New Project - 10mm 1914 Imperial Germans - Pendraken

A new project?..and while I have so many projects to work on and make playable...yes!  I'm afraid so.  The move into WW1 has been a recent thing for me and the more books read, the more myths and perceptions are discarded, as history opens up its truths.  The innovations in every aspect in this period, from technology to tactics, was incredible.

 ...and yet after creating a late war WW1 28mm skirmish 'army', I find myself drawn to the period of pickelhaubes, soft hats and brass buttons and those early days of WW1 where the 'Old Contemptibles' proved themselves in those early actions.

Recent games of 'Spearhead' brought out the megalomaniac in me as I'm currently finding myself interested in seeing Corps sized units on the table.  It was when I saw the rule-set 'Great War Spearhead' advertised that it started me thinking.  On researching further I discovered 'Great War Spearhead II' had been brought out too, along with a series of scenario books including for 1914. 

Seeing all of these books at a stand at the Overlord Show in Abingdon (in those good days before the plague back in early March), prompted a major impulse purchase and a new project was begun.

The next question was in which scale?  15mm always looks nice but seemed a bit large for the size of actions being produced on the table.  6mm would be ideal...but I just don't enjoy painting them.  I bought a large set of Napoleonic 6mm armies ready to paint up rapidly to recreate Wellington's glories in the Peninsular. Alas even painting just one unit bored me.  The satisfaction of the finished models just isn't there.  I think perhaps, that once a few divisions are on the table then they might look impressive, but one 6mm unit painted did not enthuse me at all.

So I opted for 10mm. They are identifiable in this scale, reward a bit of attention with the brush and make nice models.  I still can't paint more than a couple of units without having to switch to 28mm though. It's the satisfaction of the finished items that act as a spur to painting the next unit.  However, doing the occasional 10mm battalion of 24 figures only takes a day or two and is not too painful.

These figures are by Pendraken with who I was already familiar from purchasing figures for another project.  I love the fact that the figures are just about flash free. There was just a tiny amount at the bottom of the base to be cut with a blade and it was a case of simply gluing to the painting base for the undercoat.

I must confess that I put way too much detail into my first units, using 4 shades of colour over the undercoat just on the basic tunic/trousers.  This was excessive.  I have cut other bits out of my painting procedure since as too much detail applied with the brush does not reward the effort at this size. 

It does amaze me to think that each figure is only 1cm tall,  The photo below is of the troops with a £1 coin!

Perhaps foolishly I made an attempt at giving the impression of painting the Regimental number on the front of the pickelhaube cover.  This took some time!  I also painted the uniform lace edging in red.  Was this necessary - no.  But for me it is part of the character of these early war German uniforms.

I tried to take enough care so that touching up/lining in was not necessary so time would be saved in the long run.

This picture shows Infantry Regiment Number 75, complete with its 3 battalions and machine-gun company and regimental command.  Each stand represents a company in Great War Spearhead II.

I also painted up 6 batteries of artillery and I have to say what nice models the Pendraken guns are.

The labels were produced as a word document and the use of colours enables the units to be easily plotted and kept track of.  The labels are on the back of the base as well as underneath.  I nearly put them on top of the bases but that for me, always detracts from the figures...though it would probably make the game play a little quicker.  I decided not to use Gothic script on the bases this time in order to assist rapid identification!

Clearly there is a lot more to go, but I have to say that the figures are becoming more painless to paint as I find elements that do not justify the time input. I will probably still continue with the red lace edging though!

More Great War - 28mm Imperial Germans

I'm still at it!  I'm keeping the momentum going and painting my WW1 figures while still reading books on the topic, and this is keeping me on track so far.  

It is helped by having figures that I really enjoy painting.  I don't think there are many WW1 ranges about that can equal the North Star 'Great War Miniatures' troops. I just wish that they did some 1918 French as I can imagine how good they would look.

I'm still managing to steer clear of painting Stormtroops though the purchase of the Osprey 'German Stormtrooper' Book 1914-1918 has proved very useful for background knowledge.  I also purchased 'Images of War, the German Army on the Western Front 1917-1918 by David Bilton'  This is really interesting too, with great photos. Though also some really grim photos and one particular rear view pic of four Germans on a log latrine was one that I didn't really need to see!

I was struck by one image I found of 1918 Germans on parade. The tunics were of so many different shades that I wondered if I was over-fussing about trying to get the colours right.  I have now tried to subtly show differences in shades with my infantry figures, though oddly, under the daylight lamp and the flash of the camera the shade does appear to have taken a more blue-ish grey hue, not so apparent on the figures away from the camera.

The Maxim gun team is an impressive model when assembled. The detail on the base was amazing as it had spent cartridge cases strewn about.  This did mean that I when I put the basing material on, I had to try to raise the level of the MDF with the metal base and hide the join without covering too many spent cases.  The detail is so great that there was a wedding ring cast on the finger of the NCO observer!

The infantry figures have the mix of the later 'Bluse' tunic and the earlier patterns edged in red, as mentioned in my previous post. 

The figures just have so much character!

Again, I'm really trying to paint the figures and base them for the war of movement that commenced again in 1918, so a little more green on the bases than just mud, but still sufficient mud should I wish to get them back into trenches.  A little Somme chalk also appears as well as shattered tree branches from the battered 'bois'.

I did see the '1917' movie for inspiration. I imagine that many of you might have seen it by now. I thought it was pretty good. Uniform detail was excellent mostly, other bits a little odd.    Having said that I was very glad to see a historic movie at long last and grateful for the discounted ticket that Ian obtained for me. 

What's to come next...I do have more WW1, though I am also really wanting to do other things too....decisions decisions!