From MilesR - DAK Support and... (139 Points)

 Some mobile artillery support for my growing DAK army in 28mm - a SIG 33 Self-Propelled Gun.  The vehicle model is resin and is produced by Blitzkrieg Miniatures and the two crewman are Perry metals.  The full name for the vehicle is a 15cm sIG 33 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampwagen II (Sf) - kind of just rolls of the tongue doesn't it?

 The SIG 33 II, was the second version of the Bison and carried a 150mm gun on a Panzer II chassis.  Well it's really a "stretch" Pamzer II as the chassis had to be lengthened 60cm and a sixth road wheel added to allow the crew to service the gun.

Only 12 were built in 1941 and all were sent to North Africa where they served throughout the campaign until lost in Tunisia.

 Like all Blitzkrieg models, the resin casting is superb and assembly consisted simply of glueing the gun in place.  The only trouble I had with the model (and this is a new issue for me with Blitzkrieg is that the mold release agent was extremely difficult to get off the model - I was it at least four times before I could get a primer coating to stick with out beading up - very strange.

 This big gun should net me 20 points - 15 for the vehicle and 5 for the two half crewman.

 Next up is some more traditional artillery support in the form of a captured Soviet M1938 122mm Howitzer.  The model is a 3D print from Trenchworx and is superb - my meager painting skills do not do it justice.  3D prints are fantastic for hard to get items and I recommend the team at Trenchworx.

 I suspect many of you are blurting out what the heck is a Soviet gun doing in a DAK army.  Well my logic is a bit on the hazy side but here goes.  During the opening months of the Russian campaign the Germans captured massive numbers of Soviet guns - so many that they reconfigured several munitions plants to manufacture ammunition to match the Soviet calibers.  The captured guns saw service on just about every front and a few may have made it to Africa - and maybe is close enough for me.

 Game-wise, the 122mm sits in between Bolt Action's medium howitzer (105mm) and heavy of (150mm) which allows me to proxy either without too much trouble - two guns for the price of one.

 It's a fairly simple paint job but looks good.  The kit comes in 8 parts which are printed in a semi transparent material (not sure what it is).  The un assembled kit can be seen in the second-to-last picture of this post - next to the upper left corner of my cutting mat.

 Next up is an 18mm scale US Monitor tank from All Quiet on the Martian Front.  While not as imposing as the Land Ironclad, it's still a big beast (it's 5 inches long) - think of her as the steam tank equivalent of a Tiger as the model is the same size as a 28mm Tiger tank.

 I helped play test the rules and this was my favorite US unit.  In the dozen or so play test games I participated in as a US player, the Monitor tank wreaked havoc on the Martian foes but never once survived the game - maybe you can love something too much?

 The body and turret are resin casts and the guns,  locomotive arms and commanders hatch are metal.

It's a fun kit to paint up.

 Last night I was able to finish up a few more submissions - all 18mm mini's from All Quiet on the Martian Front.  My lead pile increased materially with the arrival of Waves I and II from the kickstarter.

 A unit of US Heavy Infantry.  These guys where asbestos lined armored suits and are armed with elephant guns.  They're slow but damn hard to dig out of a defensive position.

 The Elephant gun doesn't pose a huge threat to a Tripod but it's more than enough to take down some of the lighter Martian stuff - such as Drones.

 A unit of 3 Martian Drones and some fleeing  civilians which are referred to in the game as "Human Prey".

 The Drones are good scouts and can scramble over rough terrain.  The mount a small heat ray and a light reaper arm for close combat.

 The "Human Prey" are used as objective markers for some scenarios - the Human player needs to cover their escape off the board while the Martian player is, umm, looking to use them as part of their organic farming program.....

 Lastly, a Slaver Tripod.  While smaller than the normal tripod (4 vs 5.5 inches) it's a very important unit as it allows the Martian player to deploy drones and human zombie troops.

 During games the Human side will try to take this unit out as fast as possible because if the Slaver goes down all of the drones and zombies go down also.

 I spent most of last Saturday cleaning up my hobby workshop and storage closet.  I'm a little chagrinned about how much stuff I forgotten I had and how much crap the gaming hobby accumulates.  One of my great fears is the realization that it is only a very fine line that separates a gamer from a hoarder.  All of us run the risk of showing up on one of those horrible TV reality shows about hoarders - beware, you've been warned.

The first picture shows my work space.  On the lower left are a stack of storage trays that have primed miniatures and scratch building supplies. I keep all my basing materials under the workbench and larger scenery items in the plastic tub in the lower right.  You can see my trusty apron draped across my chair.  That's right, I wear an apron and it's saved many a shirt from painting mishaps.

A close up of the bench top.  I tend to keep paints that are in use for a project to the left and all my tools to right (I'm right handed).

Lastly, I had some visitors outside my office while writing up this post.  You can see four of the deer in the picture but there where another 5 of 6 out of the shot.  During the winter they come out of the woods to forage and our shrubbery appears to be the salad bar of choice these days.

My painting production will be somewhat limited over the next two weeks as I'll be in the UK next week and my robotics team has a couple of competitions over the new few weekends.

I hope everyone is off to a happy and productive New Year.







From Curt:
What a wonderful post Miles. There's something for everyone, historical, sci-fi, hobby-desk porn and even the local animatronic wildlife! 

That sIG 33 is a very cool looking vehicle and I like the esoteric addition of a Soviet artillery piece to a Deutsche Afrika Korps force - an interesting bit of history that.

I'm really trying to ignore this 'All's Quiet on the Martian Front' stuff but I'm becoming slowly worn down by seeing all of these cool figures and vehicles. Any game that has a 'human prey' troop classification has my vote. I'm not sure I can hold out for the next two months...

An apron? An APRON!? What a brilliant idea! I can't tell you how many shirts and trousers I've ruined while working at the hobby desk. I do have some grubby jeans and shirts that I often change into but an apron would be so much better AND I would look like a mad scientist when emerging from the confines of the 'nerd centre'! SOLD!

Good one Miles and you even seize first place in the points standings, if only for a few hours...

Bon voyage!