Kickstarter, 28mm Germans and terrain build

As stated in the last post I needed some more metal washers. A quick trip to Home Depot got me sorted. 8x 1-1/2” and 4x2” washers and now  I have a small surplus  going forwards. But I saw some 1”x 2’x2’ insulation boards. I have long since thought of making some modular terrain boards using these. They are just shy of $8 each. Which is a lot considering a 2’x8’ board is about $16 (double the cost). However my local places only have shiplap sides instead of a butt end so it is worth it for me.

I picked up 6 boards (enough for. 4’x6’ table).

I also bought some black duct tape to cover the edge to prevent chipping/dents/damage. The washers, tape and insulation cost $73.03. I used up all the tape to line 3 full pieces and 1/2 of a fourth. 

I need some more tape before I can crack on.

Around this time I also backed the Hero Realms Kickstarter for 99 USD which was roughly $134.00

This brings my 2023 hobby budget from $67.48 to $274.51. Yikes. I was doing so well.

Lastly I based the last of the Germans.

I decided to pull out all of the Germans and take an army on parade photograph.

Here’s a few close ups of the army.

Here’s the unpainted 3rd Platoon, a flamethrower team and some casualties.

This is the first platoon, cavalry wing, field gun and machine gun. 

At the rear are an anti-tank rifle, mortar, 3 snipers, another machine gun and an anti-tank gun.


Lastly the HQ group, a mortar, 2nd platoon a tank, assault squad and another machine gun.

Lots of variety to field a number of options. I think I’m March I’ll be dropping off my WWI British to be painted before the unpainted Germans so I can get some games in.

Bases and buildings

My oldest has a 24 hr bug that caused him to miss a really important soccer game today so what better way to spend the day than to plug away at the piles of shame.

I also took the youngest to practice as there is a Home Hardware nearby. I needed some larger metal bases 1-1/2” and 2” widths so the casualties, snipers and heavy guns.

So I spent another $5.15 on metal bases. However I had a gift card so I’m debating whether that counts. I’ll count it bringing the 2023 Hobby expenses total to $67.48. 

Anyways I picked up 4x 2” washers and 4x 1-1/2” washers. I got home and quickly realized I probably need another 2-3 of the 1-1/2” size.

I based some of the figures.

I put a bit of plastic down first as there’s some type of chemical reaction that occurs between the glue and washer hole apparently that leaves marks on the table. That was a fun discovery last go around.

Pictured L to R top to bottom are the grenade launcher and 3.7mm TAK anti-tank gun, the casualties, a sniper and the machine gun. I left most of the crew off of the weapons teams for east of painting.

I have 1 sniper, another flamethrower team and an antitank rifle left to base.

I also put together four sprues of Warlord Games’ plastic ruined hamlet I got before Christmas. I had tested out one building so now have the set done.

Shown are two sprues worth. I opted for 6 pieces of ruins to allow for various configurations.

The weather was atrocious this week but it’s finally warming up. Hopefully I can prime these ruins quickly.

Ze Germans are finished

Well, not really “finished” per se but I’m at a place where if I never bought another WWI German, I’d be fine with that.

That being said 😂 I have plans to add another Heavy machine gun, a grenade launcher, a sniper and a small unit (10) of Cavalry.

The miniatures are a combination of Great War Miniatures, Brigade Games and Copplestone Castings.

There are two platoons. One with plain helmets and the other with a camouflage pattern.

Each platoon is led by a 3-man command element.

There are three ten man squads.

Squads 1 & 2 have a Sgt, 8 rifles and a light MG

Squad 3 has a Sgt, 7 rifles and a flamethrower team.

The Camo squad three have grenades to indicate they are bombers/grenadiers.

There’s a 4 man high Command, heavy machine gun and a field gun rounding out the force.

For rules I have GW Historical - The Great War. However, Chain of Command is a great rule set and I’m super interested in the WWI variant.

All miniatures were painted by Karl Friedrich of Kura Creative. 

Now I just have to finish the terrain boards I started last year. And buy the opposition forces...

Productive

This week has proven rather productive as I applied sand onto the MDF/spackled bases. I also added some sticks (fallen logs) to 3 of the weapons bases. Although I forgot to take pictures.

Lastly, I primed the HQ, one Fallschirmjager section, the sniper team and the Panther. 

Fallschirmjager Force

Alright, yesterday I based my Warlord Games German Fallschirmjager and built my 2 Panzer IVs.

The Germans are based on Sarissa Precision 2mm MDF bases 25mm in diameter. The weapons teams are 60mm in diameter. The white stuff is drywall spackle. 

There is an HQ, 3 11 man squads, a mortar+ spotter, a machine gun team, sniper team, panzer shriek team and flamethrower team, a panther, Stug IIIG and 2 panzer IVs.

I wanted to prime them today but it's raining :(

German Armour

In March, I made a purchase from Warlord when they upped their Wheels of Steel discount from 10% to 20% off any 3 vehicles purchased.

I've built the Stug III G from that order and a Panther, I picked up from the 1st Hold the Line Convention.

Panther on right, Stug on left.

Just the other day I opened the 2 Panzer IV's I got from Warlord and I found this.

It appears that the rear left handed trank guard snapped off of both tanks. Both were bubble wrapped and the boxes weren't damaged. Either there is a problem with the mold and it's a fragile piece or they were damaged and sent any ways. I created a post on Warlord's forum so am awaiting a response. Some glue has fixed the issue.