Landship comparison. Warlord Games vs Great War Miniatures Mk IV tank

So with the release of Battlefield 1 (BF1) inspiring me, and the fact I bought the Warlord Games (WG) model last month, I thought it a good idea to do a comparison between two available 28mm MkIV tanks or land ships as they are known in BF1.  One being from WG on the left and the other from Great War Miniatures (GWM) on the right.  Both are the 'Male' variant, the Female is also available from both companies and WG supplies the hermaphrodite variant.

Both are resin and metal kits that are relatively easy to put together with only minimal green stuff putty required, however both models top rails were not easy and require some mucking about to get into the correct positions.  Neither kits come with chain for the unditching beam which is just to be glued on the back, but I used some brass chain from a old piece of jewelry for all of my tanks for that extra bit of realism.

Both tanks have great detail, but I think the GWM kit is the more accurate, and as you can see from the pictures is slightly bigger.  but over all I am happy for them both to 'play' together and once painted will look great as a section of tanks.  Another point worth mentioning is the cost, Currently the WG kit is the cheaper at 27 British pounds compared to the GWM 32 British pounds so the 5 quid difference may sway some folks to the WG kit

 The WG Mk IV 

 The GWM MK IV

My plan if to complete a tank army from the now out of print The Great War rules set from Games Workshop.  the ultimate goal is to get the army ready for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai which is how I am painting my MkIV''s.  Below will be C Battalion, 8 Company, 5 Section 

 2061/Male/C21/Curmudgeon II (right), 2021/Male/C23/Crusty (centre), 2731/Female/C22/Cynic (Left)

Just another 3 to get.............

If you want to own your own landship please check out these links for Warlord Games and North Star Miniatures, both excellent companies to deal with.
Warlord Games WW1 selection - https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/world-war-i
North Star Miniatures WW1 tanks - http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=20&cat=153&sub=185&page=1 

Not so Lucky Lady....Knocked out Sherman tank

So a good friend of mine had an old resin M4 Sherman tank from Warlord Games in a sorry state that he had in a bits box.  Seeing how I had wrecked a Brummbar assault gun I though it fair to do the same with an American machine.  So after a bit of TLC and a few holes drilled into the front armour now I have the 'Lucky Lady' who has been on the wrong end of a high velocity AT round and has met her end.

Going mad with greenstuff, Zimmerit on Big Cats

So I had a couple of Late war big cats, namely a resin Panther and a Porsche King Tiger sat about waiting to be built for battling in Normandy, but they both lacked a very distinct feature....Zimmerit.

Now Warlord Games recently put up some articles on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/warlordgames/) regarding Zimmerit using the www.tanks-encyclopedia.com page (http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/articles/tech/zimmerit-in-german-use/) but the short version of what zimmerit is, it's a anti-magnetic mine paste applied to German armour from late 1943 to late 1944 and gave the tanks an unusual appearance, see below.

So the models in question were a resin Panther Ausf A and a resin King Tiger with Porsche Turret, both without zimmerit 'out of the box'.  The new Plastic Warlord Games Panther Ausf A is the main reason I started this madness, I have 2 of the plastic kits.  Now as this was going to be a Zug based in Normandy 1944 (9th SS Pz Div) they all would have to have zimmerit applied, including the resin one.  so after a full day of messing about with green stuff here are the results.

So after completing this task I then turned to the Königstiger, at first I wasn't going to apply zimmerit as the Bovington tank museum exhibit has none, picture below.

Unfortunately after a little research the Bovington King Tiger with Porsche Turret was captured after the war from Sennelager where it was used as a training tank and thus did not have the zimmerit applied, and all combat King Tiger in Normandy had the paste applied so my OCD forced me to zimmerit a second time.

So this time I took some stage by stage pictures of how I apply zimmerit.

1. prepare surface

For the side of the turret I removed the track hooks, I found many of the zimmerit Porsche turrets did not have them. Then scored the surface that the putty will be applied with my craft knife. This to to allow the Greenstuff putty to adhere to the surface easier.

2.Apply Greenstuff putty

Smear a thin layer over the entire surface to have zimmerit. 

 3. Apply horizontal marks

Using a small jewelers flat head screwdriver, mark the putty with lines of horizontal 'dashes' in vertical rows (see below)

 Continue this until the entire surface is covered in these rows

4. Apply vertical row marks

Score the putty with a craft knife both sides of the horizontal marks forming rows.

Use this method until all surfaces to have zimmerit applied are covered, or you go insane. Here are some picture of the completed King Tiger.

The turret sides and front armour plate are the easiest to apply using the above method. The hull sides and rear and the front and rear of the turret were a little more tricky as the putty need to be applied in and around the details such as ropes, hatches and equipment and surfaces that are not flat. I have managed to get the zimmerit applied to all surfaces that it would have been on the real Panzer(s) and pretty happy with the results.  Now to paint the buggers..........

