The Never Ending Catachan Pile

Time for a break from painting Flames of War. I jumped back into my Catachan IG project with some much needed command elements. First are a couple of Commissars. In the old days Catachans used to shoot these guys but I guess now they are OK with them.


Here we have Col. 'Iron Hand' Straken. This is a pretty cool old model and I actually have two of these. I painted one a long time ago to use as a Necromunda character.


These are a bunch of Catachan officer types. These can be army commanders, platoon commanders or even vet sergeants.


Last we have an assortment of old metal Catachans. I am not sure but I think I now have all the original metal models. I need to check one of the collector sites and see what I might be missing.

As if I did not already have enough of these collected, this week I acquired more stuff from a local gamer. With all the painting I have been doing on this army I still have more unpainted than painted. The pile is growing...

Even More Fallschirmjagers

I have a few more Fallschirmjagers for my Flames of War army. First are three Stummelwefer teams that are part of the company HQ. I had painted a couple of mortar team from Old Glory to use as Stummelwefers but these Battlefront minis are much better.

Next we have an FJ light gun platoon. These are the LG40 75mm recoilless guns. These will be very useful for anti-tank and against dug in infantry.


This just about finishes the first 1500 points for this army. I have a tank platoon to finish that will go with these guys. They are nearly done and I think I may get these on the table tomorrow.

Fallschirmjager Additions

Time for a couple more units for my mid-war Fallschirmjager company. For this installment we have an FJ mortar platoon equipped with GW34. These are the full size mortars and not the Stummelwerfer. These guys are only usable for mid-war and maybe early war if we ever get a FJ list for early war.

Next we have the second combat platoon. This unit allows me to finally field a legal army. I have enough figures to build a third combat platoon and when it is done I will us my original combat platoon, which is Old Glory and Peter Pig figures, as a Pioneer platoon.

So all I have left to have my first 1500 point force ready is the LG40 platoon, which is only two guns, and my Pz IV F1 platoon of three tanks. I might be able to finish this army this weekend...

More Sash and Saber Union

I added a couple more pieces to my ACW Union collection. First up is my second brigade commander. This figure is from Sash and Saber, as are the artillery crews.

This gun was neat to do as the the crew is loading the gun. This takes a bit more space on the base.

As I was prepping the pictures I realized that I forgot to weather the gun. Oh well, it looks OK.

Both of these models are a little shiny. I ran out of Testors Dulcoat and just have a coat of Krylon Matte which is not flat. One I get a new can I will dull these down.

Catachan Missile Launcher Teams

I played a few 400 point combat patrol games a couple weeks ago and I discovered my lack of heavy weapon options was a major issue. Since I am planning on lots of patrol level games I decided to go with missile launchers. Missile launchers are the best option for low point games as they can be either anti-tank or anti-personnel.

I have dozens more heavy weapons teams so stay tuned.

French Battalion Complete

Tonight I finished my first French Battalion for Black Powder. I must say I really enjoyed assembling and paint these figures. All of the time I spent working on them really made me want to play Black Powder but I am a long way from doing a Napoleonic battle. So that means I need to get back to my ACW project. I am very close to having the Union up to two full brigades.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the completed unit. Thanks to the comments on my test paints for keeping me in perspective on how to paint these. I went for a nice looking unit rather than nice looking individual figures. In the end I may have accomplished both.

French Test Paints

Here are the first three painted examples of my Victrix French. The painting itself I am pleased with. I used the GW Badab Black wash rather than my usual Minwax Polyshades dip. I am not very happy with that decision. As usual, these look much better in person. I still can't seem to get good photographic examples of my work.

The first is a line Fusilier.

Next is a line Voltigeur.

Last is a line Grenadier.

The good news is these will be much easier to paint than I thought. I should be able to make good time on the rest of the battalion.