KGN Reconnaisance and Forward Plans

Today I was playing a Napoleonics game at the club versus Jez, and more about that in a future post as it'll come with a lot of photo's; but whilst I was there there was a lot of discussion about the Nightowls direction in the coming year and the shows we would be doing, whilst Mark and Andy had a run through of one of those games.

The club intends taking a new direction this year and getting out there a lot more; whilst we've mainly been known in the past as part of the Gaming Club Network, demoing Flames of War (interminably)  and for putting on shows at Gamesday, this year we are moving towards a more varied and historical slant, with plans to appear at Vapnartak, Triples, Partizan, Fiasco, recon and possibly WarTorn and Battlegroup North (attendance at Gamesday is still presumed...)  Games should include The Zulu War, my own Yugoslavian project and Kampgruppe Normandy: WW2.

To that end Mark and Andy had a test of one of the scenario's from the rules; Screening Cagny (p.125):

The chaps set up the battlefield as per the scenario, on a 6 feet square table and quickly disposed of two squadrons of Sherman tanks in a race across open fields at the defending battery of 88mm gun.  They reset and took the view of a more seasoned commander and sent the Shermans in via the woodland on their left.

 
The result this time took longer and cost the Germans a gun or two but ended with the same group of destroyed tanks.  It is a good scenario to play at shows, as the reset time is minimal and a game can be played with explanation in well under an hour.

The thing, as I keep banging on to the club is, to improve the display terrain; this was a good looking club game, for us, but it would never grace a glossy wargames magazine, and this would be one of the indicators of success.  Getting into a rag.

I suppose I'm going to have to take my role in all of this and get involved with another terrain project....

French Line Artillery

"God is on the side with the best artillery."

- Napoleon

Napoleon introduced the 6lb cannon to French service after Marengo, where a shortage of artillery and the deficiencies of the previous Gribeauval weapons determined that a new calibre was required.  Though in fact many of the initial guns were in fact captured pieces.

Two 6lb guns with crew in a mix of standard uniform and greatcoats.

My line artillery represents part of a battery as it may have appeared in the early period of the Peninsular, though I hold my hands up to the fact that the models, being Perry, are perhaps more appropriate to the later period.

Being my first Napoleonic unit in a good six months, I quite pleased with the results, and I'm inspired to get more done.  After all, at some stage I need to add a howitzer to the battery to finish it!

The Suthene Pass 68ad

My second game against Richard's Romans continued the theme of a hypothetical rebellion of the Greek states during the year of four emperors.  But after the pasting I took in a stand up fight last time, I felt I needed both a force equaliser and a narratively suitable sequel.

To that end another dip into the Charles Grant big book of solutions was deemed appropriate* and scenario 37 'Defile' was selected.  Richard's Romans were under the command of General Tyrannicus and his aide Missus; he had six cohorts of Legionaries, two of Equitales and a troop of Scorpion bolt throwers.  His limited force was to clear the Suthene pass of all Greek opposition to allow the main force to keep pace with the retreating army defeated previously.

In defence, General Oblivion commanded three phalanxes of Spartan's rescued from the main battle.  They formed a single line between the impassable mountains and forest unsuited to formed troops.  The infantry's flank was protected by commander Sorarches, leading a mixed force of light troops including peltasts, Cretan Archers and Thracians.

What the Greeks were not aware of was that there was a herders path through the mountains, too small for a major attack, but suitable for a flanking force; the Romans had been tipped off to this and were able to send a force to outflank the Greeks.

So yes, it is Thermopylae, transposed by some 500 years.  With that in mind deployments were thus:

Tyrannicus elected to lead only a party of cavalry over the mountains, leaving his Missus to attack the front of the Greeks.  Missus decided to form a Wedge with his troops to achieve this.

This vast formation of three thousand or so men seemed like a simple intimidation tactic to the Greeks of Oblivion, but he also recognised the vulnerability of it to sustained attack from the Peltasts of Sorarches.  Thus his orders were for the Peltae to concentrate on the head of the formation in an effort to stall its attack.

To Oblivion, and Missus' surprise the bow and javelin fire of the Greeks were immediately devastating, and the Wedge collapsed as two cohorts fled in panic, their Centurions and Optios picked off, killed or captured. Two other units were so badly effected by this that they were unable to make any advance, and the Roman attack foundered.

It was all Missus could do to hold his troops and reform into a smaller wedge, a Pigs Head formation, whilst their Scorpions tried to pin down the Cretans, and their remaining cavalry protected the flank from the deadly weapons of the Thracians.

