Spains, Trains and Armouredmobiles

In preparation for the next Spanish Civil War battle here at YG, I needed to put together some bits and pieces to approximate the area over which the Battle of Quinto was fought and whilst I was at it I thought I would empty the SCW "to do" box.

A railway line runs through the town of Quinto and the Station is in the same place today. I have used the Sarissa Precision Adode (South of the Border) range for my Spanish buildings to date and since I last bought from them they have introduced a Railway Station to the range. So an Order went in for that and a set of railway tracks (shown in the top photo but not painted / based yet).

The model comes in the usual flat pack form and fits together nicely. I textured the base and added some grass tufts and Basetex. I used the latter to represent some climbing plants which is code for covering up cracks. A bit of light weathering and some Spanish Civil War Posters finished the building off.

Next up is the MC 36 Hispano Suiza Armoured Car from Minairons which has been lying around for years. A wonderful model that would grace any inter war or pulp game.

And the final figures added to the display cabinets was the completion of my first Unit of Nationalist Cavalry. These figures are 28mm from Empress Miniatures, I painted up 10 figures last year and just added another 10 to them. I had been pondering the unit organisation for a while but finally decided on a 2 Fig HQ with 3 x 6 Fig companies, which neatly gives 1 unit for 2 of Empress' discount packs.

There are no dismounted figures for these yet but my Spanish Legion Figures will suffice for now. These really are superb figures and the unit has added something extra to my SCW collection.

More SCW to come soon with the write up and Scenario post for the Quinto Game, the paint table is full of WW1 Mesopotamia and WW2 Desert vehicles, the

28mm Empress SCW Cavalry

After a slightly crazy month, I have a spot of catching up to do on the blogging and gaming front.

First up is my attempt at some 28mm Spanish Civil War Cavalry. The figures come from the most excellent range sold by Empress Miniatures.

I bought these at the York show in 2016, a unit deal of 10 figures for £36, they must be alright as I bought another 10 this year.

As you would expect with the Empress Range the figures are lovely sculpts and nicely detailed. The horses are separate from the figures which is ideal for me as I paint horses on a white undercoat with oils and figures in acrylic with a black undercoat.

The figures do come out rather nicely, I haven't decided yet how I am going to organise them as a unit for our SCW games but they will definitely add a new dimension to what is already one of my favourite periods.

For those of you who are looking at buying a set of these lovely figures, they do come with a separate Sword which sits on the side of Horse,  I chose to leave these off, they are gaming pieces first and I have a "if it might fall off, leave it off" rule.

One small quibble with this set is the difference between the Officer and the Bugler. The Officer is a slightly larger figure whose Horse,  at the saddle, is 3 or 4 mm higher. That and the poses make the Bugler look absolutely tiny. It's a small point but it's the first thing I see when I look at them.

A Grand addition to the SCW collection.

A Film Crew for the Spanish Civil War

And Some New Nationalist Recruits

Filming the action from the "safety" of the roof

I wanted a film crew as part of our big Spanish Civil War game of the attack on University City. Luckily I didn't have to go searching as one of our regular attendees had one hanging around.

The Crew

There was a camera man and camera, a Director and a guy with a clapper board. There was a fourth figure of a female reporter which I just didn't take to so I only painted up these guys. Apologies I don't know who the manufacturer is.

Camera and man

Couldn't resist the Land and Freedom on the clapper board 

The Crew play a vital part in our ongoing game, all will be revealed when I post up that game.

In action filming some Anarchists

For once I got round to painting stuff up for the game before it rather than getting enthused by it and painting stuff after. I bought the Figs I wanted to finish off my Carlist and my Legion forces at York this year along with a couple of support weapons. All these figures are from Empress Miniatures.

A few pics of the new Carlist boys, glad I  photographed these as I have realised I have forgotten to put grass tufts on them. A while back I did a Box to Table painting tutorial on these which you can find HERE

A HMG team, I have substituted a Carlist Officer for the Fig which came in the pack.

Nationalist Mortar

And finally a section of Legion again to finish off my forces for that faction. Again I did a Box to Table on these as well which is HERE

I also bought some SCW Cavalry from Empress at York and the Horses are half done for those. Next up on the paint table are some test bases for the new Crusades project.

