From AndrewE: Late war Germans 28mm (20 Points)

Some more Bolt Action (it's a bit of a theme....) this time some late war Germans.  I decided my Bolt Action German army required a bit more heavy support, so what better than a MG crew and a couple of soldiers carrying Panzerfausts

These models are all from the stunning Warlord plastic range

A couple of the models are in the standard german grey, and a couple in the late war camo smocks, but all with the camoflage helmets.  

The camoflage was painted with a Vallejo middlestone base, with browns and greens sponged on to add the mottled look.  I have found that sponging on camoflage is the best result as it breaks it and does not look like brush strokes.  After this it was a agrax earthshade wash and a highlight of some of the edges.



Nice work Andrew. 20 points it is.

TamsinP

From AndrewE - Millsy's Millpond - Adventures into the back of the cupboard (40 pts)

For the Milsy's Millpond entry (pre-2000 model) I dove into the back of the cupboard looking for the box of random miniatures I knew I had accumulated over the years.  After a bit of digging I found a couple of models perfect for the challenge!  They are both from the 80's (~86 from the stamps).  Next stop - the internet to confirm their age and what they are.  After a bit of digging I found them!

First up - The inquisitor from Talisman Dungeon

 Next was Gandalf from the original Lord of the Rings Collection

Overall, these models where quite a pleasant change to paint up.  A lot smaller (true 28mm) than the current GW miniature range, but with decent quality (if you ignore the slightly long fingers).  They both have the old school pose (hold something in your left hand, point with your right, everything in a single plane).

The inquisitor turned out quite nicely in his red cloak - ready to do some angry reading of The Law.

Gandalf and his grey cloak also turned out nicely.  Big flowing cloaks are really nice to do the shading on as they have lovely folds to help accentuate the light.

Overall - a nice little diversion from the regular WW2 models I find myself usually painting up.
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By Paul:
Some classic figs indeed and both much the better for a little bit of love

I really love the bold colours and pose of the Inquisitor - classic Cultist look.  The world needs more robed and hooded cultists in these dark days. Perhaps his Dark Gods will soon appear to swallow our souls...

From AndrewE - 8th Army Desert Aussies 28mm Reinforcements - (50 Points)

I was lucky enough to have my son come to Canberra with me to bond over playing Bolt Action again.  While he enjoys playing the games, he is not a huge fan of painting (no screen attached...).  So this meant that, in addition to having to paint up some reinforcements for my DAK, I also had to add some reinforcements to my 8th Army desert Aussies.

I had previously painted the majority of this army, but with the expanded points level of CanCon (1,250 instead of the usual 1,000) I had to add a couple of extra units in.  Enter the (2nd for the army) medium mortar.

The models are all from the Perry range, with the addition of the Australian slouch hats for converting the "standard" 8th army models to Aussie.  I used the recommended painting guides from the Flames of War source books using the lovely Vallejo paints.

The bases have come out really nicely with a good contrast and textures.  These were mostly from the Warlord Games desert basing kit.

I also added a few of the Western Desert SAS miniatures from the Perry range to add a little bit of character to the army.  I sprinkled these models in amongst the regular units - mostly as officers, snipers or spotters\observers.

Overall, they performed pretty well at CanCon with a few quality kills for my son.  Also luckily I didn't have to face him or it may have been a very quiet ride home one way or another.

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Nice work here Andrew, great that you can enjoy the hobby with your son as well. I have added a few extra points for the mortar and the work on adding hats etc. Messing around with head gear on miniatures is a real pain, and worth a few points here and there!

GregB

From AndrewE - Afrika Korp 28mm reinforcements - pt2 - 45pts

With a tournament looming, you always end up needing to paint "just a couple more models" and so it was the case for Bolt Action at CanCon 2020 (Australia's biggest Bolt Action tournament).  I had most of the army sorted and done, but needed a couple of tanks and one last rifle toting infantry (something about miscounting models....)

To complement the rest of my army I had painted up two Panzer III G's (in BA rules - light tank with a medium AT gun and some machine guns).  These tanks are nice and small, a little fragile but still pack a decent punch with their main gun.  And are cheap to boot (so you can have 2).  They are also not the usual Panzer III models, so I had to get them as resin kits (instead of some of the beautiful plastic kits that are around these days).  These guys where really nice but a lot harder to find.

