Carthaginian war elephant and velites

The last stuff to be finished in 2014 is a Foundry Carthaginian war elephant with howdah - nice model that I've been meaning to tackle for some time:

And a few stands of velites by Crusader - I love Crusader sculpts, they are definitely on the chunky side, but always a treat to paint:

1/72 Nassau Brigade

Perhaps the last stuff to come off the bench in 2014, here we have two battalions of Napoleonic Nassau troops for the Waterloo campaign. These are 1/72 by Hat.

Russian light infantry, 1805 style

I finished today a box of Hat 1/72 Russian 1805 light infantry (jagers) working towards a CCN scenario next semester at EWG. Love these Hat figures, and as I was painting them thought that I ought to come up with a top ten list of why I like and stay with this scale.

Anyhoo - here they are:

Modern microarmour and Battle of Five Armies

I just finished working up a bunch of modern microarmour to play a 1985 Cold War scenario using an adaptation of the Epic Armageddon rules by GW. I have played Epic once and thought it was a lot of fun, I actually think it is a great ruleset for adaptation to moderns. So here we have:

A company of T-62s by GHQ

 

BTR60s, BRDMs and artillery (CinC and GHQ)

Infantry and support weapons (GHQ)

Hind D (CinC)

An Airfix 1/76 Sdkfz222 for next weeks game of Chain of Command

And also, one of my chums requested that I post some pictures of my Battle of Five Armies 10mm stuff by GW. I painted these 10 years ago when the GW box game was released as part of their Specialist Games range (all of which I think were fantastic, such a shame they killed them all).

Beorn, Thorin's gang, eagles and Gandolf:

Dain and men of the lake

 Dwarves

 Wargs and warg-riders:

 Elves:

Goblins, Bolg and a shaman:

Napoleonic Russian Hussars

By Strelets - look like hell on the sprue but paint up very nicely as usual. I am working towards a CCN scenario in the New Year.

Yes I know hussars usually left their banner in the barracks, but these ones didn't!

28mm Principes

The Punic Wars project moves on, here are 18 Republican Roman Principes by Gripping Beast.

Russian Napoleonic infantry in 1/72

I have 5 boxes of the Zvezda Russian Guard infantry, so I can do entire units in a single pose - like to have my Naps in parade dress! I also realize that I should cut off the plume if they are to be line troops, but seems like such a shame to do so.

Wehrmacht and 4Ground semi-detached house

I finished off some odds and end for my 1944 Germans - Valiant figures including medic, Panzershrek team, sniper and some additional riflemen. The Pak 38 is by Plastic Soldier Company - a very nice little kit with great detail and extras.

The house is one of those prepainted, laser-cut jobs by 4Ground. It's an outstanding product - interior detail, 3 floors and removable roof. Not cheap, and takes a bit of time to assemble, but a really great product. I prefer this to painting resin or plastic kits any day. I highly recommend them - must pick up some more.

Valiant G.I.s

A full strength platoon with supports (medic, 60mm mortar, .30 MG).

1/72 Valiant and Zvezda stuff

Hy hobby ADD seems to have taken me adrift from the Punic project for the last 2 weeks. First I did some nice 1/72 Russian Napoleonic infantry by Zvezda as a hiatus (huge 1812 project that will take years to complete):

Then I decided I really want to run a game of Chain of Command, so I started on a platoon of 1944 Yanks by Valiant - oversized figures but I would have to say that I like them very much:

I hope I can remain disciplined enough to finish the Yanks...

Hastati

First batch of Republican Roman heavy foot - here are 6 bases of Gripping Beast hastati. Shield decals by VVV turned out nice I think.

GW LOTR Uruk Hai

This may seem bizarre, but I find it tremendously rewarding to strip, repair, repaint or otherwise refurbish other folks unwanted and abused minis. It's not (just) because I'm thrifty, but the whole idea of reusing and recycling just holds a certain appeal. Here we have a batch of Uruk-hai metals that I picked up in a shoebox, banged up chipped and broken, at a swap meet last year - $10 for about 100 models (bargain - single metals can go for that now that they are out of production...). I stripped these in Pinesol and repainted them and now they like new.

Since the GW mass combat rules for Middle Earth (War of the Ring) stink, I am planning to host a game using a Sword and Spear variant at the next club night featuring my sizable collections of Rohan and Isengard.