The fight with the Thracians was a bloody affair, which after initially favouring the Romans, swung to the Thracians once the battle was conducted in the forest.  

In the end the Roman cavalry was broken by the fight, but so too, to all intents, were the Thracians.

Recognising what was to come Oblivion drew his Spartans in to a similar formation, whilst the Peltasts and archers continued to harry the Romans.

Missus corralled his troops and led in a typically devastating Roman charge.  The leading phalanx was destroyed, and shortly after the savage push of the Cohorts against the Greek left led to another unit being destroyed.  Soon only the Chalcidians were left with Oblivion.

At this point the Roman cavalry with Tyrannicus, arrived.

Oblivion had to withdraw, but it was also apparent that the main Roman body had reached breaking point, and Missus had to try and rally his men whilst under the belligerent fire of the Cretans.  The Spartans were immune to such trivialities, but not to common sense, their new position in the pass at least allowed them to face all their foes equally.

Tyrannicus had little time left, and could not rely on his infantry recovering, already they were beginning to pull back up the pass.  So he had to try to charge the head of the Greek phalanx.

Narrowly, the Greeks carried the fight, though at the cost of Oblivion's life; a junior commander steeped forward, and delivered a counter charge to the disordered Romans throwing them back even further.  As  the sun set, the Greeks still blocked the pass  and the now defeated troops of Missus were in the process of an orderly retreat.

Victory to the Greeks!  The Arena for Missus and Decimation for the men of the Eighth Legio.

A great game, that hung on an unexpected knife edge all the way through.  When I saw the Roman wedge I assumed it would be over in a turn or two, and my requirement to hold for eight turns looked impossible.  But Richards first two break tests for missile fire inflicted disorder, BOTH came up as snake eyes; so both units broke and ran.

At this point with my advantage in firepower and flexible troops it was in my favour, but the sacrifice of his cavalry kept him in the fight, and the dismal fighting performance of my Spartans (never more than five hits on thirteen dice in combat with the Cohorts) left me on the back foot again.  In the end the sustained attacks of the deadly Cretans won me the battle as much as anyone, containing and then breaking the Romans.  As stated the the Spartan infantry had a 'No Breakpoint' special rule for this battle, to emulate their historical antecedents, but this was balanced by being heavily outnumbered and potentially outflanked.

We both agreed it was an excellent game.


*See Playing Favourites, below

Anima Tactics - Romeo must Die

My first game of the year was a return to Amina Tactics after a long break without any games; none since the LWC closed down in fact.

Picking the forces on the day, I opted for my Black Sun faction, as it allowed me to field the Raziel NK-X I painted up last year.

The rest of the 250 levels force was comprised of Clover, Tsubasa, Sophia and Promethea.  This gave me a powerful attacking force, with an effective female tactical support team.  Conversely Paul, my opponent fielded a Church force of Romeo Exxet, Justina, DamienSaint Astraega and Alis Testarossa.  Not a force I'd faced before, and Romeo presented a potentially tough target.

With Paul still quite new to the game, we just set up a simple encounter battle with a notional limit of seven turns.  On my advice we did not over clutter the board with terrain, and what there was was mostly of ruins, Paul would see why I advised this.  I deployed in a tight cluster as the Black Sun clearly work best in a close group.  Paul was rather more spread out.

At first both sides swung around one another in an arc, keeping the actual range between one another fairly equal.  Having moved up in support of the Raziel NK-X on the second turn though, Tsubasa was fired upon by Justina, whilst simultaneously unleashing a magical ranged attack on Damien.

 Cue Star Wars blaster noise

This drew the Church leader, Romeo forward, and the Raziel was able to engage him with a charge.  Damien joined the fray and soon the Lumbering Raziel was proving an imovable object to their unstoppable force, and vice versa.

Astraega stood to the rear dealing out healing.  Keeping Romeo in the fight, resulting in the NK-X looking much the worse for wear.

At this point I had gained enough ground with Tsubasa to charge Justina, but also more devastatingly, Clover was in a position to unleash his Prometheum attack.  He charged Romeo first, cutting him down, then smashing Damien away from the Raziel, and finally flinging an unfortunate Astraega through the ruins behind her.  Two kills from one charge.

By now Alis Testarossa had dropped in on the girls at the back and a half hearted cat fight had broken out.