If you want to embark on a similar insane project the Panther kit is the Warlord Games resin Panther Ausf A (https://store.warlordgames.com/products/panther-ausf-a) and the King Tiger is the JTFM Enterprises DE051 King Tiger II with PorscheTurret  (http://www.diewaffenkammer.com/_germany_page_no5.html)

How to paint Fallschirmjäger 1943-45

Time for another how to paint!  After a few request from friends on how to paint World War 2 Germans for 28mm wargaming (mainly Bolt Action) I'd thought I would start with my favorite German force from the conflict, the Fallschirmjäger.  

The period that this paint guide is most useful for is the late war period, I have used models from the fantastic Warlord Games plastic box set for this tutorial.

All of the paints used for this guide are from the latest (at the time of writing) Citadel paint range.

Stage 1. 

So the model has been built, mold lines removed and based with the normal sand/gravel mix glued with PVA.  Then the model is sprayed with Chaos Black spray. The base is then painted with Steel Legion Drab.

Stage 2. 

The jump smock is painted with Karak Stone, if the model has a helmet cover paint this as per the jump smock. The trousers are painted Castellan Green, alternatively you could paint the trouser Eshin Grey to add variation to the way you paint your squads.
The face and hands have been painted with Bugmans Glow.  Finally all wood areas (rifle, spade handle, grenade handle) have been painted Doombull Brown. 

The helmet, stick grenade head, lid of the water bottle, mess tin and gas mask canister were all painted with Stormvermin Fur with a little Abbadon Black (3 parts Fur to 1 Black).  Ammo pouches have been painted Eshin Grey.

The bread bag is painted Zandri Dust.  The main body of the water bottle, helmet straps and goggles are Mornfang brown,  the rifle strap is painted XV-88.  All metal, rifle, shovel, buckles are coated with Leadbelcher and finally and belts and webbing are painted Abbadon Black.

Stage 3.

The model is then given a liberal coating of Agrax Earthshade and left to fully dry, ensure that there is no excessive pooling on the model as the shade dries.

As with the last guide, at this point you could stop at this stage as this is perfectly adequate for tabletop standard.

Stage 4.

So now we start the highlight stage, this is basically re applying the colours back to the raised areas of the model prior to Stage 3 but ensuring we leave the creases and recesses with the wash still showing.  So to recap paint all of the raised area with the following,  jump smock Karak Stone. Trousers Castellan Green. Wood areas (rifle, spade handle, grenade handle) Doombull Brown.  Helmet, stick grenade head, lid of the water bottle, mess tin and gas mask canister Stormvermin Fur/Abbadon Black mix. Ammo pouches Eshin Grey. Bread bag Zandri Dust. The main body of the water bottle, helmet straps and goggles Mornfang Brown. Rifle strap XV-88. All metal, rifle, shovel, buckles Leadbelcher.

For the face Bugmans Glow is applied to the raised areas of the face leaving the creases with the wash showing.  Then an 50/50 mix of Bugmans Glow and Cadian Fleshtone is added to the raised areas. what you are trying to a achieve is a gradual change from dark to light by using less paint each stage.  You can go lighter by doing a pure Cadian Fleshtone stage and even a mix of this colour and white. Finally a pure Bugmans Glow is reapplied to the bottom lip and a thin black line is added on the mouth.

Stage 5.

This is were the fun begins....to add the iconic zeltbahn pattern to the jump smock.  

First using Mornfang Brown paint geometric shapes haphazardly over the jump smock, ensuring that you leave plenty of the base Karak stone showing underneath.

Next, using Loren Forest paint more smaller geometric shapes on top of the Karak Stone and Mornfang Brown, again ensuring that you leave some of the original colours showing underneath.  

Stage 6. 

Now the detail and finish.  With the smock you can leave it at Stage 5 or for extra detail you can add the 'splinters' that is found on the zeltbahn pattern.  This would be far to small to be in scale but it looks cool and simulates the actual pattern.  Using Caliban Green paint groups of rows of 4 dashes all over the smock, adding as many as these as you see fit, but remember not to over do these as you don't want to lose the pattern underneath. Finally a very light wash of Adrax Earthshade mixed with an acrylic thinner, Tamiya Colour X-20A thinner to be precise (50/50 mix) is applied to the smock and any cloth parts (bread bag, poncho, ammo pouches, etc) to blend the highlight. A further highlight of pure Stormvermin Fur is added to the edges of the helmet, gas canister, mess tin and water bottle lid.  Last of all all metal parts, rifle, buckles, shovel are picked out with Runefang Steel on the edges to just help them stand out.

As an added bonus I made this visual guide for anyone wanting use my method of painting

  

So there you have it  a completed Fallschirmjäger to battle the Allies on the tabletop.  Till next time.......

