The Tale of Historical Wargamers Season 1, Month 1 (July WIP)

[f2k]

Honestly, this is now getting beyond ridiculous...

Having painted the yellow markings I started to mask the rest of the Stuka’s off in preparation for the next layer of paint. Put down some masking tape... Didn’t get it on quite right... Gently pulled it off again to correct it... And watched in horror as the paint came right off with it – down to the bare resin.

Sigh...

How on earth am I going to do a proper hard-edge splinter camouflage if I can’t even use masking tape?

So, for the second time, I started stripping the paint off. And not just the paint... Guns... Bombs... Undercarriage... Everything came right off along the paint.

Seriously, that undercarriage is a downright pain in my behind. The only proper way to get it fixed, I think, is to drill right through the wing, make a small grove by the hole, and then putting the pin right though the wing before bending it into the grove, supergluing the whole lot, and then greenstuffing it to hide the grove and pin.

The only options I can think of now is to a) redo the pinning as described above and b) find my old white primer spraycan and see if that sticks better to the resin.

There is, of course, a third option... Throw the whole damn lot out the window and see just how well those Stuka’s fly...

[sigur]

Oh no. I feel your pain. :S This sounds really annoying and a bit like the resin still has tons of release agent residue on it. I guess you'll have to strip it again (sorry, I HATE having to redo stuff I technically did but due to some silly accident have to redo it completely myself). The stripping should get any residue off the model. I can't imagine that it's a problem with the resin itself. I've had some badly adhering primer on resin before but it often ends up being just really persistent release agent. On a brighter note, the stripping should rid you of that. Maybe, just to be sure, try some rubbing alcohol as well after that.

While we're talking about FoW models - a question for you FoW players in here: Just out of curiosity, how "big" or important are official FoW events like tournaments to you/in your gaming area/in your country? A few days ago Battlefront banned all models not produced by them from official FoW events. This of course generated a lot of internet rage and, despite the fact that I can understand this as a necessary business move and this clearly being a "their event, their rules" type of thing, I have to admit that this is an iffy one, with FoW being a historical tabletop wargame. Anyway, I actually never heard of any official FoW events (I'm not much in the FoW community though mind you) and I was wondering how important they were.


edit: Oh yes, an update on my own stuff: The order from Irregular Minis is in the mail (including the 10mm scale sheep ).

[f2k]

Oh no. I feel your pain. :S This sounds really annoying and a bit like the resin still has tons of release agent residue on it. I guess you'll have to strip it again (sorry, I HATE having to redo stuff I technically did but due to some silly accident have to redo it completely myself). The stripping should get any residue off the model. I can't imagine that it's a problem with the resin itself. I've had some badly adhering primer on resin before but it often ends up being just really persistent release agent. On a brighter note, the stripping should rid you of that. Maybe, just to be sure, try some rubbing alcohol as well after that.

I used rubbing alcohol to strip them both times. The only effective way I’ve found to strip resin/plastic. Acetone is just way too strong.

Actually, the second time around I barely used the alcohol. All that was needed to take the paint right off was a bit of cold water and a gentle scrubbing with an old toothbrush. That’s how badly the primer had bonded to the resin...

While we're talking about FoW models - a question for you FoW players in here: Just out of curiosity, how "big" or important are official FoW events like tournaments to you/in your gaming area/in your country? A few days ago Battlefront banned all models not produced by them from official FoW events. This of course generated a lot of internet rage and, despite the fact that I can understand this as a necessary business move and this clearly being a "their event, their rules" type of thing, I have to admit that this is an iffy one, with FoW being a historical tabletop wargame. Anyway, I actually never heard of any official FoW events (I'm not much in the FoW community though mind you) and I was wondering how important they were.

Warning, rant incoming...

Personally, I couldn’t care less for tournaments in general. I play for fun, not for trophies. And, in any case, we don't have official tournaments nearby so it won't affect me as such.

However, I am still somewhat concerned about this. For two reasons:

1) As much as Battlefront wants to stick their head in the sand, refusing to accept the existence of other 15mm. WWII companies, they can’t hide it anymore. They try to, sure... Censoring their boards and now forbidding third-party models, despite having previously said that they were okay with them...

