(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Pendraken Miniatures” June 2023

"In 1939, most tanks had a maximum armour of 30 mm or less, with guns no heavier than 37–47 mm."

Due to my current enthusiasm for 10mm World War Two tanks, and the anticipated arrival of some 'reinforcements' from "Pendraken Miniatures", I thought it would probably be best this month to continue chipping away at my backlog of the Middlesbrough-based manufacturer's models. This should help me clear a little space within my metal 'pinnacle of potential', as well as encourage me to play some games involving both my Battle of the Bulge and (non-Winter) Early War campaigns.

Furthermore, I'm actually awaiting some passengers, seated drivers and tank commanders within my latest order, so intend to potentially add some of these little chaps to my existing fully-painted collection too. This shouldn't hopefully be too much of a distraction, as I'm genuinely only looking at half a dozen or so armoured vehicles. But I've always been a little 'irked' by the likes of the German Panzerjager simply being sat on the battlefield with no-one actually being visible inside firing the destroyer's anti-tank gun.

"Games Workshop" WIPs - Three Sons of Horus tactical space marines

Alongside this long list of 10mm tanks I am also planning on trialling a new batch-painting challenge where I'll pigment ten German Great War soldiers by "Wargames Atlantic" over the course of four consecutive three-hour hobby sessions. My intention is to use these dedicated sessions to help me quickly pigment a core unit for a game (in this case "Xenos Rampant" by "Osprey Games"), as opposed to my usual method of just working on a couple of figures before some new (or old) shiny comes along to completely distract me from my cause.

Finally, I aim to finish the last of the Mark VI armoured Space Marines by "Games Workshop" which I've had lurking around my hobby desk for the past several months. Once completed these Sons of Horus tactical traitors will form a third of my force for "The Horus Heresy" and lead me into the penultimate phase of my initial 500-point project - assembling/painting a ten-man squad of Horus Lupercal's former Luna Wolves all wearing Mark IV armour.

May 2023 - "Pendraken Miniatures" continues to climb up my Top Five table

Happily, my productivity appears to be on the rise once again, following my partial burnout at the end of the Thirteenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC). True, I'm still not finishing quite as many miniatures every four weeks as I would like. But I am slowly getting my mojo back - thanks largely to the simplicity of the 10mm scale and "Pendraken Miniatures" incredibly broad range of World War Two armoured vehicles, such as Matilda IIs, M5 Stuarts, Panzer IIs, and Crusader IIs.

Indeed, I fully expect to churn out even more tanks in the near future as I finally finish enough Early War vehicles to actually start that project's series of battles, as well as add to both the Allied and Axis forces present during the Ardennes Offensive. I've also got some seriously hefty German Panzerkampfwagens planned for the painting queue, which should also help motivate my output, as the Later War sculpts truly dwarf those of the likes of the Panzer IIs and Panzerjagers I've previously pigmented...