(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Flames Of War” January 2023

"Before Allied troops even came ashore, the Germans suffered a bombardment from Naval ships."

This month's themed attempt to diminish my mountain of metal, plastic and resin models will once again have me setting my sights upon my collection of 15mm World War Two Germans by “Battlefront Miniatures”. Rather embarrassingly I've been chipping away at my 50-point strong “Flames Of War” German Beach Defence Company for well over a year, so really need to get the Panzergrenadiers' armoured support and anti-tank teams finished.

Fortunately, I've found my interest in both the period and range of figures to have been significantly re-energised by my recent purchase of "The Fields of Normandy" rule-set by Mike Lambo. Admittedly, the temptation to build some bases in order to specifically represent the Sixth Royal Scots Fusiliers for the solitaire wargame is somewhat strong. But I still have a fair few Panzer IV tanks and support infantrymen to complete first, as well as some extra reinforcements to bolster my company up to 75-points.

"Reactivation completed."

Alongside this 'final push', I am also busy trying to achieve a target total of 500-points in the Thirteenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC). As a result I have finished/submitted another 28mm scale Cybermen sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" which I produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Strongly influenced by Eric Saward's incarnation of the Mondasians as first seen in his March 1982 "Doctor Who" story "Earthshock", the miniature was undercoated in "Citadel" Abaddon Black and given a double-helping of "Vallejo" Gunmetal. It was then shaded using "Citadel" Nuln Oil, dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal, and had its hand-weapons' power cylinder 'picked out' using "Scalecolor" Speed Metal and "Citadel" Flesh Tearers Red.

"3D Breed Miniatures" WIP - These seven 10mm Saxons have been primed and dry-brushed.

In addition, I have my eye on a year-long project to fight the Battle of Hastings in 10mm using the STL (Standard Triangle Language) files found inside the Hastings and Stamford Bridge Battles Pack by "3D Breed Miniatures". This particular period/genre has come completely out of the blue, and has predominantly been inspired by my purchase of "Battles Of Medieval Britain" - another of Mike Lambo's solitaire wargames.

The paperback book contains twelve battles, including all three contests concerning King Harold's forces in 1066, and my idea is to print/paint the relevant forces required for an individual scenario on a monthly basis. This should ultimately lead to me building up quite a substantial collection of Saxons, Normans and Vikings throughout the year, and give me plenty of units to field when the time comes to shift over to a different rule-set (quite possibly "Hail Caesar" by "Warlord Games") which will allow me to use them all at once...