From Tom C: US Airborne [High Adventure] (44 points)

Hello again, and a belated happy new year, if I painted faster then it would be more socially acceptable! Many of you have been a lot quicker with your output and it's great to see, thanks everyone.

What should be a simple entry in theory today, when I thought of what fit the bill for daring and risk-taking, who better than the American Airborne? Although, there is a fantastic quotation about a potential recruit listening to the recruiting officer talk of jumping out of aircraft with understandable scepticism until he heard there was hazard pay, so adventure might perhaps be put to one side... either way, no further introduction needed from me for these, I'm sure lots of us have seen Band of Brothers!

So, here we have about half the minimum size of a unit of US paratroopers which can be fielded in Flames of War, all 15mm Battlefront plastics from the Hit the Beach starter. I paired them with the plastic urban bases which Battlefront also do, thinking of Normandy towns and villages and when I have the full platoon together I'll integrate them properly. I've not painted any of the Flames of War teams before and I'm sure I'm not the first to scratch my head over the best way to do this but I thought I'd rather paint them separately, blu-tac-ing them onto Vallejo bottles. Now I'm here though I think I need to go back for extra groundwork, perhaps something I should have foreseen!

I also need to go back and do the base rims... I only did the individual paras!

The sculpts themselves have highs and lows, I think the actual machinery of producing them has, amongst other things, left the machine gunners looking like Quasimodo in French Foreign Legion service (a film I would watch). When it all works though, there are some great face expressions and details in there. I am quizzical however as to why only one of the mortar team is covering his ears, the other two are waiting quite patiently and so might find themselves joined by another metal sculpt I have to hand instead.

Quasimodo ringing a different tune now.

For the actual painting, I opted for the Normandy uniform as I felt it offered a little more flexibility. Battlefront's own Colours of War guide reckoned Olive Drab for this, surely a typo as they also reckoned this for the helmets. I used a mix of Green Grey and Khaki as recommended by a different Battlefront guide which seemed more appropriate, with Green Grey for the webbing. With hindsight, the Market Garden M1943 uniform would probably make for a better paint scheme, offering a bit more contrast with the accoutrements. It took a reasonable amount of time with the Nuln Oil lining the boundaries to try and improve the definition, hindsight would probably also have me doing this right after the zenithal prime: I liked the brighter colours and ease of coverage but the shading was a lot and I honestly feel like more work would be worth the investment but tempus fugit! 

The mortar team had their brickwork rendered,
the bazooka boys have to make do with my freehand.

In terms of scoring, we're in 15mm, with 11 upright/kneeling infantry (22 points) and 2 prone legionnaires (2 points) and the shoehorn hopefully strikes to lever high-altitude parajumping into enemy territory into High Adventure for another 20 points. 

The sights are now set on Historical Drama...

...but when will the snail get there?

Minion Phil: Hey Tom, nice tidy work on these US paras for some high adventure! These Battlefront plastics came out great, our method seems very sound and has given a nice tidy result, even if it was a bit of a faff. I don't think I saw any quasimodo-like figures in there. 

I suppose an issue with those urban bases is how to hid the small base the model is mounted on, I wonder if a little dark wash would tone down that lighter grey to match the finish on the multi base? 

44 points for your tally!