British Para Army for Bolt Action

My hobby funk issue last month inspired me to just grab some stuff and start painting with no real concern as to why.  I pulled down a large assortment of British paras from the shelf above my paint bench and got to work.  A month later I have added 47 miniatures to this collection.  I realized that this collection has been documented in bits an pieces going back to the start of this blog 10 years ago.  It now seems like a good time to do a full documentation of the collection considering I have now painted all the miniatures I have for this force.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have never really build a 28mm army for Bolt Action specifically and this collection is no exception to that.  The first figures in this collection were acquired from my friend Tom more than 15 years ago.  These first figures were painted by another friend, Kevin.  Even though I was not a huge fan of the paint jobs on these original figures I never went back to repaint them,  As you will see below, I think they still match OK with my painting style.  A style that has evolved over the years.

Since this collection was not built with Bolt Action in mind it is WAY too big.  This is really a company of paratroopers and more than I would ever use in one game.

Company HQ and Support

First up we have Major Howard, a limited edition figure from Warlord Games.  He is accompanied by a Crusader Miniatures para with a captured MP40.  These are both recent paints by me.

This is my para sniper team.  The sniper is a Foundry model painted years ago by Kevin.  The spotter is also a Foundry model painted by me this week.  

The flamethrower is a Foundry model painted by Kevin and the assistant is a Crusader figure I painted about 10 years ago.  You can see the differences in the colors and style that make the figure painted by Kevin stand out.

The forward air controller/forward artillery observer team are Foundry miniatures.  The radio operator was painted by Kevin years ago and the observer was painted by me 10 years ago.

The medic is a limited edition miniature from Warlord Games and is a recent paint job by me.  I am really excited to have this one in the collection!

The 6pdr anti-tank gun team are Crusader models and recently painted by me.  This is a nice set but the gun is a little flimsy for a game piece.  I orginally had the gun and the team on a single base but I did not like the look.  With BA2 now specifying individual bases I will attempt to stick with that whenever possible.

First Platoon

The first platoon commander is from Foundry and was painted by Kevin.  Back in the early 2000's it was still fashionable with my friends to paint eyes.  I got over that years ago.

The medium mortar is from Crusader Miniatures and is a recent paint job by me.  I like Crusader a lot but their lack of variation in weapons team figures makes me sad.  I think I have 5 of the dude pointing.

The Foundry Piat team was painted by Kevin.  Again, the eyes.  Thankfully my eyes are getting to the point that I can't see this except in a picture or if I really study the figure.

This is a Vickers medium machine gun team from Crusader Miniatures recently painted by me.

Squad 1 is a mix of Foundry figures and Crusader.  About half these models are painted by Kevin and the other half are mine from 10 or so years ago.

Squad 2 is almost entirely Foundry with, I think, only one Crusader.  I think all but one of these were painted by me over the years.  

Squad 3 and again we have a mix of Foundry and Crusader.  Paint is also a mix of mine and Kevin's work.  This picture shows the difference in basing from one paint batch to the next.  They don't really match but they still look good together.

Second Platoon

Platoon 2 commander is a Crusader model recently painted by me.

Here we have another MMG team just like first platoon.  Painted by me.

This medium mortar team is from Warlord Games and was recently painted by me.  

Warlord PIAT team is a recent edition to the collection painted by me.

Squad 1 is back to a mix of Foundry and Crusader.  Most of these are older paint jobs by me with  one or two by Kevin.

Squad 2 is another recent edition to the collection painted by me.  These are Warlord Games figures that came in my Pegasus Bridge set. I was a little sad to see one duplicate figure but otherwise a nice set.

Squad 3 is mostly Crusader miniatures with the exception of the Bren team that are Foundry figures.  These are all recent paint jobs by me.  

Even though this represents all the figures I currently own for a British Para force I don't think I can say I am done.  There are still a couple of different gun teams I would like to add as well as Jeeps.  It will likely be a while before I tackle and more projects for this army.

Fallschirmjager Reinforcements for Bolt Action

Last weekend Tim and I decided to play one last game of Bolt Action first edition.  The 2nd edition books were just hitting the stores and everyone was excited for the new rules but it didn't seem right to not have one last go at a game we have enjoyed for 4 plus years.

In an effort to get over my recently commented on game funk I decided I needed to finish up a few lingering figures before the game.  These models has sadly been on my paint bench for many YEARS.  It has take some long to finish the mortar team has actually been used in multiple games with incomplete paint - shock!

It felt really good to finish these units up and the 80mm mortar and the 105mm recoilless rifle were put to excellent effect in our game.

I am in the process of painting some more items for Bolt Action so stay tuned.

Can It Be? More Fallschirmjagers!

I just finished up another 23 28mm Fallschirmjagers.  This is in addition 12 I did a couple of months ago (and failed to photograph and post).  This brings the collection to more than 100 of these guys!

These figures are a mix of Foundry, Black Tree and Crusader.  This addition brings me to 6 full squads and a couple of dozen extras.  I have lots of support options done now but I still have a few team left to paint.  I still need to add a PaK40 and maybe a Nebelwefer.  I also want to add some motorcycles and a kettenkrad.

Stuck in a Fallschirmjager Rut

I have come to the conclusion that I am stuck in a bit of a rut when it comes to my World War II projects. It seems that I am painting the same Fallschirmjager force, for the same period of the war, in 15mm and 28mm. I am not sure how that happened.

he good news is I have added a fourth manufacturer to the collection - Artizan. I only have the four figures with MP44 pictured below. Artizan makes very nice figures and I know lots of people who really love them but for me there is something a little off with them. I am not sure what it is.


