WW2 1/56th scale M8 Greyhound Armoured Car

At last I have a U.S. M8 Armoured Car finished providing a reconnaissance capability for my US Amoured infantry platoon, the pics don't show the colours properly as usual, I should get a proper camera. The Crew member is a Perry miniatures figure, the M8 is a Blitzkreig Miniatures vehicle with stowage from DeiWaffenkamer, decals from warlord Games.

The colour scheme is mostly U.S. Olive Drab with weathering from various 'AK Interactive' earth pigments. I may run Dark steel powders over the gun to give it a more gunmetal effect.

 Anyhow I have finished the Early Imperial Roman Praetorian Infantry Cohort which I'll upload pictures over the weekend.

All the Best,

Peter.

WW2 1/56th scale M24 Chaffee

 The M24 Chaffee light tank is a new addition to my World War Two U.S. Platoon for 'Rules of Engagement'. Finished last week I waited to finish the ruin, cobblestone roads, roadsigns and tank crews mounted and on foot before taking a few pictures on my phone.

The Broken window is plastic from a blister pack, cut with a scalpel.

Dismounted Tank crew by Warlord Games.

The M24 Chaffee model is made by 'Company B', the tank commander is from 'Perry miniatures.'

The roadsigns are made from very thin plasticard, the signpost is an old paintbrush squared-off.

The dismounted tank crews are a mix of Warlord Games and Perry Miniatures.

Anyhow that's it for now, next will be an M8 Greyhound Armoured Car.

All the Best,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Emperor's Command base

 New off the painting table today are these Aventine miniatures comprising a Roman General's command base, the jeweled crowned head was in the pack, one of a choice of two heads for the general, so I thought I might as well make it an Emperor on his horse. The second figure is a Praetorian commander, the third figure the Emperor's personal standard bearer. The Standard is a hybrid conversion combing a winged victory & wreath to a vexillum standard.

Based on a 80mm round base, using filler (spackle), grit and tea (Fairtrade) for the ground textures, painted in various greens and light browns, I added some home made tufts and a bush. I thought I'd pick a off-white theme for the tunics and scarlett pteruges to make them nice and bright. The Emperor wares his traditional purple cloak because why not :)

Next in the Roman painting saga will be a cohort of 24x Praetorian Guards with command. My 'World War Two' U.S. platoon has a new M24 Chaffee finished this week, I may feature a new post on it, depends on the pics really as it was very dark today.

By for now,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Equites 2nd Cohort - circa 193AD

 This is the 2nd of the Auxiliary Cavalry Cohorts, whereas the Equites Singulares will be the final cavalry formation of the Army. I picked blue shields to contrast with the yellow of the previous cavalry unit the 1st Cohort Equites, I wasn't sure about the blue colour at first but the look tidy together. 

Shield transfers are supplied by LittleBigMenStudios.com, Figures by Aventineminiatures.co.uk & Aventineminiatures.org, painted by yours truly. I had a problem acquiring Testors Dullcote varnish so I now use Humbrol matt varnish which seems to be fine.

 

 

 

Based on a frontage of 20mm per figure these dudes are heavy cavalry mostly in chainmail armed with a sword and spear.

Anyhow I getting stuck into some more Romans and I've started my World War 2 U.S. Armored troops and German Wehrmacht Panzer Grenadiers probably Panzer Lehr, so there will be a mix of stuff on this blog next.

Happy Painting,

Peter.

WW2 1/56th scale 28mm British Command & Dispatch rider.

I spotted these on Artizan designs website as new additions (to me anyway) to my British WW2 collection, there are 3x packs: 1 Infantry command, 1x Airborne command and 1x motorcycle dispatch rider. All metal miniatures except the motorbike which is resin, the radio operators come with a seperate radio each.

Also finished on the painting bench was an Airborne Jeep from Warlord Games, for some reason these new jeeps from Warlord are considerably bigger than their older range, I will say I was a bit miffed at the size discrepancy.

Motorcycle Dispatch rider mounted and on foot.

The sandbag Sanger is by Baueda minis

Britsh Infantry Command.

British Airborne Command.

British Dispatch Rider, Signals Corps.

Any how the Aventine Romans have arrived so I'll be able to progress with my Roman Early Imperial Army.

All the Best,

Peter.

WW2 1/56th scale British 25 pounder Howitzer.

 While waiting for my Roman Aventine miniatures order to come through the post I managed to paint up a few World War 2 British, US and German pieces, these will be detailed in future posts over the next few weeks.

So starting with British supporting artillery for my World War 2 mini campaign is a 25 pounder Howitzer with crew, ammunition Caisson/limber and Quad tractor, the sand bag gun emplacement was painted last week, it's a Baueda.com resin cast supplied by Magister Militum uk.

The markings are for the 11th Armoured Division 'The Black Bull' involved in action in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany including Operation Market Garden.

The Howitzer, crew and vehicles were purchased from Warlord Games.

Anyhow there is more WW2 stuff to come next.

All the Best,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman 3rd Legionary Cohort

 Finished and photographed today 😀 this is the 3rd and final legionary cohort for my Early Imperial Roman Army or so I thought; But I found out that Aventine miniatures maybe selling off their Early Imperial Range (and their Greeks as well), so I've ordered some more legionaries and auxiliary cavalry, plus I'm hoping to acquire some Equites Singulares and boost the Praetorians to a full cohort, just in case they do.

Anyhow Below is the 3rd cohort I've finished painting, the cloth standard or vexillum shows the legions name and number, the other standard shows a hand which may represent a manipular formation, the discs may represent the cohorts actual number i.e. '5'. I suppose I could have cut 2 of the discs off to represent the 3rd cohort!

That'll be it for the Romans for awhile as I'm waiting for new minis from Aventine to arrive in the Post, so I may finish off something pretty random for next months post.

All the Best and happy painting,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Ballista

This will start off my Legionary artillery, a 30mina stone thrower, it will have quite a range on the gaming table in hope of flushing out enemy troops trying ambush my Romans. Mostly manned by ordinary legionary rank and file, the legion did have a small specialist cadre to supervise maintenance and training.

Comprising of a Ballista acquired from 'Warlord Games', I retained the engine but discarded the associated crew for being too diminutive, I replaced them with Some Aventine Miniatures; A legionary and two figures from an auxiliary command pack.

 Based on plasticard base 60mm x 80mm with dirt, grass tufts etc. The crew are in the act of launching a 30 mina stone (33lbs or 15Kg in weight).

 

 

 

The Roman legion had its own artillery, apparently 1 stone throwing engine and 6 light scorpio bolt shooters per cohort. With 10 cohorts in a legion that gives 10 Ballista and 60 scorpios per legion. My 6th edition WRG rules uses a ratio of 1 model to represent 5 engines, so that would give me 2 Ballista models and 12 scorpios per legion.

I'm only going to have 3 cohorts of legionaries, so I'm limiting that to 1 Ballista model representing a 30mina stone thrower as pictured above and 3 scorpios (1 per cohort.) for my army.

Anyhow next on the painting bench will be the 3rd Legionary Cohort, I was thinking of adding a baggage train and encampment, so I'll see if time permits.

All the Best,

Peter.