Bilbo, Gandalf and a Hummel

Well the 20th of March finally rolled around and marked the finale of the Analogue Hobbies 3rd Annual Painting Challenge.

I had a bit of a problem after finishing my Goblin Town models, my detail brushes gave up the ghost entirely.

I often make do with cheap synthetic brushes I get from the post shop, but these although cheap, only seem to last '5 minutes' before the tips curl and or the bristles start splaying out...

I do love the Windsor and Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable range, but I have not found a source of these here in NZ. They are pricey and then there's shipping too, which makes them quite an investment... So I had a look around for other options, and decided on the Army Painter range of brushes, and ordered a set from Warlord Games.

Whilst waiting for these to arrive, I got on with another item that wouldn't need super fine brushes; a 15mm Battlefront Hummel for Flames of War. This I did in my 'usual' style for German three colour camo...

Getting the Ranging Posts done was the only tricky bit, and I swore and cursed as my brushes couldn't manage this! I ended up cutting away most of the bristles left on an old detail brush till there was literally only a few hairs left... it worked but so few bristles can't hold much paint so it was a bit laborious back forth. But I got there in the end.

So this Hummel brings my Heavy Armoured Artillery Battery to 4 Hummels, which in game terms means the battery has a little longevity before it's reduced to 2 models firing with its reduced effectiveness, and at this size they get 2 observers. Of course the downside is the battery is getting rather expensive in points cost!

Finally with 2 days to go, my brushes arrived from Warlord Games...

Yippee. Well package and the bristles were good, and the brushes good to go!

I had already base coated and shade washed Bilbo and Gandalf and now I could finished them off.

In the The Hobbit starter set Bilbo, comes with a choice of two arms, one holding Sting and the other his staff. Whilst the pose with the staff was quaint and more hobbit-like, the game is about fighting and I think a sword would suit Bilbo better in these situations! So it had to be Sting.

Here Bilbo explores Goblin Town and finds a bundle of the dwarves gear...

Next up Gandalf comes to the rescue! Some folks have said they don't like the pose of the model but I rather like it.

I have been using the The Hobbit Visual Companion book, by Jude Fisher, as an aid to getting some of the colours and little details correct on the figures. One thing which I found from the book, was the colour and decoration of the belt for Glamdring, the sword Gandalf finds in the troll cave.

I would never have thought of painting it blue! But blue it is with small star symbols. I couldn't manage stars at this scale so white spots would have to do!

Gandalf catches up with Bilbo in Goblin Town.

So that was my final submission to Curt's painting challenge, and finished just in time, the flock was still drying on Gandalf's base as I took these pictures and got them submitted by email to Curt with 30 minutes to go!

I must admit I fell well short of my target of 600 points, but I knew I would have several things on the go that would score no points - during the challenge I made the Goblin Town board which took 3 weeks, and also I converted the Goblin Throne, again a 'terrain piece', and had my experience with Finecast painting up Groblog, an LOTR model that wouldn't be accepted as a model for the challenge. And then to finish off I made my paint store carousel!

I did fail to get the required Ronin figure in on time, but that is on the painting table now and will be winging its way to Curt ASAP.

Again I have to say special thanks to Curt for running a wonderful competition. He must have been working like a man possessed to get all these submissions up on his blog!

Congratulations to all that took part, the standard of work was a joy to behold.

The final positions have been noted and prizes will be awarded to the winners, but there remain some little extra spot prizes to be had, the challengers voting for their favourite submission, and the blogging public can vote for theirs too! So pop on over the Curt's blog and cast your vote, but making a comment on the blog.

Shameless plug; here's the list of my work on Curt's blog!

Vote away gentle reader...

Marder and Hummel reinforcements - FoW

Just a quick post update, a couple more reinforcements for my Wehrmacht forces. Managed to finish my last of 4 , Marder III H self propelled Anti-tank guns.

And added a third Hummel, for my Armoured heavy artillery battery.

This now gives me an effective artillery platoon, of three guns, but I have a fourth winging its way from the UK. This 4th gun increases the platoons size, and allows a 2nd observer to be deployed.

I also received my Plastic Soldier Co. 15mm Tiger I boxed set. Looking forward to getting these ready to roll. At the same time I ordered another box of half tracks and the conversion kit, so I can make 3 command half tracks with the 3.7cm gun and then a couple of others, probably a pair of stummels, though I might go with a couple of flamers...

Heavy Artillery, and the Generalmajor.

Finally, more munitions of war roll off the production line...

I have decided to bring some 'big guns' to the party, with the intention of causing as much mayhem as possible to the enemy, to soften them up, allowing for an easier roll forward for my infantry, and armour, once the time comes to advance.

With that in mind, I chose to add an Armoured Heavy Artillery Battery to my forces. This brings the Hummel (Translation - 'Bumblebee') self propelled artillery piece to the game. This AFV mounts a 15cm howitzer upon a panzer chassis, with an open topped fighting compartment for the crew to shelter in. They also have access to an AA MG for self defense.

I can already make use of the infantry platoon command team, observor teams and Staff team from my 10.5cm artillery battery platoon, but did need to add the Opel Blitz Radio truck, with its 'bedframe' on the top.

I also have enough spare half tracks to mount the observor teams in as needed and also spare Panzer III's if I choose to upgrade their transport

Ranging in posts stored on back of vehicle.

So far only two of the hummels are finished, but a third model is almost finished, and I plan to add a fourth. Increasing the platoon to 4 vehicles, will allow me to add a 2nd observer, covering more of the battlefield, and gives the platoon a little longevity before they are knocked down to 2 vehicles with its inherently reduced effectiveness.

Last up today, another Warrior; Generalmajor Otto-Ernst Remer.

Remer (*) was a renowned commander of the Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadierregient (*),  fighting on the Eastern front. He was decorated with the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves for his performances

When Remer leads a platoon, he increases their motivation, ability to advance with stormtrooper moves and their assault capability.

He has sadly caused some consternation on the FoW BF forum about his ability to lead platoons into an assault, mostly due to the lack of wording on his profile which most assume should have included the phrase, may perform a 'Mounted Assault' when using an armoured half track transport...

From what I have followed, most people seem to play that he can perform this function and I believe Phil ruled on this in a forum post...? [I am happy to be corrected, comments below!]

Here he is as an infantry command team, with a schwimmwagen, for transport. He may be upgraded to have an armoured half track transport.

Remer survived the war, finally being held in an American PoW camp. His post war activities are also featured in the interesting wikipedia link - he seems to have caused as much consternation in real life post war, as he has on the BF forum! ;-)

{*thanks to wikipedia for the linked info. - from reading the info on Remer, I realised his interaction with Joseph Goebbels featured in the movie Valkyrie, played by actor Thomas Kretschmann}