06 June 2018

D-Day

74 years ago, the largest amphibious landing in history commenced as hundreds of thousands of brave Allied military personnel landed on the shores of Normandy with the intention of pushing the German defenders out of France.

In 10 days, my local LGS (Ogre's Den in Orangevale, CA) is holding an event to commemorate D-Day and I intend to attend along with my good pal Densmol. As my own Bolt Action armies are unsuitable for Western Europe in early June I had to borrow an army from Densmol's growing Germans collection, so I'll be fielding some Regular Heer with some Inexperienced Kreigsmarine (Sailors), Strafbattalion (Military inmates) and a tonne of Light and Medium Machineguns to defend the Normandy beaches.

Densmol's collection though didn't extend far enough to fill out a full 1000 point list, so he purchased the Kreigsmarine and said that I'm welcome to include them, but I had to paint them up first along with a Captain (See below) and Medic.

Here I present to you my force's Captain - I included him in my list as I am all too sure that my poor squads are going to be suffering a LOT of bombardments early in the game and his extra command bonuses will help remove any pins that ensue. The model was a freebie included with an order from and is by Warlord Games. (Though I can't seem to find him on their website?) Nice one piece sculpt with a few annoying moldlines running right down the face of the sculpt, but otherwise a simple one to paint up. Because time is of the essence I didn't put too much effort into this one, but I think he looks like a good tabletop job. He'll be staying with Densmol after the event as a thankyou for lending me an army (again).





Of course the errant bit of fluff on his cap peak somehow was not noticed until I am at work editing these pics... le sigh.

Please forgive the lighting in the pics, my tiny cheap photo box seems to only have one brightness setting and I've yet to work out a way to diffuse those LEDs. (I'm thinking perhaps a strip of wax paper?)

Next on the painting desk will be the Kreigsmarines. I've already blocked in 75% of there base colours, but so far they have been excellent sculpts to work with and have varied uniforms which will make painting them up for more enjoyable.

31 comments:

  1. Well, do enjoy the day.

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    1. If it is anywhere as fun as the Stalingrad event, then I anticipate a lovely day of gaming ahead.

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  2. Nice work! This fellow looks like he was a party member, so hopefully he gets hit with a 14" shell on the day.

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    1. Am pretty sure he believes in the cause for sure. Guessing he wasn't prepared to be stationed on the coast when the landings are about to commence though, so that's probably why he looks so angry.

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  3. Looks good, maybe I'll see you at the event!

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    1. Thanks Rich - look forward to seeing ya!

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  4. Super nice painting and that sounds like an awesome event. Good luck! Maybe you’ll be the overall champion again? 😀

    Nothing like a deadline to spur production huh?

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    1. Thanks mate. Maybe you'll be able to take a couple hours break from the family to come watch for a bit?

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    2. Maybe? It’s Father’s Day weekend so maybe I’ll have a say in what I do... 😀

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    3. Good luck with that. 😉

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  5. Very nicely done Dai and looking forward to hearing more of the vent too, sounds great.

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    1. O, there'll certainly be a report on it Michael. :) Thanks!

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  6. Great looking figure, good to get some impetus to build a force,Id feel weird gaming D day as my dad was there, I'm better off sticking to the eastern front!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. I was thinking about that aspect what with my Grandfather being in North Africa back when I started collecting my 8th Army Flames of War army. But I felt it was more of a tribute than anything else.

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  7. Great pose on this figure. I like the way you painted him. Good luck for the game. I use baking parchment clipped to my lights to diffuse them.

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    1. Thanks Sean, I'm pretty fond of the pose as well - like he's bracing against the kickback of the MP40.

      Baking Parchment - great idea! Cheers!

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  8. Lovely work Dai, great mini

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  9. Very nice! I love the late-war bottle/mouse grey green colour as well, it looks very realistic.

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    1. Thanks Ed. Just the standard Vallejo Model German Feldgrau.

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  10. Very nice Dai, you've really brought the character of this miniature to life with your painting. I've yet to master painting stubble or shaven heads, but they look great on this captain.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words.
      FYI - the stubble is just a watered down blue/grey. Very achievable.

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  11. Lovely looking mini and paint job Dai. I like his unshaven face looks really good.

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    1. Cheers Simon. Practicing on all those many many Winter Soviets allowed me to perfect the stubble technique.

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  12. Great looking German Dai and he's the Tank Wars Exclusive Figure.

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    1. Aha! So really should have a black uniform... o well , too late now.
      Cheers mate

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    2. It faded in the wash ;) blame the frau lol

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  13. Very characterful!

    I like the idea of wax paper too...

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    1. Thanks Drax. I'll give it a go (Assuming I ever get back to painting any time soon...)

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