Thing is, battlefront has two well-know issues: price and quality. So when other companies, like Little Plastic Soldier, comes along and offers plastic models (which many of us have wanted for a long while) at a price that’s actually reasonable, what does Battlefront do? Fix their quality issues to bring the value of their models into line with the asking price? Start producing cheap plastic versions of those models that people need lots of (like half-tracks, Panzer III and IV’s, T-38’s, etc.)? Nope, they simply ban those models from their tournaments.

Very bad move.

Thing is: many of us would dearly love to support Battlefront. But between the lacklustre rules, the imbalance between books (even within the same period), and the high cost of running certain armies, they’re beginning to lose support. And then there were the shenanigans with Maelstrom and now the official-models-only ruling...

All of this sound disturbingly like another company we all love to hate, doesn’t it?

To me, this sounds like a desperate knee-jerk reaction. They ought to look into the reason why people are now buying third-party models. But instead, like that other company, they choose to ignore the issue, seemingly believing that it will go away if they just ignore it.

Sigh...

Very bad move indeed...

2) This ruling leaves many people up the brown creek in a very bad way. There are still quite a few options in the books that have no official model. So now you can’t select those entries anymore...

This is, in a way, a continuation of the debate that started on their forum after the release of the third edition rules. With the changes to aircrafts, those who had used third-party models to fill in the needed entries, or who simply wanted aircraft in the same scale as the rest of the game, were well and truly up the aforementioned creek.

I’m on my way to work so I haven’t had the time to go through the thread on the official forum. But the impression I get from the first few pages is somewhat negative. I think Robert T sums it up nicely...

The model restriction isn't going to make me buy more BF models... Just attend less BF tournaments. Which is sad, because the last couple BF tournaments have been to were allready looking close to ghostly with BF staffers making up significant portion of the numbers.

Now, as it happens, the guy I buy my models from is also the guy who just hired me, so my loyalty is somewhat assured. But I must admit that those other WWII games are beginning to look more and more attractive. I might even get back to writting that new ruleset that I've been thinking about for a while...

edit: Oh yes, an update on my own stuff: The order from Irregular Minis is in the mail (including the 10mm scale sheep ).

Eh? Do we have a sheep rustler on the thread...?

[C-Coen]

Well, I finally got properly started on my Legionaries, basecoated the first batch today.
With half the month past already, I figured it was about time I did something...



The models came on oval plastic bases, which were cut away from some and left on others, to add some variety in height to the unit.
Other than that, they're just build straight from the box.

It's great to see a Roman army NOT painted red!

Aye, although beige isn't very original either, at least it's not red! (and those two happen to be the only realistic options, sadly)

Hello, I joined slightly late but I'm taking part with my SAGA warbands.

Please, please, stop it! It's hard enough to resist SAGA and those lovely GB plastic Vikings already...

@Whitword Stormbringer: These germanic-roman come-togethers usually don't end well...

Oh, sure they do! For one of the sides involved...

Honestly, this is now getting beyond ridiculous...

All that really isn't an encouraging start to this tale or that army for sure! I have pretty much zero experience with resin let alone those specific models, so I'm afraid all I can do is to wish you good luck with this project! At least things can only get better from now on...

Oh yes, an update on my own stuff: The order from Irregular Minis is in the mail (including the 10mm scale sheep ).

Dear lord, are those even recognisable as sheep? Although I've seen some mighty fine 10-15mm armies, I think I'll be staying with 25+mm models for now (my eyes have suffered from peering at miniscule details on miniatures enough already). Still, looking forward to seeing your progress, I won't deny that armies at that scale look bloody amazing.

[sigur]

@f2k: Really weird stuff going on with that resin and the primer, my friend. Hope it's working better already. Thanks about your opinion on the whole Battlefront thing. They even retracted the ruling again already. As far as I heard they worked together with the community most of the times rather than against them so I'll take it less of a spineless move and as more of a sane move not to piss off their customers. At least they reduced it to "it's okay to use third party model as long as the vast majority of the army is BF stuff". However, it's really a bit problematic that BF seem to have missed out on a timely start into producing plastics. They simply can not use the same sales model as GW (which is more or less the very template by which the bigger tabletop wargaming companies operate to stay in business). If they got the spare cash they could consider buying either the Plastic Soldier Company or have them produce their 15mm range for them exclusively. By this BF could make up for their lack of plastics and still get away without having to do major investments into R&D, professional personell and so on to make higher quality plastics than PSC which they could ask higher prices for. Very interesting situation altogether. Sorry for slightly derailing the thread, it was just quite a major announcement by BF so I wanted to hear your opinion on it. Soooo, did you have a look at Bolt Action yet? Written by Rick Priestley and Alessio Cavatore, published by Warlord Games and Osprey - a really tempting production of unlikely couples (authors as well as publishers) but if the sum is only half as good as the parts suggest it's going to be amazing.

