Sniper Team

 

I had found the perfect wintery sniper team for my Soviet Army at 'Bad Squiddo Games' and with the rank and file of my Soviet force now complete it was time to paint up this specialist team. In essence there was very little painting to be done as I had already followed the same method employed for the snowsuited section, namely dark grey spray primer, airbrushed Vallejo Grey surface primer, a lighter shade, then a final blast with an airbrush white to help bring out the highlights.

A few details were picked out and then there they sat, on the empty base, and waited, and waited, and waited. I knew that I wanted to do something a little special with this base, but just couldn't decide on what and then Amazon's almighty algorithm delivered the inspiration - 'Osprey Publishing' Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941 - 45!*

*Seriously though, does anyone else find the way that they seem to know exactly what you are looking for unnerving?

The heroine on the cover is considered the greatest female sniper of all time, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. With 309 confirmed kills, Pvt. Pavlichenko was attached to the 25th Infantry Division "V.I. Chapayev" as a sniper and soon found herself in combat near Odessa in August 1941. When the Germans gained control of Odessa, the Independent Maritime Army was pulled out and sent to Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula of the Black Sea. In the fierce fighting, Pavlichenko was wounded by mortar shells in June 1942. Her sniping skills were considered invaluable and so was ordered to board a submarine and evacuate Sevastopol. Such was her fame that Lyudmila was sent on motivational and fund raising tours, she was even received by President and Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House!

Using the cover artwork as inspiration, I set about making my own homage to this heroine of the Soviet Union.  Keeping the same size base as the prone figures in the rest of the army was probably an unnecessary aesthetic choice as it seriously restricted the area that I had to work with, but I imagined that the team would be hunkered down and close together, so persevered anyway. 

A foray into the loft unearthed some plastic brick building pieces from a Mars Attacks Kickstarter I had backed and after some 'offering up' I fell on a likely piece that had a broken window section in it. I hacked, pulled and snipped it to form a corner of a bombed out building and then set about texturing the base with little bricks, torn cork matting and a variety of textured pastes to create a nest for my sniper team. Getting them to fit took some tinkering and so decided to leave a space and paint the base first and then add the miniatures knowing that I could disguise any gaps with the snow.

In retrospect, I probably went a little too far with the drybrusing, but was trying to match the warm greys of the cover art whilst still making the miniatures the star attraction and yes, I realise making the sniper team stand out goes against all aspects of their fieldcraft, but I felt it looked good! With the team then glued into place the whole thing was give a coat of gloss varnish, before a spray with a matt varnish.**

**Note to self, remember to thin the gloss coat next time.

Those that have been patiently following the progress of this project will know that I had yet to decide on a snow solution for my wintery army.  I had a couple of options in mind, but in the end have gone for 'AK Interactive Terrain'.  There is a mind boggling array of products in their range, mostly aimed at the serious hobby painter and they are certainly not the cheapest, but I have to say that I am delighted with the results.  The initial effect is created with 'Snow Acrylic (AK8011)', a white acrylic medium that will hold small peaks and obviously coloured white.  While this is still wet, I sprinkled on 'Snow Microballons (AK8010)' which give it that freshly fallen powdered snow look.  Now I have no doubt that there would be cheaper alternatives involving cornstarch and PVA glue, but this worked for me as I could do a small base without any waste then put the lids back on and store ready for the next group.

  

  

  

What should have been a very quick 'win' has taken a little more time than I was expecting, but ultimately a rewarding project that has led to a greater understanding of some of the history of the conflict and a viable solution for the snow basing of the whole army.

"You're not hunting him... he's hunting you."

My flirtation with second the Indochina War was always going to be a lighthearted affair.  It was fuelled by the cinematic gems depicting the conflict rather than a desire to see history retold on the tabletop.  That's not to say that I intended to belittle the sacrifices made by all combatants in what was a complex and enduring campaign, the ongoing question about how soon is too soon with regards to gaming modern warfare is a debate for another time, I was simply looking for an entertaining period to explore in miniature.  With that in mind it was inevitable that a John Ramboesque miniature, or two as it happens, would be found.  

Rambo, First Blood had, initially, passed me by, I was only twelve when it received its cinematic release, but I remember Rambo, First Blood part II causing a bit of a stir amongst us pimply faced chaps at school.  Still a little too fresh faced to persuade the cinema intendant that I was old enough to witness the murderous intent of this one man army on the big screen, I had to resign myself to the book, which was a frightfully good page turner.  Now I'm not here to tell you it was a quality novel worthy of critical acclaim, but it did suffice until a well worn VHS copy of the film managed to make its way to the senior common room.  

All this is a painfully obtuse way of me saying that Rambo, as a character, was a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.  I couldn't be further removed from the muscle bound warrior of the silver screen and yet I could sit quite happily and root for him as bullets seemingly 'ping' off pectorals as he lays waste to great swathes of steaming jungle.  This butcher of bad guys whose dialogue was barely decipherable as he mutters through his lines was truly mesmerising to young Master Awdry.

