Invasion France: The beginnings of an army

I have recently become fascinated by the early war Wehrmacht. As such, I am building an army so I can invade France or Poland with it! My Panzer 38(t)s are coming on nicely. I have basically done all I want to do on them, until I find a satisfactory matt varnish. I picked up a humbrol spray and will be testing it out on some of my younger brother's old models. 

The Pegasus panzers are pretty great. They were easy to put together, yet have good detail. Once I have varnished them, I will drybrush on a bunch of dirt. They are far too clean right now.

Here is a Revell Krupp Protze and Pak 36. Again, I am now waiting to choose my varnish and will finish it off. I also need to get hold of some crew for her too.

I have some other panzers, and a few other things in the works. I will eventually post my entire invasion force up, and then get to work on some BEF forces. I may get some French and Polish going too. 

Early Wehrmacht Infantry pt. 1

So this is what I have been working on all week. My painting skills are pretty poor, and I think I need a better brush for the details. They obviously need a touch up, but I wanted to get this out there asap. I painted them with Humbrol and Revell enamels. They are what I used way back in the day, and they are what I feel comfortable with now. Any recommendations for how I can wash them? Also, which varnish to use, as I have never used one?

Also, here are my Pegasus Panzer 38(t)s. They are coming along nicely. They are very easy to put together, and nicely detailed. All I need now are some tank commanders.

The Spoils of War

I was looking on the SHQ website for information about shipping costs. I am trying to build an early Wehrmacht army for some Battle for France games I want to play. I noticed a mention of an event called Warfare 2012, looked it up and was led to the website for the the Wargames Association of Reading. An exhibition for wargaming? Amazing. I can go there and stock up on supplies, minus any postage costs. 

I just returned with these. I am looking forward to seeing more from The Plastic Soldier Company. I hadn't heard of them before today. I picked up these infantry, have opened the box and am intrigued about how they will look fully assembled. Unfortunately, the range of models they had there was a bit limited, meaning they are still working on releasing more products. They sell a box with four Russian AT guns and crews. I came close to buying it, but I don't have any Russians. If they had had a box with some Pak 36s, then I would have been all over that.

I also finally found some good looking Wehrmacht soldiers. They are a mix of SHQ and Britannia miniatures. 

A fun little Quickie

This British motorcyclist is from the Airfix Forward Command Post. He has been floating around in my box of random bits and pieces for a long time now. I decided to base him in a way that also make him just look cool on display.

Plasticard base covered in PVA and kitchen roll. Painted various shades of brown and sand.

Flock added to make it look like he has pulled over to the side of a track.

The Bunker.

Here are some pictures of a bunker I have made. The bunker part is a Pillbox from Wills. The hill is the remains of a model box, cut into five strips, folded over, and glued to a large D shaped piece of card. I then covered the whole thing in kitchen roll, using PVA. It was a bit fiddly, and some parts just didn't want to stick down. But my patience paid off. I then painted it brown, coated it in PVA again and sprinkled flock over it.

Almost invisible...

Rear view. It is not entirely flat, but I am no perfectionist...

The pillbox is removable. I might paint the entire floor so it can double as a simple entrenchment.

The hexagonal shape of the pillbox is clear here.

A Lesson in History

When I was younger I had a model railway. We packed it up during school term time and set it up, filling my bedroom, during the school holidays. My Dad built it for us. We filled it with buildings. I also remember playing with my Dad's old WW2 soldiers and vehicles on our railway. At some point my brothers and I started trying our hand at making tanks and painting infantry. They were some woeful attempts. My elder brother was obviously the best. We also tried our hand at wargaming. We used the Airfix Guide #15 WW2 Wargaming rules. I never really got into it though. I felt that we played it wrong with using too many men and tanks, literally throwing all our men onto a small desk, while struggling to keep track of who we had moved before, who was lying down, who was wounded, etc. 

Eventually due to school commitments, not liking the rules, and it being very uncool, I stopped building kits and wargaming. Fast forward 10 years and here we are. I never completely stopped looking for a better rule set. A few piqued my interest, but never got me back into it. Then I stumbled across Crossfire. I joined the yahoo group, browsed it occasionally, searched for the rules to purchase, but couldn't find them. I liked the look of a game without measuring, and this was the first one where the idea of basing figures together didn't scare me. Eventually I found a copy of the rules, read them and decided I would use them when I eventually got back into it.

On an unrelated note, this summer I was clearing out the top of my wardrobe and came across all of our old models. Passion rekindled. I went out and bought an Airfix Sherman, Cromwell, and 25pdr Cannon. Inspired by other blogs on this subject, I intend to hope to give inspiration to fellow inexperienced modelmakers like myself. Will I have tips? I doubt it. Will I need tips? Most certainly. So I will be posting what I make, what I paint, games I play, in the hope that someone out there will see it, see what I have done wrong and advise me on where to improve.

Wish me luck...