Back to 25mm WW2 figures again.

This afternoon/evening has been very productive. I don't know why but I have been painting and basing like a mad man and finished off quite a lot. Everything here has been in my unpainted pile for several months/years, so it's been quite good to get some of it done.

First up is a Warlord Blitzkrieg German infantry platoon, less the officer and mortar as I don't have them. All told it's 30 figures, all plastic and all finished.

They are organised in 3 squads of 10 men, each with an NCO with MP40 SMG, a 2 man MG34 team and 7 riflemen. I really like these figures, they are nice to put together and paint up well even if you slap it on like I do. These have even had the helmet decals and NCOs rank badges added. They may well end up on eBay though, I am not doing 28mm WW2 anymore...........

I could keep them to do a Operation Sealion game though, using my VBCW figures as opposition.......

I could.......

Couldn't I?

Hmm, do I order a command pack, 5cm mortar and AT rifle team then, just to complete the platoon?

Decisions decisions. ;-)

Yes, I know I have no willpower thank you.



I also finished off a conversion of an old pre-Warlord Bolt Action Universal Carrier. I always liked the fact that the Germans used pretty much everything they captured from small arms up to warships.


I decided to make a 3.7cm PaK 36 auf Selbstfahrlafette Bren(e), which is a long and complicated way of saying "We put a PaK 36 on the captured carrier". I got the PaK from the Rubicon Sd251 kit I made a while ago, the crew are cut up Bolt Action German grenadiers and the stowage is from my bits box and a mix of plastic and resin items.

I think it came out pretty nicely, with the crew looking a bit more dynamic than the ones in the Bolt Action kit you can buy. It's another "Should I keep it or sell it" conundrum though.

 I reckon I'll keep it as it is a one off and I like how it turned out. I can always blag it into a Sealion game as captured after Dunkirk and used against it's former owners.

Last but by no means least, I also finished off some winterised Germans I made up with Russian greatcoat figures from the Winter Russians box by Bolt Action. A simple job of using German heads, arms, weapons and webbing and voila, a 10 man squad of troops fighting in the snow. The snow is simply a PVA and bicarbonate of soda mix, applied quite thickly and left to dry. I think it works and it is much cheaper than buying any sort of special snow basing material.



So that's it for now again. I am off to do something less productive so have fun folks.

Last few 15mm Cold War for now, plus a few ladies

I have nearly finished the last of my Cold War forces that I have here, the last few bits are painted up now and that's the lot...........until I get some more. 

Firstly we have a minor conversion to an Armies Army YPR-765 PRI. To give my small Dutch force a bit of long ranged anti-tank capability I decided to add some missile firepower.  A bit of research and I discovered the Dutch converted some YPRs with the TOW launcher turret from the US M901 ITV. At the time I looked nobody made this in 15mm(more on this later) so a bit of modelling was needed. Luckily Team Yankee do the ITV as a plastic add-on for their M113 kit and you can buy a sprue of bits individually. One quick order later and a sprue duly arrived. The modification is simplicity itself, just switch the IFV turret for the ITV turret and it's job done. 

Slap some paint on, add some netting and here it is, ready to support my Dutch troops against the Soviet horde.

As is typically the way with these things, just after I had stuck all the bits together and started slapping the paint on I received an email from TSS/QRF. Amongst their new releases was, you've guessed it, the YPR-765 PRAT! Typical. Ah well, I've made it now and I am happy with how it came out.

In addition the the YPR I used a spare M577 to make up an aid-station objective/jump off point marker. A few mixed figures from my Dutch, ANZAC and US spares and here it is. Its also my first attempt at the US MERDEC camoflage, hopefully it came out ok. 

Finally I ordered another Fv432 from Armies Army to carry my Milan teams around, as well as a few figures to make the teams up to 3 men each. Here they are in all their DPM glory, that's my BAOR force done, until I get some Scorpion/Scimitars for them anyway.

The last pictures are of a Dead Man's Hand gang of "Daughters of the West". These are for a nice chap in Germany for his wife to use against his gangs. Nice figures that made a change from all the Cold War stuff I have painted lately. If you read this Carsten, I hope your wife likes them and doesn't beat you too badly.

Anyway, that's it for now. I have nearly finished a few more things so there may be another update soonish.

Take care folks and I hope your dice are good to you.