Adeptus Titanicus – Legio Astraman Ad Arma Part III
This takes longer than I thought. For multiple reasons.
First of all, I really am not used to painting these kind of models. My experience is mostly with humanoids and tanks, and as I pointed out in almost every review on the Adeptus Titanicus range, these kits have an incredible amount of detail.
I managed to take my regular scheduled painting times, but due to their size and getting to know the models, it honestly takes forever to block in the base colours.
So beside showing you some half-painted miniatures, I'd like to share some learnings:
- Leave the armour plates off until painting. Seriously, it is much easier to paint them. On about one third of my titans I glued them on, and they are a bit more difficult to paint, than the later stock where I didn't do that.
- If you have access to a spray can or air brush, make use of it to block in the primary colours. I primed the models black with a spray can, but seperating the parts into those who would need a metal primer (and that's a lot, I underestimated the amount of blank metal these models cover below their heraldic / armour plate), and those covering your legion base colour(s), yet, depending on your paint job and multi-colour scheme of your legio, that might not be necessary.
- Prepare what you're going to do by studying the product pictures or other painted examples. Seriously, there is so much going on, especially on the back and underside, that it really eats up time for me to check, is this something that would be painted in metal or heraldry colour? Where does this plate end and the other section start?
Bolt Action – Jagdtiger
After covering multiple King Tigers on here, in resin and plastic, it is time to go for the heaviest beasts of the Tiger-Class tanks, the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz. 186 Jagdpanzer VI - also known as Jagdtiger.
This beast is available in 28mm by multiple companies as a resin kit, but now comes for the first time in plastic, by the joint production of Warlord Games and Italeri. The kit I got, was a pre-release provided by the Dutch wargaming shop Tabletopper.nl. As such it didn't come in a cardboard box, it was simply the sprues in a plastic bag. The final product of course comes with instructions, decals and so on.
The Jagdpanzer VI was another tank destroyer, based upon the chassis of a regular tank. The Germans did this multiple times, as we've seen with the Jagdpanther, the Sturmgeschütz III, Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer or Marder III (both based upon the Panzer 38(t)). But in this case, building upon the already pretty heavy Tiger II tank, the Jagdtiger became with around 70t the heaviest tank produced in series in history.
Reinforcement straight from the foundry
I usually pick up Wargames Foundry at shows likes Crisis or Salute, but with the lack of shows "lately" I went for some direct ordering. As I have friends in the UK, I'm able to order without the hassle of customs and fees. These were ordered in April, Foundry did a great job having them delivered only a few days later within the UK, and I only recently came around to arrange the hand over. So that's only a solution for some non-time critical items, never the less - let's take a look at what I got myself.
Twelve months, 20,- Euros – Part 7
As you can see, I'm writing my review for July with some delay this time. Yesterday, as I was thinking about how this actually happened, it occurred to me that I seem to always have a bit of a hobby slump at the same time of year: July and August. On a rational level, this is due to a combination of repetitive reasons, all of which can be summed up as a "temporarily growing amount of obligations."
Nevertheless, there is at least a small update. For some time now I've been chasing the Animated Statue from the Halodyne range of the game Godslayer. No matter where you order online, it usually costs around 30,- Euro. Even with the 4.17 left over from the previous month, this would not have been possible.
But as fate would have it, Daniel, also known as blackmail82 in German-speaking forums, actually had this model at hand and left it to me for 15,- Euro including shipping.
July 2021 review
The move is over, the old apartment is empty and we can complete concentrate on our new home.
Update on the move to the new studio
Last weekend was the major part of our move, bringing over the furniture and most of the boxes. It is weird to see your studio go more and more empty, but it certainly gives you feedback on the progress. Along with my wargaming stock my lego collection went with us. And I have to say, not only am I incredibly thankful for the very practical estate car, but the carport as well, as it made us far less prone to the weather.
Adeptus Titanicus – Legio Astraman Ad Arma Part II
A brief update on the summer challenge.
The first block are 6 miniatures, I went with two Reaver Titans and four Cerastus Lancers. After thoroughly cleaning mould lines and gaps before priming most of the models, I started with blocking in the base colours. Starting with Army Painter Gun Metal for the metallic parts of the titans.
Black Hussar Miniatures – French in Canada
While looking for beautiful figures for the French and Indian War, I came across the manufacturer Black Hussar Miniatures some time ago. We don't have a particularly large number of manufacturers in Germany for historical figures in the 28mm scale, so we want to take a closer look at this manufacture today. The models had been here for a while and I am also very sorry for the long delay, but the pandemic conditions made it very difficult for us to photograph the models appropriately. The pictures therefore do not necessarily show the quality that is otherwise known from the chaos bunker. It was just not possible for me to have a photo session with Dennis. I would like to apologize to the manufacturer for the long waiting time.
The manufacturer
Black Hussar Miniatures was founded in 2015 by its current owner Sascha and his buddy Florian. The two Berliners needed miniatures for their own project and since they couldn't find anything suitable, they asked an friend to model corresponding figures for them. A few test figures became very extensive series for the Kingdom of Prussia and the Kingdom of France in the Seven Years' War. The French were also expanded to include a few models for the Canadian theater of war. The miniatures were so well received that the two decided to sell them in their own shop.Black Hussar Miniatures is now well established on the market, but that does not mean that you can make a living from historical small series. Sascha, who now runs the company alone, invests all profits back into new miniatures. In the meantime, another series has been added for the Napoleonic period. This - originally brought into being by Westfalia Miniatures - is the mainstay today, as this era is in much greater demand, especially internationally. Three freelance modelers are currently working on the series on a regular basis, so that they are continuously expanded.
June review
Managed to get some things going in June. Some new and final arrivals to my collection.
I am a huge fan of the work of Paul Hicks, and one of rarer miniatures (besides the event miniatures he sculpted) is this set of British Napoleonic soldiers, strongly influenced by Sean Bean in Sharpe. After looking for a trader in Europe and trying to get these second hand - but with no results for over almost a year, I decided to order directly with Brigade Games. Shipping wasn't cheap at 28 USD (for a total of ~50 USD worth of miniatures), but went incredibly fast, as these arrived within 10 days - incl. going through customs.
This isn't going to be some mass combat, but really a small skirmish setup around Sharpe's Rifles. So after looking at Osprey Games' Chosen Men, but putting that aside for it being far too large, as it is more like Saga at 40+ miniatures and not what I had in mind for the small battles, I went with Song of Drums & Shakos by Ganesha Games. Tabletop Stories has a review on the rule set. And if you're already there, give their Mecha-Spin off of What a tanker a go.
Adeptus Titanicus – Legio Astraman Ad Arma
It is time to go for another Summer Challenge, 18 miniatures in 3 months. Last year I did an undivided beastman warband "Hooves and Fur" for my Realm of Chaos project.
And as the new challenge is just right around the corner, I'm right in the middle of moving my studio, this simply calls for an Epic Journey Against all Reason and Sanity.
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