28mm Finnish T-26 M1932 / M1938

This is the 1:56 scale Rubicon T-26 plastic kit. The kit comes with the ability to be built as any variant of the T-26. I chose to model the quite plentiful T-26 M1932. A side benefit of this is the kit's multiple variants allow for a reasonable proxy of the M1938 variant by using that turret on the nearly identical M1932 chassis. Close enough for our gaming group at least. I'd guess most of the time I'll be using it at a M1932 though. 

 

Here is the reverse profile with the M1938 turret on it.  I've chosen the more coarse Finnish 3-color camouflage scheme based on this museum example in Finland as well as this historical photo. There are plenty of historical photos of these in action in plain Russian green paint schemes with only Finnish markings on them, but I have leaned on that crutch a lot in this army and for this tank I wanted to do a bit more. I'm glad I did as the effort was worth it.

 

At this photo appears to ride off into the sunset, I'm reminded that this 'completes' my Finnish WWII army. Sure armies are never really 'done', and I'm likely to add more in the future, but for now, the Finnish army is done. I have no more unpainted figures or vehicles to paint for this army. 

 

Upon researching the Lapland war, I did however find out that the Germans used a lot of leftover captured French tanks all the way to the end of the war in Finland, so there's some opportunities to add a tank or two to my German army. I also have picked up a couple units of Gebirgsjäger which my German army needs to truly represent a proper Lapland war force. There's always more to to. 

This adds a single 28mm vehicle to this year's painting totals.

Two 28mm Finnish Komsomolets Artillery Tractors

I previously posted two Komsomlets artillery tractors that I painted up last August.  One of these was an FDM (filament) print from my friend Mark D. and the other was a resin print printed by myself. After visiting my friend Scot and comparing these to his Warlord model, I discovered that both of the previously-painted models, which were printed at 100% scale from the STL file Mark and I used, were 'true' 25mm and not the 1:56 'heroic' 28/32mm scale that Warlord uses. All of my 28mm WWII vehicles and figures are either Warlord brand, or brands/prints scaled to match Warlord's 1:56 scale. The previous two tractors were too diminutive in size and were dwarfed by my figures and other vehicles. 

These two models were printed at 110% scale from the same file that Mark and I used before. As you can see compared to one of my Finnish engineer figures, the scale is much better. It's not impossible to imagine a figure-sized 'person' inside driving this tractor now. 

I've gone with a dirty look but this time I opted for less mud on the tracks. The mud was mostly to compensate for the FDM print's layer lines.

Here in the foreground, the old resin print with the newer, 100% scale one behind it. Not only is the scale of the newer print better, but since I've learned more about tuning my resin 3D printer, you can notice that the newer print is much smoother with no real visible layer lines. 

These will count as two painted vehicles for my 2023 painting totals.

28mm Roman Velites

Twelve 28mm Roman Velites for Clash of Spears of Saga age of Hannibal. These are Old Glory figures that I rescued from my 'dead lead' box and painted up to match the red-shielded Romans I recently purchased and re-based. 

I've kept these pretty generic as far as shield markings go. Some of the hastati and princeps in the rest of the command had unadorned red shields, so I went with that for these for expedience and because I didn't have appropriate matching shield transfers.

I've mostly painted these with traditional paints and techniques. I used contrast paints for the wolf skins, but in the end my Zenethil priming was too dark so I had to dry-brush the grey streaks to make it all work. Lesson learned. I'm still happy with how they came out. These will be a full unit of levies for Saga, or two small units for Clash or Spears. Likely for the latter I'll use eight figures as a single command while four figures remain as extras. 

Twelve figures closer to evening out my painted vs. purchased figures. Next up on the painting table, a couple of vehicles for my Finnish army.

28mm Macedonian Thureophoroi Re-Based

I originally painted these figures up during the height of the pandemic in 2020. They were based up for Hannibal at the Gates rules. Being a play tester for those rules, I originally painted up more figures than I needed as the rules and associated army lists were evolving as the rules were fine tuned. Three years later, these ten figures are excess as commands ended up being generally reduced in figure count slightly. 

With no prospects of these seeing table time using that basing, I've re-based these for use with both Clash of Spears and Saga age of Alexander. They'll partner up nicely with the Pike I've recently purchased and re-based. These are Warlord Games 'new resin' from their SPQR / Hail Cesar figure ranges. I forget exactly which. Other than being slightly annoying to clean due to them needing to be scraped but not sanded, these are fantastic figures. Great detail, only weapons and shields for assembly and they look great as a unit. 