Next is a batch of the old Foundry Fallschirmjagers by the Perry brothers. The are nice figures but are showing their age.


I have added a bunch more Black Tree Designs Fallschirmjagers to the collection. These are mostly pioneers. This is another line of figures that is nice but a little off. The faces are scary.


Finally we have some Crusader Miniatures Fallschirmjagers. These are probably my favorite FJ figures so far. I am really going to miss adding these to the collection. With the closure of Crusader USA there is very little chance that I will be adding many more of these to the collection.

In all I have added another 45 figures to this army. Not too bad. I still have about 25 figures left to paint so keep your eyes open for more.

More 28mm British Paras

Last weekend me and the guys got together to play some 28mm WW2. We were trying out our Legends of the Old West adaptation that Tim and I experimented with last year. Just the thought of playing some 28mm WW2 was enough to inspire me to do some painting. My British Paras had not gotten any love for nearly four years even though I had made several purchases. So I decided it was time to expand this force a bit.

This installment has 16 figures that are mostly Crusader with a few Foundry leftovers. My previous batch of paras used a painting guide I found online. This time I used the painting guide from the Flames of War D Minus 1 book. I like hoe these turned out but they are different from the other figures.


Here you can see the three different painting styles side by side. The figure to the left was painted by a friend years ago and is the starting point for my collection. The figure to the right I painted about 4 years ago. The one in the middle is the new one.

In the back view the difference in the Dennison smocks is more noticeable. Even though these are fairly different paint styles and colors there is enough in common that they look good all mixed together in the same army.

I have a few weapons team left to paint for this army. I am also planning one last Crusader USA order to flesh out a couple more squads.

Caissons

Time for some more ACW stuff. Here are a couple of ammo caissons for my union forces. These don't really have any game function, they just look cool.

The Foundry Brigade

I have finished the first Union brigade for my planned Black Powder game. The last step in this phase of the project was to paint the second great coat regiment and the Brigadier. Below you can see the completed brigade.


The figures for this project were acquired as part of a paint for trade deal I made nearly 10 years ago. I did a quick price check with Foundry and this brigade would cost about $225 now. Ouch, I am sure I will not be doing any more Foundry units for this project, that is a ton of cash.

Below are a few pictures of the final elements of the brigade.

Next up on this project I am working on a large Union brigade composed of Sash and Saber figures. This next brigade will be nearly twice the size as the Foundry brigade.

ACW Union Great Coat Regiment

Another Union Regiment is done. These are Foundry Great Coats and I have a bunch of these figures. This is a 24 man unit and I have another one on the paint table just like it. I still have dozens of extras. This is painted up as a generic Union regiment. Just something to get on the table. These are speed painted and dipped.

This makes two regiments complete for my first brigade. The third regiment will be done soon.

Black Powder ACW

After reading through the Black Powder rules I have been inspired to work on my ACW collection. I am planning to run a large ACW game later in the Summer along with some other gamers. There is quite a large local collection of 28mm ACW and I would like to use some of my own stuff for the game.

The first phase of the project for me is to paint my Foundry brigade. This brigade is, oddly enough, comprised entirely of foundry figures. I have completed the artillery. This is a 12lb Napoleon with crew. This represents a single battery in game terms.

Next we have the first of the Infantry regiments. This is my 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers. I actually painted these figures a couple of years ago but I have finally decided on the basing and now the unit is ready for action.

The second infantry regiment is being based now and the third is being painted. Once complete this brigade will have a General, an Artillery battery and three Infantry regiments. I am pretty excited to get this project going.

Fallschirmjager Splittermuster 41

Just in case you were wondering if I was painting anything or just uploading a bunch of old stuff, I am actually doing both. This batch of 14 Fallschirmjagers is painted in the splittermuster 41 uniform, or at least my version of it. Turns out German camo is a pain. In fact I tried to paint this pattern a few months ago and it turned out so bad I painted over the figures. I will do a tutorial on this pattern in a future post.

This batch takes my FJ collection to about 36 models. That is about half way done.

Old School Stuff - Cowboys

This is my old collection of cowboys and old west figures. These are all Foundry and are very nice figures but they are showing their age. This line of figures is very small by today's standards. To give you an idea how small they are these figures are all based on 20mm squares or US Pennies.

This collection was traded to my friend Tim several years ago and I think he still has them. Most of the figures were painted by me but some were painted by my friend Dave who I got them from as part of a trade. The circle of Lead.

More Fallschirmjager Progress

I had not intended to start working on this project. I have tons of other things I need to do but my comparison figures I did a couple of weeks ago were so fun to paint I couldn't stop. I thought, well, I'll just paint up the company command and then get back to important stuff.


After finishing the Company Command I thought, well, that was fast. I'll just paint up a squad.

Before I knew it I had 24 of these guys painted. As you can see I used my speed painting technique of blocking in the base colors and the using the 'Dip'. This works good but on some of these guys I don't like the flesh tones. I tried a different color for the flesh than I normally use and it is too...yuck...with the dip. Some of these will need to be touched up.

On a side note, these figures put me over 200 figures painted so far this year! Since I actually painted them about a week and half ago I already have about 40 more figures painted for other projects.