Miniatures of Wrath

Howdie.

OK, a little embarrassed... but I can not identify these vehicles.  Ral Partha, looks like 1987, definitely look like Battletech (maybe 2x LRM10s in the turret), tracked, pretty big.




Potentially could be O.G.R.E. vehicles, though I could not find an image there either.

Thanks. - update, mystery solved, these are Battledroid era Hunter Tanks.... very different from current Hunter Tanks.  Best match might be something like the Sturmfuer tanks.

Howdie.

I have officially completed all of the 1/600 Tumbling Dice miniatures in my possession.  So I of course ordered more, but for now....

These are my British..... now, I realized I needed to practice identification, because it was not always easy for me.  ALso, I did not enjoy assembling the biplanes, even though TD made it about as easy as could be done at this scale.  It reminded me of how bad I am at assembling plastic models.  Similarly, even though my hand painted roundels are not great (and I admit to giving up on the yellow ring), I still prefer this to trying to work with decals.  I had a Viking ship as a kid in the 70's, could never get the shield decals to work right... I think that made me the painter I am today :)

Anyway, here are a whole bag of things:
4x Gladiators
and 4x Swordfish in business like drab fashion
6x Spitfire (Tropicalized) in two different schemes
6x Hurricanes in two different schemes
6x Fulmar in two slightly different schemes
6x Skua in two different schemes.... looking like a flying transport for a greenhouse


 Now I know my color choices are not ideal, so I relied on the immense variety of color combinations, and as usual went for shades that were bright enough to help make the individual miniature stand out.  Overall I am happy with how they turned out.  I like the Spitfires, they reminded me of another plastic kit from childhood, a 1/72 Spitifre, which I had at that time painted drab and grey.  I think I like painting the British camo patterns a little better than either the German or Italians ones.

So that is it for aircraft for a while.  It always feels good to complete a purchase.

Thanks.

Hello.

So here is part of my ongoing WWII Mediterranean Naval project, this time showing the complete Italian aircraft that I have so far.  I realize I would like to make an additional order, so there will be more Italians, Germans... and there are plenty of British here that I am still working on.

Another member of our club, Ed, has 1/600 aircraft for this theater, and we have agreed to pool things like Swordfish and Gladiators when needed for GQ games that require more than either of us have individually.  But still, its nice to have enough of my own set for running CY6! games, or for smaller air involvements in GQ.

You will have seen some of the SM.79s already, but there are also 3 more SM.79,  4x CR.42 Falco and 6x MC202 Folgore.  What I think I will add are MC200 Saetta, Ro43 and Cant Z.501.... but for now....

I painted each type with 2 slightly varying patterns, the Italians had plenty of camo designs for many of their aircraft.  As a side opinion, they produced some fine aircraft... like everyone else, they have some miserable designs too, but their best work was competitive with their opponents.

For the MC202 I used the fasces symbol without white background, as this seemed to be how they are usually represented.  Now one problem is that there are a lot of aircraft that look similar at this scale, so I am trying to become an expert on wing shape and length.  The MC202 has shorter wings than the Spitfire and the larger Hurricane, and also a shape distinctive from either of the others.... which is good, because a lot of high performance WWII fighters seem to have a similar fuselage or body design.

OK, now to finish my British aircraft, then look to order the things I would like to add.

Howdie.

Unusual for me, to have two posts in the same day.  Just was trying to tinker around while cooking dinner, found out that the fighters paint up pretty quick... so thought maybe I can just finish all of the Germans I have, get them out of the way, as they are only here to support the Italians anyway.

So...

Again, I am not 100% on my markings, and I continue to struggle with the Balkan Cross.  I chose to only put one on each wing top, just not worth the effort for me to try to put more on.

What I have are 6x Bf 109Es, painted in two different schemes, one for over Malta and one for over North Africa.  Figured that would give me some nice variety for CY6! games, and they still work together for use in General Quarters.  Also have 3x Ju-88s, all in the same scheme from Sicily.  Included in the shot are the same 3x Ju-86s from the earlier post.  I should have also ordered Ju-87s, and if I ever do another purchase, I will likely add those.... but this is basically it for me for the Germans.

Now what I also did was move along a bit on the bases.  These are cheap self-made options, 1"x1" squares with a heavy washer on the bottom, some painted quick and easy desert, some painted quick and easy water.  Figure if I have both, I can cover most of my options.  I am using Lego's, little base glued to the square, then use of 2x transparent blue and / or 2x clear column pieces to designate a height level in CY6!  Cheap enough (even the Legos, when I bought them last year, were not that expensive), heavy on the bottom for stability.... just need to find a speed recording option.



So there you go, a nice little bunch of air craft to harass the Royal Navy and pals.  Or eventually turn on the Italians a little bit later.

Overall, I found these to be easier to paint than I thought, and with the practice on the Germans, I feel a little better about doing a decent job for the Italians and British.

Thanks.

Hello.

So, to go with my 1/3000 fleets, I also have 1/600 aircraft, which can be used both for General Quarters, and for Check Your 6!

Now, this is a new thing for me, painting 1/600 aircraft, and I will need to practice a bit to get better.

I decided to start with 3x German Ju-86 because they are relatively large miniatures (easier to handle when painting) and also because they are not the most important aircraft I have in my inventory.  I am experimenting with a basing system which I have not perfected, but the bases you see are not complete(they would be woefully unstable in a game as shown).  I don't think I will keep trying for the Baltic Cross emblem, its just too hard, and will be even harder on the Bf 109s I have in the queue.

Then, I decided to work on something vastly more important for the Mediterranean.... SM.79s, a workhorse for the Italians.  While, like many other early WWII designs, the SM.79 was considered "obsolete" it performed very well in its many roles, including torpedo bomber.  I have 3 more SM.79s to paint, which would give me 6 total.



You may notice Swordfish, CR.42s, Bf109s, Spitfires, Ju-88s, and the other SM.79s in the background. 

I don't think I am 100% on my markings, and the painting is far from perfect, but I think these will serve well enough for my uses.

Thanks

Soooo ok, wanted to take a quick break and paint something that did not require much effort.  I grabbed 4 bases of Snotlings and set forth.  Now, I don't game much WHFB, not for years, but I still have tons of things.  I have bought, painted, sold, bought again, etc etc so many times its hard to remember what I have and what I used to have.  Most of the large Orc and Goblin horde I have is from lots I bought on ebay for cheap. 

Anyway, I thought the Snotlings would be ok to do quick and dirty, so they are not great by any means... but they are done!  No flock on them yet.  I used a very quick method similar to how I paint 6mm Ancients, so its sloppy and indistinct.  The good news is, as my eyesight gets worse the better things look!






Just crude little paintjobs.

And here they are with some pals..... Stone Troll, Gobbo Wolfboys, and Orc Boyz.


Anyway, just a change of pace for the moment.


Waaaaggghhhhh!

Hello there, been a looooong time since I posted something, been very busy.  OK, enough chit chat.

I had started looking at the Mediterranean Sea during WWII a few years ago after making a impulse purchase of a very inexpensive set of painted NavWar miniatures for the Battle of Matapan.  I have purchase Navwar in the past for Cold War Soviets and modern PLAN, and have always enjoyed the miniature line.  For WWII, though, my interest has always been with the Pacific War, motivated by boyhood readings of books on Pearl harbor and Midway, and of course, the corresponding films Tora Tora Tora and Midway.

Anyway, I realized this theater had a lot to offer as it was extremely active, and generally hotly contested.  Though the Italians and their German "friend" tended to come out on the losing side in most large surface engagements, it was far from one sided.  The Royal Navy took some heavy losses, and despite their superiority in tactics, training, and confidence, were unable to entirely shake the threat of the Regia Marina... the Italian ability, despite being so hampered by fuel shortages and heavy losses, to keep a dangerous presence in this theater locked a large portion of British naval strength here, and away from other critical global regions.

Well, lets look at some pictures.... I don't have pictures to post of the Matapan fleets, but I have all the ships involved in this in addition to the following.  I also have quite a bit of British stuff to still paint, and some more cargo ships.

The Regia Marina additions to the Matapan force (and actually, I have duplicate Trento and Trieste cruisers now).... the Roma and Vittorio Venetto (the Matapan Littorio is flagged as the Littorio), Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, and the Aquila.  They are supported by the Trento and Trieste... the Guissano, Bande Nere, Barbiano, Colleoni.... the Luigi Cadorna and Armando Diaz.... the Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta and Eugenio di Savoia... and the Montecuccoli and Montecuccoli.  They are in turn screened here by 3x Folgore DD, 4x Maestrale DD, 6x Navigatori DD, 3x Freccia DD, 3x Spica TB, 4x Marcello SS, and also 3x German TyVIIc SS. 

Unfortunately, I never seem to have good photos, so these tend to be off-shade and blurry, unfortunately :)


I did try to work in the barber pole markings, and also some of the camouflage patterns put in use by the Italians.  Doing this on 1/3000 destroyers is "difficult" so I mostly tried it with larger vessels. 



I think overall the Italians turned out pretty well.  I regret choosing too thin a stock for the bases, as the the British and cargo vessels look better on a heavier stock.









Now, for the Royal Navy (and a few Commonwealth), so far (unflagged at the moment) I have managed to add a fair bit of strength to the Matapan forces.  The following are Ark Royal and Eagle,  Ramillies and Royal Oak. Now, because of some ordering error I made, I have a duplicate Warspite that I have painted as the Malaya, and two Renown's... one of which I painted with the block pattern for Repulse.  Don't hate me too much.  There are also the Dido and Phoebe, as well as 4x Tribal DDs.



I did make a go of several camo patterns for these.... I know it may put the specific model in the wrong year for games, but that is going to happen no matter what, unless you buy duplicates of everything.  It does have the advantage of making certain vessels recognizable immediately... in particular for the British as they had so many different patterns to use.







Finally, here is my first group of various cargo ships and tankers.  I kind of bought a spread of stuff, and fully intend to use these anywhere I need to create a convoy.  Currently, these are 1x Clan Macaulay, 2x Amarapoora, 2x Scottish Tankers, and 3x Rafaela tankers.







I have plenty of ships to paint... and a bunch of 1/600 aircraft (an important component of war in the Med)... but I have about half convinced myself to buy enough Germans to fight the well know operations (Denmark Straits, Operation Juno, River Platte), and am thinking about the French Mediterranean fleet also.

Thanks for viewing!