Codex Manesse Knight by Mirliton - WIP

Painted one of the horses today; the mount for the Ulrich Von Lichtenstein figure.

 The barding is based on the image below from the Codex Manesse.

I left off the barding over the ears; as well as the tassels and buttons along the top of the barding. I plan to paint the horse for the Otto Von Brandenburg figure next. There isn't a picture of the horse, but it will have his shield design repeated on the barding. The image below of Otto is also from the codex.

The background color of the shield looks like it would be black (sable), but Mirliton's painted figure shows it to be white (argent).

Veterans Day AWI Game @ The Game Matrix - 2010

Had a great time today at The Game Matrix in Tacoma. Bruce Meyer and Kevin Smyth hosted a very enjoyable AWI game using their own rules and superb figures. There were a lot of figures on the table, but only a fraction of the AWI figures that they both have. The game was built around the Battle of Monmouth and played out pretty close to the historical results.

Here are some shots of the game and excellent figures painted by Bruce and Kevin.

 

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the game - in which I played the British right for most of the game, until relieved of half of my forces by a more aggressive commander.

Museum of Flight Game Day - November 6, 2010

I was fortunate enough to attend another Museum of Flight Game Day. As always it was held under the expanse of an SR-71 Blackbird.

There was quite a good turn out and I was lucky to get into the Gran Sasso Raid game that Bruce M. and Mike K. ran. Granted the actual hotel that Il Duce was held captive in was red, but the feel was right.

Besides the group of Italians who held Il Duce in the hotel there were several other Italian units outside. The scenario is a variation using US troops coming on the table on card activation. The US troops were acting independently of the Italians. That is the Italians had to contend with not only the Germans, but also US troops. The Mussolini figure was sculpted by Mike K. and very accurately depicts him as he was when he was held captive at the Gran Sasso.

The game ended with Il Duce about to be captured by the US forces. Both the Italian and Germans were decimated by that time, and the US with overwhelming forces remaining.

Here are a some of the other games held in the first period. I played in Dale's Tobruk game in the second period, but failed to take photos.

I snapped a few photos of the aircraft and displays in the museum, but some of the rooms are kept very dark, so the images aren't very good.

ADDENDUM: I lifted a couple of photos of the Tobruk game from Dale Mickel's site:

I really need to play more larger-scale games - particularly those with off board artillery and air support.

Another nice day spent with the good gamers of NHMGS.

Codex Manesse Knights by Mirliton

I just received an order of the two remaining knights that Mirliton USA had in their inventory.

It appears they (or Simone who runs the company) may be getting out of the business. From what I read on TMP it appeared he wasn't doing business anymore, but I figured I'd send him an email to see what he had. He said he had these two as the only remaining ones from Medieval characters range. I actually had asked if he had the helmet set based on the Codex Manesse. They are nice figures with a lot of detail - particularly to the helmets and crests; albeit for the tournament and not war.

The figure on the left is Ulrich Von Liechenstein, and the one on the right Otto Von Brandenberg. The Liechenstein figures has his shield molded as if hanging from the belt or saddle - as in the image from the codex.

The image below compares a Mirliton knight next to knights from Battle Honors and Old Glory. They are more or less compatible, except for the fact that the Mirliton horses have cut-away areas where the rider fits onto it.

I will likely order the helmets set directly from Mirliton in Italy - or maybe the UK authorized dealer. They should fit onto Old Glory bodies pretty well.

DFS 230 Glider and a Gran Sasso Raider

This is a resin model that I put together awhile ago, but decided to weather it a bit; it was also an incentive to paint a lone "spare" Fallshirmjaeger as he'd look in Africa or Italy.

The glider kit, which I won off of ebay, is made by a German company called Karo-As Modellbau. It is 1:48 scale according to the box. Simple to put together and came with several versions of decal markings - except for the swastika which is illegal in Germany, I think. I got that decal from another source.

I refinished the cockpit glass which got "foggy" from the super glue. Thanks to the internet, I found out that this is a common problem with modelers and the solution was to carefully remove it and apply Future floor wax to it. This solved the problem and I re-glued it back on.

The figure is another Victory Force Miniatures model with Green Stuff added to the lower parts of the trouser legs to better simulate the bagginess of this type of tropical issue. You may notice a replica Luftwaffe Fallshirmjaeger badge to the rear of the figure.

A couple more views of the same figure; as I like how he ended up. I plan to order more and paint them up with the same type of gear - for Africa/Italy; or possibly a Gran Sasso scenario. Interestingly enough, I hope to get in on a game with the very scenario this Saturday at a game day held at the Museum of Flight up at Boeing Field.

The photo above shows how cramped it was in the glider. Supposedly it held 9 fully armed Fallshirmjaeger in addition to the pilot.

Project SNAFU's

Must be due to this coming Halloween, but two projects have run into some minor problems. The first has some incorrectly sized movement trays. These are my long awaited Litko trays with steel paper inserts. I ordered them in September and finally got them the other day. Today I put them together and two trays are too small, and the custom sized ones look correctly sized, but  their inserts are too small. I ordered the "roomy" option for all trays (including the custom ones); this option is supposed to give a 3mm extra fit for depth  and width.

