Painting like Mad for a BG WWII game set in 1945...the British this time!

 The game is loosely based off of events set described in the book, "No Triumphant Procession" where a company sized British force is facing off against a German Kampfgruppe somewhere in Northern Germany in March-April of 1945. The British have had, until now, an easy advance, and this small German force, holding a bridge over a minor tributary of the Wesser, isn't welcome to a lot of war-weary British troops who would just like to get the whole thing with over already.

 So, the painting is going well, and I am churning out about 5-10 figures a day, a mix of FAA and AB to complement the mix of British I have already from Platoon 20, Hotspur, and MLR. Ironically, this will be the first game most of the British have seen, as most of my games have been with the Russians, so this will be a nice change of pace, and we'll see how the British do in FOTR. I suspect they'll bring a bit more finesse to the party, and bit less close range firepower.

 The Germans are a mixed force, Volksturm, Volksgrenadiers (playing the German 2nd Marine Division, who didn't by this point, look a whole hell of a lot different from the rest of the German Army, or at least that's what my research found, and it's given me an excuse to paint up my Hungarians for future games, as a battalion of Hungarian infantry trainees was apparently attached to the division!) There's also reinforcements from some local SS Panzergrenadiers, and some Fallschirmjager, but not too much, and the usual mix of ironmongery the Germans might want, if it's morale holds up, and it doesn't run out of gas!

 Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this. I am running it for my birthday, and I do this every year, run a big game for my friends. It keeps my hand in and it gives me an excuse to paint and play (and keeps my wife from letting me go nuts, thanks Honey!)

 So, on with the WIP pics, some could be better, as I am still getting better at the whole miniature photography thing.

Admittedly the light could be better on some of the pictures, but I was pretty happy with the results of my painting sessions. I used a mix of sources, first, I used my go to for most WWII projects, Mick Farnsworth's Painting Guides he worked on for Artizan and Crusader. I was pretty happy with the results for the regular British infantry..not so much for the British Paras...I was just not feeling it. Sorry, Mick, I tried. But I found this PDF guide that was very helpful! 

But, in the interest of completeness, I will list the colors and techniques I used:

I hit them with a matt black Rustoleum primer to start..never again. It dries too slow and is a bit tacky for at least a day after use. I then used the PSC English Uniform Spray, BIG TIME SAVER that, but it doesn't exactly match the Vallejo color..more on that later. 

After that, I used Vallejo 924 Russian Uniform for the details like webgear, helmet covers, gaiters, and rucksacks. I tend to blockpaint and wash, but you can use whatever method you like. For uncovered helmets, like on some of the FAA figures, 

I used Russian Green 894. The boots for EMs, I did up with P3's Thamar Black, but any black will do. I used a mix of Flat Brown 894 and Chocolate Brown 872 for all the wooden parts. Jerkins for the officers got the same Flat Brown, as I have really fallen in love with that color. Metal parts for the weapons got P3's Pig Iron, which I like as it's a oily, black looking color. It looks the business as a weapons color. Bit shiny, but a good wash will tone it down. Officer boots were done in 874 Tan Earth. Hands and faces were done in a mix of the following, with the basecoat being P3's Midlund Flesh, then followed it up with P3's Flesh Wash. Finally, I used AK 3013's Highlight Flesh to hit raised areas and make the flesh "pop".

As for the Denison Smocks for the Paras, I used 914 Green Ochre for the base, 983 Flat Earth, and 890 Reflective Green for the other colors of the smock. It looks good, not great, but good enough for three feet away!

I followed it all up with this Magik Mudd Black Wash, which I found on eBay of all things after the suggestion of a friend. It's one of the better washes I have used, and I rather like it. I may have to do some highlighting to cover up some places where the wash congregated, but overall, it worked. 

The hessian tape on the helmets of the AB figures is a bit problematic, I tried Flat Brown and Chocolate Brown, but still don't like it, any suggestions out there?

But all in all, pleased with the results and it's giving me gameable figures at the rate of 10 a night in three hours. Ought to be done with them all in a couple of days. 

With the death of the Guild...other fora are springing up in their place...

With the unfortunate demise of the Guild, as detailed in my blog entry on "500 Miles...", there has been a lot of forums rising to take their place. One of them is the "Armchair Generals" FB Group on the blog, which, while limiting membership to former Guild members, is attempting to carry on the spirit of the Guild on Facebook. This a welcome development, and I think promises to be an excellent idea.

Another place is the Wargamer's Forum, which is attempting to carry on the spirit of the Guild, and is taking new members. Traffic is currently light, but I think as word gets around...traffic will pick up. That said, I look forward to the discussion to come.

Finally, established today, is a forum run by Ironfist Publishing itself for Battlegroup. We'll be seeing Piers, Woz, and the gang on the website from time to time I am sure, and the site is in the early stages, so I cannot wait to see where it goes as well.

So, while the Guild is gone, there has been some efforts to seal the breech, and I for one plan to support these efforts.

Been a Lot Going On, and I Simply Had to Post This Painting Tutorial, and Also a Look at Good Places For Tutorials All Around.

It's winter in most of the Northern Hemisphere these days, and with thoughts of such things, we're staying inside more, painting a lot of figures and getting ready for 2018's "campaign season". So, with that thought, I thought I would do this short post on something I found on Warlord Games's site.

This just, well, gorgeously illustrated and well laid out tutorial on painting their new Winter SS line. To be honest, even if I do 20mm, I think this is still very, very useful indeed. It makes the figures really pop and is useful for late war SS from Budapest to the Bulge.

But I also wanted to mention, Warlord puts out other tutorial PDFs, free of charge, which is a really nice thing for all gamers, and they're pretty well done IMHO.

