2SS Das Reich - for Rules of Engagement new pics 2/4

[Westfalia Chris]

Excellent work on those vehicles (the weathering on the Granit is stunning), but you'll have to blot out those runes on the Schwimmwagen pics.

[Galland]

Here are some Supply Objectives that we will be using for our Ardennes campaign. Fuel for the German forces and supplies for the US forces.

[Galland]

I have also finished some of the characters for our more pulp oriented games. First out is a Reaper miniature, I am not sure what he was supposed to represent originally, but I will use him as a Spanish Mercenary Officer.





A MG section for my first Rules of Engagement Squad.





The base was cut in half and sides added to make it smooth, so that I can remove casulties as they occur.



All camo variants I will be using are documented from original wartime captures. I say this so we dont dwell in to useless discussions regarding german camo. I heard that the gentlemen over at PTM gave Stone-Cold-Lead some flak for his choosen camo scheme, very silly.
Some explenations regarding the camo. A variety of early wartime camo smocks where made, and its a whole history dicipline of its own, along with KZ made SS specific garments, not necesarely official, but at least semi-industrial productions. A wide variety of privately purchased garments are found in this period along with locally produced uniforms from regimental level. I have opted to allow one of the soldiers here to have a Mouse grey reversible jacket, he might be a volenteer from Luftwaffe or Heer, wich was not unusuall during this period (Normandy to Ardennes), on the contrary, there was a great influx of these volenteers or sort of volenteers. All soldiers will have a mix of Oakleaf Fall, Oakleaf Spring, Planetree Spring and Peadot, with some Mouse grey and Italian here and there. By the way, the names of the camo is not wartime but rather post war collectors terms.

I am not the best miniature painter, but it have been fun to experiement, and I am absolutely learning a lot while doing this, the camo gets better and better, especially when I dont over complicate things. As I have said before, I dont paint much miniatures these days, but I have been greatly inspired by FKSN and the others in the gang, I even got glasses and other optical aids, wich have greatly enhanced my experience. I am having a great time, and really love the fact that I am painting again, not only vehicles and airplanes, but even normal miniatures.

[Michi]

Wonderful, there is not a single piece among those that is not to admire!!!

[Kalle]

I have seen and lived with these figures and vehicles for some time and I must say that the pictures dont really make them justice.

And on the subject of weathering I can recommend reading anything Mig Jimenez has written, and invest in pigments and oils.

Regards
/Kalle

[Bloodsbane]

Sonny dear friend, you have no idea how great it is to see this cavalcade of greatness!

[Steve F]

Great stuff.  I particularly like the split base idea.

[Dave C]

I'm planning to buy my first 28mm tanks at Salute and find your work truly inspirational. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[stone-cold-lead]

Great stuff.  I particularly like the split base idea.

Yeah that's quite nifty. I always wondered how best to get around the casualty issue with multi based models.

[Kane]

Awesome paintjob Galland! Too bad you live in Sweden, My 101st would kick your Germans' ***  

[Galland]

Yeah that's quite nifty. I always wondered how best to get around the casualty issue with multi based models.

Heya guys, thanks for the kind words.

Regarding the split bases, its a friend of mine (he is on the forums under the name of Manmachine) who made these for me. He simply takes the (in this case GW round 40mm) bases, cut them in half with a fine saw, then he glues a piece of plastic strip or a simple match in to the area that needs to be filled. Then if needed just sand the base to be smooth. When painted it looks like it was made like this. He have done that with some of the larger round bases as well, to accomodate larger crews, like HMGs (well in the german case its the MG34/42 on lavette for sustained fire) or the 8cm Mortar crew and such. However, for the larger stuff I prefer to base every miniature on their own bases and keep the weapon either on a small base of its own (it yields the opportunity to add some scenic stuff, like grenades, grenade cases and whatnots) or I just keep the weapon as it is.
There are a few advantages with this. For instance, all weapons on bases can be considered to be usable by who ever can get in contact with them (both sides used captured gear, equipment, vehicles and weaponry). Its also a bit fun to find a MG standing in a house or the like, and that you can actually deside to assign a model to operate it!
The other way is to leave the weapons without a base, and at times use them as part of the scenery, this I do with larger weaponry, like larger fieldguns, PAK and FLAK guns etc. Most of the time this kind of ordanance is a bit to heavy to be using in 28mm anyway, but it looks great with a battery of 105mm standing on a field. They can also be uses as objectives or landmarks.

[stone-cold-lead]

I so want to play WW2 skirmish games now, preferably on a full city table with access to all buildings 



I can but dream... 

[Galland]

I so want to play WW2 skirmish games now, preferably on a full city table with access to all buildings 



I can but dream... 

This is what we are doing. One table with a rural area, modular terrain for variation and bouccage terrain. The other one is a city/village area that is non-modular. Its easier to build a beutiful village if everything is "stuck" where its supposed to be, with gardens and whatnots.

I just bought Normandy Firefight by Warwick Kinrade (great price at Northstar Miniatures atm), and I am really looking forward to see how this works, and to be able to play WWII in a really detailed gaming enviroment.
I have Kampfgruppe Normandie, wich is a very well written and by Warwick Kinrade as well (and the most beutiful rules book that I own) and looks really good, even though I am not interested in smaller scales and above all not interested in rules that use abstract values to that extent, and hope that this will be reason enough to buy it.

[wolfkill]

well done, i love you work

[stone-cold-lead]

By the way, what brand of grass tufts are you using on the bases?