From LORENZO: Wladyslaw Eugeniusz Sikorski (25 points)

So I have finally got some items over the line.

First up is General Sikorski as he is best known. The General was Prime Minister in Exile of Poland during World War 2. He died in an unexplained (assumed technical failure) aircraft crash with his whole family when leaving Gibralter in 1943. This hero of Poland independence in the 20th Century was born in 1881 in what was the Austro Hungarain Empire (it having part of modern Poland), he joined the short lived Polish Legion of 1914 against the Empire before taking part in the Battle of Rarancza 1918 in the Polish Legions where the Polish victory against the Empire was then turned defeat at the hands of the Germans at the battle of Kaniow. Sikorksi lived to join the Polish Army of the Second Polish Republic from 1919 - he became the 9th Prime Minister of Poland in December 1922. Before that the Poles had to fight a war with the Soviets between 1918 and 1921 where Sikorski fought in the three battles. From 1939 after the German invasion of Poland Sikorski became the 29th Prime Minister of the Polish Government(in exile) as well as 3rd General Inspector of the Armed Forces. You can find out a lot more via Wikipedia. The figure I painted was a 2023 freebie issued at the "Other Partizan". You might wonder why General Sikorski appears amongst the likes of more famous Military characters in Partizan's annual giveaways?

Well that seems to be geographical. Partizan hold two excellent wargame shows every year at the Showground in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, UK. During World War 2 Newark along with Scotland saw a concentration of Polish forces training to fight in the war. Biggar and Upper Clydesdale Museum has a section on Polish Soldiers. In Newark there were many Polish Airforce Squadrons based nearby and hence there is an RAF cemetery in Newark. Also General Sikorski was buried here after his death in 1943 until 1993 when his remains were returned to his homeland.

I primed the figure with Vallejo White before a complete coat of MC100 Black Green and then black for boots and uniform markings plus white for uniform piping and markings. Flesh and Hair was MC018 Flat Flesh over painted with Citadel Contrast Colours Nazdreg Yellow.

I assumed I would simply base the General up and job done. Then I thought a square podium would be appropriate and then I found a wood cylinder in my bits and bobs collection (packing from some perfumes no less).

I painted this up in 3 craft paints - dark grey, dry brushed stone grey final dry brush light grey. Having given the cylinder a 2p piece plinth for the figure I decided to finish it all with a square base. And then I did not like it - something was missing. Grass! Another bits and bobs item came to mind - a lid from a candle box.

A short while later and covered in static grass (no I don't use it as it should be) and I had what I wanted. So these are a lot of words for one figure but this guy deserves to be my Famous Person. Points calculation 1x28mm figure = 5pts Famous Character from the library = 20pts 

Sylvain: A very interesting choice for a famous character. You get my seal of approval. And thank you for the interesting description, I will feel less ignorant when I go to bed tonight. I also like how you describe your painting process in your description, there is always something new to learn. Great submission!

 

 

 

From SylvainR: Tray 8 - 6mm Early WW2 Polish Tanks (64 points)

This week's tray contains a battalion of polish tanks. These miniatures sat unpainted in their original boxes for decades. It was one of those side project that never got to fruition... until now.

First, here is a company of "7TP dw". The designation means "7-ton, Polish". These tanks were inspired by the British Vickers 6-ton tank and feature two turrets armed with machine guns. Only 16 were produced, so I guess you see here all but one of the full production. The Company HQ is a 7TP jw because I had only 15 models of the dw variant.

 

All the miniatures are from CinC.

 

I did the typical 3-color camouflage pattern of the early WW2 Polish army.

 

Next is a company of "7TP jw". This version of the 7TP had a 37mm gun with a co-axial machine gun in a single turret and was a much serious treat to the early German panzers. Models are a mix of GHQ and CinC.

 

The groundwork is identical to the one I used for my French army. This tank battalion of 7TP tanks could be complemented with Renault FT-17.

This time, I did a better job at fitting the models in the tracks, so they don't look like they are floating above the ground.

Points claimed:

- 32x 6mm vehicles at 2 points each = 64 points

Total = 64 points

This will also count towards the "Really Little Guys" duel.

Thanks for reading!