I painted these as I was learning to use Games Workshop's Contrast paints. I think those type of paints do a good job on helmet plumes and cloaks for Historical figures. This officer and musician are fine examples of this. Since having access to GW Contrast, Army Painter Speed Paints and Vallejo Xpress color, I think my preferred brand for this type of paint is actually Army Painter's Speedpaint line.

Ten figures re-based for my annual totals.

I realized that I never posted photos to this blog of the previously posted 'ready to base' figures based up. Here is a Thureophoroi and Thorakitai 'division' command of four units based for Hannibal at the Gates. It's possible that I never have posted photos of the Thorakitai as they were painted during the pandemic when my life and my blogging were somewhat chaotic.

28mm German Pioneers and Tank Hunters

These two groups of figures I've recently completed in order to enable me to run Chain of Command games with my Finnish and German armies for the Lapland War conflict in Finland. Although I've considered my German army more than complete for quite some time, Chain of Command requires pioneer teams and squads as support options. I had a flamethrower team in my collection, but I lacked proper German engineers with wire-clearing tools, explosives, etc. 

I considered getting the Warlord Plastics, but that was a waste considering I only needed a handful of figures. I also wanted whatever I purchased to be able to have some figures able to be re-purposed as German-equipped Finns. The pioneers in this group are Black Tree Designs pack WW2241 - Wehrmacht Engineers. Excellent figures with just the right equipment for my needs. I list the exact pack because finding such figures using Internet searches proved challenging and consumed more time than I'd like to admit. Hopefully Google will index this blog post and that might help someone with this same challenge in the future. I have no relation with Black Tree Designs other than being a happy paying customer.

The four engineers. I will add appropriate infantry to these to make up a full squad. They'll need an LMG and loader and an odd rifleman or two. Left to right, a wire-clearer with cutters and explosives, a grenadier with bundle grenades, an NCO with supply pack (satchel charge?) and an engineer carrying a mine. All in all a fine selection able to pose as any Chain of Command removal team as needed.

The 'tank hunters' are from Black Tree's WW2043 - Tank Killers pack. Some of these figures, primarily the ones with bundle grenades, were re-purposed as part of my Finnish pioneers. 

Seven painted 28mm figures for my annual totals. I have to admit, this year I'm definitely going to fail my goal of painting more figures than I purchase already painted, but this small effort helps towards that goal.

28mm Macedonian Pike re-based

Just a quick post of 24 Macedonians with sarissa (pike) that I bought off of ebay, touched up and re-based for Clash of Spears. 

24 figures purchased, 24 figures re-based on my annual totals.
 

 

 

 

28mm Bavarian Chevaulegeres Re-Based

I purchased these figures from Ebay. They were nicely painted, but well used, severely worn, and had received significant damage in shipping. Although I've labeled this as a re-basing project, I also spend upwards of of a dozen hours repairing and re-painting every figure and every horse. In the end, they came out looking quite serviceable. They were painted in a 'toy soldier' style and I tried to keep true to that in the restoration efforts. Six bases re-based in the annual painting totals.

 

 

Last of the 28mm Finnish Infantry

I'm starting to come to the end of my 28mm Finnish Continuation War / Lapland War project. These are the last 'infantry' figures, including the gunners for the captured Russian 45mm AT gun. 

Remaining on the project are four vehicles, a T-34/76, a T-26 and two Komsolets artillery tractors. The latter 3-D reprints to replace the under-scaled ones I've already finished. 

 

This is a captured 45mm Russian AT gun. The Finns received a batch of these from Germany. Ter German designation was PaK 184 (r). Finland also captured several in the continuation war. I've painted this in flat green without the characteristic Finnish camouflage, as a majority of the in-theater historical photos appear to show it being used this way. The gun and crew are by Great Escape Games from their Iron Cross figure range.

Five Finnish combat engineers. These are converted Great Escape Games German engineers. I've done some head swaps and cherry-picked the figures with the least amount of characteristically German kit that wasn't given to the Finns. Helmets of course were donated in huge quantities.  These could also fit in as 'tank hunters' easy enough as most are carrying bundle grenades and panzerfausts. One figure also has an anti-tank mine. These will be augmented by my already painted flamethrower team.

I needed an engineer squad so I can use this army for Chain of Command. The CoC support points include flamethrower teams, engineering squads for tasks such as mine clearing and barbed wire clearing as well as full engineering squads.

 

Finally, the last dregs of the 'dead lead' box. This handful of infantry figures comprises the absolute last of the unpainted Finnish infantry figures I had. I was saving these few in case I needed an odd crew for an AT-gun, etc. While I was painting the AT-gun crew and engineers I figured I'd take advantage of economy of scale and get these finished up.

Total figures for the project - 13 figures and the AT gun.