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!

Thunderbolts and Bombers, very, very frightening!

This week I finished off this flight of Imperial Marauder bombers and a flight of Imperial Thunderbolts.  I went with a dark blue base color with a series of black camouflage stripes. Perfect for night bombing runs and interceptions to bring the enemies to their knees which reminds me of this Motorhead classic.

I'm very pleased with the results and they look great on a tabletop.  I'm nearly finished with a few units for my FOW Polish army which will keep my numbers in the game, though I'm still behind. I've been appointed to a very important civic position in my local community and it requires much time and painting time is the first on the chopping block. But I'll keep going and try my best and knock out a few pieces for the Adepticon Show.

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.

January Painting Recap and January is gone!

I fell off the bandwagon again.  This time it wasn't so bad and I've been trying to catch up. 

I started the year off with the fancy idea of doing a foot guard army and ran two Steel Legion models through the test painting bin followed by a test model of a Sister of Battle for a friend of mine.    All three models were primed white, basecoated, then dipped with brushcoat of Army Painter, left to dry and hit with Army Painter Matt Sealer to kill the shine. 

Then I fell off the bandwagon again and spent quite a bit of time cleaning Blood Angel Space Marines only to wrap up the month by some rabid painting of 10 Sisters of Battle which I finished last night.    Now the Sisters that I'm working on are for a friend who will finish the bases himself so that saves me a bit of hassle.

I also painted up about 30 Flames of War Early War Polish Artillery crew for the month but since they aren't glued onto the bases and finished with their guns and caissons, they'll be counted in February.  As difficult as I make these models, I'm nearly tempted to count them as two models each.

Tony S. said he'd join in the challenge but I haven't heard an update from him and I highly encourage xNickBaranx to join in. For Nick, we'll go for 50 models,with works out to just 4. 3 per month.  Nick is a great painter and I've heckled him for years since 1998 about getting his fantastic Angels of Absolution done. He still hasn't!  You can find Nick here 2ndcitywarzone.blogspot.com

It's still early in the year to take on the challenge and catch up.  Let the paint fly!

Photos coming soon! 

One a Day Painting

Many months ago, I wrote an article entitled  Paint one model a day and shortly fell off that bandwagon.

Well, no more! It's the start of the new year and I have already painted three models with a large number lining up in the queue.   I have been very busy cleaning and assembling models in preparation for fast pace painting. 

So, are you up for a challenge like this?  I know that you have piles of models waiting for some paint and this is just the challenge to get your armies ready for action.  My friend Don is attempting to paint 3,000 American Civil War models for a large Gettysburg anniversary game.   

At the end of each month, I'll post up details of all the models I've painted for the month as well as some pictures.  I'll try to maintain a 30 model month average and we'll see what happens. 

If you'd like to participate in this challenge, let me know and I will add a ticker into my sidebar with your details and accomplishments.

The Warstore Weekend

The Warstore Weekend was a fun-filled, fantastic weekend.  There were plenty of great inspiring games and loads of challenging tournament action.  There were tournaments for 40K, FOW, and Warmachine and the dice were rolling the entire weekend.

I met a lot of great people and got in a number of games.  The 40K tournament was a blast to run and the players were excellent sports and brought all manner of challenging armies. 

The winners of the tournament were:

Overall Champion - Dmitry Fetisov (Blood Angels)
2nd Place - Joe Biasco (Imperial Guard)
3rd Place - Sean Nayden (Salamanders Dreadnought Drop)
Best Sport - Sean Nayden (Salamanders Dreadnought Drop)
Best Appearance - Daniel Oppedisano (Imperial Guard Traitors)
Player's Choice - Daniel Oppedisano (Imperial Guard Traitors

More pictures of Dan's army can be seen on his blog found here: http://teninchtemplate.blogspot.com/.  There were a number of great looking armies and not a single unpainted model could be found in the tournament.  I look forward to next year's tournament. 

For those that didn't make it, I'd recommend to begin making plans now to attend the Warstore Weekend next year.   You won't regret a weekend of gaming with great people!

Bloodthirster of Khorne

I just finished up painting this Bloodthirster of Khorne for a friend.  

I hope you like him.     My pictures don't do the model full justice.