So where did I find my miniature versions of this often maligned veteran?  Well in cinematic order, John of First Blood was from 'Studio Miniatures' where as John II is from 'The Assault Group'.  Both great fun to do, although I always struggle when painting acres of flesh as in the case of the, 'The Assault Group's' bare chested Rambo.  With belts of ammunition suitably slung and brandishing the now legendary M60* general purpose machine gun, you can almost hear the brass shell cases cascading on the ground as our hero sallies forth to save the day.  Hopefully one more 'Nam themed post to come, before a complete change as I unearth some long forgotten draft posts.

*Not to be confused with the Manchester Outer Ring Road.

Flight of the Storch

Those regular readers of this most humble of weblogs will be only too aware of my butterfly like approach to projects.  Seemingly unable to focus on anything for any given period of time, projects have been known to stutter and stall just when they were coming to fruition.  Now in my defence, I would suggest that this is just a mechanism that allows me to keep my imagination and creativity ticking over, but it would appear that even before the Castle build is complete, I seem to have sauntered off to consider other elements!

There is no doubt that that this project is all about the Castle; the fact that we are building a game around it a secondary thought.  That said we are, at some point, going to need to consider what else is going to be on the table?  We know that the forests surrounding the Castle will have loot markers strategically positioned, along with some artillery pieces, but what else?

It is no secret that I like a popular culture cross over.  Movie related miniatures, a nod to a piece of literature or poetry are all fair game in my hobbying world.  So when I was imagining what might make an interesting feature for the dense forest, I couldn't help but consider the likes of Alistair MacLean's oeuvre or the adventures of a certain Dr. Jones.  One of MacLean's most successful tales, Where Eagles Dare, went on to be made into a splendid film, staring the likes of Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.  The opening scene tracks the flight of a Junkers Ju 52 through the Austrian mountains as the drum beat intensifies, all very stirring stuff and another personal favourite of Young Master Awdry.

I started to wonder if we could have our own plane?  A crashed Fiesler Storch perhaps, its cargo of lost Nazi gold spilling out everywhere, possibly the last resting place of the Ark of the Covenant?  Now clearly such a fabrication has no place in the original story of Schloss Itter, but who would begrudge me a spot of artistic licence?  This posed the nest question, where does one find a 1/56 scale Fiesler Storch?  Well the answer is you design and build your own, of course.  I have made mention of James' skill in using the computer to draw out his ideas, all the time considering the construction of any given piece.  When the muse grips him, James is unstoppable and appears happiest when his is designing and building, it matters not what.  Within a day of a throwaway conversation a Mark I prototype was drawn and cut, with modifications starting as soon as the construction process began.  

I watched, giddy as a schoolboy, as James tinkered around, adding balsa wood to create a more substantial shape to the angular frame, lifting it beyond your average MDF kit to something much more special.  Cocktail sticks and tissue paper were applied and the kit was starting to take shape, just the small matter of painting it remained.

I should point out at this juncture that the images you see here are all of James' progress.  This is a side project that has really caught his imagination and he has continued to re-visit the original drawing adding seats, propeller and addressing other construction issues as they arise.  Painting saw him fire up the trusty airbrush and even give the plane some camouflage patterns, before turning his attention to the smaller details.

All was progressing well and as my thoughts started to turn to 'crashing' one of James' kits we inadvertently stumbled across a small problem.  It would appear that not remaining on task is contagious and that my affliction had been passed on to James!  As I popped into the the studios earlier this week, I was greeted with a cheery, "Watcha, look what I've done."  There before me was the caracas of a 1/56 scale Hurricane!  James, clearly unable to sleep, had completed the drawing overnight and had already started to assemble his latest construction.  What was staggering was the size of the Hurricane next to the Storch, it just appeared too small.  James, convinced that the drawing of the Hurricane was correct reached for a steel rule to check the measurements.  Sure enough, the fighter was spot on and that was when the penny dropped, it must be the Storch.  Sure enough the scale was slightly out, not a huge disaster, but would now require some rescaling to bring it back in line.   

This has been a wonderful diversion and I can't wait to get my hands on one of these kits, just need to persuade James not to reenact the 'Battle of Britain' in 1/56 scale!

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Dr. Aphra

Maligning the galaxy’s favourite, but oh so rogue, Archaeologist as a mercenary, might be considered unjust, but when none other than Lord Vader hires you to assist with acquiring his own droid army, following the disastrous battle of Yavin, then it is surely a difficult epithet to dislodge?