Empress Miniatures - 28mm Panzer I - New Unit

Spanish Civil War Re-enforcements

Back in 2014 I bought these lovely 28mm Panzer I tanks from Empress Miniatures at the Triples show in Sheffield. Like a lot of models I seem to get them built and base painted in fairly quick time but then spend ages getting the things ready for the table. You can find the miniatures to buy HERE.

I got two of the models with the intention of having one with the standard turret and a second one with the 20mm Breda SCW conversion, I was lucky to get a spare standard turret when I spent a fortune at Empress so I have a few options. The models themselves are made from metal and have excellent detail and very little in the way of flash. They have separate tracks, turret, turret hatch and commander, easy to put together, all round good buy.

Three pics above of the standard tank painted in acrylics.

And three pictures of the Breda turret version, the last photo looks a bit like a Dalek.

Further re enforcements for the Nationalists came in the shape of this CR32 which is a 1/48 scale plastic model from a Czech company called SMER, a tinterwebnet purchase. A fairly basic model but then kit building has never been my strong point. This is also my first attempt at using my airbrush, I got the line between the camo and the under body colour a bit high but other than that I'm quite happy with the outcome. At least now we wont have to use the single Republican plane I have for all air attacks.

So what I hear you ask have I provided to the Republicans to fight off the scourge of Nationalism. Well not a lot really, 8 figs to complete my 4th International Brigade Unit, including a bloke with a flag, not a lot of use in an anti armour or anti air role for that matter. All the figures are Empress and specifically for the SCW.

We have our Gallipoli Game on the table at the moment which I will post as a Scenario Post soon. On the paint table we have some late comers for the Gallipoli game (some 28mm Woodbine stuff) with the inevitable distractions of 15mm SYW and WW1 GHQ Naval.

28mm Spanish Civil War - Carlists - From box to table

28mm Empress Miniatures - SCW Carlists

Next off the production line is some Carlist re enforcements, bought earlier in the year from the is highly lovely Empress Miniatures at Triples in Sheffield. This is my chosen force for the SCW as they are both Monarchists and Left Footers, much like my Royalist ECW army I have a bit of sympathy with their cause, if not for that of the Nationalists in general.

Presented in the ever popular From Box to Table stylee, we will follow these little fellows from a blank piece of metal to the finished item, ready to game with. All paints are Vallejo unless otherwise stated.

First up we have the basic figure on the left, mounted on a base and primed with Matt Black Halfords spray. Painted first are the trousers with 70823 Luftwaffe Cam Green in the middle and then a highlight with a touch of white added to the base colour.

Next up comes the shirt, left to right we have a base coat of 70924 Russian Uniform WW2, followed by a heavy dry brush of 70886 Green Grey and a final highlight of 70886 with a touch of 70951 White.

A bit of 70875 Biege Brown now, on the rifle, face, hands and taping above the boots, then I have highlighted with a 50 50 mix of the Brown and 70912 Tan Yellow, on the right the rifle has been finished off with 70863 Gunmetal Grey on the metal parts.

Next up literally is the "belts and braces", base coat of some old Citadel Colour Scorched Brown with a highlight of Citadel Colour Dark Flesh.

Berets are not something I have a lot of experience with, they are the trademark of the Carlist troops of the time. Left to right I started with a base of Dark Flesh, a heavy drybrush of Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red, highlighted with Citadel Colour Blood Red, all this is topped of with the tassel, base coat of Citadel Foundation Ivanden Darksun and a highlight of 70915 Deep Yellow.

I paint the figs in batches of 5 or 6, I paint the blanket rolls the same in each batch, I tend to just grab a pot of paint at random and use that, then highlight it with a mix of base colour and white, for this batch it was 70882 Middlestone.

Final stretch of painting now, I have block painted the face n the left using 70804 Biege Red, the next stage is a highlight of 70815 Basic Skintone. Fig 3 has had the taping, rifle and belts washed with GW Devlan Mud and finally hands and face washed in GW Ogryn Flesh.

The bases are sculpted with Polyfilla, painted Miniature paints Earth Brown, highlighted with White / Earth Brown, a dash of basetex which is highlighted yellow, finished with a bit of grass tufting.

Fine figures as always from Empress, a nice addition to my SCW collection.