@C-Coen: When I browsed Irregular's online catalogue I didn't have my eyes on the sheep at all (just wanted to get some extra oxen to pull the baggage train and maybe some cows to go along) but then I found this very amusing article about Irregular's 10mm sheep which made me realize that I'd have to get some of those. The Romans are looking pretty snazzy already. What rules system are you using them for? The round bases confuse me a little as I never really pictured Ancients based individually on round bases. I went for TYW in 10mm because of cost and the fact that TYW in my opinion just looks more proper in smaller scale (if you don't want to spend too much money and only have standard-sized tables). I usualy want big armies of anything I start so I knew that 28mm just wouldn't work for me even though Warlord's plastics are very affordable and beautiful. Also, I got tons of 28mm stuff already and build/paint even more 28mm minis for other people all the time. I justwanted to go for something different this time.


So here's a picture of the current state of my army/armies:


Sorry that I can once again only show you bags of lead BUT I got most of the models I need now. I'm just waiting for my small little order from Irregular Minis to arrive (has been shipped Friday so it's not unlikely that it arrives this week) for some officers and single minis I need for added variety to some of the units. For the units I have now I packed them together with their bases-to-be. Due to the fact that these are from several different miniatures ranges of three different manufacturers this requires quite a bit of bookkeeping.

I'll be able to put together a unit of Swordsmen, mounted Croat Irregulars and Arquebusiers then, probably some Dragoons as well PLUS the first units of pikemen! After that all I need is that Pendraken order I placed 10 days ago plus two smaller orders placed tonight. As you can see I'm eagerly buying new toys without doing anything with them. YET. Usually projects that start like this stay in their bags forever. This is what I hope the Tale will help me with.

[f2k]

@f2k: Really weird stuff going on with that resin and the primer, my friend. Hope it's working better already. Thanks about your opinion on the whole Battlefront thing. They even retracted the ruling again already. As far as I heard they worked together with the community most of the times rather than against them so I'll take it less of a spineless move and as more of a sane move not to piss off their customers. At least they reduced it to "it's okay to use third party model as long as the vast majority of the army is BF stuff". However, it's really a bit problematic that BF seem to have missed out on a timely start into producing plastics. They simply can not use the same sales model as GW (which is more or less the very template by which the bigger tabletop wargaming companies operate to stay in business). If they got the spare cash they could consider buying either the Plastic Soldier Company or have them produce their 15mm range for them exclusively. By this BF could make up for their lack of plastics and still get away without having to do major investments into R&D, professional personell and so on to make higher quality plastics than PSC which they could ask higher prices for. Very interesting situation altogether. Sorry for slightly derailing the thread, it was just quite a major announcement by BF so I wanted to hear your opinion on it. Soooo, did you have a look at Bolt Action yet? Written by Rick Priestley and Alessio Cavatore, published by Warlord Games and Osprey - a really tempting production of unlikely couples (authors as well as publishers) but if the sum is only half as good as the parts suggest it's going to be amazing.

The idea to use other companies to produce plastic versions of some of the most popular models have surfaced several times on their forum – usually only to be quickly silenced. Now, I can fully understand that Battlefront don’t want people to talk about other companies on their own forum, but – as we just saw – this just isn’t working. People have seen what’s happening and I daresay that they’ve been voting with their valets lately.

As such, to me at least, the ruling seems rather odd as it doesn’t address the underlying problem. They seem to acknowledge that they have some gaps in their range, but the problems with price and quality remains unresolved and uncomment upon. Where to go from there? Honestly, I don’t know.

