A Couple More Yanks and Ruskies

I’ve prepped and primed over a hundred figures over the last week (that’s with paint on gesso for a primer…). Here are a few that I’ve finished up:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


A couple more of the old Harlequin (now Black Tree Design) Americans…

Hopefully I’ve gotten that out of my system now and get back to doing something that might be a bit more useful for the current campaign (like, y’know, Russians and/or Germans…)


And here are a few old Harlequin (now Black Tree Design) Soviets…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more Soviets… or maybe Japanese (just because there’s only a dozen or so and they’d be done… until I happen to find another “good deal” on another lot of them on ebay… sigh…)… or maybe some Elves…

I was tempted to work on some Askaris for East Africa but I think the moment has passed.

Oh Dear.... Part Two... The Sequel...

So, West Wind is having a 40% off sale on their Berlin or Bust line- including the WW2 tanks and vehicles...

Remember that list of tanks I said I'd have to get NEXT YEAR for the Canadian Campaign in North West Europe...?

um... well...

A Seaman, British Commandos, and a Couple Yanks

I’ve been doing a LOT of prepping and priming lately… and some other painting… and playing games… and other stuff…

Anyway, here are a couple new things rolling off the workbench.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


A handful of British Commandos from Artizan Designs. Didn’t really NEED them… just got a “good deal”… and there was only eight and they were the only things in that drawer that were painted… so I quickly got them done and out of the way. British Desert Special Forces are once again COMPLETE!

At some point I’d really like to get some SAS or LDRG mounted up in their trucks to do some mounted raids and such… but that’s a way off…

Of course I also said that about picking up Shermans for the Canadians and some later war German tanks… then West Wind Productions went and had a 40% off sale (curse their scaly hides!?)


A couple of the old harlequin (now Black Tree Design) Americans I painted up as samples… I kind of wished they’d all be in the Parsons jackets (the tan one) – which would make them a bit more versatile (Mediterranean, D-Day) – but it seems a number of them are the longer M1943 four pocket jacket… Ah well… Nice figures. I’ll have about a platoon by the time I’m finished.


This is a sailor I modeled and cast myself. I have a bin full of them. Thought I’d paint one up for fun. It was pretty quick and easy so I might just paint up another dozen or so… Not sure what I’d use them for exactly… I mean, really, how many Sailors do I really need!?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hard to say… there’s so much stuff on the workbench. Once I get all the priming and prepping done I’ll probably launch into the Russians.

Who am I kidding… by the time I’m done all this prepping and priming there’ll be MORE figures here ready to be prepped and primed and far more interesting (distracting) than yet another horde or soviets!?

Oh dear....

Because I apparently didn't have enough to paint already...


112+864= 976 28mm figures purchased so far this year.

I do have a few more orders inbound and then that will be it (really!). I've painted 465 so far... even at that rate the likelihood of me achieving my paint-more-than-I-purchase goal is becoming ever more elusive...

Also arriving in the mail today:


I've pickedup a few of these recently; three Pzkw 38T and now these three Marders. There's a lot of people on ebay selling them for absurd amounts of money - like $20 +$24 shipping!? I got these three for $13.5 + $7.95 shipping for the lot of them...

The dilemma is whether to include them in the 2010 totals for vehicles purchased... if I never actually plan on painting them. The totals are supposed to be a measure of painted vs. purchased to shame myself into not going overboard (though it seems again, for the second year on a row, I have!). I don' think I included the PzKw38, indeed one I simply based and have been using it! To repaint or not to repaint...

I've been taking stock of the WW2 stuff and trying to decide what to do next. Now that this order has arrived I'll probably start with the Russians - but then what? I was looking for projects that would be quick (i.e. the least number of things to paint up so I can have that encouraging feeling of satisfaction at having finished all of something). Unfortunately the smallest projects are the least useful; Desert Commandos, more Japanese, Bersagliari, etc.

There are a number that are pretty much all in the same boat - two to three batches of eight to twelve figures that will take about two weeks to complete (doing on and a half batches each week ~15 guys) if I stick my nose to the grindstone and not get distracted... Canadian Airborne? British Commandos? DAK? SS? Fallschirmjägers? They're all more or less in the same boat.

After that are projects that will take about a month to complete - Canadians, Americans, German Heer, Italians... I'll probably break those bigger groups down into smaller groups just to break them up a bit.

Oh and then there's the British and German Askaris for battling in East Africa that I started priming last night...

German Officers – East Africa

These are actually the last two of the German Sailors I was working on last week.

As with the sailors I wanted maximum usefulness out of them. The Sailors I painted in blues as they did wear blues in the tropics, but didn’t wear white/khaki in more temperate climes – certainly not in the winter. These two chaps both have pith helmets, however; not a temperate headgear. So I painted them in khakis (which naval officers apparently wore on shore) and figured I could also try and pass them off as Shutztruppe officers.


(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are both from Brigade Games.

