Needing To build upon the Waffen SS army that ive been working on so they can provide suitable enemy forces to my allies, I have been forging ahead, using the outside chance that I might get to Sydney for MOAB this year ( should it be run in the current COVID 19 circumstances!-Kids of the future ask your parents ;) as a deadline/ impetus to get the job done while in lockdown.

  Latest additions are some SS tank riders from the always-fantastic Offensive miniatures, and a pair of Rubicon models. I added the sdkfz 250/9 upgrade kit (also from Rubicon) as id always admired the build, and then having played against one in my chain of command game at Lard Island vs Richard Clark it looked so fantastic on the table i had to get one myself! 

Once armed it was full steam ahead to get the models put together. This was honestly the ONLY time ive ever had an issue using my plastic glue on the Rubicon models. I DID get the plastic magic glue as a back up purely due to the fact i couldnt get any trusty citadel glue. But my issue was the application of said plastic magic..Honestly; the bushes provided coupled with the fact the level of the glue is so low they barely make contact, then the glue dries barren so fast i just gave up! and later i did regret it; various parts didnt glue as well as previously.

I really cant complain as they quite clearly state this may be the case. Its just that IVE never had this issue before with citadel glue. never mind, got there in the end.

BTW- the pick in the pioneer tools on the opposite side to the photo shown below?..dont bother. it sits awkward on the stowage box on that side &  the hole guides they tell you to drill out are too big. MEH...leave it off and consider it stowed elsewhere from sight.

Incidentally; if you are wondering or had missed it ; YES! the 250/251 autocannon upgrade kits let you make  2 turrets each with cannon; 1x 250 alte , PLUS either a 250 Neu OR 251/23. good value. so ive kept the remainder so i can make a 250 NEU, as i believe the 251/23 wasnt actually produced except prototype. 

The schwimmwagon was lovely to put together also. Another fine model from Rubicon. One  suggestion i would have is leave the double-pioneer tools (on the side facing us in this pic) off until you apply paint and then the load /weight decal and then superglue the tools on. I didnt do this- my vehicle like many doesnt have the painted details intact. no issues. but if you want to apply the decal then try my suggestion perhaps.

I grabbed another vehicle i needed to spray up and got out my long-suffering airbrush and whipped up some;

Dunkelgelb ( VMA Dark yellow), zenithal  highlights adding a tiny bit of ivory to the 'gelb.

Green camo; Tamiya NATO green

Brown Camo; VMC Flat Brown / Chocolate brown in a 66/33- ish!  ratio .

i used some blisterpack sponge and chipped with;  

firstly; the dunkelgelb mixed with a little VMC Ivory...just enough to stand out slightly against both the dunkelgelb base and the areas of the zenithal highlight also.

then when dry; VMC Black grey was  sponged on.

 A Burnt umber oil wash was used in a 'standard' way that scale modellers use to define detail and plates of armour etc. 

When everything was done, then all the details painted in to satisfaction, i used Tamiya TS80 flat clear spray ( as i always do!) to seal and knock back the sheen from the  thinner from the wash and the paints themselves. I love this varnish. it doesnt kill the vibrancy of the colours but makes the model lovely and Matt- try it! 

( The Borgward Wanze only got the green cam for a last levy cam pattern)

Its a shame that this schimmwagon kit didnt come with any plastic sheet to create a windscreen. I dont know if Rubicon provide that with other light vehicles. I did have some spare from warlord opel blitz kits but of course- id just used it elsewhere! never mind; at the moment mines kicked out following damage, and ill add one later if i wish.

Heres some staged pics;

The subtle mud effect on the vehicles like all the ones i have done on this army are the "Vallejo Environment" product 73.826 "Mud and Grass", and a dusting from tamiya weathering makeup kit of dark sand and sand just to pick out tyre treads etc. 

Ive left the pair of optional pintle MGs of the swimmwagon at the moment, i can add them if i choose they just slip in and out of the pintle.

The tank riders work is underway and i aim to finish them off in the next few days.