I’ve been looking a bit at Bolt Action, but it never really seemed that interesting to me. 28mm. seems too big a scale for me – it doesn’t allow engagements with realistic weapon ranges (something that many companies, Games Workshop and Privateer Press included, lack). I did buy Kampfgruppe Normandy when Warhammer Historical had a sale before going down, but, while it has some nifty mechanics, it’s isn’t really catching my attention at all.

Yeah, gotta get back to writing those rules myself some day...


As for the Stuka’s, yes, it’s really really weird... Yesterday I tried to undercoat it with a spraycan and, guess what, the problems persisted. The undercoat just won’t go on smoothly. It does, however, seem to stick slightly better than when I airbrushed it on. But the big test happens once I start masking the various parts of the aircraft.


On another note, I’ve started converting the first tank for the HQ – a Bergepanther with a Panzer IV turret. Got all the unneeded detail scraped off the hull – now I need to go back and resculpt the parts that needed to stay on but got damaged while removing the other details. Battlefront resin is really nasty to work with – it’s so hard and brittle that it’s almost impossible to work with. You can’t cut it with a knife, but if you take a pair of clippers to it, it will splinter into tiny pieces...

[emperorpenguin]

People have seen what’s happening and I daresay that they’ve been voting with their valets lately....

They're parking their cars in Battlefront's reserved spaces?

[f2k]

LOL! Minor typo...

Would be a fun way of protesting though. Anyone up for a quick car-trip to Lenton?


Another small update on my Stuka’s (man, aren’t you tired of hearing about them now?). I retrieved them from the basement where I had quarantined them until the stench had left. The undercoat is really weird. It seems to stick quite well after a drying period of some 24 hours, but the surface... It’s... Something I’ve never felt before...

Running a finger over it, I’m reminded of super-smooth and hard porcelain with a rather gloss finish, rather than the rough matt finish I had expected. Except, that is, for a few areas where it seems to have run off, leaving a rough spotty finish. What on earth’s going on here?

[sigur]

@f2k: These Stukas are really curious. At this point I'd almost give Battlefront a ring and ask what could be going on with that. About Bolt Action - yeah, not a bad point about 28mm minis. Force on Force and Tomorrow's war solved this problem by giving all weapons unlimited range but then those are meant to be used for close quarters actions. Let's see what Bolt Action as a rules system does.

@emperorpenguin: Now that would be plain evil.

Well, I got another batch of some minis today and I'm kind of getting tired of waiting for the rest of the stuff to arrive just because my planning wasn't as good and I keep on discovering new models I want in that army either because they're pretty/fun or I want them to add some variety to certain units. Just today I found out about another small company who have a dedicated Thirty Years War range in 10mm! They're located in the US so let's see about pictures of their stuff and shipping and whatnot. Let me tell you, this is probably the most complicated project to purchase I ever did. (not the longest, that would be my old-school space orks) But the minis are all rather pretty and I got one seizable army (or two rather nice ones) now. I doubt though that I can make the first month without jokering or asking for a little leeway on the points. Pictures of at least primed stuff will follow soon!

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

To weigh in on the 28mm/modern weapons range issue, I thought Flying Lead handled it pretty well. Weapon ranges are for the most part still unlimited (some weapons, like shotguns or grenade launchers, have fixed max ranges), but at a certain range you start getting negative modifiers which stack the further out you get. The modifiers crop up at a shorter range than I might have chosen, but I think it's sound in principle.

[sigur]

@Whitwort Stormbringer: Good call, Flying Lead. Also pretty well supported.

Hey people, I got pictures of my historical minis (and this time outside of plastic baggies)!

1 unit of Swordsmen:


Swordsmen with bucklers fell out of fashion on the battlefields at the beginning of the 17th century (due to while civilian fencing increased in popularity. Despite this it was not uncommon for company commanders to turn the most experienced and hardiest Pikemen into halbardiers or swordsmen. While the first usually were to be found in the heard of the pike block to defend the officers or were commanded to guard the baggage train against marauders, the latter often were placed in front of the first rank of the pike block where they were a deadly obstacle to enemy infantry wilst being protected from cavalry by the long pikes from the back ranks. They also played an important part in sieges. Due to their battlefield role swordsmen (and often halbardiers) would wear more armour than other infantry.

I got Swordsmen for the Imperial army because I wanted this one to look a bit dated in terms of setup and strategies so I was happy to see Swordsmen being included in the Imperial army list of the P&S rulebook.