Very nice work here Sylvain! I always think of "TP" as standing for "toilet paper" and this may be apropos as the Poles got pretty much "wiped out" in '39. Thank you, I'll be here all week...

But seriously, these look great in their camo and I'm happy to add 64 points to your tally!

Dallas

 

From SylvainR: Tray 7 - 6mm Early WW2 Polish vehicles (82 points)

 

I figured out early in my WW2-6mm project that the only way to ever bring this endeavor to completion was to adopt a very systematic approach, which means that for each army I paint units in a pre-determined order: infantry, support weapons (from smallest to largest), trucks, armored cars, light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, Battalion HQs. So, after completing a battalion of Cossack cavalry as proxy for Polish cavalry, the "plan" required that I got to work on some vehicles for my Polish army.

First, sixteen "Ursus A" trucks. These flat bed vehicles were used to rapidly carry TKS tankettes where they were urgently needed. It also saved on maintenance, since tanks wear off their tracks quickly when operating in the field. The German army also used similar vehicles for some of their lighters tanks, early in the war.

Nothing special here but good ol' trucks. I wander if, next year, I should start a "truck duel"? Hmmm...

These models are from Heroics and Ros and the details are OK.

 Next is a small reconnaissance group of 10 early Polish armored cars. All the models are from GHQ.

The smaller ones are wz-34 with the basic three-color camouflage pattern of the Polish army.

 The larger armored cars are wz-29 and their size is almost double that of their smaller brothers.

I opted for this intriguing camouflage pattern. It kind of evoke painting flames from the hood of a muscle car. Maybe it was intended to make the vehicle look blur when cruising fast.

Lastly, a small company of TKS tankettes. Armed with a 20mm gun, they could cause serious damage to the under-armored early German tanks. All the models are from GHQ.

Again, the standard three-color camo pattern of the Polish Army was used.

Whenever possible, I try to vary the poses of the tanks on their base, which ends up not being much... In the picture, below, the tankette bounces off while speeding cross country.

 Points claimed:

- 41x 6mm vehicles at 2 points each = 82 points

Total = 82 points

This will also count towards the "Really Little Guys" duel.

Thanks for reading!

More great Really Little Guys here Sylvain! Camo on 6mm models is always a challenge but you've carried it off well. Your groundwork is consistently good as well. Nice tray!

Dallas

From SylvainR: Tray 12 - "Polish" 1939 - Infantry Battalion (110 points)

 

This week, I have a tray of Polish Infantry to complement my French Battalion. It's complicated, so you better sit down.

Because of the delays at Royal Mail, I have not yet received the stuff I ordered on December 12th from Heroics and Ros. So I can not complete my French army at this point in time because I need staff cars for the battalions HQs.

So I started working on the next project: Allies Minors, which is an umbrella designation for the Poles, Greeks, Norwegians, Dutches, Belgians, etc. My plan is to use the French army as a core to create these early European armies and then add units that are specific to each nations. The HQs will have little flags to identify the nations.

Polish squads (or sections) of 1939 had 19 soldiers. So instead of creating special rules to simulate this fact, I thought I could simply double the number of squads when the Poles are in play. This means that each of the "companies" you see in the tray will be added to a French company and voilà: a Polish company.

Polish companies have 3 platoons, so one of the French platoons will stay in the tray when I will transform them into Polish platoons. I will also leave in the tray the French "Capitaine" with a képi and replace him with a Polish "Kapitan" wearing a “rogatywka” garrison cap. Each platoon will also have an anti-tank rifle and a light mortar. The bases are practically identical. There were enough leftover French infantrymen to create another infantry battalion.

Here is a close up on a Polish "complement" to be added to a French platoon. This will bring the total to 7 elements per Polish platoon.

Here is a close up on an infantry element and a "weapon" element with one anti-tank rifle (wz.35) and one light mortar (wz. 36).

And a close up of the company HQ.

This will be my last entry for this year's challenge. Over the next months, I will be basing painted miniatures while putting aside unpainted miniatures for next year's challenge. So you will see more French and Polish 6mm minis next year. And maybe early German stuff along with elements for the BEF.

Points Tally:

There are 291 figures in this batch, but about 1/4 were painted already.