At the main front, Damien re-charged the Raziel and was able to put the hurt on it, but it's unstoppable nature meant it would still fight to the end of the turn, and in doing so it was able to smash Damien to pulp!  Furthermore it absorbed his essential essence and came back to unholy life itself.  Paul was gutted, figuratively...

Clover joined the fight against Justina, and it signed the end for her too, as another of the Church's warriors was flung into a wall of rock, never to rise again.

Two big swords+one little man = SPLAAAAAAT! 

And so at this stage it became no more than a mopping up exercise; with a turn in hand the battle scarred but still highly effective Black sun team turned to advance on the last of the Church faction; who then had the wisdom to withdraw.

The game was closer than it at first appears, for both Tsubasa and the Raziel were close to being lost, infact the NK-X was technically dead for half a turn.  Clover did not escape unscathed either, and it was only determined dodging and the aid of Sophia that kept Promethea safe.  But it was nonetheless a clear win for the Black Sun, and must've given Paul plenty to think about.

Elsewhere at the Thursday club the usual sort of thing was going on, including DBMM and two games of Puerto Rico.  Most interesting to me though was a trial of the rebooted Mongoose version of Starfleet Battles, as a simplified tabletop game.

Deep in the Beige Nebular, known for its tree-like asteroids...

Featuring all the familiar ships from the original board game (looking through the fleets in the rulebook was like a trip down memory lane, fondly drooling over the Gorns - my favourites - Kzinti, Orion Pirates and more).  These are rules I think I will have to try at some stage, and the models look really nice too.

Albuera Dioramas

I happened upon this on t'internet, and thought it worth sharing, a set of Spanish museum dioramas commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battle of Albuera.

Stirring stuff indeed.  Certainly makes me want to get some more Napoleonics done.  By the look of it, this was another reason why Perry miniatures are doing very well for themselves, most of the models look to be theirs, though I think there are Victrix french in there as well.

The museum itself appears to be in the village of Albuera in spain, unsurprisingly; but little evidence to support this shows up on the internet, so I can't elaborate more at this point.

Enjoy.

Serbian Army T55 paint-thru

Having a rummage through the piles of lead and plastic, I retrieved a tank model to add to my Yugoslav forces.  One of my favourites as it happens; the ubiquitous T-55.



The kit in question, and the one I would recommend you buy if wanting to build the tank, was the PST model shown above; a much better engineered model than some other kits of this tank I have seen; with crisp parts and plenty of extras (in fact you get all the parts to build a late model T-54 instead should you wish).

The model was build almost direct from the box, taking about 3.5 hours.

However there are a few items that distinguish T-55 in Yugoslav service, typically they were equipped with anti aircraft machine guns as standard, which the Russian made models did not initially receive.  Secondly, as the war progressed they were increasingly up armoured, with side skirts and other measures to stand-off the effect of RPG rounds and HEAT warheads.  Neither of the features are on this model, which is to match one we'll see later, based on the early war vehicles either used by or inherited from the Yugoslav National Army (JNA).

One feature that was common at that time however, was the removal of the front track guards.  This I understand was to stop the tracks getting jammed up with soft wet soil; the reasons this might be important on a 32 tonne tank are unclear but it is too common in archive photo's to ignore, and the track guards are easily removed with a scalpel.

Next up the whole model was base coated:

You'll spot at this stage a machine gun has appeared on the model.  I decided it needed one, and again based on photo's I added an M2HB to a mount forward of both hatches.  This was a common fitting for tanks in combat as suppression fire against infantry was to prove far more important than anti-aircraft fire.  As for the .50cal, well American supply of military equipment to Yugoslavia in the 1950's saw a large variety of equipment come in to the JNA arsenal, and the M2 was copied by and manufactured in the state factories.  It's use on a variety of soviet equipment was commonplace on all sides in the war.

Anyway, the base coat is of Humbrol Acrylic 30, the reason being that it bonds to plastic far better than Vallejo Acrylics.  The green plastic of the model is extremely repellent to pure water based paints.  In other circumstances I may have spray-coated the model, but this was actually more likely to give a complete coat.  However, this is far too dark a colour for Serbian armour, so:

Next up was a complete coat of Vallejo Russian Green.  You can see the difference if you look at the HMG or the unditching beam which remain the Humbrol green.  You can also see the rear of another T-55 whose (enamel painted) colours I was trying to match.

