The last models of 2012 ?

I started my new Bolt Action project on German Fallschirmjagers platoon just at the end of the year ! painting them is quite difficult (i did it in 15 mm but 28mm splinter camo is a very though task) and my first experiments are quite frustrating... 

However I am quite excited since I decided to use 1/48 vehicles instead of the resin ones. They are much better suited to heroic 28mm figures and also superior to resin models in terms of details.

My first experiment is an old Bandai model i retrieved from my basement: a fantastic JagdTiger. A real monster on Tiger II chassis and with 128mm gun able to pierce any armor !

I think the test succeeded reasonably well although painting leaks and washes on light colors is more difficult than on the olive drab. I used a black spray primer and then airbrushed the base color which is a mix of Tamiya  acrylics: 2/3 of Xf60  dark yellow and 1/3 Xf55 deck tan which makes a very convincing dunkelgelb with a light tone suitable for further washes and filters. Tamiya acrylics are really a fantastic surprise. They are very easy to spry and extremely matt: the berst you can use for vehicles.

The camo is sprayed by using vallejo air panzer brown 041 and Tamiya deep green Xf26. Then I sprayed a gloss varnish and applied two filters (paine grey and burnt umber) and a black wash using the technique shown in panzermania tutorial. 

I resprayed gloss cote and applied leaks, sponge, pigments and mud again following panzermania tutorial.

The result is fine and allowed me to test all the techniques on a tank that is quite unlikely i will ever use on the field.

BTD new generals

In the BTD pack I couldn't resist purchasing two of their leaders series... they are great and very funny adds to my armies who now have Hig rank commanders to distribute medals after the games !

Comparing BTD and Warlords USGI

BTD,Warlord tin, BTD, Warlord tin

I was also tempted by the black friday sale of BTD and purchased a team of USGI to complement my rangers...

I was very favorably impressed by the figures i received (for about 1EU each !) They are good and with good details and proportions.. for an awesome informed review on the figures and their equipment see the wwpd forum.

What I was concerned was the compatibility with Warlord figures which formed the bulk of my armies and the real surprise is that they are very compatible both in terms of height and of overall shape... At a close look heads are sometimes larger and sculpting is less accurate but the poses are varied and in many cases very nice (look at the two advancing GIs above).
Overall I was very happy of the purchase and will repeat it at the next sale... (I also bought a FJ squad that I am currently painting).

Rangers Heavy Weapons

To complete my rangers I got and painted an MMG and a light mortar. I think I will proxy the light mortar as a medium one since the light has two disadvantages. The main one is the lack of observer that makes it difficult to use it in game boards with a lot of terrain features (as they should be). The second one is the little damage (D3) that it make when it can hit.
Also the mmg did not impressed me a lot: 65 points for 3 dices is not that much...

At least the models look great and the bases are nice little dioramas. Note the damage dice and the .5 frame that I bought from minibits to hold the dice that I use to mark the casualties since the figures in the team are less than required (respectively they should be 3 crew for the mmg and 3-4 for the mortar).

The willys painted

Another addition to my rangers : the willys jeep finished with the same treatment of the rest of the US vehicles. It just need the painted crew. My use of the jeep is as mobile MMG (or HMG) without the crew or to assign it to the LT.

Painted Sherman

I could not really wait too much to paint the fantastic Warlords Sherman. I painted with airbrush using the vallejo 887 brown violet and used the same weathering treatment presented for the M3 halftrack.

This little hero performed very well in its first battle. It entered the field from reserves and at the second attempt it destroyed a concealed Stug III !

Unboxing Warlord Sherman, willys and crew

It's quite a long time I don't post but I was really busy with my work. Nevertheless I found a little time to proceed a little with my Boltaction Rangers. I received my order from Warlords which included some vehicles for the yankees.
Here you will see the M4 Sherman and the willys jeep box content. The metal and resin components are a finely detailed and with little flash.

Just an important note for the assembly of the sherman: remember to glue the metal parts of the wheels of the tracks BEFORE gluing the tracks to the main body since otherwise it wil be difficult to mount the internal one... (this was what happened to me!)