But they aren't the only show in town...another good place to look for tutorials is Artizan Designs, their guides are VERY exhaustive, and they even have bibliographies, a plus for this history grad.

Again, it's meant for 28s, but I have done many of my 20mm Russians in the colors suggested, and I have more than liked the results I have gotten.

Some other great tutorials, which are more...20mm focused can be found on Guild Wargamers (need to be a member of the forum to access, it's free, so join if you can!). The "Work Bench and Resources" section is simply full of ideas, including a large number of tutorials (I have borrowed many of their ideas).

And hey guys, reach out with your own "must see" tutorial sites for painting 20mm WWII or even if it's not 20mm, if it's proven useful to you, chime in and let us know!

A BG QRS for Special Chit Pulls

I worked this up because honestly, I was getting a bit tired looking through books during a game and trying to find out "what does this special chit do?" Now, I have this handy dandy 3 page QRS and it does it for me.

BG Special Chit QRS

Enjoy everyone!

Book Review for 1945 by AK Productions

First, off, sorry I have not posted in awhile. Holidays +  Getting married = Not a ton of time for modeling and gaming. But, I decided some book reviews might be in order. So, we're going to start with a book by AK Productions that will be of some interest to the Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich player, especially those building a German army. (Note: I have an electronic version of the book from Google Books, sadly, dead tree versions are hard to come by and expensive).

Title: 1945 - German Colors
Publisher: AK Productions
Date and Place of Copyright: Madrid, 2012
Details: 76 pages, with 180 color renderings

Cover Image taken from Amazon.com

So, one would think, why the special attention on the German army in 1945, right? I mean it's the same three color camo, right? Dunkelgelb with Olivegrun and Rottbrun, right? Um, not quite, as it turns out.

So, what are the big surprises to a guy like me? Well, I'd been using the Panzer Colors series and the Squadron Signal series books (Blitzkrieg, D-Day to Berlin and Eastern Front) as my go-tos. None of them as it turns out, do much to cover the German Army in 1945. So this book fills a real need.

For example, how many of us knew out there that the Germans after September of 1944, that the Germans decided to use the red-brown oxide primer as the base color for their AFV, or that the Dunkelgelb had changed formulas, (and wound up being two versions!), and thus, shades (yes, I am a bit of a rivet counter when it comes to paint schemes). The Greens and Browns are well have multiple shades, and well, there was also all sorts of older paints being broken out...and yep, the German vehicles look different.

Taken from Sunward Hobbies.com

As you can see the renderings are very well done, and while each render only gets about a sentence or two, it does do a good job of describing the image, and where and when this particular vehicle was seen.

Yes, they've got some items for the 1946 Paper Panzers as they call them, but it doesn't detract from the historicals section at all, and even some ideas for burnt out vehicles (yep, wrecks done in detail!). I also like the fact they covered older vehicles that were brought out from training detachments.

It's got quite the breath and depth of images and places to choose from for your German army for 1945.

Sadly, it's only really available in the electronic realm, but a good tablet should be able to render the images very nicely.

I would say, if you're doing a Fall of the Reich German army, I would get this book, as it's got a lot of inspiration in it's pages.

I give it 4 out of 5 tanks, if you can get the dead tree version of this book for an affordable price, do so!

Blood in the Streets, Part Deux

The After Action Review from Potomac Wargamers has arrived in my inbox, with some really smashing pictures of my game from August. I figured, why not share it with you all?

Download it here!

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

More for Battlegroup WW-II, to the Rhine by Christmas, just in time for Christmas!

To quote a favorite movie of mine:

In September 1944, Montgomery devised a new and spectacular plan code named "Market Garden". Eisenhower, under great pressure from his superiors, finally sided with Montgomery, and "Operation Market Garden" became a reality. The plan, like so many plans in so many wars before it, was meant to end the fighting by Christmas, and bring the boys back home.

From the movie "Bridge Too Far" (1977)

 I always liked the fighting around Arnhem for the subject of a World War II game, and I've fought and refought the battle influenced by the book "A Bridge Too Far" and the subsequent movie with Sean Connery, et. al. many times in my teens and 20s (where I gained a reputation as a wargamer as being a bit hard on paratroopers). 

  But with the recent scholarship with Martin Middlebrook, and Robert Kershaw, amongst others, we are getting a nuanced view of a battle that until the 1970s, was rather glossed over in the triumphant view of the Allied advance across Europe. Cornelius Ryan, for all of his faults, was a good historian, and he did a good job of illustrating a battle that has had a ton of ink spilled about it since. 

  Now, I am happy to say Piers Brand has entered the fray with a supplement for my favorite game, Battlegroup. He's putting out a scenario pack simply entitled, Battlegroup: Market Garden. I must say that I am rather excited about this, and I have had some British Paras waiting for an opportunity, as well as some American Paras in M43 Uniforms waiting to duke it out with scratch groups of Germans for the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. The supplement as usual, promises a lot of potential background, and even if you don't run the scenarios provided, you have more than enough to run other games set during the fateful struggle for the bridges.

Cover for BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

The book will be 96 pages and have a collection of scenarios, a history on the battle and even a mini-campaign. It also has amendments and additions for both the German and Allied army lists. Keep in mind, the book requires ownership of Battlegroup Overlord (currently OOP) or Battlegroup Overlord, Beyond the Beaches.

  

Contents and 1st page of BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

PSC is taking preorders now, with release to occur the weekend of November 3rd. so have your wallets ready! I am already warming up the movie soundtrack...When I get some time after the wedding, I will post up my British paras and we'll begin to build them out for Market-Garden!