“German Use Of Dampfkrieglastwagen During The Last Half Of The Nineteenth Century…”

“…Was marked by its innovative and successful battlefield use.”

These eight 1/1200th scale Gretchen Scout Contraptions are produced by “Brigade Models” and can be purchased from their German range of Land Ironclads as product code VLI-323. The small, nimble scout vehicles are approximately 8mm x 3mm in size, and, having previously been super-glued in fours upon a 30mm x 40mm plastic rectangle, were primed with a couple of layers of “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII, and later shaded in “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

I then carefully dry-brushed them all with (more) “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII, before patiently picking out all their guns with a combination of Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. As with my previously painted British Mk.I Armoured Gun Carriers, the hardest (and most time-consuming) part in painting these little guys was tidying up the grit surrounding the vehicles so I could later dry-brush their bases and get them tabletop ready.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - The Black Widow is slowly having her details picked out

With one of my final entries for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge completed, I have decided to tackle some of the 40mm plastic models found inside the Marvel United core box by "CoolMiniOrNot". Rather embarrassingly, I’ve actually owned this starter set since March 2021 following its highly successful Kickstarter twelve months earlier, but have never before truly found the motivation to apply my brush-tip to any of Edouard Guiton’s chibi-styled sculpts.

In fact, due to my decision to make the “Ultimate Pledge”, I’ve actually found being surrounded by the game’s various expansion boxes and exclusive miniatures increasingly off-putting, especially as I already own the vast majority of the super-heroes and villains concerned as both “Heroclix” and “Marvel Crisis Protocol” figures. However, the final galvanising ‘kick up the pants’ has come with the shameful arrival of the recently released Marvel United: X-Men set and all its additional miniatures; including a trio of super-sized giant Sentinels.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - Both Iron Man and the Red Skull have been primed

As a result I thought I’d try to simply paint a three-figure team in line with rules’ single player S.H.I.E.L.D. Solo Mode, and a solitary foe for them to face. This will hopefully allow me to get a handful of models finished in a reasonably short space of time, and subsequently get a few quick games in too – something which I find is always the greatest hobby mojo motivator.

Once achieved, I then intend to expand the roster of heroes and villains in a piecemeal basis, starting with a fourth costumed crime-fighter in order to try out the two-player alternative gameplay where each person owns a pair of protagonists (as opposed to just the one suggested in the rulebook). With any luck, such a cunning plan will ultimately mean I’ll paint up the entire core set, and eventually move on to some of the expansion sets I own…