In an effort to match that tank, and to get a nicer finish, it was now time to highlight the model.  Firstly an overbrush of the entire model was carried out by adding a little Vallejo dark yellow (actually a greenish buff) to the Russian green.  I evaluated this and repeated it adding more dark yellow to the mix.  I then added a couple of lighter dry brushes, with a small amount of pure yellow added to the mix.  Practice and intuition are needed to apply these well, but the biggest helps with drybrushing as a technique are to use good condition, dense, short haired brushes; to make sure they are not saturated with paint before touching the model; and to concentrate on a gradual build up on the edges and top surfaces.

This took only a few minutes to get to the state below:

Next, I moved to the tracks; firstly by painting them Vallejo hull red (the tracks are moulded in black in a more paint-friendly plastic).

Simple enough.  Next I painted the Machine gun and  headlights a gunmetal/black mix; ready for highlighting.  Then with a 50/50 gunmetal and steel mix, I overbrushed the tracks and HMG.  Then over this I dry brushed some silver, some of this also being used on the headlights (not the machine gun) and some used the put scratches and worn paint marks on the tank.

Tracks done it was time to add identification markings.  The only standard JNA markings appear to be a 5 digit serial number usually painted on to the sides of the turret on tanks; however unofficially the national flag was commonly used for identification, and slogans were not unusual.

With these added, it is time to move on to the weathering.  I began with a mix of reddish brown stippled onto the lower half of the tank with a tatty brush that is little more than damp with paint.  When applying the paint, have in mind where the tank would build up dirt, thick mud is unlikely to find it's way onto the turret or engine deck, but the wheels and lower hull will obviously be coated.

Rather, on the higher surfaces I apply first a stippling on mid brown and then several dry brush layers of sand brown, to gently build up a layer of dried dirt and dust.  One thing that is common through the ages of tank warfare, is the dulling down in the field of large insignia, smearing stars or flags with dirt or even over painting them in darker shades.  Nothing says shoot here like a foot tall white star seen in your rangefinder!

At this stage the model itself is finished, but it still needed basing:

Which is something you should decide on yourself.  Below is a shot of the tank from the rear, showing a typical patriotic slogan: 'Serbia Forever' painted on the rear of the turret.  You can also see the unditching beam has been painted like wood.

And here it is next to its' compatriot.  It is a noticeably darker shade of green, but as we will see, it matches other models well, and the fact is, there is rarely a consistent paint colour in the field for all manner of reasons.

I love the look of the T-55 by the way, sure it's a sixty year old design and as crude as an Ikea shelf unit built by a toddler group; but it's tough as nails and looks mean as hell!

and here is my JNA frontline armour squadron together:

Two T-55's are joined by a pair of M-84 MBT's.  As you can see the new tank is a very close match to the M84's.  For those wondering, the M84's are converted Revell T-80's, I knocked up some 15 years ago.

Next up for this lot, some optional turrets for the T-55's, or the previously promised M60p scratchbuild.

Playing Favourites

We all have them; favourite games, periods, inspirations and so on.  The lull in gaming over the festive season gave me pause for thought on a few of mine, and since we are now in "awards" season, so I understand, I thought as a one off to herald the new year I could pass comment on mine.

Wargames Period

I'll play anything really, the blog shows that, but when it comes down to the periods I hold most dear it comes down to a handful.  The front runners for me would be Ancient, Napoleonic and The Second World War.  In terms of a variety of armies the Ancient world gets an early nod, and in terms of broader reading, and tying in to my other interests is probably the widest general subject; whereas the Napoleonic period is something I've only really taken a real interest in over the last three years, a tiny proportion of my gaming history.

Even as an eight year old boy I was, like many eight year old boys of my generation, fascinated with WW2; and it is a fascination that has stayed with me.  Both my Grandfathers fought in (and one never returned from) the war, and as a child the world seemed saturated with war movies, Battle Magazine comics, and Airfix soldiers.  My gaming began with the WW2 rules in Terence Wise's 'Introduction to Battle Gaming' and moved on from there.  Today I still own four 20mm WW2 armies, with plans to do one or two more small groups, plus two large 28mm forces.  As an enduring obsession and the one that lead me in to wargaming.  The second world war must stand as my favourite.

Where it all began

Incidentally, I love fantasy games, but they simply are not a 'Period' in this sense, just a genre of game; and you can't have a favourite in a list of one, can you?

Scale

Soldiers should wherever possible be about one inch tall; call that 25mm or 28mm as is your preference, it matters not.  There are exceptions, mainly for WW2 and onwards, where model availability and tradition dictates 20mm to be the appropriate height.  Everything smaller is a compromise, anything larger is a vanity!

