Early War Polish Army - Painting One a Day

I've finally been able to complete a major painting project and while still behind on the count, I have at least gained some ground this month on shortening the gap of unpainted figures.  I was behind by 100 models, but now the number hovers around 80.  I still have a long way to go, but I am making strides.  

Today I present a Flames of War Early War Polish Army with the armored train that I showed at the beginning of the month.

This army comes in at around 1500 points and can easily be boosted to 1750 with the addition of some anti-tank guns and artillery.   Below is one of the HMG platoons that are attached to the large Piechoty platoons.

 

The Polish army has a large number of exciting options to field include their famed lancers (Kawalerii) and their armored trains.  I've got a couple of Mounted Kawalerii regiments in the process of being cleaned and they'll be next up onto my Flames of War painting docket along with some armored cars, and heavy artillery.

In the coming weeks, I'll post the process by which I paint my figures and share a few insights along the way.

Polish Armoured Train Completed

I completed work on the Polish armoured train for Flames of War sometime last week.  It was a massive project that took weeks of work but the end result is a fantastic piece by itself or standing amidst an army on the table top. 

The most challenging aspect of painting this model is the sheer number of rivets that adorn the model.  The rivets add much detail to the overall model and therefore must be emphasized.   There is a great painting article for this model in Wargames Illustrated 281 and I'd recommend reviewing it if you are planning on working this model.

The locomotive and cars are massive in size.  The locomotive measures 6 inches long, the artillery cars measure 7.5 inches long, and the assault car is 4.5 inches long.  The sheer size of the pieces translated in some cases to a single color on a single car for one evening's painting session.

I found that wearing a rubber glove on the hand holding the model prevented the paint from wearing off due to the natural oils on my hands.  In all of my years of painting, I've never known that it was body oil that caused that, simply thinking that it was a matter of being handled and rubbed off.  A big thanks to Jeff for explaining that to me!

In addition to the train, I've complete a unit of tankettes to go along with my Polish forces.  These models are quite small when placed next to the smallest of Flames of War tanks.

The next project I'm working towards is the painting of a number of Polish Infantry Platoons.  If you are heading to Historicon, you'll be able to see the army in action at the Flames of War National tournament, including the train!

January Painted Models

This update is a bit later than I had intended but it has arrived.   I painted 11 Sisters of Battle and 2 Imperial Guard Steel Legion models in January.

I have on the verge of being finished 9 GW Epic flyers, 5 Polish TKS tankettes, a Polish 4 gun 75mm battery with Staff, Command Rifle, and Observer Rifle teams (7 models), and a Polish 7TP jw tank.  This batch would certainly diminish the shortfall but not wipe it out.

The smaller tank on the left is a Polish TKS tankette, a two-man tank with very thin armor.   The larger tank is the Polish 7TP jw tank.