08 March 2022

Clever Hans - part 8 (Winter Grenadiers squad compete!)

These nine Grenadiers are from a project last visited in 2018 (!!!) and their completion finishes up a 10-man squad for my WW2 Winter Germans for Bolt Action project. My main hobby goal for the first half of this year is to get my German force painted and ready for play before the Summer so that I can have two fully painted armies (My WW2 Soviets are already done) to run demo games for mates. 



The sculpts are all Warlord Games from their metal Winter Grenadiers Squad set. Very well detailed miniatures with most of them featuring separate heads which I liked playing around with to get the best looks possible. The only negative aspect is the sculptor's choice of equipping so many Assault Rifles and Panzerfausts - Regular Rifles were far more common in general and I prefer the look in general, but that's a personal preference I guess.

Painting German troops in WW2 is a different beast compared to my previous Canadians and Soviets in that they have SO MUCH KIT and each piece is a flippin different colour which took ages to pick out! But other than that, they painted up nicely and I really like the finished results. Per my previous Winter posts, these fellows got some red/pink added to their faces and hands to represent the cold they are supposed to be fighting in and I managed to get eyes on all but two who's headgear made that effort impractical. (Not all eyes were done "well", mind. But I just wanted these finished so after a couple attempts left them as-is on some.)

Here are some individual pics highlighting all the mess-ups and crappy eye-jobs. :)


This bloke is a prime example of where I just couldn't get the eyes right. Good thing he's looking down a bit to read the instructions on that Panzerfaust so on the table you can't see his peepers.

All of these mini's bases snow effects are still drying in these pics. For those wanting to know, it's Games Workshop's snow effect product - Vallhallan somethingorother.


Aforementioned bloke who's cap is pulled down too low to be able to attempt eyes. yay.

Liking his helmet hooked onto his belt.

Cold effects on this one's face are a little too "rouge-like", but they'll look fine on the game table. 

Added a little snow to the bottom of his boot - it made sense at the time



This guy has a bit of a googly-eyes syndrome. 


The squad's Light Machinegun team in the classic, "Here, rest the weapon on my shoulder and deafen me" pose.

Actually I'm a big fan of this duo. They just look cool.

Managed to give the bloke in the foreground a fun "This sucks" expression, which I thought was rather appropriate.

Another face I'm rather happy with. He has the "100 yard stare" that you see in many photos from the war.





Must have tried to get this bloke's left eye (Viewer's left, not his) done four times before I just gave up. I also neglected to paint the strap on his helmet (Bugger!) so I'll have to go back and do that later.


The last chap in this squad and he's about to let go of that potato masher, or at least I hope he does. 


So that's my effort at "Batch Painting", something I've long avoided in the past, but getting these 9 figs done was a satisfying endeavour and not as bad a challenge as I'd feared once I'd gotten past the base colours stage. 

Next up I'll be tackling the remainder of this Medic (Pictured below) and a Sniper Team (Not pictured below), then a Hanomag halftrack and the last outstanding squad of VolksGrenadiers to complete the initial list. There will still be a few more options to be painted (Another squad of Winter Grenadiers, Flame Thrower team, MG42 team and a Panzer IV), but they'll be saved for when I feel up to it. 

So as these partially painted fellows limp off painfully into the snowy hell of the East Front, I'll end this post here.

Hope all are staying safe and well out there,

- Dai

20 comments:

  1. Great looking unit Dai, really appreciate all the extra work, in showing the chill effect on the skin of all the models. The basing looks excellent too, and the snow on the boot adds to the atmosphere of the whole squad.

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    1. What Dave said! Brilliant work, Dai!

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    2. Thanks guys. I think a good coat of dullcoat will really help bring these minis to life too.

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  2. Great work Dai! Love the snow bases too!

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    1. Thanks Michal! There'll be more of these frosty fellows coming up soon I hope.

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  3. Lovely work on all these guys, Dai! I know what you mean about eyes, but as long as they look good from three feet away you'll be fine LOL! The snow bases are great too.

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    1. Cheers Matt. Yep, it's funny, for gaming purposes I really don't know why it's so important to paint eyes as on the table, no-one can see them anyway.

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  4. Oh, the work on the skin is really something! I could feel the sense of freezing in their faces, that's quite a really well achieved effect!

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    1. Glad you like Suber! The wash is a little old so it isn't as smooth as I'd hoped, but still gets the general effect I wanted.

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  5. Those are great, but yeah pretty heavy on the assault rifles. I believe that typically the Germans had either a platoon with or none at all.

    And making up a pair of forces to get friends involved is always a good goal!

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    1. Thank you Dave! Yeah, though with Bolt Action as a game, it's more of a "Video game tabletop of WW2", so accuracy doesn't seem to be so important.

      Now I just have to find time to invite friends over to play!

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  6. Nice work there Dai - I know what you mean about the Germans and all their multi coloured kit..AND the bstrds often had multi colour camo jackets if SS, or bloody Zeltbahn or whatever those cape things are called if standard Wehrmacht - early war with the Feldgrau and jackboots was a lot simpler!

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    1. Kind of you to say so Keith!

      And I'm completely with you on German Camo - I avoid it at all costs! My small 8-man SS squad has Autumn Pea dot camo here and there and it was a pain to get right.

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  7. Nice looking figs. As others have said the basing is great. I really like how the white jackets came out, grungy but still looking pretty crisp in terms of whiteness.
    Hopefully you get to lay this project to rest soon!

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    1. Thanks Dave. Painting that white was a mix of laying down the base white but allowing my grey primer to show through in the recesses, then a watered down brown wash and white highlights over that.

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  8. But all that kit makes them look good, as well as the painting. Nice job!
    I’m gonna go put on a sweater now, for some reason I just got cold. 😀

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    1. Because of the snow basing.

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    2. Thank you matey! Have to agree that the finished result is worth it for sure. Make sure to wear your mittens too!

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  9. Great stuff Dai! In all my hobby years I've never done winter models and yours look a treat, the basing is top notch - I'm definitely going to have to give it a go, one model at least lol! Really like the dirty white of the coats too 😀

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    1. When I started collecting my Soviets I wanted them to be different from my prior 15mm LW Canadians and Warlord had just released their plastic infantry kit so I took that challenge and now that project is bigger than I’d first anticipated! The German side was only a matter of course as I knew from the start that I wanted a badguy force to demo games with too.
      Glad you like Ivor and you really should have a go at this winter lark, it’s different for sure

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