220 (6mm figures @1/2 point) = 110 points

 

Thank you for reading!

 

Clever boy reusing French as Poles!  The things that you can get away with at 6mm, although I do like swapping the out the Officer in kepi for the one in the Czapka.  A fine battalion of valiant Poles.  I have a soft spot for the Poles as they fought longer and harder than anyone but got the short end of just about every stick going.  I've been tempted with 20mm Chain of Command so I'll be interested in seeing your 6mm O Group (or whatever rules Curt lets you use) Poles in action. 

You are not alone with your mail issues, as I expect that this has caused me some issues and I expect that same is true for other Canadians.  

It’s been great watching this project unfold Sylvain, I know you put a lot of love into reworking your friends work.  Looking forward to seeing more and playing with your toys.

From ForestP: 50 15mm Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Warsaw 4th Regiment of Line [Glorantha] (120 points)

Good morning from the cloudy middle of the United States! As I sit here under a Winter Weather Advisory for a paltry 2-4" of snow I find myself not in the slightest bit upset because it gives me a perfect excuse to stay in a paint. Truly the definition of the proverbial silver lining of the clouds above me. 

As the miniatures at hand though, I present to you the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 4th Regiment of Line of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; or what could also be known as part of the Polish contingent of the Grand Army of France that fought in the Peninsula. They are one of the most heroic of the Polish units in the Napoleonic Wars, and were loyal to Napoleon even after he lost control of Poland. They were a decorated unit both during and after the Napoleonic Wars and so I shall also claim them for Glorantha as Heroes! As will be my style I will talk you all through a bit of my painting process. 

What I painted were 50 15mm figures from the Battle Honors line of Old Glory 15s aka 19th Century miniatures, specifically from the range BPO3 (Line Infantry Regiments 4, 7, or 9). The pack I had was an older one that I purchased from Campaign Game Miniatures during their recent holiday sale that had 50 miniatures in it, versus the new Battle Honors packs that generally have 24 figures. So, if you're trying to recreate this unit as I did, I suggest you order 2 packs of BPO3 from 19th Cent. Minis. As far as references for images I split between those in John R. Elting's Napoleonic Uniforms Vol. 2 (yes, I know they are quite expensive, but highly worth it for the Napoleonic enthusiast; by the way the link is for used copies of the 1993 edition, you can buy the 2007 re-issue here), Napoleon's Polish Troops (MAA45) by Otto von Pivka of Osprey Books, and Uniformology's "Uniforms of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw 1807-1815 Part 3" painted by Jan Chelminski. Since each source showed uniforms a bit differently I amalgamated the sources to create something that I was satisfied with as a compromise. It's not exact, but I'm not a button-counter, so there.

I actually started painting these miniatures last weekend, and were able to finish them up over the course of painting an hour or two per night over the week. First after cleaning flash I mounted the figures to craft sticks using a hot glue gun (my preference because of the ease of popping them off after painting) I primed the figures in ultra flat white (Krylon Colormaster 5131507) to reduce the need to paint white pants (because efficiency or laziness; take your pick). And with that I was done for the first evening.

That's not too many miniatures, sure this can't be too bad...

Night two I decided to knock out quite a bit of the blocking. Most of my paints were Vallejo Acrylics, so I will provide  reference numbers for those. I started with Dark Blue (70.930) as that would be pretty close to the primary jacket color I've found in my research, then Black (70.950 for the shakos and other hats, and Deep Yellow (70.915) for the jacket lapel/vest. I decided I would finish the night by painting poms and plumes (Deep Yellow again for Voltigeurs, Flat Red [70.957] for Grenadiers, Officers, flag bearers and drummers), cuffs (same Deep Yellow for Voltigeurs and Flat Red for everyone else), epaulets (ibid), and rifles and flag poles painted in Leather Brown (70.871).

Starting to look soldiery.

Poms and Plumes really do help make figures pop.

Night three I moved on to details.  I painted the drums with both Flat Red and Deep Yellow, then painted the Eagles, gorgets, and shako plates in Polished Gold (72.055). Backpacks were painted in Leather Brown, smaller pouches were in Flat Earth (70.983), and bedrolls were painted in Neutral Grey (70.992). Lastly I painted skin in a 3:1 mix of Basic Skin Tone (70.815) and Flat Flesh (70.955).