I’ve been rebasing other East Africans and started prepping another three units to paint up…someday…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… hard to say… Most of the stuff on the workbench is old stuff I’m re-basing and a few items I’m prepping, but not necessarily going to be painting right away. As soon as the last of the Russians arrive I’ll paint them up in a hurry…

I suppose I should work on Germans…

I am tempted to crank out an additional unit (or two) for each of the combatants in east Africa.

CURSES!? Maelstrom Games just sent out another one of their discount vouchers…. Urrrrrr… Evil Temptress! FIE! FIE! (It’s 17.5% off the UKSRP – and with the pound in the tank… the voucher code is: THE-PERFECT-STORM)

MORE Russians!?

Yes, I’m afraid so… and there’s ANOTHER batch in the mail… (curse ebay!!)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These guys are old Harlequin figures (now produced by Black Tree Design). Picked them (and now a large pile of others…) up from and ebay store that was blowing out a pile for a pretty damn reasonable price. I originally picked these up thinking I’d like to have some extra DPs as the 1942 Russian infantry battalion called for quite a few more – SIX per platoon!! The other Russian stuff I ordered includes some more Riflemen – so I can potentially add a fourth squad to a couple of the platoons – and some SMG troops to add to the squads or perhaps start an SMG assault troop or something like that…

I also picked up enough American infantrymen to field a platoon of those… and some more Germans, because… well… because they were there and they were cheap.

I also put in orders to Artizan Designs/Crusader Miniatures and Bolt Action Miniatures just to pick up a few items I needed so I’d be able to field full platoons of a few forces. Everything else on my WW2 wishlist is in the realm of “nice to have”. This should keep me busy for the rest of the year – and, if I keep my nose to the grindstone, I imagine I should very easily be able to finish up ALL the 28mm WW2 stuff that I have.

The only thing threatening to derail this project is the Great War in East Africa. After painting up those Africans and German Sailors I started re-reading Contemptible Little Armies and re-basing the rest of my East African figures (to the larger sized washers that I’ve been upgrading all my old figures to to standardize the collections…). I’ve even dug out a few of the askaris I cast up ages ago and based them to paint up.

On the plus side there isn’t really much I’d like to purchase for this era… If I do decide to add stuff to the forces it will be more askaris (which I modeled and cast myself…). Oh maybe SOMEDAY if I really wanted I might add some Indians… Then start in on some Turks and ANZACs spreading into the war in the Middle East… But that’s a long way off… (loooooong way...)

Canadian Campaign in Northwest Europe

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the East Front skirmish Campaign I am currently running. But I have to admit I’ve been getting pretty excited about doing a Canadian Campaign for World War Two.

I’ve kind of settled on doing a campaign set in Northwest Europe, beginning with D-Day. I guess I could have done one starting with Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily), which the 1st Canaidan Division participated in. I’m not ruling out doing a Sicilian/Italian campaign, in fact I’m pretty sure I’ll do a Sicilian/Italian campaign as some point. I’m far more familiar with that campaign.


The fact is, however, the Canadians I’ve been working on lately are more suitable for Northwest Europe.

The idea of a Canadian campaign has almost distracted me from the current East Front Campaign. Fortunately, having given the Canadian campaign some further thought I’ve realized I have a lot to do before I’ll be able to get that off the ground.

I imagine the campaign will follow a platoon of The Regina Rifles from D-Day to VE-Day. Ideally I’d like to find a good history of the Regina Rifles – preferably some personal memoirs – to use as a scenario generator. The Saskatchewan Information and Library Services shows three books on the Regina Rilfes (Look To Your Front, Up the Johns, and The Regina Rifles) I’m sure I’ve had one of those out and it was pretty good. I’ll have to check out the others as well.

I also found a really good website with a fair bit of handy info:

Regina Rifles

If anyone else knows of good sources of info – in particular any good, readable memoirs – please post a comment!!

I’ve been reading through the Osprey book on Juno Beach (well… Gold AND Juno Beach) and just from that it seem to me the first two (or three) obvious scenarios would be:

#1 The Beach – landing on the beach and getting off it taking out beach defences along the way, and

#2 Clearing Courseulles – street fighting – this could end up being a series of scenarios in itself…

And this brings me to my first big sticking points: Terrain and Tanks! I have some landing craft I had built for another scenario that could be pressed into service as assault craft. I also have LOADS of Barbed Wire from the Vimy Project… but I’ll definitely need some bunkers; casements, tobruk emplacements, etc. I’ll probably need something to represent a sea wall and some of the beach obstacles might be fun – if only just for show. For the second scenario I’m going to need to build some French looking buildings (definitely be referring to Kevin’s Blog for some inspiration there…

Then there are the supporting tanks of 1st Hussars… Of course if all the players are in one platoon, or even one section to start with, I’d really only need one Sherman, maybe two… but that’s one or two more than I currently have and I’ve pretty much expended my gaming budget for the year… so… (if anybody’s wondering what to get me for my birthday… or has one and wants to trade for a pile of 15mm ACW stuff…?).