1 unit of dismounted Dragoons:


Dragoons were of a very special kind (or a painfully normal kind if you asked "proper cavalry"). They were basically mounted musketmen who would move where they were needed on the battlefield, dismount, fight as regular musketeers (possibly in skirmish order as seen above) and if things got dangerous or the job was done they would mount up again and move somewhere else. Very little to no fighting was done from horseback. In the thirty years war Dragoons were a rather recently introduced arm but were popular amongst commanders due to the relative cheapness (the horses were cheap and didn't require much training, neither did the men apart from basic musket training) and found much use as recon units, marauders and quick response forces.

Problem with these units is that I need them twice - once on horse and once on foot. This, obviously, is the version on foot because I'm still waiting for some more minis for the mounted units.


1 unit of Croat light cavalry:


The Croat light cavalry were one of the staples of Imperial armies during the thirty years war. The Habsburg Empire, covered a huge area including lots of different peoples from Eastern Europe and the Balkans who were known for being skilled riders, tough people and fierce warriors due to the ever ongoing wars at the borders between Imperial Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Companies of these cavalries first were employed as mercenaries by the Empire and lateron were set up as constant regular units. Some of the first were Croat who soon would become infamous for their ferocity and bad manners (especially after the sacking of Magdeburg).

These I had to have because they are one of the very characteristic units for the conflict. Very glad I found a company who made them in 10mm. They should make a nice, colourful addition to the Imperial army.


1 unit of Harquebusiers:


Harquebusiers developed from 16th century's Reiters who had replaced the classic knights of the middle ages and were less heavily armoured than their colleagues the Cuirassiers. Other than Dragoons they were "real" cavalry and were trained to use their firearms from horseback at range but would also charge the enemy with sword in hand. As the wars went on and more and more Dragoons were raised to support heavy cavalry on the attack instead of Harquebusiers this class of cavalry vanished from the battlefields. The distinction between Harquebusiers and Cuirassiers also got blurrier as many Harquebusier regiments were "upgraded" to the much more prestigeous Cuirassiers and Cuirassiers in general laid off more and more of their plate armour.

These units I got mostly because the models were available and they fit rather nicely in the Imperials army I have planned.

I know, not much to see right now but I'll do my best to get most of those guys done until the end of the month.

[sigur]

Alright, errrrrr, there's an update!

Swordsmen - basically finished, I still need to do the basing though obviously. That's also why the shoes aren't painted yet. Wouldn't go well with drybrushing the ground texture.




Croats - about halfway done I'd say:




edit: After a long day it's time to form a marching column off to bed.



These are still all WIP and whatnot but in this picture you can already get a hlimpse of where the strength of 10mm lies - formations of troops look really nice. Single units - meh, so-so, but once there is more than one unit on the table it starts looking like something. Not to say that the units or models don't look good but it's really the visual impression of tank and file that makes it. At least that's what I think.

[emperorpenguin]

Fantastic work there Mr Squirrel, especially as they're 10mm! The Croats kinda look like santa!

[Tonny]

Alright, errrrrr, there's an update!

Swordsmen - basically finished, I still need to do the basing though obviously. That's also why the shoes aren't painted yet. Wouldn't go well with drybrushing the ground texture.




Croats - about halfway done I'd say:

You are a machine!

They look very good! Although I find 10mm a little bit to small for painting/wargaming there is probably no other way for mass battles.

[f2k]

@f2k: These Stukas are really curious. At this point I'd almost give Battlefront a ring and ask what could be going on with that. About Bolt Action - yeah, not a bad point about 28mm minis. Force on Force and Tomorrow's war solved this problem by giving all weapons unlimited range but then those are meant to be used for close quarters actions. Let's see what Bolt Action as a rules system does.

Curious indeed...

I’ve asked around a bit but no one seems to have a good explanation. So, for now, the Stukas are on hold. In fact, I’ve got a plastic Stuka from Zvezda on its way from England. I’ll see what I can do with it.


Until then, in order to not fall too far behind in this month, I’ve begun working on the motor pool.



In the foreground are two Kubelwagens, to the left a Kfz 70 type 1500, and in the back a Kfz 15 field car. At least, I think so...