The Panzer's were from Blitzkrieg miniatures who make a great range of vehicles and often the harder to find ones.  Making sure you wash them properly for the paint to stick was key.  I used the Army Painter Skeleton Bone undercoat\primer which is a great paint.

The foot slogger was done in the same style as my previous DAK infantry, with strong highlights and bleached bone style base.

Overall, Cancon was a great event as usual with 5 enjoyable games that could have gone either way quiet easily (even the ones I lost!).  

Next stop - Aussies!

Nice looking Mark IIIS Andrew, I like that you've gone off piste on your selection of models.  
What make are the tanks?  I'm sure Challengers will be interested to know the source.  Also any issues with flake gate as per Yarkshire Ken?   45 points it is.  

Don't forget to add labels to your post-  I've tagged this with your name and a few basics.  I believe that CanCon was a few weeks ago - how did the tourney go for you?  Did you give the Desert Rats hell?
PeterD

From AndrewE - Afrika Korp 28mm reinforcements - 58pts

I recently purchased a beautifully painted 28mm WW2 Afrika Korp (DAK) to provide the foil for my Australian Desert army.  One of the challenges of getting an army that is painted by someone else is trying to match their paint scheme and techniques in order to add models to the army.  Looking through a few different articles on how people have painted DAK, I settled on a common theme or style across them all.  I really love the colour scheme of the DAK and find using them quite different to the “standard” Germans that you see (no assault rifles, low SMG count, no panzerfaust\shreks).

To add some flexibility to the selection of models, I have painted up 4 additional DAK with rifles and an additional DAK with the dreaded MG42. 

To add some heavy punch to the army I have also painted a medium artillery piece with 4 crew and spotter.  This adds some much needed HE punch to the list (that is not an 88).

Overall I was happy with how they turned out, and fairly happy with how they matched the existing models.  The only part that I felt I had not quite nailed is the basing – partly as I did not quite get the same material used, but also as it is not a scheme I would have picked on my own.  On the positive, it is good to try something else and get out of a “this is how I always do bases”.

Now to find some of those dastardly Aussies.....

Very nice work on these, the artillery crew are especially cool. Prone figs only score 1/2 points

From Andrew E: 8th Army Tanks and Terrain (65 points)

January brought around Australia’s biggest wargaming convention – CanCon held annually in stinking hot weather in Canberra.  This year I decided to change my usual Australian Army in the Western Desert with some slightly bigger tanks (thanks to their British cousins).  The Australians are a fun army but they only have a limited arsenal to choose from when it comes to vehicles (their heavier tanks never left Australia but hung around waiting for the fight to come to them).

Enter the M3 Grant and the Daimler!

Both of them turned out pretty nicely with a little bit of weathering on them.  Originally I was going to add some weathering powders but after playing around a little decided against it as it just made the models look to messy.  Usually I also add a bit of rust to vehicles but thought that there would not be enough water in the desert to rust!  Instead grime, chipping and bit of diesel spill would do.

In addition to finishing up an army, I decide I would build a table of desert terrain.  These are the first two buildings that are completed.

It took a bit of experimenting to get the look that I was after with the buildings - textured paint then a couple of different sprays finished up with weathering and washes for the grime.

Now just to finish the remaining 8 buildings…
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Very nice work, Andrew - you'll have to tell us who made the vehicles and buildings, they look pretty damned cool!

I've tagged the armour as an entry in the What A Tanker! rounds, since it's the right scale and it's a worthy competitor in the field. 20 points each for them.

The buildings occupy a bit over one standard cube, so on a slightly ad hoc basis, I'm giving them 25 points.

So that's 65 points, well done!

Ev

From AndrewE: Stormtroopers (30 Points)

The first Starwars Legion models I began work on where the trusty old storm troopers. Nothing fancy about them but so iconic in the Starwars universe. I had actually started working on these prior to the Rebel commando’s but finished the commando’s first in time for the bonus challenge

The eagle eyed among you would notice that there is only 6 there. I had started painting the test model prior to the challenge, so I have completed the full squad but not include him (are stormtroopers all guys?) in the challenge.

The paint scheme is pretty basic but ends up coming out quite nicely. A white undercoat, black wash and then touching up the white panels in the centre again (leaving some dirty edges). A little bit time consuming but a nice result.

Now… back to the rebels (and wookies!)

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Well, we have set a precedent here with Wookiees, so remember they come in as 40mm and then some!

Lovely work on these classic Star Wars mooks, they're expendable, so you need a few of the blighters.

That's 30 points for you, sir!

Ev