That’s just the Canadian tanks… Very shortly after D-Day I’m quite certain I’ll be needing some tanks for the 21st Panzer Division and/or the 12th SS… I do have a Panzer IV, but I’ll probably need some of the big cats as well (Pumas and Panthers and Tigers, OH MY!). And maybe some early war French tanks – that 21 Panzer Division was supposedly equipped with. Of course that would probably just be an excuse to start an Early War French force….

After the French village terrain, I’ll be needing some French countryside terrain…

In terms of other miniatures I think I’m pretty much set. Well, mostly…

I have almost enough Canadians for two full strength platoons (once I get them all painted) – I may be shy a bren gunner or two and a couple riflemen… but when were any sections at full strength anyway!? Other than the tanks I also have some 3” mortars for support – not that they would even really need to be on the table…!? I should probably pick up a six pound AT gun (support from the battalion AT platoon) and maybe a 17 pound AT gun – from Divisional AT Artillery battery. Other artillery would all be off table.

For the Germans I’ll have enough regular Heer for two full platoons as well, plus a great deal of odd extra support things – engineers, AT guns, etc. They will all do for the 716th Division soldiers and could be pressed into action as panzer grenadiers from the 21st Panzer Division. I also have enough SS to make up a full panzer grenadier platoon for when they bump into the 12th SS. I’m not sure if I really need half tracks…?

I still need to paint a few of those, but I’ve got time…

German Sailors

Still not WW2 stuff… but I think I’ve got it out of my system…

Mind you, I could probably pass these off as WW2 sailors... in a pinch... and probably pass them off as sailors from a half dozen or so european nations without too many complaints...

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Great War German Sailors from Brigade Games

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Back to WW2 items… I have some additional Russians I picked up cheap and want to keep on top of those so they’ll be finished up right quick.

Had some extra funds injected into the toy budget and so I’ve gone and ordered a few things to finish off units… and picked up a couple completely new units (curse you ebay!!)

I’ve been tempted to work on Canadians of late… because… well… they’re CANADIAN?! But have come to the realization that to properly do those I’m going to need some Shermans to back them up and likely some bigger late war German beasties (Panthers, Tiger, etc)… So I might try and switch gears and finish up some Germans…

Darkest Africa (not-so-WW2-ish)

I guess there could be some pulpy WW2 shenanigans going on in East Africa – Maybe nazis trying to recruit some infamous retired Great War Schutztruppe commander, that stayed on in Tanganyika to farm after it’s transfer to British Administration, to lead an insurrection against the British colonial administration…? Yeah. It’s a bit of a stretch…

I think these will more likely see use in our Realms of Cthulhu campaign - perhaps a “Return to Africa” to seek out answers after their Previous Adventure in East Africa…

I’m pretty sure all of these are from The Foundry - they were picked up in lots off ebay…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Some Thug/Bandit/Mercenary types…


…and some villagers…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Germans… no, really…

Germans, Pulp Stuff, Pulpy German Stuff…

An odd and unusual assortment for you today. I needed these all for one scenario… (well, no not really…)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


German Stuff: a bailed Panzer Crew from Bolt Action Miniatures


Pulp Stuff: A bright Young Thing and her dad, the Big Game Hunter – both from Copplestone Castings


Pulpy German Stuff: Oberst Baron Von Draculstien – also from Bolt Action Miniatures

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Germans of one sort or another!

15mm ACW for Trade

I have some 15mm Falcon American Civil War figures for trade. Most packs just have codes but they’re clearly mislabeled, as there are a few packs with the same code that are clearly different packs… But here’s what they say they are with my best guesses at what they’re actually supposed to be:

1x ACW-26 79th NY Highlander, Attacking (25) (the blue pack below)
1x ACW-95 Union Infantry marching (inc. Command) (20)
1x ACW-96? Confederate Infantry at ready (inc. Command) (20)
1x ACW-96? Confederate Infantry advancing (inc. Command) (20)
1x ACW-97 Union Cavalry (10)
1x ACW-98? Confederate Infantry (or dismounted cavalry?) kneeling firing
2x ACW-98 Confederate Cavalry (10)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


So there’s 105 foot (60 Confederate, 45 union) and 30 Cavalry (20 confederate, 10 Union) – though it seems to me that the confederates also wore kepis so they could probably all be passed off as confederates..? (except, perhaps, the New York Highlanders – seriously they’re in kilts and glens and everything!)

What would I want in trade…? Have a look around the blog and you’ll probably get a pretty good idea of what I might be interested in. I’d be interested in something in 28mm metal (or resin if vehicles…). Right now I’m mostly interested in modern (post 1900-2010) stuff – in particular WW2 (and WW1… and the inter-war period…)… but I wouldn’t rule out other stuff – fantasy, ancients, dark ages, ECW, WSS, SYW, colonials, VSF, Sci-fi… it’s all good! I also wouldn’t rule out trading for any interesting books…?

I would prefer to trade within Canada, or at least North America – overseas postage is a bit much for such a small lot I don’ think it’d likely be worth it…

Anyway if you’re interested post a comment below with information about how I can contact you. Comment moderation is ON, and I won’t actually publish any comments containing email addresses or anything!