The Kubelwagen is quite recognisable and I’m fairly sure in regards to the field car, but the Kfz 70 designation seems to have been used for several different vehicles – including a big 3-axle truck and this staff car. The difference, it seems, (apart from the size) is that one was from Styer and one was from Horch. They’re crazy, those Germans...







Sorry, no un-boxing (or, should I say: un-blister packing?) pictures as these are models I had laying around from a previous project.

These vehicles will be used for different platoons.

Seven Kubelwagens will make up a Panzer Scout Platoon. Actually, these are supposed to be motorcycle scouts, but the armylist allows the motorcycles to be replaced by Kubelwagens while retaining the same rules. As the Battlefront motorcycles are a * biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiib * to assemble I went with the Kubelwagens.

Three Kfz 70 and one Kfz 15 act as transports for a Panzerpioneer Platoon. I also need a 3-ton supply truck for that platoon but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

I’m planning to get all these vehicles done and then start on the infantry for the two platoons. Four stands with assault rifles for the dismounted scouts and seven stands for rifles and machineguns for the pioneers. In addition, as the pioneers can take some goodies with them (like Goliaths and flamethrowers) I will make a few extra stands to allow me to use that equipment.

For now, the seven Kubelwagens have been undercoated (thankfully no problems this time) and given the first layer of yellow base colour. Next up is a bit of camouflage, a few details and then a wash.

[f2k]

Alright, errrrrr, there's an update!

Swordsmen - basically finished, I still need to do the basing though obviously. That's also why the shoes aren't painted yet. Wouldn't go well with drybrushing the ground texture.




Croats - about halfway done I'd say:




edit: After a long day it's time to form a marching column off to bed.



These are still all WIP and whatnot but in this picture you can already get a hlimpse of where the strength of 10mm lies - formations of troops look really nice. Single units - meh, so-so, but once there is more than one unit on the table it starts looking like something. Not to say that the units or models don't look good but it's really the visual impression of tank and file that makes it. At least that's what I think.

Those are looking very nice indeed.

I've been wondering about the viability of doing a cavalry army for Flames of War. Would look really cool but horses vs. tanks...?

[sigur]

@f2k: Just trust the Wehrmacht (any the Luftwaffe for that matter) to have 20,000 different patterns and versions of everything with minimal cross-compatibility. I used to have that Horch staff car in 1/35 ages ago. Looking forward to seeing those vehicles painted! Tanks are nice and all but the Wehrmacht's other vehicles are almost even more interesting when it comes to variety. As for production by Horch as well as Steyr - Steyr probably got the licence to build the vehicles as well. I don't think that each of them made specific parts and then everything was put together because I think both companies built vehicles from beginning to the end. And Steyr didn't have much to do anyway as the Austrian pre-war (and pre-Anschluss) military vehicles were all discontinued IIRC. As for the idea of cavalry in FoW - not sure if that will work that well. Of course the fabled Polish cavalry attacks and whatnot but meh. Something with Lawrence of Arabia might be interesting though.

@Tonny: I'm a cybernetic organism. Living tissue over metal endoskeleton. Thanks muchly for commenting



Hey people, I got a painting log for historicals now! http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...25#post6336125

On other news - the Croats are almost finished, or at least as much as the Swordsmen are, I finally got a 0.8mm drill bit so I could drill out the fists on 100 pikemen. I will try to do the one unit of Harquebusiers next and then maybe a unit of pikes. Oh, I also put together a light cannon for the Swedes too.

[Hakkapelli]

@f2k: That Stuka problem sounds horrible! Are you sure you haven't annoyed some god or Ancient One or similar deity recently?
At least the trucks are coming along nicely. I recall hearing somewhere that the kfz numbers were role designation rather then actual pattern. So kfz 70 would mean something like "1.5 ton truck for motorized infantry and cargo" rather then "this specific truck from skoda/krupp/etc."

@Sigur: You've got a really nice start on your Leaguist force there. Almost made me switch to 10mm after drooling over those swordsmen and croats but...

...then my first order arrived from Freikorps15. Enough models to form my first Tercio, and what models then! Nearly no flash and very sharp details. The pikemen even got mustaches, belt buckles and swords in their scabbards They're almost better then some 28mm ones i've seen.

