World War Two Soviets

Up this week are some 28mm Soviet Russian infantry of World War Two. The figures came organized into groups so I'm afraid I don't know the manufacturer(s). However, I do think I recognize some Artizan figures.

What you are looking at is a squad of soldiers. They are an eleven man squad with a squad leader, armed with a PPSH-41 smg, a LMG gunner and ammo carrier, and the rest armed with Mosin Nagant rifles. Equipment wise, they are not carrying a whole lot. A bag, a water bottle, and a great coat over the shoulder. A few have an entrenching tool. Thus far they have all been nice figures to paint.

This is part of a much larger commission and I will post more pictures as I get more complete.

I've been pretty lax about posting pictures. I am gong to try and post something every friday, if possible.

Until next time,

Ken

DBA Hittites

I do, occasionally, get to paint a few miniatures for myself in between commissions. While I have many projects for myself, I find that DBA armies suit me best. I do like DBA and enjoy the simplicity of it. Although I am not a great player and lose more often than not. So I suppose the simplicity is in the learning to play, not in how well to play.

Seen here is a Hittite army. (I/24b) The miniatures are 15mm Essex and the army is an Essex army pack. Some people don't like Essex sculpts and have problems with their horses. But I like their line of figures and I really enjoy the horses for the way they paint up. I may not be historically accurate with colors and patterns but it looks good to me. The bases are Litko. I did paint up an extra element of spears as I needed something to do with all the extra chariot riders that were provided.

If you like this army and are interested in purchasing it, I can be persuaded to sell it. Contact me at Ken@bluemoosearts.com .

Until next time...

Ken

15mm WW2 Germans

I get many requests to paint World War Two figures and vehicles. I don't know if it's the " Flames of War" effect or if it's just a very popular period. Of all the nationalities I've paint by far the Germans are the ones I get the most requests for. Maybe it's because of how they performed, historically, or maybe it's because of the interesting vehicles and artillery. Or maybe it's just because in the European theater they were the enemy of just about everyone. For a painter like me, the army was certainly colorful and varied.

Here I am showing Battlefront's miniatures, mostly. The Kublewagon is a Peter Pig piece. All were airbrushed and then the details picked out with a brush.

This commission heads out to Florida, tomorrow. There are many more vehicles in the commission but I thought I would share a few.

Ken

French Napoleonics

For this update things have a decidedly French tone.
And a Napoleonic one at that. I have three Napoleonic commissions going but the first two are both French.


First up are some AB miniatures. They are marked as 15mm although they do seem a bit big compared to other makers.

They are very well sculpted and they paint up well enough. You had better have an eye for detail, however, as the AB figures are very detailed indeed.

The figures showing are from a Legere battalion. Above is an artillery limber team. I have many more units to paint for this commission.

The next French commission was a unit of Middle Guard. I"m not sure of the maker of the figures but they are very well done. Again, these are 15mm and a very nice unit to paint.

Which brings me to a comment. I do like the Napoleonic era. The uniforms are colorful and there is no shortage of nationalities to model. But the figures do take longer to paint and to research. There is also the pressure to "get it right" as there are a great deal of uniform experts who will tell you that "the third regiment of foot traded in their white pom poms for chartreuse ones during the great Slobenia revolt, March of 1809. Of course they quickly switched to lavender when the regiment lost it's eagle, April 15, 1810. " I do the best I can but there comes a time in research when enough is enough and I have to put the paint to the metal. So if you ever decide to retain me for a Napoleonic commission be sure to provide some uniform details. Otherwise you will just have to trust me that I get the uniform right.

Until next time....

Sgt. Majors Miniatures

For this update I am doing a bit of advertising. The pictures in this post are miniatures produced by a company called Sgt. Majors Miniatures.

At the Huzzah convention I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman named Andy Turlington. He has recently acquired the Sgt. Majors Miniatures line and is now importing

Mutineer Miniatures from Scotland. Andy was kind enough to send me a few samples to paint.

The miniatures you see are 20mm World War Two. One figure is a late war German in winter gear. He is wearing a regulation greatcoat with a winter parka over that. The other figure is a US infantryman in a greatcoat as well. I took the liberty of painting him up as a paratrooper. You can barely make out the 101st Screaming Eagle patch on his right shoulder. Both figures paint up well.

Andy will be expanding the line but current offerings include winter Germans, winter US army, Japanese, early war US army, US Marines, and other US pacific war figures. If you game 20mm WW2 I highly recommend Sgt. Majors Miniatures. Here are a few more views....

You can find out more about Sgt. Majors at..

www.sgmm.biz/

Thank you for looking!

Huzzah painting contest

Even more Huzzah painting contest entries....

Next year, if you can manage it, you should plan on attending Huzzah. It was a great convention and I'm sure that next year's event will be even bigger and better. I am already making plans.

You can get more information at www.huzzahcon.com .

Enjoy....

Huzzah painting contest

Two weeks ago I ran a small painting contest at the miniature wargame convention, Huzzah!

The contest was divided into categories of single figure, unit, and vehicle. Here are a few of the entries.

There were more entries than I had planned on but I was able to award each participant with a small prize package.

Enjoy the pictures....

Minimus was tired. For days he and his small detachment of cavalry had rode ahead of the main Roman army. He longed for battle but at every opportunity the barbarians simply turned tail and ran. Soon his thoughts began to wander in weary daydreams. He dreamed of Rome and all of it's pleasures. Wine and the city life. "BARBARIANS!" The cry snapped him back into reality. There, in a clearing was a group of barbarian horsemen. "Troopers deploy" shouted Minimus. Much to his surprise these savages didn't run away but charged head long to battle....