How to paint British Tommy 1917-18

So I have always been interested in the Great War and have planned to collect an British army from this conflict.  Since it being the 100 year anniversary of World War One and  Great War Miniatures having a fantastic range I could not resist picking some up.
So i'd thought it be cool to do a How to Paint guide for a British Tommy 1917-18 using one of the excellent Great War Miniatures Late war British Tommy figures (from the British Command Group)

For my figures I mainly use the Citadel paint range and some from the Vallejo range, I will add the reference (C) for Citidel and (V) for Vallejo at the end of the name of the paint so you'll know which range the paint is from.

Stage 1.

After cleaning up the figure (removing flash and mold lines) I based the figure on a 25mm round, put some sand/gravel mix using PVA on the base then sprayed the miniature black.  I use Chaos Black spray (C) as I like the finish it gives.  Before I start the figure proper I paint the base with Rhinox Hide (C), then a heavy dry brush of Steel Legion Drab (C) and finally a light dry brush of Zandri Dust (C).

Stage 2.

Next the shirt, trousers and helmet cover is painted with flat Steel Legion Drab (C), remember not to apply the paint on too thick and add water to thin the paint before applying.  2-3 thin coats is better than 1 thick coat that might obscure detail. Next the face and hands are given a coat of flat Bugmans Glow (C).  The webbing, respirator haversack and rifle strap are painted with flat Karak Stone (C). Finally the Puttees or leg wraps are coated with flat Baneblade Brown (C).

Stage 3.

Next is the details, the rifle wood is painted with pure Flat Earth 983 (V), the metal is painted with a 50/50 mix of Leadbelcher (C) and Abbadon Black (C).  Other wood (bayonet and entrenching tool handles) is given Chocolat Brown 872 (V).  The helmet strap is Mornfang Brown (C) and the boots Abbadon Black (C). The water bottle is Kantor Blue (C) as this was the standard issue MKVI water bottle, blue enamelled. All strap fastenings and buckles are painted with Retributor Armour (C). the last details is the respirator hose on top of the haversack, this is painted Stormvermin Fur (C) then once dry the entire model is given a wash with Agrax Earthshade (C).

At this point you could stop at this stage as this is perfectly adequate for tabletop standard.

Stage 4.

Ok for the highlights and details the first thing I do is the face and hands.  To begin I paint the eyes as this is probably the hardest detail to do i use straight Abbadon Black (C) and Ceramite White (C) the 2 method you can use is (1) on a base of black paint a thin line of white then a small dot of black in the center of this white line.  (2) On a black base put 2 dots of white on the black leaving a black center. either method is good and depends on how steady your hand is.
For the face Bugmans Glow (C) is applied to the raised areas of the face leaving the creases with the wash showing.  Then an 50/50 mix of Bugmans Glow (C) and Cadian Fleshtone (C) is added to the raised areas. what you are trying to a achieve is a gradual change from dark to light by using less paint each stage.  You can go lighter by doing a pure Cadian Fleshtone (C) stage and even a mix of this colour and white. Finally a pure Bugmans Glow (C) is reapplied to the bottom lip and a thin black line is added on the mouth.

Stage 5.

The Steel Legion Drab (C) is reapplied to the raised areas of the shirt, Trousers and helmet cover, like with the face leaving the wash in the recesses. Then a further highlight is added with a 75 Steel Legion Drab (C) to 25 Zandri Dust (C).  Next the webbing, respirator haversack and rifle strap get a pure Karak Stone (C) on the raised areas then a 50/50 mix of Ushabti Bone (C) and Karak Stone (C). The puttes/leg wraps get Baneblade Brown (C) reapplied to the raised parts same with the helmet strap getting Mornfang Brown (C) added.

The water bottle had a cover added to it so I just used Russian Uniform WWII 924 (V) to the main body, the flask lid is given a highlight of Kantor Blue (C). the rifle is highlighted with pure Flat Earth 983 (V) and the metal is edge highlighted with Runefang Steel (C) this is to be applied lightly as the main part of the metal need to be dark. The bayonet and entrenching tool handles are highlighted with Doombull Brown (C).  Last of all of a highlight of pure Retributor Armour (C) then a mix of this with Runefang Steel (C) on all strap fastenings and buckles.

Completed Model
 

So I did promote this soldier to Lance Corporal as he's part of the main command group,  but now this Tommy is ready to face the Hun.                                                                                                                                   

My wargaming group is currently working on a small starting force using the now out of print The Great War rules from Warhammer Historical, I now have paint on my starting force.  They are all up to Stage 3, so a bit of work to get them all completed

If you are wondering were you can pick up these models, I get mine from either http://scarabminiatures.com/ or http://www.northstarfigures.com/ both excellent companies to deal with.