Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army... pt. II

Slowly but surely my force grows...

Painting all those little tanks and vehicles is quite different from what I am used to... On one hand, due to their size, painting them is quick. On the other hand, it's a challenge to get all the details across. Things like tools, spare tracks and tow cables are often so small it's hard to get some decent colour on them to make them noticable...

The motorpool so far...
The three models on the left are 3D prints from Shapeways, the rest is GHQ...

Early War German panzers are grey, no two ways about that. I tried to keep the models as light as possible. The first few models were decorated with decals but the results weren't quite what I expected. In the end I decided to paint over the decals and stopped using them altogether. Very few of the miniatures have enough flat surface to put them on neatly, even with decal softener...

One of the prototypes with decal... 

I am thinking about adding crew to the open topped vehicles, just to add a touch of realism and a bit more detail... Just a matter of making them fit, I suppose...

On another note, I just received my order from Heroics & Ross. I am very impressed with their infantry, so much that I am already putting together a new order! I also purchased several gliders to go with the Fallschirmjäger I ordered. Neat little aircraft that will provide some tactical options.

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army...

At Crisis in Antwerpen I picked up my pre-ordered package filled with GHQ Micro Armour... While I had previously bought a sample pack, which gave me an idea of the scale and level of detail, the quality of these miniatures continues to amaze me.

This is no review, there are already enough of those, but I will say that these models are among the very best I ever had the pleasure of working on... Extremely sharp casts, little to no flash and highly accurate.

I ordered several different vehicles, all suited for the Early War period, 1939 to 1941. These models will represent my Blitzkrieg Germans, fighting in Belgium, France and Holland. They will also form the basis of the force invading Britain in our what-if Seelöwe campaign.

Over the coming months (or even years, depending on the speed of the project) this force will be expanded, reinforced by infantry (probably  Fallschirmjäger) and newer vehicles.

So far I have the folowing vehicles from GHQ:

SdKfz. 221
SdKfz. 222 Leichter Panzerspähwagen
SdKfz. 231/232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen  6-rad/8-rad
SdKfz. 9 Famo
SdKfz. 265 Kleine Panzerbefehlswagen
Panzerjáger IB
StuG ausf. B

I also have several Panzers, ranging from the smallest, the Panzer I to the Panzer IV... The main reason to start off this project with Early War peroid is the wide selection of lightly armoured vehicles you van choose from. I aim to include as many different vehicles as possible in my collection!

To make this collection as complete and diverse as possible I will be adding 3D-printed models as well... The first few have already arrived (as can be seen in a previous post) and more will surely follow.

I also placed an order at Heroics&Ross... They have some interesting vehicles, too. And at a nice price...

Below are some pictures that serve as inpiration...

A column of Panzer III...

Panzerbefehlswagen... I really like this vehicle...

8-Rad with bed-frame antenna...

Panzer I... As far as tanks go, it's pretty damn small...

Panzer II ausf. C... One of the best looking tanks in my opinion...

Panzer IV ausf. A... Armed with the short 75mm cannon...
My army will include a few of the, very similar, ausf. D...

SdKfz. 221, 222 and 232... 

The SfKfz. 232 6-Rad... This is one of the reasons I wanted Early War Germans...

Cooling down from CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real! pt. III

Visited Crisis Antwerpen yesterday, and it was as good as ever... It must have been the 9th or 10th time I visited the show and it seems to get bigger and better every year.

This year, my main interest was getting some 6mm stuff. Several weeks ago I had placed a pre-order at Magister Miliitum. Quite ideal, as they have the option to pick up your order at one of the shows they visit. They had the order ready, neatly packaged, 100% complete and including the original order form.

About 2/3 of that order was for me, the remaining 1/3 was for my battle buddie. He ordered Early War French and British miniatures...

A total of 21 blisters of GHQ Micro Armour, my part of the order...
All Early War Germans.

I have already begun assembling and painting these, but that's something for another post...

Next on my list were some rulesets... I picked up the Crossfire rulebook first, which actually looks more like a magazine than a proper book; all black and white, soft cover and staples...

Astoundingly, this cost me €30,- I really hope the rules are as good as I have read/heard them to be...

Funny enough, I also paid €30,- for the two hardback, full colour Battlegroup books (picked those up at the PSC stand)... About 200 pages each, filled with interesting background information on the theatre, army lists, scenarios and inspiring pictures. I only intended to replace my digital rulebook with the paper one, but couldn't pass up on their special CRISIS offer... The army lists from both these books (Tobruk and Torch) should be compatible with our Seelöwe campaign...

And right across from the guys from PSC was the trade stand from Too Fat Lardies, where I purchased the I Ain't Been Shot Mum book. Forgot to pick up the cards though...

Next was some paint for my Early War German Panzers and Infantry, which I picked up at Foundry.

And last in the bag were some packs of grass tufts...

All in all a good haul! Assembling and painting the Micro Armour has started and we are getting ready for our first 6mm game.

Already looking forward to CRISIS 2020...