There is less than a week to go now, so this may be my final submission, or possibly my penultimate, if I put my nose to the grindstone. This week I present some more troops for my 10th Polish Motorized Brigade, also known as 'The Black Brigade'.
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| 10th Polish Motorized Brigade |
Ten of the figures are from a box of Warlord Games Polish Infantry Squad in Greatcoats that I bought last July at Historicon. After I got back home I decided I would rather have a fourth squad of Black Brigade motorized troops and did a bit of conversion work, carving away the gas mask bag and replacing it with a German style canister, and swapping out the heads that came with Polish helmets for spare German ones. The M35 helmet doesn't have quite the same profile as the M16 helmet, so I added 'ventilation horns' characteristic of the earlier helmet.
The remaining 24 figures are 3D prints using an STL from MyMiniFactory of Polish motorcycle troops wearing the black leather coats that gave the formation the nickname of 'The Black Brigade'. I am generally pleased with the look of the prints, but again there are a few niggling errors - the bayonet looks more like a belt knife, being rather small and mounted too high, the profile of the helmet is off at the back, rising much like a Soviet helmet, and two of the figures have 'carrying straps to nowhere', running over the shoulder, but with nothing suspended from them like a haversack or gas mask canister.
All the figures were mounted on 25mm round bases, and some fine sand was added using PVA glue. They were then primed with Vallejo Black Surface Primer using an airbrush. Painting was done using Vallejo acrylics as follows: faces and hands - Flat Flesh; greatcoats and trousers - Green Brown; haversacks and equipment straps - Green Grey; gas mask canister - Luftwaffe Camo Green; helmets - Brown Violet; belts and ammo pouches - Flat Earth; rifle stocks - Beige Brown; rifle slings - Mahogany Brown; leather coats and metal weapons parts - German Grey; jackboots - Black, bayonets - Gungrey. When all was done, the figures got a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade.
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| Polish motorized infantry squad (front) |
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| Polish motorized infantry squad (side) |
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| Polish motorized infantry squad (back) |
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| Closeup of conversion work (gas mask canister) |
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| Closeup of conversion work (ventilation horns added to helmet) |
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| Polish motorcycle infantry Squad 1 (front) |
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| Polish motorcycle infantry Squad 1 (back) |
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| Polish motorcycle infantry Squad 2 (front) |
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| Polish motorcycle infantry Squad 2 (side) |
Since I got the dismounted motorcycle troops printed, I acquired another STL from the same designer for motorcycles with sidecars and the field car similar to what I painted up last year, but I haven't got them printed yet. A project for AHPC XVI?
The last figure for this post is an officer that came from the box of Wargames Atlantic French Infantry that I painted at the beginning of the challenge. Rather than paint him in Horizon Blue, I have done him in colours appropriate for May 1940. I am going to apply him to what will be my only Circle of Paradise of the Divine Comedy - The Inconstant - which is described in the theme guide as 'something which may try its best but often falls a bit short'. The French army in May 1940 had more men than the Germans, and more tanks, with better armour and firepower than most German tanks, yet when push came to shove, it crumbled in the face of 'Blitzkrieg'. The troops at the ground level fought hard, but the leadership at higher command seemed to be lacking.
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| French Officer - May 1940 (front) |
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| French Officer - May 1940 (back) |
The points being claimed are as follows:
35 x 28mm foot figures @ 5 points = 175 points
1 x Circle of Paradise - The Inconstant = 20 points
Thanks for stopping by.
Sylvain: Another greatly educational and entertaining post from you, Frederick. Your production for this Challenge was stunning, again, and I am very curious to see the picture of your wrap up, next week. I hope I will be able to see you across the table this year. I plan on going to Brandon in May, and maybe you will be there. It was an honor and a privilege to be your minion this year.
Nice work! I particularly like your basing scheme
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