Rules

Now This is not a difficult one at all, save for which version of a great core set of rules do I like the most?  Hail Caesar and Black Powder are both great games, and really give the feel of a traditional battle, as Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone or Brigadier Peter Young might narrate, but with the benefit of fifty plus years of game development and wisdom.  For me Black Powder opened up new periods in simple playable ways, and turned old material into vibrant and usable inspiration (as we'll come on to later)  It edges out its' newer sibling despite the latter probably being an even better rule set for this reason.

Honourable mentions must go to Warhammer Fantasy, Kampgfruppe Normandy, Donald Featherstone's Tank Battle in Miniature, Armati, AK47 Republic, Star Fleet Battles, Epic 40k and Hordes of the Things; all of which at times have been major obsessions.

Boardgame

Got a weekend to lose, try playing the original of Civilisation.  What a glorious game!  My memories of this now fade into the dim past as it is a good fifteen years since I last had a chance to while away the twelve hours or so needed to play it properly.  More recently I've become a fan of Eurogames like Alhambra and Carcassone, perhaps because they are distinct from wargaming, and readily accessible to non gamers.

Figure manufacturer:

Metal/Hard Plastic 

Obviously I'd considered these to be two categories, but on thinking about it, I could only pick the same for both - Perry Miniatures.  It is not like I exclusively buy their products, but I would consider the Perry twins pretty much the best sculptors in the business and their models to be pretty much the ideal.  And they remain well priced too!

 

Soft Plastic

What Perry are to 28mm, Zvezda are to 20mm; simply put, their models are beautiful works of art.  I should know, I've bought far more than I have to date used, and although I've built Republican Roman and Etruscan armies from them, I also have a Macedonian army and about 600 Samurai sat in boxes waiting to be used.

Club

To be fair I've only attended five over the years, and as much as I enjoy my current group(s), I will always consider my time as a member of the Grimsby Wargames Society as the very best.  After all, few clubs can boast of their own property, with permanent tables, hundreds of terrain boards and pieces, an expectation that games will usually feature thousands of painted models, and whatever opening hours members may require.  Truly it is the best thing in Grimsby!

Opponent

On from the above, my Games against Tim Walker at the GWS remain my favourites.  Whether Ancients, AK47 Republic, Hordes of the Things or random battles with Tim's vast collections they were always good natured, and depended on a natural narrative rather than the contrivance of winning at any cost in a points based fight to the death.

Inspiration

Film

There are several films, which when they are on, they will always get watched - A Bridge Too Far, Spartacus, Tora Tora Tora!, The Longest Day, Full Metal Jacket, Blackhawk Down, to name a handful - But the absolute definitive war film, imperfect as it is, for me is Zulu.

I could probably watch it every month if I had to, and as a man who rarely puts a DVD on a second time, it's saying something.  It represents more particularly, an impression the British like to give of themselves, and for many can be considered fact, of stiff upper lipped stoicism and understated bravery, yes it has the colonial legacy worn without shame on it's sleeve, and it is a minefield of minor inaccuracies for the pedantic viewer, but by crikey it's a ripping yarn!

Book

I'll be honest, I am not the sort to solely read books on military history, war novels and the so called 'fluff' of fantasy and Sci-Fi tie-ins.  Most of them don't catch my attention, and though I've tried many and finished a few, most get cast aside by about page 100.  (I hold a degree in English Literature and Modern History, and it has directed my reading since.)  That said I do have a interest in the classics, and have read Thucydides, Tacitus, Plato, Livy, Josephus and Xenophon amongst others; they are generally more accessible than you may think if you've never tried them.

I'm more inclined to reference that digest the background of armies and military campaigns into useful resources, in other words Osprey Books, The old Wargames Research Group series, Blandford Press uniform guides and so on.  Even with wider histories and so on I often only dip in for what I need.  Increasingly, the internet has provided some of this material; what can I say, I'm down with the kids.

But so far as wargaming specifically, there is one book above all that is essential to me, Charles Grant's Scenarios for Wargames.  It should be for every wargamer!

Art

Angus McBride was the finest military illustrator ever, in my opinion, and his artwork is absolutely inspiring.  I came to it first via the cover art for the Middle Earth Role Playing Game books, and to me defined the look of JRR Tolkien's world.



