Gearing up for CRISIS 2019... The CRYPE is real! pt. II

Only a week and a half before CRISIS 2019 is upon us! The CRYPE is slowly taking over...

Apart from the pre-order of GHQ stuff from Magister Militum I mentioned last time, I intend to pick up several rulebooks for use with my 6mm project... I will most likely be picking up a Battlegroup rulebook (or two) at PSC, along with a bag of 1:300 plastic aircraft. I Ain't Been Shot Mum from Too Fat Lardies is also on my shopping list (as a bonus, these two traders are placed right next to each other). I  also hope to pick up a copy of Crossfire...

I just found out that Baccus won't be present at CRISIS this year... Too bad, as I was looking forward to seeing their miniatures up close and getting some of their 6mm livestock. No problem though, I suppose I will be picking those up online.

On the 28mm part of the hobby I hope to find some more cool furniture and bits for my HirstArts Dungeon.

For 15mm I will be visiting PSC for some plastic kits, both PSC and Zvezda...

A new Flames of War Project

With the release of V4 Flames of War I decided it was about time to re-boot my all-plastic German Army for Late War...

Triggered by the appearance of the plastic SdKfz. 231 8 Rad from PSC (which is an excellent kit, by the way) I set out to build an Aufklärungskompanie. I sold my old Company (Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie) and started building a new collection.

With an ever growing number of plastic kits to choose from, there are just so many options. The three main brands I have been using are Plastic Soldier Company, Battlefront and Zvezda, with PSC being my main supplier... In addition to these three brands I also use Shapeways to get 3D-printed models to fill the gaps between the main three ranges.

As the project is well underway already, I will start with a sneak peek of a selection of painted models...

Blitzkrieg Germans for Flames of War

I've been collecting and painting Americans for Flames of War for a couple of years now, building a Company suited for both Mid War and Late War. For this project I relied (and still do) exclusively on Battlefront models.

Quite recently I started with Early war Germans... 

In the picture below is my Leichte Panzer Company from the Blitzkrieg book. It's still far from done, but I'm aiming to finish these models before the Early war tournament I'm going to attend.

When reading through this blog you might notice that I have a thing for plastic models... For my Germans I chose to take this a step further... I am going to use only plastic models for this project. The Panzer II's and Panzer IV's are from Zvezda, the Panzer III's are from Plastic Soldier Company and the Panzer I's are from Minairons. The Stuka is from Victrix, and is in 1:100 too.

Getting the models I need/want in plastic is a bit of a challenge, as there isn't a lot of the Early War period equipment available (yet)... Choices have to be made, consessions have to be done... For now, this Company is adequate, and I'm also working on some very nice Panzer 38(t)'s. However, I am very much looking forward to plastic 88's and plastic Recce vehicles...

Review: 20mm Zvezda German regular infantry

As I started out with using plastic kits for Flames of War, I found the reviews made by other hobbyists and gamers very useful. With the start of this project I thought I would offer some reviews of my own...

First up is this set from Zvezda...

1:72 German Regular Infantry... Zvezda produces an entire line of such kits for their own wargame: Art of Tactic. 

The kit includes five multi-part models and offers two different basing alternatives. The casts are clean, there is little to no flash, and the models are quite detailed. The plastic itself is of high quality and responds well to glue (unlike some of the softer plastic kits out there).

According to the box and the instructions the models are snap-fit (no glue required), and they went together without problem. I chose to glue them anyway, as I fully intend to use them for gaming purposes.

Due to the fact that these are multi-part models they offer some interesting poses. If I could  pinpoint anything negative about this kit, it would be the fact that the poses are pre-fixed and that there is little room for variation.

Final verdict? This wasn't the first Zvezda kit I purchased for my Bolt Action/Battlegroup project, and it most certainly won't be the last! At only €3,50 this little kit is quite affordable and offers some nice, good quality models. The fact that Zvezda offers a whole range of similar kits is a big bonus, too... 

Reinforcements have arrived...

Quite recently (as in, just last week) I started working on a 20 mm (that's 1:72 scale for non-wargamers) German Blitzkrieg platoon/company. Mainly as a hobby project, but with Bolt Action and Battlegroup firmly held in mind. This project fits nicely with the Blitzkrieg Company I'm building for Flames of War.

I just finished painting the first soldier as a test, and today some reinforcements arrived...

A couple of the excellent Zvezda kits, designed for their own game: Art of Tactic.

The painted soldiers are both test models. The 1:72 model is from Zvezda, the 1:100 model is from the Early War German Infantry kit made by Plastic Soldier Company.