Scaling back after the Baneblade...

 Slowly working through lots of things on the desk to make room for the rejuvanation of the last of my Late War Germans in advance of a local Flames competition in May. 

 First, some Panzer IIIs for my EW Germans: 

Markings are still to do, but we'll get there. I'm having a bit of a think about how I want to do that still.  

I had 4 8-rads in my EW collection and I'm unlikely to ever use all of them so I decided a couple could be redone in dunkelgelb:

 

This has opened up the hilarious proposition of doing KG Graebner from the LW Bulge book, a list I never got around to in FoW 3E. I have looked at it in Forces and it might be hilariously terrible. 

I've also getting started on list building for the competition in May and so I'm painting a platoon of Fallschirmjager - I started with the CO and 2iC bases that I could make up from the blister as a test of painting camo smocks: 

 

They're cool. The camo is quite loud in person, but I think it works well in 15mm at tabletop scale. They open up a number of list options for the comp as well as a number for me generally that I haven't been able to run, especially now that LW Dynamic Points have made the D-Day FallschirmStuGs a much more interesting list than it was. 

Next Time

More random stuff, I expect....  

IT IS THE BANEBLADE

My 3D print parts arrived over the weekend so I have enjoyed the satisfaction of finishing the Baneblade build so here she is:

 

The 3D print parts were to turn the a four-sponson build into a two-sponson build with double the guns. The key parts were the quad-heavy flamers and the double mount for the lascannon. I hadn't been able to preview the flamer parts in the STL and, in person, I did not love them. So, some aggressive filing and chopping later and the four GW flamers were trimmed down to fit into the gunshields from the 3D print kit. I played around with the GW kit mounts but decided I liked this one better. 

 There's still a bit of filling to do around the seams on the sponsons but I'll let all the glue on the heavy flamers cure properly and get the sponsons completely assembled before I do that. 

But I tell you something for nothing, she looks SO DAMN COOL. The kitbashed heavy flamers have given me the look I wanted (looking not dissimilar to a Hurricane Bolter) and the double lascannons look badass. 

 Fingers crossed (and a bit of dedicated painting time) I'll get this Guard army ready to go at a club day in March. 

Next Time
Some more Early War armour, finished Rough Riders and some WIP of the Baneblade... 

Going back in time?

 I decided to take a break from painting horses for the far future (because the horse is still a fine weapon in the 41st Millennium) and start clearing the decks so I can get to work on my secret tech for this year's club competition for Flames of War. The assembly is underway but until I've made some serious progress, you're unlikely to find out what that secret tech is... 

So in an effort to make room for the prep to begin, I needed to move the EW from the staging place next to my painting desk to my ACTUAL painting desk. Painting EW armour isn't especially difficult so I thought I should just crack on, platoon by platoon, until it's done. 

This is my Leichte Panzerkompanie HQ - a Panzerbefehlswagen, a Panzer I and two Panzer IICs. Excepting the Panzer IIICs, the rest of the army is either Panzer I or Panzer II hulls. Anything else would be fundamentally incorrect!  

They all still need markings and I think I know what I want to do given that markings in the invasion of France are kind of all over the shop. I'll do that once the army is done so that it's all vaguely coherent.  I am still tempted to put some foliage on them but I'm currently resisting the urge as anti-air defences were simply not a problem the Germans were faced with in this part of the war so that might get left for the Panzerjager Is, the PaK36s and the recce troops. 

I also decided I should paint a gun so herewith my first Luftwaffe 88: 

I have a pair of these, cobbled together from BF scenic objectives.  I appreciate how much more detail there is on the base! 

Next Time

More Early War? Maybe my finished Rough Riders? Maybe the finished Baneblade? Maybe what happens when my ADLG Minoans take on the might of Scotty's Warring States Chinese?  Some or all of that. 

Large lads!

 So while I'm waiting for my 3D print sponsons to get done so I can finish building (and thus paint) the Baneblade, I'm clearing the decks of the other Guard things I need to do. 

 First, moar beef. I picked up a second trio of Bullgryns after the new Guard detachment allows you to throw a Commisar into the squad. The whole image is slightly comedic (and feels a bit circus-conductor-y) but I think they'l lbe a fun squad to run.  

 

Second, I have completed half my Rough Riders. Being able to smash through three at once was quite pleasing and the fact that they've quietly come together as a squad in terms of how they look has made me super happy. 

 

It's a nice encouraging place to be to push through the last five and then have a bit of a think about how they're going to be decorated with decals to finish the whole squad off once they're done.  

Next Time

Potentially taking the Guard out for a run if I can line things up and doing some prep work for my secret tech for this year's club Flames of War competition.