off Lulu too, I believe) starting this new project was a bit of an investment but one I was happy to make with winter coming. Also, not shown but will be when done are a few dozen more bases of infantry for the Russians, a dozen or so US and the full range or Adler miniatures codes (MGs, tank killers, pioneers, mortars etc...) which I'd like to base as single games for use in other games, too. BKC uses upgrades for AT infantry weapons but I'd rather have everything on separate bases for Panzer War and other games.
Love their big head, to be honest, as all my figures have a little cartoonish feel to them and the Adlers are gorgeous if you like that sort of thing.

Hope you enjoyed the read, check you soon for a battle report!
S.