WIP: GIs, Airborne and more Fallschirmjagers

OK. It's been awhile since my last post. So to fill that gap here's a few snaps of my current work in progress dry brushed and ready for color. First are GIs that I'm repainting for my buddy Willy. He and I scored on some pre-painted 28mm. So if you happen to know which manufacturer these GIs are can you please drop me an email. I suspect that they're BTD but someone puh-lease confirm. At any rate, I've never painted Americans before so I offered to repaint these 10 figs for him. We haven't figured out what brand they are but definitely good sculpts that will paint up nicely.

Standard GIs

Standard GIs

Airborne

Airborne

More Germans on the way to supplement my Fallschirmjagers that Black Tree Design finally sent me. I still have a few coming but for now...

MG42 Team

 BMW Troopen are coming. Slowly but surely.

More PanzerGrenadiers

Oh boy! I just got some new toys to supplement my existing PanzerGrenadier force. A few days ago I acquired 2 packs of BMW w/sidecars with troops and

4 SdKfz 251 HT

Phong, who I got these from, is a great painter and a long time gamer with an awesome collection. Lucky for me he was divesting himself of some excellent 28mm WW2 minis. Always on the lookout for items that'll fit in the Eastern Front, his stuff will be a welcome addition and a compliment to mine.  

I'll eventually change the paint scheme of these half-tracks to gray, not to mention acquiring some gunners and crew in the near future. But for now they're pretty enough to go on my table for some posing and gaming along with my newly painted pzgrenadiers.

Here's the command 251/10

"Nur Bewegung bringt den Sieg."

(Only movement brings victory.)

Heinz Guderian

Coming soon: More Bugs! Look for it.

PanzerGrenadiers

Just finished a small unit of ten 28mm PanzerGrenadiers from Battle Honors for use with Nuts! They'll supplement my Fallschirmjagers nicely while duking it out with Strelkovy. A bit smaller than Black Tree Design. However the poses are pretty good aside from the obligatory prone figures and grenade throwing hero.

Urban Ruins for Nuts!

My Urban Ruins table set up for Nuts! Greyish building ruins by me, red building ruin by Justo aka Uncle Greasy, streets courtesy of Willy aka LTL Dad and dead trees provided by Mother Nature via my yard. 

This really isn't a full on batrep, just a top line summary of the events with pix. :D

Since I'm a relative noob to Nuts! (meaning that I've only played a few games) I'm always in dire need of practice and any excuse for gaming is all that I need to set up a table. Besides I've got to play with my newly completed Strelkovy and Fallschirmjagers. 

Willy ran the Ruskies. 

While I got the Fallschirmjagers (FJs).

We played a few scenarios where my FJs were holed up in a building while his Russians came on the table to clear out the hated Fascisti invaders. Bottom line: more Russians were needed as in another squad of 10 AND 2 less FJs. Or a single T34/76 or SU76 for added support would've given the Soviets a fighting chance.

4 of the FJs were armed with FG42s

  

2 with 1 shot panzerfausts and MP40s

A lone sniper (prone) and the ubiquitous MG34 LMG team as shown above (you have to squint a little b/c I substituted a Soviet DP LMG team since my MG34 is still enroute from the UK). 

Urrah! Urrah!

Skirmish line

A picture's worth a thousand words...

New Kids on the Block, Part 2

I'm on a roll with the New Kids (Soviet Sailors and LMG Strelkovy teams from BDT; Al Qaeda shooters aka Durka-Durkas and Soviet Paras from DoW) and couldn't wait to continue. So after the black primer (hand painted) has dried it's time for some paintbrush bashing time!! (i.e. dry brushing.) 

Soviet Paras sporting the stylish Balaclavas typical of most elite units.

This step, IMHO, is critical because the right amount of paint is needed to give gradation to your figures. Thereby achieving really good depth as the base color is applied. I tend to use really cheap natural hair brushes because a) its inherent properties on how it applies paint to a figure and b) I literally tear up a brush doing so. WARNING: this is not for the faint of heart and be resigned to going thru a lot of brushes but the resultant effect is well worth it.


Just go down to your local hobby store and go to the clearance section for these brushes. Here in Houston I go to Texas Art Supply, Michael's and Hobby Lobby. And don't be afraid to cut them, either. They work better without a point and the brush length shouldn't be too long. Hence the modification. A flat, blunt edge is my preference as illustrated below.

Left: brush right outta the package and before cutting. Right: point cut off for that blunt edge with either sharp scissors or exacto blade. 

More Soviet Paras. Figure on the left is wearing a retro WW2 padded tanker helmet. 

More Durka-Durkas that you can shake a paintbrush at.

One of my favorite Soviet units were the sailors. Many were sent to help the Red Army and were very colorful units, indeed. These reassigned naval forces took part in every major action on the Eastern Front such the Leningrad siege and the defense of Sevastopol. 

Most of them kept they're signature striped shirts, if not their caps, as a unit and service identifier.

  

They were also featured in the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' in the scene when Khrushchev arrived via armored gun boat from across the Volga. 

Pretty cool!

So, of course, I gotta have at least a four man unit. Alas, these sculpts didn't come with the cross bandoleers and fixed bayonet rifles but they'll suffice.

And last, but not least, are the Strelkovy LMG teams because you can never have enough fire power especially against the Germans.

Coming up, color...

WIP: New Kids on the Block, literally.

Got some stuff in the mail today and then I picked up some additional figs at Montag's. Since I'm on a painting binge I've decided finish up these projects while I have the time.

First up are four Soviet Sailors by Black Tree Design that'll go nicely with my Strelkovy. I must say that BTD has some really excellent sculpts. They're so nice they practically paint themselves.

Here are two additional LMG totting Strelkovy to supplement my existing force, again by BTD.

Speaking of supplement I acquired a few more Dogs of War packs from Montag's. The cool thing about DoW figs are that the Paras come with head and arms with weapons assortment so you can customize your squads. Which I'll feature in an upcoming post I've been working on.

Soviet Paratroopers

Love those balaclavas. Modern Soviet Ninjas.

Then I saw these figs and had to have 'em. They're generic Forward Observers and can be used by most modern armies. I'll use 'em as scout for my Soviet Paras. 

Of course, let's not forget my Al Qaeda Fedayeen. They needed bolstering of their ranks since I only had four to start with. I picked up two more packs of four giving me a twelve man squad to fight all comers. Oooh, look, RPGs!!