​Well, the holiday period is a memory of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away for all of us now! Remember holidays?!..me neither.

However, as followers will note, I decided to make a crazy commitment to paint 12 seperate sets of models in my "Twelve days of Xmas " blogpost i did immediately before Christmas. How did I do?!!?....

Well; I failed. 

BUT; Did I ? in the post-new years resolution semi apocalyptic wasteland of Mid February, where guess many people are regrettably feeling down- I actually dont! Why? because i set a massive bold target that was always going to be a big ask. With the ethos that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, i threw myself into the task and achieved WAAAAAY more than i possibly would have if i hadnt made a public announcement of crazy intent!!

Between travelling to a seperate piece of the country, enjoying family time over the holidays  and then getting deployed to an exercise mid/late Jan i was hamstrung for carting large pieces of terrain and tanks on my paint list away. But, excuses aside, i feel like i 'shot for the moon and landed among the stars' anyway with the quantity i did get done. so without further ado heres what i got done;

Hope you agree and maybe you can relate or you might find it helpful to take another look at some of your projects you feel you 'Failed' at yourself and see them in a more positive light...remember its fun not life or death, and if you had a great holiday but ALSO suprised yourself with better productivity due to the challenge, then its got to be good for you! so i AM planning to do the "12 days of xmas " challenge again next xmas- whos with me??!!?

Regards, Dan.

So at this exact time last year; the beginning of my xmas holidays I started a scorecard of what id painted in the year. 

I admit to not always being current in updating it , but heres the finished list, as its been a year and i will start the 2020 scorecard as of now.

 DANS PAINTING SCORECARD 2019

• 2 x King Tigers
• 3 x Tiger 1's
• 1 x German Opel Blitz canvas canopy/sideboards (interchangeable with existing passenger open back one)
• 24 Italian Coastal Defense Division infantry ( Based by Rex- thank you!)
• 2 x Italian heavy weapons teams
• 1 x Italian Artillery piece incl. 3 crew and spotter
• 15 x German FJ in smocks
• 9 x German FJ Tropical fatigues
• 17 x Late war German Heer infantry
• 7 x Early war Heer '88 crew
• 1 x Heer kwk 5 cm static gun and crew
• 25 x  British paratroopers
• 1 x Wehrmacht citroen staff car

Terrain;

• 1x Italian Church
• 1x Stone Bridge
• 1.5 m2 of teddy bear fur hay and grass fields
• Painted ONLY; 1x medium (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• Painted ONLY; 1x small (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• 1 x table worth of textured flexible rural roads
• 1 x street barricade ( ponys, mattress, crate & sandbags)
• 2 x concrete pillboxes
• 1 x box Girder 'Primosole' Bridge ( Yes- I made and painted another one! Lol)
• 30 x 'infantry dug in' entrenchments terrain pieces
• 12 x urban rubble piles
• 20 low stucco wall sections
• 24 stone, wattle and wood fence/wall sections
• 1 potting conservatory
• 1 wrecked opal blitz with box loads
• 8 various field entrenchments
• 2 urban barricades
• 1 x Tobruk bunker for static german gun
• 5 x sandbag gun pits.

I dont think thats a bad list considering the amount of time i spend away ​and in the field in my job as well as working shifts whilst instructing  our trainees ..its one thing to  say one 'doesnt have time' its another to really physically not be with your models and hobby equipment for large chunks of the year, so...i think a job well done! 

I will start my new list as of now and keep anyone who cares updated on here! 

Regards,

Dan

Not a day by day mission, but i do commit to painting the following by 31st January;

 75 years anniversary, Op. Market Garden....

In the quest to play something different and offer a chance for my regulat gaming buddy Dave to get a game with his Pike & Shotte , we moved from my FJ playing his IJA in bolt action last week to Me playing Royalists in a game of English Civil War ( ECW) Pike & Shotte this week. It was fun to be doing something different and learning ( well-sort of , despite Dave being a good teacher haha!) A new game. 

