Category: American

American airborne

So the American airborne have always been one of my favourite parts of WW2 and with the latest releases I thought it was high time to get a full army of the famous 101st.

This will be the army I’m taking to Operation: Shellshock in September so this will be a painting/army building set of posts over the coming months.

This first one is my test run at the infantry paint scheme and I must say, I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out. The miniatures are the ones from the Open fire/hit the beach hard plastic sprues.

Step 1. Prime them with a sand colour.

Step 2. Coat them with Vallejo Middlestone (I like my paras to be a bit more yellow than green).

Step 3. Dry brush with Vallejo khaki.

Step 4. Helmets, grenades (and if you’re a sadist like me, knee and elbow pads) in Vallejo US dark green.

Step 5. Pick out the webbing with Vallejo German cam. Beige. and the boots in a 50/50 mix of Vallejo red leather and Vallejo German cam. brown.

Step 6. Guns and entrenching tool handles in Vallejo German cam. brown.

Step 7. Metal parts (guns/knives) in GW iron.

Step 8. Wash with GW Agra’s earthshade.

Step 9. Pick out flesh parts in GW Cadian flesh and the leaf camo on the helmets with Vallejo Russian uniform.

Step 10. Wash flesh with GW Ogryn flesh.

Step 11. Highlight flesh with 50/50 mix of GW Cadian flesh and Kislev flesh.

Step 12. Base as your preference. I used GW Stirland battle more dry brushed with Zandri dust. Then, attach gamer grass and clumped flock with PVA.

I hope you found that useful and if you haven’t bought a ticket for Operation: Shellshock yet, get it now and I’ll see you there.

Hit the beach! A review

So late War is finally here. I’m going to look at Fortress Europe in a separate post and concentrate here on what may be the greatest deal in War gaming ever.

To start, I feel it’s only fair to say I loved the Open Fire! Box set from 3rd edition. There was so much stuff in it including terrain (well, 2D terrain) that was marked with rules to help you learn. While Hit the beach does not have quite as much in it, for £35 (cheaper through FLGS discount) it’s an absolute no brainier.

So, what do you get? Well, reused from the Open fire set are the infantry for Germany and America. I’ve long wanted to do an airborne army and with the set I’d already got plus this new platoon, I’ve now got a great basis. The hard plastic figures are really nicely detailed and I’m a big fan.

Two German anti tank guns round out what was in the old starter.

We get 8 Shermans with the option of upgrading 3 of them.

Oddly, I thought that Battlefront would again reuse the Open fire! moulds (they were some of my favourites) that had a ton of stowage as well but they were the British version with Fireflies so this is nice to get recognisably American kit.

The Panzer IV’s are again, a nice change from the previous versions Stugs.

I can imagine a lot of veteran players asking themselves if they need this set. The chances are they have most of the stuff in it but for new players this is a great way to get started. The US airborne may not be as genetically useful as a regular infantry company but add a nice bit of iconic flavour (and for people like me, an absolute favourite).

This is probably the cheapest starter set on the market for any wargame. Better yet, if you’re in the market for American Sherman’s, this box is only slightly more expansive than a box of five on their own.