As may be seen the below photo of the custom sized ones, the steel paper inserts are short. I called Litko and Jim said they are supposed to fit exactly so they must be not be custom sized. I told him not to worry about sending me replacement inserts for these, but I wanted correctly sized (roomy option) trays for the two that are too small. I ordered two trays each for 9 X 3, and 7 X 3 figure units; all on Litko 20mm square wooden bases with magnetic bottoms. Jim said he'll have those made and shipped as soon as possible. I get to keep the incorrectly sized ones.

This next photo shows one of the trays that is not correctly sized with the roomy option.

Litko's customer service is very good, but as these items weren't exactly cheap, and the wait was long enough (about a month), I was hoping that everything would be in order. I normally build my own movement trays, but since the figures for this group have magnetic bottoms (Litko), I figured I'd get the trays along with the steel paper inserts from them. I've long since based figures on either steel squares or metal washers. It's a lot easier finding magnetic sheeting than steel paper. In any case, I was hoping to get these figures on the table soon for a Chariot Wars game.

My second "not going so well" project is a long overdue one. I had recently decided to re-start my early Holy Roman Empire army - mainly the cavalry. Awhile back (when I had an Old Glory Army membership), I ordered a pack of Teutonic Knights and some Turcopoles. The infantry was completed over a year ago, and the cavalry figures were sitting in a drawer awaiting inspiration. Well, the inspiration (or resignation) came to me last week when I thought of painting the knights up based on the Codex Manesse knights. Well, when I looked at the OG Teutonic Knights, I realized they all had capes, and the knights in the codex don't. The light bulb went on, and I started cutting off the capes as best I could. Then it occurred to me that this may not have been such a great idea. The image below shows the sorry state the knights are in right now.

One good thing did come about this affair, I re-looked the figures that Mirliton makes and found a US supplier (soon to go out of business) that had a couple of figures left in his stock. I've ordered these and will start on them as soon as I get them. I think Mirliton sells the riders separate, so I can still use the OG horses I already have.

Victory Force Minis - Fallshirmjaeger HMG & AT Team

These are Victory Force Miniatures that I ordered a couple of weeks ago when they were on sale for 45 percent off. I figured I might as well get them in addition to the panzerschreck guys.

The MG 42 gunner and loader were painted with splinter pattern smocks, while the NCO giving orders and the panzerfaust guy are in tan water pattern.

The next photo includes the earlier painted panzerschreck firer.

I like these figures, and only wish some had the cloth covers on their helmets.

Victory Force Minis - Waffen SS Squad & Panzershcreck-ies

Here are several more VFM Germans; this time some much-needed panzerschreck firers. These guys should help stop US armor in future Disposable Heroes (or other WW2) games. Starting on the left, the first guy is a standard Heer infantryman with a field camo'd weapon; the second guy is a Waffen SS guy in late-war pea dot camo; the last guy a Fallshirmjaeger in splinter camo smock.

For painting tutorials, this Flames of War article was used for the pea dot camo; and the old Resistant Roosters article for the splinter pattern. Both articles are very good and easy to follow.

Here is the late-war Waffen SS squad - now with the addition of the panzerschreck guy. I made the "pea dots" larger on the 'schreckie dude, as the earlier attempts are harder to make out.

Victory Force Minis - Waffen SS Squad - WIP

After about three years, I've finally gotten around to painting up a small unit of Victory Force Miniatures Waffen SS. These guys were sitting in a cabinet collecting dust as I had lost interest in the period. However, after a recent Disposable Heroes game, my interest has been rekindled. I'd never painted SS camo before, but with the abundance of tutorials available, it was a just a matter of finding one that worked for me.

Here's the HMG team - the leader and gunner were painted wearing fall oak leaf pattern smocks, and the loader in spring oak leaf pattern (or at least my attempt at them). Only three colors were used for each pattern.

The next figures are in various patterns of camo - the guy with the panzerfaust wears a smock in pea dot pattern; the center guy (who time-traveled to snag an AK-47) has a jacket made from Italian camouflage cloth; and the guy with the MP43 has a fall oak leaf pattern smock and pea dot trousers.

For the oak leaf and pea dot patterns the Flames of War and SGT Perry tutorials were used. Both are very good and quite simple to follow. I managed to pull off the Italian one by looking at pictures of the pattern on the internet - the pattern is pretty bold and simplified.

I now feel pretty comfortable with these patterns; which is good as I ordered several more Victory Force figures (thanks to a 45% sale this weekend due to James Bland's 45th birthday). I ordered some panzerschreck guys - much needed as they have twice the range of panzerfaust (according to Disposable Heroes' rules, that is).

UPDATE: Just need to finish the flocking of the bases.

Check out this late-war MG42 gunner - although a black and white photo, the pea dot pattern can clearly be seen:

Oh, and the VSF airship is slowly coming along. I decided to leave the top deck on as it would save me the trouble of building up the top portion it sits on. The starboard side has some plasticard added - these will be sanded down and Green Stuff added to make it follow the original lines of the ship.