For those that are perhaps unfamiliar with the good Doctor’s work, Aphra is an expanded universe character that shares a time line with Darth Vader and was introduced through Marvel Comic’s Darth Vader publications.  I am quite a recent convert to the Expanded Universe, I used to like my Star Wars unadulterated, as pure as the driven snow on the ice fields of Hoth, if you will, but have found Dr. Aphra to be one of the more entertaining additions.  Ably assisted by two homicidal droids, BT-1 and 0-0-0, Dr. Aphra has an unnerving habit of being in all the wrong places with all the wrong people, at always the wrong time.  In short, Aphra’s exploits are often hugely entertaining, if a little bit silly.

  The droids, BT-1 and 0-0-0, are plastic sculpts from Imperial Assault by ‘Fantasy Flight Games’, and were relatively straightforward, lots of metallic paint and washes, but that in itself can often present its own challenges.  Dr. Aphra, however, was a completely different experience.  She is a custom print from Skull Forge Studios, released under the alias Professor Moxi,  and I had mine 3D Printed by those good people at 'Shapeways' in the Netherlands.

Now from the start, let’s be clear about this, having one’s armies printed in this matter is economically unviable at this point.  The individual pieces are breathtakingly expensive, but I have long been curious as to process and it is interesting to see just how far this technology has come and just what it is already capable of. 

The availability of software means that creative chaps can produce truly unique or previously unavailable items that can then be delivered to your door.  A word of warning though, as what started as a curious investigation has soon developed into a fully fledge obsession, with new ‘must have’ designs appearing all the time!

Some of the more reasonably priced elements that can be found on eBay have the tell tale lines as each layer of printed material is built up.  Shapeways however are using the latest industry standard machines and with their grand prix ‘smoothest fine detail’ can produce prints that are really starting to hold their own against cast versions.

Back to my entry and given that Aphra has been scaled for the more heroic Star Wars: Legion in mind there was quite a height discrepancy between Aphra and her loyal bodyguards. At present, I have resorted to doubling up the droids bases to try and sell the illusion, not perfect, but I am quite forgiving when it comes to such matters. 

When it came to painting Dr. Aphra, I simply resorted to the comic book colours, but couldn’t bring myself to attempt the circuit board tattoo that she sports. There was very little difference painting a 3D print as opposed to cast sculpt and so expect more impulse buys I the near future.

What's that coming over the hill...

...is it a Monster?

Way back in the mists of time, March 2018 to be exact, the entries for final bonus round of the ‘VIII Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge’ were posted.  Monstrous was the theme and wonderful opportunity to present a veritable cornucopia of monstrous beings – the legendary Universal Monsters!

From the silver screen’s infancy there has been a desire to shock and scare the audience out of their seats.  Drawing inspiration from literary greats such as H.G. Wells, Victor Hugo and Mary Shelley, Universal Studios created a stable of monsters that would terrify and delight in equal measure.  Such was their popularity that the long running franchises are still revisited today.

My tribute to this golden age of cinema hail from ‘Studio Miniatures’ and were yet another of their Kickstarters that I supported.  A couple of them required assembly, namely ‘Frank’ and his wife, but the rest were lovely, crisp, single piece castings and an absolute joy to paint; although the preponderance of black did strain my eyes a little!  I had, albeit briefly considered painting these in greyscale, but my experience of this is rather limited and if memory serves me correctly it is a lot harder to pull off than you might imagine.

The question now is what to do with them?  Well these may yet prove the perfect villains for a certain crew of mystery solving teenage detectives, perhaps just the ticket for a 7TV crew?  Either way, I am thrilled to have them completed and were a fitting final theme for last year's challenge.

A Wind in the Willows.

Regular readers to '28mm Victorian Warfare' might remember the last time that I was seduced by the look of the rather splendid trees from '4 Ground', the mighty 'Oak Tree' being a case in point.  You might also remember that I had decided that, whilst very lovely, they were a tad pricey and one was better off building from scratch.  Well it will come as no surprise to many to hear that I have succumbed again! 

Now in my defence, I was at 'Salute', I had counted up my pocket money and knowing that I was looking to create a river system what would be a better accompaniment that a weeping willow?  Let me tell you, a weeping willow and three smaller willows, that's what!  Before you could say, Toad, Badger, Mole and Ratty, they were paid for and in the swag bag.  

As this summer's 'Witchfinder' game grew closer, I finally got around to basing them up and I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to incorporate some of the characters from Kenneth Grahame's much loved classic.  Badger and Ratty are from 'Warbases', whilst Toad was a lucky find on the 'Master Crafted Miniatures' stand.*  Sadly Mole is not represented, I did toy with the idea of creating a couple of molehills on the final base, but time was against me and so he remains conspicuous by his absence.

*Not sure what I am going to do with the tortoises that I picked up at the same time, but I am sure they will come in handy!

So has all this changed my opinion on the pricing of the trees?  Well not really, they are very expensive for what you get, not even a pre-painted base this time!  That said, they are very nicely crafted and their distinctive shape and particularly the size of the larger models really does add something to the table.  So whilst I shall continue to whinge about the hefty price tag, I am thrilled to have them in my collection.

“It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing.”

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows