Cruel Seas: All ahead full

As I get the next few fleets ready for painting, I thought I would show some images of the Regia Marina from Cruel Seas!  This has been a lot of fun, since painting 1/300 scale ships is something I have wanted to do for a very long time.

I recently published a tutorial on the Gabbiano Class corvette of the Italian navy, and here's the link: https://youtu.be/gEnCenN6fjA

Painting the Dazzle camo and the weathering is a blast!

I just had to begin with the Italian fleet, because the Air Recognition markings are so much fun.

Here's some more of the fleet, much of which was painted at Little Wars in April.

I will be doing more tutorials on all the other fleets, as well as terrain demos and battle reports!

Each fleet has a very different look and personality to it, so I look forward to painting all of them.  The Kreigsmarine is being prepped right now...

I will also be doing some patron only videos, such as my series on the Winter Soviets.  That was part of my Army Painting pledge level, where I take on an entire unit, and show the complete process from basing to the final details of painting!  You can find that here: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Sand and Stone

It is only now that I am able to step back from Operation Sting and think about how much I was able to complete for that event!  I really enjoyed making the display board, which was featured in a number of step by step articles... https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/11/monte-cassino-part-4-more-rubble.html

The army was really unusual for me, since most of what I have been painting all these years has been for early war!  Some of these weapons seemed like space age tech at one point :-)  Of course, I especially enjoyed the basing on the army, and matching that terrain board... https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/11/amidst-rubble.html

I suppose that I was able to get in some practice on sandy Mediterranean colors for my upcoming DAK, Italian and British desert forces.  Those have also been under way for a while in terms of prepping, basing, etc.

When I researched what I should do for the uniforms, the variety of what I found gave me an opportunity to make each figure more unique.  This really helped when it came to playing in the tournament, because I never had any opportunity to play test the army before the event!

I wasn't able to do everything that I wanted to on the army due to time constraints, but as I tell folks all the time in my instructional videos, there is nothing that says I can't go back and add more details!

I also have to start making additional terrain pieces so that my display board can become the centerpiece for an entire Monte Cassino table.  The idea is to make more modular mountain style sections which could be used for several theatres, such as the Caucasus, etc.

It all worked out in the end, and I was very glad to receive the Best Axis Appearance award!

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/12/final-report-operation-sting-2018.html

Heavy Hitter!

These massive heavy weapon teams always pose a lot of challenges.  Just assembling the artillery piece is difficult enough!

The next challenge is to get everything placed on a base and make it look like the team is actually interacting with the weapon.  Having the limber in as well means that even the largest bases can seem like a tight squeeze.

It can also depend on what poses you have on the miniatures.  On more than one occasion I have taken some of the plastic boxed set figures and converted them into a more useful pose.  Fortunately there were enough poses to choose from, including one that really looked like he was interacting with the limber.

I used a lot of my home made grass, shrub and flower tufts here.  Here's a link to a previous post showing how that was done:  https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/05/home-made-tufts-step-two-shrubs-and.html

I really enjoy these projects, as they are playable dioramas!  Positioning everything so that it looks good from any angle is another hidden challenge.

As I paint and flock these, I try to keep in mind the areas which would be trampled more, and the foliage worn away.

I also have a few other heavy artillery pieces under way... all for our early war games.  The German Heavy Howitzer is nearly complete.

This might be used in my next video battle report, where the town of Nouvion will be front and center!  You can check out some of the earlier video reports on the YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LgWEoymVQw

Color testing: Army of the Dead

Exciting times in my Lord of the Rings rebuilding process continue with the Army of the Dead!  With the first episode of the Army Painter Series 5 (which focused on basing) completed, it was time to create the "Color test" figure.

This is something that I do for each series, which is usually 5 episodes long.  The idea behind a color test figure is not only to work out a color scheme for the unit or army, but to judge how long it might take to achieve a certain effect or look.

Since we all have a limited time to work on our own armies, that "currency of time" is all important, and has to be spent wisely.

As you work on that color test figure, you can figure out what you might be able to leave out, or a better way to go about an effect which might be more elaborate.

When you get into things such as Non Metallic Metals like my previous series on the Lannister Halberds and the Sky Earth Non Metallic Metal effect, time will have to be conserved in other areas.  In the case of this Army of the Dead, the time will be spent getting the glowing ethereal effect using the Vallejo fluorescent paints.

While I am creating new armies for use in battle report videos in the future, my goal along the way is to find new ideas and concepts to demonstrate with each series.  Some feature oils, others more complex basing, Object Source lighting, freehand, and so on.

I also try to build on previous series, and this one ties into Series One, where I used a similar greenish glow on the bases and on one of the figures in the set.

Now that I have the color test episode loading to the Patreon Page, I will move on to the next 3 episodes, where I take you through the Shaded Basecoat stage, middletones and weathering, and the final highlights.

These "Army Painting" series have been available to my Patrons at a $15 pledge level.  Between these and other related videos done each month, that means about 18-24 hours of video content every month!

However, there is a lot more work involved than simply turning on the camera and painting...

Once filming ends, several more tasks begin as I have to transfer photos and video segments to another machine to create title screens and overlays.  After creating those, I can edit and render the video.

This is a process that takes several hours, and it is something that is done many times each month. The Army Painter series alone have compiled over 20 episodes!!  As you can imagine, that is a lot of effort, which is why I have the Patreon page.

Should you be interested in the Army Painting pledge, that is found on my Patreon Page at the $15 level: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Heavy AAA: Scratch Build!

I think most of you have been seeing this Anti-Aircraft support vehicle appearing in the Round by Round posts for the Operation Sting tournament.

To try and accentuate the Anti-Aircraft theme of the Fallschirmjagers at Monte Cassino, I wanted to have something like this in the tank slot.  While there were many SPG's available (and certainly better all around choices), I went with this.

There were a few minor details, however.  Foremost among them was my lack of having one!

A few mix ups in timing meant that I would not have one in time for the tournament... which meant a final alternative...

I would have to build one from scratch!  Yes, that's right.  After gathering as many reference images as possible (and I mean several dozen!), I decided to give it a go.  Sculpey, plasticard and other random bits of junk were going to be utilized as rapidly as possible.

Here you go, and it certainly looks like a right mess indeed.  There's plasticard, resin sprues, Sculpey, Apoxy Sculpt, Green Stuff, plastic brush protectors, and even a left over metal chunk from a Gates of Antares kit!

This is certainly not the first time I have scratch built vehicles and monsters.  I have a video showing how I painted a few scratch built objective markers on my YouTube channel.  Here's a link for you!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2GrlbpDT0o

All of the crew for my artillery support teams were made using the figures from the boxed set.  I accidentally used the second crew member here for something else, which is why you see the kneeling figure behind the gun.

As you can see, the gun was removeable so that I could paint it and the crew.  It was also pinned, so that it could rotate.  I had to choose from a number of different reference images, since there was no definitive version of this. No manufacturer produces this exact vehicle anyway, which meant I was going to have to go this route.

I will be doing more late war vehicle painting videos now that I have a late war army.  Up until now, I have been focused on France 1940, which you can see in my battle report videos:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LgWEoymVQw

I also have a number of painting videos on my Patreon Page, including a 12 hour, 5 part series on painting my Winter Soviets.  This is something I will do for my Italians, DAK and Desert Rats.  Here's a link to the page: www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Round 1: Operation Sting

Operation Sting was really an amazing event!  Two days, 5 games, and lots of action... Bolt Action.  As I had mentioned in a previous post, many of the players brought their terrain tables so that it spread the work load and created more variety in the types of terrain.

This is my Ardennes board which I brought along, with the TableWar mat.

I played virtually all of my games against US armies, and that was the case for Round 1.

This seems deceptively open.  Keeping in mind that forest are dense terrain, as are ruins and buildings, I knew that the anti aircraft based weapons would not be doing very much.

This turned out to be the case.  Most of the time the Quad AA was in ambush, and the mobile heavy autocannon was in reserve off board.

I knew that for the tournament, I would be relying on the Fallschirmjager to come in from reserve, even though there were not very many of them!

When the heavy autocannon did arrive, it could dictate where the Sherman would pop up.  Again, the ambush game applied.

The scenarios were out of the book, but with a key twist.  Each game, you had to choose a "Secret Mission" and attempt to accomplish it.  You had 8 to choose from, and each time you made a choice, that was no longer available for the tournament.

Each mission also had 3 levels... a 5 point, a 3 point, and 1 point.  In effect, these were the critical tie breakers.  You would get 20 points for a win, 12 for a draw, and 5 for a loss.  So, getting the full 5 points could really help with a draw, and even a loss.

As the missions were secret, it was very difficult for your opponent to prevent you from getting them, unless you were very obvious!

My secret objective was to hold a few pieces of terrain, and keep the enemy away.  There were more obvious missions, which will be covered later.  Also, I can say the aligning your secret mission with the Table, Scenario, and Enemy force was a challenge!  

For instance, if you choose to go after the enemy commander in a giant Soviet horde in an urban setting, you are very unlikely to make that happen.  Also, two of the 8 Secret Missions were impossible for me to accomplish, since I had no medic and no tank...

Speaking of scores, Round 1 ended as a draw, and I did manage to get my 5 points.  That meant 17 for the first game.  I may have mentioned once or twice that I was totally unfamiliar with this army, with no time to play test it at all.  In fact, I had not even played a game in months.  And that was my usual early war!

I had to make cheat sheets for the army, so that I could identify each unit easily.  Most of the weapons that I had seemed like science fiction compared to the basic rifles which I had been using all along.

Stay tuned for more, as I take you through 5 rounds of action!!

Here's a link to one of my early war battle reports.  I have 4 of them set in France 1940:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LgWEoymVQw

Operation Sting

Earlier this month, I had a chance to participate in my first full fledged Bolt Action tournament, good old Operation Sting! Brent and Seamus worked so hard to make the event happen, as did many of the other participants.

We, like many others, brought terrain tables.  That made for some very nice looking tables, and a great variety.  I think that was my favorite part, having many different themes to play on!

As you know, I brought the Fallschirmjager army for Monte Cassino.  We had to make an objective marker, and you can see mine in the courtyard.  This was sculpted from scratch to match the Madonna statue which stood there.

That gave me just enough room to place some of the other units, including the weapon teams.

I was very happy at how the upper level of the broken monastery worked out, and I could easily place all the figures inside.  Better yet, it will be a fantastic terrain piece when it comes to playing games in this theatre.

I tried to make distinct areas to place my various units for a few reasons.  First was appearance of course, but also to help me figure out which squad was which!  I had no time whatsoever to practice or play test with this army in advance.

In effect, I was being handed a brand new army on the spot, and I was going to have to learn this army in the crucible of a 5 game tournament!

Each unit had its own designated spot, and I knew which one it was by that location.

I like this view, because so many of my reference pictures were taken from this angle.  Since I had a bit more room (and light!) for photos at the tournament, I thought I could get you some fun new views of the board that were not possible as it was being constructed.

When I placed order dice on the board Friday night before the tournament, I was not entirely certain that I would have a painted unit to match it!

If you have not seen the making of the display board, that is detailed in a number of step by step tutorial posts:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/10/monte-cassino-display-board-phase-1.html

I was very glad that I utilized the openings that were in the original pieces of scrap foam... making them arch support where the hillside had been blasted away.

One thing I wanted for this overall piece was "openness".  That is, I could get down to this angle and be able to see all the way through it.  This is a distinct property of ruins such as these, and I wanted to capture that.

If you recall the method I used to create these broken floors, and how easy that was... these images made me even more happy!  Here's a peek at the blog post explaining them:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/11/monte-cassino-part-3.html

I was so thrilled to see how the figures looked in the broken floor rubble!  Just as I designed, they could stand on top of the rubble without tipping over.  This bodes well for all the urban ruins that I want to create for Stalingrad, Berlin, Budapest, etc.

I will be doing another post where I show the photos I was able to take during the games.  My result was far beyond anything I could have imagined heading into this event, so stay tuned!!!