On seeing his historical work I was blown away; it is fabulous, clean and vivid, with a real sense of a story within each illustration.

The Interweb

Ignoring the forum for my local club, which surely sucks away too much time, and the blogs I link via mine, that are all either useful or entertaining reading - thanks folks - the most useful gateway is for all its' faults, Wikipedia.  Google tends to lead here first on most research terms, and so I spend a lot of time looking through material of a wargames bent on it.  


And so that is probably long enough to go on, I could add a load of daft things too; favourite table size: 8x5 feet; favourite tank: T55, with M4A2 as a close second; favourite colour to paint uniforms: deep blue, it's too easy to highlight.  And as it's late and I'm mildly sleep deprived I could probably continue.  But I should stop.

If you like the idea, feel free to poach it for your own blog, but do let me know, I'd be interested to see what your preference are too...

First figures of 2012

Well these didn't take very long!

Actually it shows to be honest, they are rudimentary at best, a simple black wash job; but they did only take a total of about 3 hours from start to finish, including basing.

I picked up some Crusader Miniatures Normans to give me some nicer models and variety for my Saga troops.  Having got the models I have mixed feelings about them.  They are accurate enough but oddly static and as you can see some of the crossbows are not completely cast; can you say 'Quality Control'?  Hopefully when I get to look at them the spear men and cavalry I bought will be better.

Still, it's a good start to the year isn't it.  Back to work tomorrow though...

Braganza's Besiegers - AKI style

The other major project for December has been a unit for my Dogs of War, who are now developing quite a base of Static firepower.  Kings of War and the Perry Miniatures Late Medieval range has given this army a new lease of life, and they have now entered the dreaded 'Third carry case' stage of army evolution*

16 figures in all in a garishly bright quartered livery, so they'll really 'pop' in the army.  As said the miniatures are Perry Plastics, and serve ideally in my Dogs of War force, being as it is a conglomeration of every race and manfacturer, in an effort to realise my old school fantasy aspirations for a mishmash army.  They are of course tied together by the painting style and basing.

In close up you can see that the Pavaises' (big shields, for the rest of you!) are based on separate strips, to allow them to be optional to the unit.  This then allows me to field the unit as the Marksmen of Miraglio instead, or simply as a default unit of crossbowmen.

The heraldry and banner were all free hand.  A word on the banner.  I painted it on paper, over a pencil design, such that the two sides would fold over to give the back to back design.  Make sure you also paint the back of the paper your base colour.  Once finished this is cut out and the back given a complete covering of pva glue.  Folded on to the pole, you'll find the paper soft and malleable; whilst it is so you can form the natural folds into the flag, as you can see above.  The shape will hold within minutes and once dry is pretty solid (though a coat of varnish will further strengthen the banner).  Try to use thin, but good quality paper, I find letter writing paper works well for this, but office printer paper is fine too.

So that's it, the last painting of the year.  The final result is a satisfactory 538 models, against a target of 360.  A lower result than previous years, but in part because I reduced the points I scored for guns and vehicles, and didn't count scenery at all.  Overall I'm pretty happy.

Happy New Year folks...

*This being a stage where an army goes beyond a satisfactory size, to one of sprawling excess.  My file boxes typically hold about 150 28mm models on average, and I consider anything over 200 models to be a 'finished' force.  Therefore once the 300 barrier is broken and a third box is needed, it is both a moment of satisfaction and of resignation - to the fact I need either more storage space, or to sell something else to make room!

Sherman's and Tank Riders

So I've been on leave since the 23rd, and with time on my hands the other day I cobbled together another Sherman Tank squadron for my WW2 games.

Inspired by the tank rider equipped Panzer IV's of Gaz at the club, I decided to add infantry to mine.

One tank was painted some months ago and only needed infantry adding; the other two were done quickly on Xmas Eve before shooting off for the festive whathaveyou's!

Over a base of Russian Green plus a little German Camouflage Green, I built up layers of more Russian Green with with a little yellow.  This was then weathered with red-browns and yellow-browns.  The unit markings are speculative but pretty typical of the period; obviously one applies them before weathering...

The tank riders are from the Hat minibox range and excellent little sculpts, except for the figure with optional weapons; when assembled he clearly has three elbows, he's an abomination!

You can see them better in this shot:

To ensure they stay in place, each figure has been pinned to the tank; they were painted separately, given a black varnish wash and then glued in to place.

Nice quick work to fill a few idle hours whilst watching The Man Who Would Be King; classic Xmas fare!