Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais.

Going with the early war theme, I recently finished most of a platoon of Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais. These elite troops were formed to act as border guards and a mobile force to defend the border region of Belgium in case of a German invasion. In May 1940, they got the chance to do their job. It was a job they did well. They threw off the German timetable almost everywhere they fought the Panzer divisions coming through the Ardennes. Unfortunately, their gallantry was futile due to lack of higher level support and events outside their control. In face to face battle, they gave the Germans a run for their money throwing up roadblocks, blowing bridges, and otherwise delaying and harassing the Germans everywhere they went. The Chasseurs were lightly equipped and a small force, too small to make a difference to the overall bleak strategic outlook for the Belgians and French in 1940.

These models are all from Warlord Games. They sell the Chasseurs as generic Belgians where you can select different heads to create different units. I was tempted to go with all the models having the distinctive alpine green berets they were known for, but since most troops did not wear them in combat, but donned their trusty Adrian helmet, I went with berets for officers, NCOs and other models I wanted to stand out.

The Chasseurs are backed up by the odd looking T15 tank.

Hopefully Warlord will add a T13, HMGs, and a proper command pack to the range. I need to paint the third squad and the Boys AT rifle team yet.

I forgot to paint on the alpine green collar tabs to these models.

The house in the background is from Sarissa Precision. I did a blog post on this a while back here.

Here they are:

Sergeant

Corporal

Riflemen

FN 30 LMG Team (Belgian copy of the BAR)

Chasseurs Ardennais Squad

T15

2012 Spring/Summer Projects Preview.

Now that Cold Wars is over and I picked up some new lead to add to the pile, I thought about the projects I want to do for the coming Spring and Summer.

I have been painting a few individual figures here and there as test models for brand new projects. They are a motley assortment of WWII, Sci-Fi, Old West, Weird War II, and Moderns. Here are a few pics to preview what I will be up to as the weather gets warmer.

Early War SS.

Buffalo Soldiers. (cue Bob Marley).

Kolony Militia Test Paint.

Goumier.

The Sarissa Precision Charcuterie (butcher's shop).

AT-43 Red Blok Kolossus converted and turned into Weird WWII "Iron Ivans".

Iron Ivan tank hunter team.

The barrel on the grenade launcher has been replaced with a turned tapered plastic barrel to make it into a 37mm ATG.

Dust Tactics "Luther"

Dual Pak 43 ATGs. Is that overkill maybe?

Oh good, this one only has one Pak 43...

The Project List for Spring Summer (in order of what I want to finish first):

Mordheim Kislevite Warband (using Old Glory Cossacks-the old OOP GW models are WAY too expensive). 15 models.

28mm Buffalo Soldiers group for our club Old West project (Artizan Designs Miniatures). 10 models.

28mm Early War SS (Warlord Miniatures). 30+ models.

28mm Early War Brits (Warlord Miniatures). 30+ models.

28mm Kolony Militia and Rebels (to help Chalfant playtest the forthcoming sci-fi system from Iron Ivan Games-tentatively titled "Zero Sum Oblivion"). I also picked up some vehicles to go with them (Old Crow Models). 50+ models.

28mm Modern USMC in current day operations gear (Eureka Miniatures). 14 models.

28mm Moroccan Goumiers (Artizan Designs Miniatures). I want to do some conversions for these to add heavy weapons that aren't currently available and to add some variety so they are usable from Italy all the way through the Vosges Mountains campaign and into Germany 1945). I really look forward to this one. Painting the traditional striped hooded pullovers they wear is really fun. 30+ models.

 28mm Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais (Warlord Miniatures). 10 models.

More Dust Tactics and AT-43 stuff as it becomes available and I can find it.

Ongoing: Finish the rest of the Sarissa Precision French Village I started...

Sarissa Precision Laser Cut MDF Inn.

Continuing on with the Sarissa Precision buildings project, here is the second completed building. I turned this large storefront into a rural French Inn. I decided to name it "L'Auberge de Chat Noir" (the Black Cat Inn). In fact, I have a black cat sitting on my lap as I type this, so it is quite fitting (Her name is Gizmo). I haven't put the sign onto the storefront yet, as I am looking into printing it onto some waterslide decals rather than try to hand paint the lettering. My skills as an ex-billboard painter don't apply well to 1/56th scale buildings...

If the waterslide decal printing works out well, I might even try to print some French advertisements to go on the side of some of these buildings. Every French town and village needs a Suze Apertif ad.

Here are some shots of the finished building. Once again, the kit straight out of the box went together like a charm and I added details of my own. Hope you enjoy!

I have a large two unit terraced shop, two small terraced houses, and a small terraced shop to finish...

Sarissa Precision Laser Cut MDF House.

I just finished putting together and painting the first of my half dozen Sarissa Precision laser cut MDF buildings. I have been interested in these products for a while, but only recently decided to take the hit on shipping and currency conversion to get them from across the pond. I am really glad I did. These kits are amazing. I picked up the entire range of their 28mm WWII Normandy series. By buying one of each, I have myself a nice little French village.

I have never worked with MDF before, much less laser cut kits, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The material is nice to work with. You can cut it if you have to, you can sand it easily (though use a breath mask), and it glues well with regular old wood glue (though I also used some CA glue for some parts).

Straight out of the box, these kits are excellent. The kits go easily together and the laser cuts are precise. The kits overall are well planned and are pretty accurate architecturally for the period and region (at least to my amateur eyes). You could easily slap these together as is, spray paint them with a tan undercoat and finish off the details and you would have a great bunch of buildings. Being the kind of gamer I am, I couldn't resist using these as a blank slate for adding a ton of my own detail. I decided my buildings had to have plasticard shingled roofs, detailed chimneys, rain gutters and spouts, and custom shutters. I say this not to put down the original kits, but simply because building this kind of terrain is something I enjoy. The great thing about the kits is it saves me hours of headache measuring, cutting, and building my own. With the basic kit I just need to add the details, and since they are laser cut and so precise, adding details is easy, especially for adding the plastic sheet shingles to the roof.

Here is the kit straight out of the box from the Sarissa Precision website (I didn't get a shot of mine before I painted it). So far, I have 3 of the buildings built, and one of them painted with 3 more to finish. I also began working on some back yard walled gardens for the terraced houses.

Here are the shots of the completed version. I prefer a clean style to my buildings (except for ruins), and I use little to no drybrushing on most smooth surfaces. You could add your own interior walls if you liked. For now, I just painted the floors brown and brushed on some wood grain with a darker brown to save time.

If this building looks familiar, it's because I painted it to match my other 28mm building, the Normandy Farmhouse. I figure it could be paired with that building for a Norman farm complex.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

More to come!