It was good to find out that P&S is  very similar to Black Powder , a game i intend on purchasing and playing properly in the future...but a little disconcerting that i played it as poorly as a drunk stick insect conducting the 'Last night of the proms"!! 

  However; another positive thing was how great Daves armies looked ranked up..made me long for that Warhammer Empire army on the table...it certainly whet the appetite and nice that my suspicion i missed ranked unit movements and bonuses such as  flank attacks etc having gravitas in regards to combat, etc etc. Bodes well for my Black Powder purchase in the future. 

  Thanks Dave, Thanks for having two armies ready to go, and bringing all the gear to play including period scenery of your own!! It felt great to help someone play a ruleset no one has helped him play before..a good feeling for any of us to have that reciprocal social contract fulfilled for sure.

 Join Dan as he assembles and reviews the Med. Town Hall from Things From the Basement. available here;

https://www.thingsfromthebasement.com

This vid contains a tutorial of applying stucco texture to buildings and painting to a high standard for your tabletop- all suitable for a range of periods, scales and games.
We hope you enjoy this; if you do please "Like" , Subscribe and share this with others. Dan & Rex.

​I found these images hiding away and wanted to share them so you could compare the corgi SDKFZ 7 with the warlord games resin.

I think youll agree those look more than comfortable sitting next to each other on the table top..but how about when we add the infantry next to them? Perry? Warlord? Artizan? Offensive? Hmmmm......

So ; heres my point for us. And a challenge to Rex for the next WIP podcast;

Scale. In particular the challenges of 28mm 'scale' wargaming.  

Why cant we have nice things? why do we fight like cats in a bag over the size of models -especially vehicles and armour - to use?

I have a lot to say on the subject, and hopefully some of it might not even bore you! 

We have the next episode 'In the Can' and almost ready to go, but this ones 'stood in the door' as our topic for the following podcast. 

Have a great weekend team and get some games in!! 

Dan

Rest In Peace. 

Private "Bobby" Johns, The Parachute Regiment. Joined up to fight when aged only 14 years old. 

K.I.A in Normandy, aged 16, 75 Years ago. 

Utrinque Paratus.

So Here are my British Airborne after the additional models I added as my "Reasonable Hobby Challenge" goal...and YES ! They were ready ( two days before the 6 June deadline!) and descended from the skies by parachute and glider in our D Day 75th club game 8-9 June 2019. Hope you enjoy getting a good look at them, and look forward to the video being published of the D Day anniversary weekend event. Thanks for watching!

 Bolt Action D Day 75th Battle Prep; Update 3- Almost there!

The latest update, including the finished work so far! Join me as i talk you through some more tips & how i finish off my British Airborne in 28mm or 1/56 scale. Thanks for watching! As usual please Like, share and subscribe and leave your feedback. Thanks! Dan

Hi, this is an update of Dans current (May '19) "Reasonable Hobby Challenge"! as heard on our latest podcast!

Excuse the voice on the commentary as I've had the proper flu for 4 weeks at this stage...! as with the poor motor skills on the camera half way through!!

Friday Photo: To the last Bullet.

A very nice photo by Dan,  enough to inspire a game, or perhaps a new army or even a new home made  campaign. 

Who knows what will happen over the weekend... Hopefully not just mowing lawns and chores. :-)

 Finally had time to finish off a few details on a couple of the other Tiger 1's this weekend..and here they are in all their glory!! 

  For those of you playing along at home ( !) , I have just added the final reveal vid to our Youtube channel! The vid includes the promised painting recipes etc. as well, so pop over there and watch it if youre interested in these cats.

   Hope youve enjoyed following along, and you enjoy the final products. 

   Im very happy, as I have vehicles here for Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, eastern front ( Including Kursk!) and western front including Normandy...and the Battle for Berlin right until the final days.

   I think my year to dates painted model list looks very healthy now, and im intending to keep score until December 15th to make it a full years list.