I'll try to get some pictures of the first painted batch up later.

[sigur]

@Hakkapelli: Thanks. Yeah, there are some really pretty 15mm models around. I almost went for those but then I realized that they still might be a little big (and a bit more expensive) for the kind of units i had in mind. But I'm very much looking forward to seeing yours! As for the Sd.KFz. numbers - you're right there. For instance (and curiously really), the Panzer IV was always Sd.Kfz.161. From Type G on it was Sd.Kfz.161/1 (and /2 and /3 with H and J). I would have thought that if anything they would have called Type F2 differently than the earlier ones but who knows. It definately wasn't dependant on the company who built the pattern. For example the Opel Blitz would have been built at various factories and still was always Sd.Kfz. [whatever the Opel Blitz was].

Oh well, here are some Harquebusiers:





I should get the first block of pikes done today as well.

[C-Coen]

Time for an update!
Those undercoated Romans have now, after 10 days, finally been painted. And I must say.. I'm not looking forwards to the LXX (70 for normal people) others that have to be painted this year.
While great models, they simply are too detailed for people that are obsessed with "painting as many of the little details present on the models as possible". I had already restrained myself to not paint eyes etc on these, but even then plenty of small clasps and thingies were available. The biggest problem was that larger areas like skin and armour couldn't be painted with big brushstrokes either, the former because it was divided over face, ears, neck, arms+hands, legs and toes, the latter because it was lorica segmentata, which means it's, well, segmented, so you have to be careful to leave black lines between the bands.
Nonetheless, this small group is done now.
I will probably have to revise my planning a bit, as I can't see myself painting these models at this (albeit slow) pace in busier times, but for now I'll do as much as possible.
Anyway, some pictures:

The group.. perhaps the future size of a full unit, but probably 2/3 of a unit, full ones will have another rank.
Note that they'll be based at a later date, when some more models are finished.. and I have figured out how I want them to be based.
Need to do some botanical and soil research on the Rhine area in the 1st century AD first. (Really.)



An individual, picked as a volunteer for some close ups.









Suddenly, a partially painted Germanic shows up! (the first one on foot I've painted so far)



Look at the size difference between these two!



While I had expected my Germanics - whenever I'd start working on them - to take a lot of time, I have the feeling it's going to be vice-versa, as with those you can at least paint the clothing (trousers, every now and then a shirt) in one go, armour is usually absent, skin is much easier, they have no annoying sandals, let alone cingula (the leather belts with - a lot of seperate, metal - studs protecting the gentleman's area of a Legionary).. in short, they'll be a nice contrast with the Romans, quite fitting I guess.

@C-Coen: When I browsed Irregular's online catalogue I didn't have my eyes on the sheep at all (just wanted to get some extra oxen to pull the baggage train and maybe some cows to go along) but then I found this very amusing article about Irregular's 10mm sheep which made me realize that I'd have to get some of those .

Suddenly, I understand. Indeed, almost ordered some myself!

What rules system are you using them for? The round bases confuse me a little as I never really pictured Ancients based individually on round bases.

Good catch, the answer is simply that now, they can be used both for skirmishes and for larger battles (in regiments). While they are mostly for use in the latter, Hail Caesar! being the first ruleset to be tried out some time soonish, for skirmishes I'll probably use the Lord of the Rings rules (both I and my regular opponent know these, and they're quite excellent really), perhaps SAGA at some point.

These are still all WIP and whatnot but in this picture you can already get a hlimpse of where the strength of 10mm lies - formations of troops look really nice. Single units - meh, so-so, but once there is more than one unit on the table it starts looking like something. Not to say that the units or models don't look good but it's really the visual impression of tank and file that makes it. At least that's what I think.

And I concur! The more 'smaller scale things' I see, the more I think (and fear) that I too will one day start two opposing armies in that scale. While I like bigger models for the dark age/medieval projects I've planned (vikings and carolingans are just too much fun in 25-28mm, shield designs and whatnot), perhaps Greeks, Macedonians and Persians in a small scale would be nice, a much better representation of the impossibly huge battles fought there. Not to mention that the bigger a phalanx, the better that huge wall of pikes looks.

By the way, great work so far! I don't know how you paint so well in such a small amount of time, but it's most certainly coming along nicely.