On night four I wanted to finish up the primary coloring on the figures before moving on to a wash. I mixed up a 3:2 of Gunmetal Grey (70.863) and Chainmail Silver (72.053) for bayonets and rifle barrels and slapped that all over. Swords were painted in pure Chainmail Silver, with officers' sword hilts painted in 1:1 of Tinny Tin (72.060) and Old Gold (70.878), and any other sword hilts in just Tinny Tin. Sheathes were painted in 1:1 Bright Bronze (72.057) and Tinny Tin or Chainmail Silver. Drum heads were painted in thinned Honeycomb (942) from Folk Art paints (a crafting quality paint). I completely forgot that my Voltigeurs needed some green in the plumes and epaulets so I painted on some Flat Green (70.968) appropriately. Lastly I painted crossbelts and other straps in White (70.951), and for some reason I'd totally forgotten to paint hair so I used a 10/0 brush to add a little thinned out Apple Barrel (another crafting-quality paint) Brown Oxide (20511) knowing full well that my wash will ensure any gaps would be covered.

Decent little command element.

They don't look too terrible, right?

On night five I took my wife out to a concert at the symphony, so the only thing I had time to do after we got home was splash on a wash and call it a night. I used Flesh Wash (73.204) all over knowing full well that I would be touching up the figures in the morning to bring out the brighter colors. Also, I didn't mind the fact that the figures overall would look a little "grimier" as I'm of the mind that soldiers get dirty and sweaty (can confirm: I'm a soldier). Uniforms aren't perfectly pressed and cleaned in war. That being said because I was finishing up the wash later into the evening I didn't take any photos. Oh well.

The following day I was (as I am typing this, still am) stuck in a two day-long Zoom training where I don't have to talk much, and don't need to be on camera. So naturally this gave me the opportunity to finish up the figures. So, next I touched up the whites, yellows, metallics, and some areas of black. I also realized I'd forgotten to paint up the drum sticks, so I mixed up a 1:1:1 mix of Folk Art Honey Comb with Apple Barrel Brown Oxide and some water using leftover paint on my wet pallet. My next steps were basing the figures up on Wargames Accessories #10 Metal Base Stands (3/4" x 1") and one Litko 1.25" x 1.25" plywood base for the command stand (these had previously been spray painted green with Design Master Basil [676]).

The next step was putting down some flocking. So I mixed up some PVA glue with Apple Barrel English Ivy Green 20756 in order to cover up the white leftover on the individual figure bases, and slapped it on.

Not pretty, but it does the job.

After that it was swishing the figures around in a BTC Open Flock Mix created by my good friend Doug Kline at Battlefield Terrain Concepts.

This stuff is so nice it almost feels like cheating. Almost...

Et voila, we have two battalions and a command stand!

Regimental command stand.

Close up of 1st Batallion.

The Regiment thus far.

My paint job is what I would describe as just slight better than tabletop quality (meant to be seen from 3' or more away). I'm not very good. More often than not, to be honest, I actually pay someone else to paint my minis nowadays. However, I'm starting to enjoy the process again, even if my miniatures are a bit rough-and-ready, and wouldn't win any contests. I did order some wonderful fabric flags for them from Maverick Models, but they have not arrived. Please accept my humble apologies for sending forward units sans flags.

Anyhow, this is my entry for the week. Not too shabby I hope. In summation, my points are calculated as follows:

50 x 15mm foot @ 2 = 100 points

Glorantha (Outer Ring) bonus = 20 points

Total = 120 points

Until next time where I think I may try for diving headfirst into the Warp Maelstrom that I skirted to travel from Istvaan V to Glorantha. Millsy, what challenge do you lay before me?

Forest

From Millsy:

You're a man after my own heart Forest. I love 15mm Naps and I love the French and their allies even more!

I'm not sure what is more impressive in this post, the miniatures themselves or the depth of detail you put into the words wrapped around them. Either way, its a cracking entry and well worth the 120 points. I've not painted any Battle Honours stuff myself but they look pretty good and your paint job is better than you seem to think yourself. I'd be happy to have them grace my table any day!