This is a battle report from a game I played against my five year old son. Now, before you deride me for playing against a five year old let me explain a few things. My wife works a lot. And I am the stay at home Dad. Sure, I work a few odd jobs and I run my painting service but a good portion of my time is keeping my son entertained. We play a lot of games like Snakes and Ladders, Sorry, Operation....you get the picture.

In all of these games that I play with my son it turns out he wins most of the time. Sometimes I take it easy on him and sometimes I don't. But he still wins. He is very lucky with the dice and I must admit, he's pretty smart for a five year old too. I recently finished up some cavalry for the Battle of Sabis game that will be run at the Huzzah wargame convention. Go to http://www.huzzahcon.com/ for more information. But I am digressing a bit.

I had this thought that I could run a quick game against my son before mailing the figures to the organizers. I don't normally play with figures that belong to someone else but I thought the group wouldn't mind the figures being used to introduce a young one to wargaming. Yes, I am promoting wargaming to the youth (and getting a bit of revenge for all of my losses in those other games!).

I thought up a quick set of rules he could understand. I gave him a 6 inch ruler and told him each guy could move that far. He got some dice. As he chose the Barbarians to play it was easy. Once figures came into contact his barbarian guys got two attack dice for each figure. A roll of 6 meant they hit their opponent (the very fine Romans played by me). Since the Romans have armor I got two dice to try to save each hit. A roll of six saved. The Romans got only one attack die but the hairy barbarians got only one save die. Each commander (the guys with the swords) got an extra attack die. Pretty simple? Yeah, I think so. Here is how the game went along with a few pictures of the game. ..

Turns 1 through 3 found the two opposing forces deploying. Being the barbarians (and 5 years old) my son just did a headlong charge. I, being the Romans and having the "cough" superior intellect chose to deploy in a much more orderly fashion. Turn 4 found us in contact.

The barbarians started falling first. I killed two in the first contacts. They, in turn, did strike a Roman but his trusty armor saved him. Turn 5 saw the battle become split into four separate combats. On the Roman far left we had 3 Romans troopers facing 2 barbarians. 1 Roman fell but another barbarian did so as well. Next in line were the commanders of both sides. The barbarian commander was hacked down! On the far Roman right we had 4 barbarians vs 2 Romans. 1 Roman died gloriously for Rome.

Turn 6 came and the casualties started to rain upon the battlefield. Unfortunately for me there were more Roman rain drops than barbarian ones. Not to worry, though. On the far left we had wiped out the barbarians while on the far right we were the ones who suffered. I wheeled in my left (including my commander!) and my son turned his forces to meet us.

Turns 7 and 8 found more figures falling. Turn 9 found the Roman commander all alone (eek!) against 2 barbarians. I chose discretion and retreated my commander which caused my son to comment upon my weakness. Rethinking my decision, I turn my commander around for the final battle......


"Horse approaching!" came the cry from the watch commander. Ceasar watched the horse gallop from the woods and approach the camp gates. He could see that there was something tied to the horse but was unable to make out what it was. The gates were opened and the horse allowed to enter. The horse was brought before Ceasar. "My lord, it's Minimus", said one of the officers present. Ceasar gazed upon the dead body of one of his favorite soldiers. Pinned to the body was a crudly written note. "Shall I read it aloud, my lord? questioned a Centurion? Ceasar sadly nodded his approval. A perplexed look came over the Centurion's face as he tried to make sense of the note. Then he started "I'm a winner, see my prize, you're a loser who sits and cries.... "What could this mean, my lord"


Yes, I LOST! But I hope you enjoy the pictures and a laugh or two. Until next time....

Robojumbo

Sometimes, a commission comes in that is not what is expected.
I received an email about a month back from a fellow professional painter who needed a bit of help. His request for price quote to paint a 28mm elephant was met with a bit of excitement from me as I have never painted one this big before. My imagination roamed as I thought of it being perhaps a Ptolemaic elephant complete with crew. Or maybe a Sassanid type with howdah and archers. A Burmese with all those figures hanging on the sides?

Well, as you can see, it was none of those. Although it does have a Persian flair to it. While the elephant wasn't what I expected, it was quite fun to paint and, as the Monty Python troupe would say, "now for something completely different".

Enjoy!

Battlefront Germans

Just thought I would put up a bit more eye candy
for today. All figures are Battlefront 15mm.

I like the Panzerwerfers. These are two more in addition to four

that I've done for the client in the past. He wanted the big blast area in Flames of War.

The Pioneers are from the 78 Sturm Division platoon pack. Oh, and I hand made the sand bags to help the client recognize his Pioneers in battle.

Until next time.....

Ken

Remaining Egyptians out the door...

I think I've finally reached the end of my Egyptian rope. These are the last of an Egyptian commission. These figures will be heading out to their owner tomorrow. But I just wanted everyone to take a last look at them. All are 15mm Chariot figures.

I found myself really liking the way these figures paint up. Some packs don't have very much variation in poses, though.

While I'm just guesstimating, I would say I've painted about 300 Egyptian and allied figures for this army. The owner has the chariots and probably many other figures. I hope he sends me pictures of the army assembled. If he does I will try to post them here for enjoyment of everybody.

Ken