WW2 Scenery–Normandy farm buildings

I’ve been slowly plugging away (very slowly, sorry for the pace of posts of late, RL and all that) at some WW2 stuff, as you may have seen with the Germans, well, turns out I needed a new table to play on. the game (Operation squad) requires a 4x4 table to start with, but moreover, the scenery demands are somewhat more particular then my usual 40k stuff.

Much the same as the models are more appropriately and naturally scaled, so must the structured be.

While I have made my own buildings before, I am severely pressed for time of late and trolling the various forums and websites I found this lovely German gentleman and bought two of his buildings from him.

they arrived like this:

and being the obsessive I am, I layed out the components

the farm house went together very easily, with a wee bit of filing and a smear of epoxy

The Barn, with it’s multiple, separate doors took a wee bit longer.

and was very slightly warped, but a brisk hair drying on a flat surface soon sorted that

the joints just need a little filing and then voila,

 

The rooves were left separate for painting

after base coats with Vallejo, I realised that while the barn was fine with the odd open window, I needed to glaze the house.

I marked up some old clear plastic from a blister and cut to size, a wee bit of CA and.. in they went

The last stages involve a seal with klear, and then some detail paint and weathering down.

 

The barn, awaiting flock.

I’ll sort out some lighting later and get some finished pics of these once the pva on the flock dries, expect finished shots in the next day or two.

I will say this, these are solid kits, with good detail and I’ll be visiting this guy again for another couple, maybe even a towns worth.

I’ll also reinforce that I bought these products and I’m not being recompensed for running an advert or anything,

let me know your thoughts,.

All is not Quiet…

I Havent posted for a wee while and I wanted to make sure to update.. but I feel odd posting WiP pics, I like to present you with finished product wherever possible..I’ve also been quite pressed for time of late. but I got a bit done today.

Yes, everything hereabouts is all still WW2, probarbly for the best if my gut reaction to everything DA is to be trusted. not keen on the models and the rules look downright wrong. anyhoo..

I’ve some more Germans, including a couple of light vehicles on the bench, but mostly I’ve been focused on terrain. The scale and setting for these models is such that they need more cover that 40k, and that cover has to look more authentic.

So I’ve been doing a bunch of experiments with trees, foliage, scatter and hedges walls etc to see what I can come up with. I’ve also picked up a building or two and am working through getting everything ready for a game at some point.

I am however really enjoying pushing this aspect of my modeling, and had to take a few picks of some recently completed terrain pieces, with figs in situ.

when I get a wee bit more time, I’ll post some step by step how to stuff so you can see what I’ve done to get to this lot, and point of some of the things I think I could improve on.

for now, hope there's enough here to entertain the passing viewer and please let me know your thoughts.

Ignoring the Treaty of Versailles

or “The Devil’s in the Decals”

So this is how many painted German “Motorized infantry” I have now. inverted commas are there because my research tells me there were many forms of such a thing over the course of the war, and- being lazy I want to be able to play operation squad, and maybe later bolt action with a single force, and not have to have different troops for different periods in the war. – to some extent yes, I’ll be versatile with which weapons are suitable, but for your basic soldat with kar98, well you know what I’m saying I think.

These are the chaps you’ve already seen, – shoulder board edges painted white to reflect infantry (not pink for panzergrenadier as I was debating because of their lateness in the war, I figure white makes them more generally acceptable) helmet and some rank decals and a “chest eagle” heh.

Two NCOs my research tells me the pink edges on the shoulder boards over the white tells us their rank… counter intuitively for me, the arm chevrons are for lance corps and PFC (or their equivalent rather.. haven't learned German rank names.. feldwebel? or summat..) but once you get to proper |NCO’s they lose them… (I’m fully prepared to be corrected)

MG section, this one’s an MG34, I have a couple more of these needing paint, and a ‘42

Specialists with the STG, these models are actually intended to be SS, but I figure as they didn’t have the monopoly on camo smoks if I use the right camo pattern I might get away with it.. you be the judge.

Big Boom. an 8cm mortar. which I cant use in operation Squad.. I do have a 5cm waiting for paint.. which I can use

 

Sni…

Research on this guy is what told me that Heer wore camo smoks, so heer he is (boom boom)

Spotters, not used in the rules I intend to play first, but I painted them as some rulesets do require them for different pieces and crews.

And so let’s finish where we started, more PBI.. Soldat with Kar98.

Now I know these aren't my best work, but I’ve had immense fun being able to do research and try to get things “right” even though I’ve failed, and compromised etc. I’ve also found it satisfying as this is now a playable Operation Squad force. that’s huge, as usually this much painting effort isn't close to a feildable force. hell half again and it’s a decent bolt action force. that’s crazy.

anyway I’ve some more to paint up to round out my options, I’ve some terrain to knock up, and some US Airborne to get my head around, well.. cant not have an opfor in the house.. what if someone wanted a demo game?