DANS PAINTING SCORECARD 2019

• 2 x King Tigers
• 3 x Tiger 1's
• 1 x German Opel Blitz canvas canopy/sideboards (interchangeable with existing passenger open back one)
• 24 Italian Coastal Defense Division infantry ( Based by Rex- thank you!)
• 2 x Italian heavy weapons teams
• 1 x Italian Artillery piece incl. 3 crew and spotter
• 15 x German FJ in smocks
• 9 x German FJ Tropical fatigues

Terrain;

• 1x Italian Church
• 1x Stone Bridge
• 1.5 m2 of teddy bear fur hay and grass fields
• Painted ONLY; 1x medium (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• Painted ONLY; 1x small (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• 1 x table worth of textured flexible rural roads
• 1 x street barricade ( ponys, mattress, crate & sandbags)
• 2 x concrete pillboxes
• 1 x box Girder 'Primosole' Bridge ( Yes- I made and painted another one! Lol)
• 30 x 'infantry dug in' entrenchments terrain pieces

3 days before my end of march "reasonable hobby challenge' Deadline ...may i present 139.6 Tonnes of cricket-crushing goodness (!!)

I really enjoyed these. I will be posting a "Big Tiger Build' update on youtube at  the end of next week to bring you all up to date with the other vehicles in the build. In the meantime; hope you like 'em!!

Op Slapstick-Italy '43; The concluding second part of the mini campaign, German FJ vs British....

10 September, 1943. Operation "Slapstick".

• British Paratroopers from 156 Parachute Bn, having seized Key strategic points of entry into Mottola , now assault the German Fallschirmjager defenders in strength in what becomes a bloody battle for the town.
• Scenario; Meeting engagement. 1000pts per army.
• This mini campaign will utilise the rules for campaigns found in the Bolt Action; Battle of France sourcebook.

See here for battle 1: https://valhallagames.net/index.php/new-ba-batrep-on-our-youtube-op-slapstick-italy-43

Inspired to share by Brad Morrins "Cast Dice" podcast regarding chinese forces in bolt action, here is a nationalist poster i found tucked in a corner at the propaganda poster museum in Shanghai.

   It is worth noting that in Shanghai i couldnt find any museum with weapons , uniforms etc etc from the war....the nationalists have basically been expunged from history, and due to the coalition, my opinion is tackling how that worked for the war to be won caused too many headaches and questions...therefore simply not referencing that part of history started to be the norm.

   The main references i found were from the end of the struggle and the seizing of Shanghai by communist forces, in which the nationalists were referred to in every case as 'the enemy'. So much so, that i thought the pictures must have been the battle of shanghai vs the japanese at first until i rechecked the dates and detail of the pictures....

Squad of Tropical Fallschirmjager ( With breathmint reinforcements) stand easy on my shelf after varnishing. This is the last of the units i committed to finishing on our youtube channel on my channel update & plastic hoard vid....hooray!!

​Plus: 2 ponys and a peed mattress walked into a bar.......Oh wait. No....They got laid into the street as a barricade. (!!) I got this barricade finished also this evening also. 

   Its unfortunate the lighting was poor and the 'set up' for photo so poor, but heres another terrible shot focussing on the barricade  to see the barricade height and some more detail of horses markings etc.

 Painted Minis completed since Dec 15th, Dan;

28mm;

• 24 Italian Coastal Defense Division infantry ( Based by Rex- thank you!)
• 2x Italian heavy weapons teams
• 1x Italian Artillery piece incl. 3 crew and spotter
• 15 x German FJ in smocks
• 9 x German FJ Tropical fatigues

Terrain;

• 1x Italian Church
• 1x Stone Bridge
• 1.5 m2 of teddy bear fur hay and grass fields
• Painted ONLY; 1x medium (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• Painted ONLY; 1x small (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• 1x table worth of textured flexible rural roads
• 1 x street barricade ( ponys, mattress, crate & sandbags)

TABLE CLEARED READY FOR NEW TASKINGS!!

Dan​