NZ 2nd Expeditionary Force FOW Army

[c0d3monk33]

Augh! Why did I enter this competition! This month we had our floors sanded and I've been spending a lot of time making commission WHFB terrain to raise some modelling funds.

I'm still painting up my first Rifle platoon but have pretty much abandoned my first planned month already (typical)! I hope to have a 9 team Rifle platoon painted by the deadline...and maybe squeeze in one Stuart 'Honey' and the White Scout car (crew are already painted).

Deadline is a week away though! Aieeee!

[c0d3monk33]

Right, since I work tomorrow I've posted my progress here on my blog.

Here's an image of what I painted this month, details and more photos are on the blog.



I actually slightly exceeded my first planned month which is good. I had hoped to complete an entire Rifle Platoon but didn't quite make it. The first two Infantry bases I paint in July will finish this unit though! I have to admit it's been a struggle but I've certainly enjoyed myself so far.

The 6 month plan that I originally posted has only survived a month though! I've already juggled things around for July to focus more on painting whole units to completion.

For July I plan to paint the following:

Week 1

- 2 Infantry bases.
- 1 Stuart ‘Honey’ tank.

Week 2

- 1 6pdr Portee and team.
- 1 Infantry base.

Week 3

- 1 25pdr and team.
- 1 Infantry base.

Week 4

- 1 6pdr Portee and team
- 1 Infantry base.

I also purchased a rather dull $14.95 blister containing two resin 15cwt transport trucks.

[Mykillm]

Looking quite nice ! ;D keep up the good work !

[karanadon]

Looking good, a great overall scheme that looks good over a lot of figures.

[Aaron]

Hey Stu, they look great!
Congrats on exceeding your first months targets and a day early no less!

So did you learn anything particularly useful this month (specifically anything that would help me out for next month?!)

Could you post a link for your start of month picture so we can check out how far you've come?

[c0d3monk33]

Yeah I'm quite pleased with them myself. The photo doesn't quite do the group justice. I'm still having difficulty taking 'wide' shots of figures.

The 'before' image is actually on page 1 of this topic, or here is the blog post or here it is again:



I actually made some changes to the scout car crew (after I'd painted them...doh), replacing the two seated passengers with rifles with a single standing observer as that's what they're used for - fwd observer for the 25pdr arty. I also painted a Humber armored car instead of that command Honey 'Stuart'. The first week of July should be good because it will let me finish two units - the first Rifle Platoon and the 3 Stuart Honeys.

What did I learn? That the 15mm scale is very forgiving of speed painting and miscasts . Seriously...if I was painting 25mm these guys would only just count as base coated...but they look fine on the table from 3 feet away. As I've mentioned elsewhere on here I have a handful of guys with miscast faces...particularly the prone people for some reason...but once they're painted as part of a group you don't really notice them at all.

Looking forward to seeing your lot Aaron!

[Aaron]

Hmm, interesting comment on the miscasts cause its my prone figure that have no face.

my lot... well , its just before 2pm and I've been painting since 9am. my eyes have gone funny so I've stopped for lunch. Cross your fingers they will make it!

[dustand]

Wow, These guys are sweet

you mentioned

I don't blend but I do a lot of multiple brushed coats and washes for flesh and clothing. Probably why it takes me so goddamn long to paint a single 28mm figure.

it shows in your work, I really enjoy your work, it took me forever to get through your blog. I think what it is, is your work reminds me of on of my mates from back when I was just starting.

By the end of this contest I am going to regret being the only kid on the block without a FOW army =]

[c0d3monk33]

I've played three games of FOW so far and I must say I've quite enjoyed it - despite that being 1 incomplete game and 2 losses (damn German Panzers)!

The game itself is a cunning blend of historical and playable imho. There's no attempt to reflect real scales which means you can have artillery and infantry on the same table but I think the relative unit strengths seem to be reasonably balanced. The rules themselves are very 'GW' like which makes it easy for us old WHFB/40k gamers, naturally there's differences but all you need are d6's and the flow of a turn is very familiar as is the level of complexity of the rules. This is my first historical and non-GW game system as well and I'm glad it seems to have been a good choice. I might even be tempted to create a Deutsch Afrika Corps (DAK) force after the NZers have been painted. After all this Infantry a handful of German Tanks would be a snap to paint!

I'm sure there's plenty of die-hard historical gamers that sneer at FOW but quite frankly I like it! Nice to be working in a different scale as well. The only down-side is now I've got to create a bunch of 15mm WWII terrain! Ah well, just as well I love making terrain...

Thanks for the compliments...I've got some fresh supplies in and hope to have my Mordheim table finished before the end of this year. Once that's done I'll be tempted to try firing up a Mordheim campaign with Auckland players so stay tuned!

[Aaron]

Thats an excellent description of FoW.

Having never played any other historical games I think they've done a great job making a non-fiction game very approachable. Id never really thort how unlikely the scales are (a rifle shoots 16" & a 57mm anti-tank gun fires 24") but I guess its trickey to blend factual accuracy and playability.

So far Im really impressed & I cant help but feel it will only get better as our forces grow and balance out, at the moment we are still at the "put down everything you've got" phase of a new war game.

[c0d3monk33]

Right! Here's my July BEFORE photo:



And the relevant post on my blog.

The photo shows two half finished 5 man Infantry bases from last month, a half painted 25pdr gun and team, a half painted Stuart ‘Honey’ light tank, 3 unpainted small Infantry bases (Command, Boyes and Mortar teams) and two unpainted 6pdr Portees and gun teams.

Onwards chaps!