Fallshirmjager Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon Completed

I'm really counting on these AA guns to provide my pioneers with much needed fire support when they land and start assaulting. With ROF 4 each and  AT 5, they will help to clear enemy infantry as well as tanks.

I've made the guns facing forward instead of up for this reason alone. I don't think the allies have any air support capable of bombings in early war/blitzkreig....i might be wrong..

Should've made them tilt up slightly more...Not too happy with the way they look once i had painted them up. Can't do much now since its already super glued in place.  Ahh well..hope it helps them to hit their target more :)

Almost reaching the final line with this army list. Just the MG and FJ platoon to complete. Should be able to get a trial game this week. 

Who wants first shot at the elite of the elite pioneers?

AH-1G Cobra - delightful distraction

I'm a sucker for aircrafts of all types. So when this guy landed on my table last week at work it was all i could think of. The change from painting infantry teams was a welcome change as always :)

This kit is in fact the first ever heli if've painted in my life. Lots of planes but this is the first heli for me. Not such a wise move to spend time painting it up since our early war campaign is less than 2 weeks away.....i'm weak...

My customary WIP pics. Decided to do pre-shading  just coz i haven't done it in ages. 

The resin kit is quite good. Fit went well and weight is super nice. I can see myself painting a few more of these.

I really enjoyed painting the cobra. "whup!! whup!! whup!!   braka!! braka!! braka!! get some....get some!!! was in my head throughout the time.

Now time to start painting those pioneer paras again...

Fallschirmjager Pak36 Light Anti Tank Guns

Got these guys done tonite. Nothing special...just wanted to achieve a table top decent painting standard. I had fun painting these gun teams after finishing 2 full infantry platoons and 7 gliders. Nice change of subject for me :)

As befitting a parachute infantry support option, they can be parachuted straight into enemy held territory. Lets just hope :
1. They land adjacent to their weapons container;
2. They don't land on top of any enemy team;
3. They don't land in rough terrain;
4. I don't roll 1s when they land in safe open terrain.

Hmmmm...why is 3/4 of my statements negative?? 

May the winds guide them to a safe landing ready to shoot at pinned down and/or bailed out enemies. ROF 3 AT 6 for each should be fun :)

I am Spartacus!!!

I had the pleasure of being a playtester for this game awhile back. And let me tell you...its a blast to play!! The shouting match that you get into when the gladiators are fighting in the arena is just awesome!!! It trully captures the essence of the series.

The final version will be making its debut at Gencon this month and i'm dying to get my hands on a copy once it arrives at our shores.

You really must give this game a try. If you haven't already watched the series then go out and get it now. If you have, then watch it again :) The similarities between the built of the hero and me is just trully astounding...hehe ;)

We'll have some games at Legio once we get our copies and the sands will be blessed by blood once again!!!

DFS-230 Assault Gliders

Seeing as how these 10 assault gliders will the main attraction when I display my army prior to deployment, its only fair they get a post on how i painted them up. First off, these gliders are really nice models. Details are crisp, very easy to build up. 

Excuse some of the low/dark pictures...used my handphone again when the camera was unavailable.

Not showing it here but i first primed the model with Vallejo grey primer, airbrushed directly from the bottle. Then airbrushed the underwing and fuselage with vallejo model color 907 pale grey blue.

Once dry, i start with masking these area off. You'll notice :

1/ i'm using normal masking tape which you can buy at any arts shop. The cheap stuff basically. Just make sure to stick it a couple of times to a slighty dusty surface to lessen the stickiness. In my hobby room, dust is aplenty :)

2/ i didn't assemble the wing struts to the wings and fuselage. This is so it'll be easier to mask the fuselage and underwing area.

Then 2 layers of vallejo 890 reflective green. For camo schemes i've always sprayed on the lightest color first followed by progressively darker ones. This will ensure that light colors remain light and don't end up looking a bit darker.

Now comes the fun/tedious part. Masking the camo. Tedious but its gotta be done to get that effect. This is how i do mine.

Same cheap masking tape. Stick some to the cutting mat and draw shapes on it. The gliders camo scheme are geometric straight lines so i just used my imagination and drew some. Might not be historically correct but it's not my objective. Its for gaming after all.

Apply the mask and make sure you end up getting a 50/50 ratio of light green and dark green. Again i just used my imagination on where best to apply a certain shape...nothing fancy.

Then the last color to be sprayed on, 979 german camo dark green.

Now comes the fun part of peeling off the mask and seeing the result. Again, sorry for the dark picture.

Presto!! Camoed gliders :) Now i fix the wing struts and paint them pale grey blue. 

From here i proceeded with the decals and they're done. Apart from the first glider, i didn't do any line washing or weathering. Too much time which i don't have. Maybe when the whole army is done i'll get to that. But for now......and then there were 7!!

Looking good so far. Just another 3 gliders to go :)

For those interested to know how i store my gliders, a simple solution that i've used when transporting aircraft models to painting competitions.

I cut the foams that you get in most FoW blisters or boxes. Cut a line/hole to fit into the wing tip and put double sided tape on the bottom. Another foam i leave uncut but also apply the double sided tape. Fix the foams to a box and you'll end with something like this.

All nice and snuggle and ready for battle!! As you can see, there's only room for 6 gliders in this box so i'll have 2 for the company.

Cheers all. Hope you had a good weekend.

Luflandesturm 1st platoon gliders and 2nd platoon completed

Completed painting 1st platoon's 3 DFS230 gliders over the weekend :) Plus the Company HQ's, I now have 4 fully painted gliders. I must say they will look spiffy on the tables when i deploy them using the glider assault rule. Just have to make sure the Company Commander's glider doesn't crash...killing him and the 2iC even before the fight has started.

4 down and 6 more to go. That's not all i managed to get painted from the last post. 2nd platoon minus their gliders are also done. My list has 8 platoon so that means I'm at 2/8....again since their gliders aren't done, they can't actually be considered done....ahh well. Group photo so far. CC, 2iC, 1st and 2nd.

Apologies for the low res pics. Left my camera at the office and this was taken using my hanphone. Next up is 3rd platoon.

But am feeling tired of painting infantry so these guys will have to wait. I'll paint the anti-tank PaK36 platoon first while painting 2nd's gliders.

Ohhh and I managed to get my hands on this over the weekend. Very nice reference and history book.

 Guess what my next late war army is gonna be :)

Take care everyone :)