Next Up: Republic Romans

This summer I will be returning to a favored project which I was satisfied with:  The Roman Republic.  This linchpin of the period fights with or against a host of opponents:  Carthage, Spain, Samnites, Etruscans and Greek/Macedonians.  First up is a box of Agema Republic Romans.  The delicately sculpted figures provide a full division of Roman warriors with 2 Hastati, 2 Principes and 1 Triarii.  Assembly was smooth, but I wish that they had provided a neck socket instead of a flat join between head and body.

 

 

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Battle of Kursk – Adepticon 2017

For a second year, my friend Aaron and I hosted a Bolt Action Kursk game at Adepticon.  This year’s battle was armor only – not historically accurate, but a necessary change to run a large scale battle planned for 8 players.  The table was 12×5 with two large hills, a village on one end, and plenty of wrecks/smoke breaking up line of sight.  The teams each had objectives to achieve – both sides needed to inflict casualties on the other and also achieve a movement goal.  The Soviets needed to place four tanks into the German deployment zone.  The Germans needed to move two tanks onto an objective on one of the hills.

The Soviet players elected to mass their tanks in the central section of the table.   While the Germans stayed put behind the smoke.  For several turns, the longer range of the German guns picked off tank after tank.  It was starting to look like an easy German victory when the Soviets crossed into the German zone and scored their movement objective.  Suddenly, the Soviet team was ahead on points.  After a brief panic, the Germans rushed to claim their hill & continued to pound the Soviet tanks. Final score was 16 to 10 in favor of the Germans.

Set up for the battle:  20 Soviet tanks face off against 12 German tanks

Burning Soviet tanks fill the fields

Aaron created lite smoke columns using tea lights.  Awesome effect.

In the end, nearly all of the Soviet tanks were destroyed.

Panzers in the Smoke   Mission brief and tank list

Russian Village

A new village for the Bolt Action Kursk table, getting ready for their debut at Adepticon Thursday night. Building kits by Sarissa Precision.  The kits are small, inexpensive, reasonably detailed and went together without much trouble.  Paint was an under coat of black, brown and grey spray paint, then sponge painting to lay down the top coat.  Green, yellow and blue were added to spice up the dreary peasant life.

Saxon Troops

More Saxon troops.  I believe the figures are all by Gripping Beast.

Anyone familiar with this guy?   Its a promo figure from Gripping Beast (?) that I picked up in an ebay lot.

 

Saxon Huscarls

A unit of Saxon Huscarls by Saxon Miniatures.   Lovely figures with lots of character, the figures scale well with Gripping Beast.

Panzers

Four Panzers ready for Kursk.  Panther by Rubicon.  PZ IV by Warlord.

I followed a tuturial  to learn how to apply the camo scheme.

Paint plan

• Spray base color of Bronze Yellow (Liquitex)
• Two coats of Middlestone (Flames of War)
• Wash of Dark Sepia
• Reflective Green (Vallejo) and Ruddy Brown (Reaper) mixed with Terrain Khaki (Reaper) used for Cammo
• Top coat of Middlestone/Terrain Khaki
• Wallnut Brown (Reaper) with Oily Steel (Vallejo) used for the tracks
• Rust effects created with Wallnut base followed by Rust (Vallejo) and Orange Rust (Vallejo)

PzKpfw IV – with mud!

Same PzKpfw IV from a few days ago, this time with a muddy under carriage.

Vallejo Pigments (Rust and Oil) applied with a mix of Matt Medium, White Glue and water.  Applying the pigments was an interesting experience.  First I coated the area to make muddy with the medium mix, then applied Burnt Umber from the pot.  After letting it dry for 30 minutes, I applied spots of Dark Yellow Ochre.  The amount of fluid on the brush is important.  A wet brush makes for a smooth smear not unlike paint.  A dry brush applies the pigments with the the grain intact.

PzKpfw IV – H

Panzer 4 with cammo pattern.

PzKpfw IV

Base coat complete.  I’m pondering if I should add cammo, clean up the wash, or just add a few decals.

 

Sometimes, it just does not work out…

I’ve experimented with a variety of 3D prints for terrain.  Generally the results have been sucessful with the various smaller files that I’ve printed at the local library.  A few months ago, I backed Real 3D Fantasy Printable Scenery on Kickstarter.  For a reasonable price, I received files for four small medieval style buildings.  The test files printed without issue, but I the full scale buildings just don’t measure up.  The building comes in 5 pieces: roof, 1st floor, 2nd floor and 2 support pillars.  The print grain is rough, and the large flat sections warped during printing creating large gaps between the sections (and a funny looking pillar on the left).  A second, smaller building failed to print at all.  And worst of all, I paid more than $30 for the printing.  At that price, I can get a sharp looking MDF building from any number of companies.