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So, like many others I've started a painting and modeling blog in hopes that it will force me to work harder instead of goof off.

I started playing around 98-99, and started with a Space Wolf army. I've got about 3000 points and only half that are painted. I took a break for a few years after being stationed overseas and now i'm getting back into it. I always wanted an IG army, so I started one of those too. I've already told myself I won't field them until they are done. There's a chance they will never get fielded, ha.

So here a few of my Space Wolves I've done in the past:























More angles for everything can be seen in my gallery.

The beginnings of my Imperial Guard army, the 461st Cadian Regiment:







More pictures in my gallery.

As you can see from my signature, I've got a few Tau models. Only painted these two:







Here are my game markers I made. This site was my inspiration: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/01/40k-counters-and-markers.html

I went to Michael's and found packs of wooden discs, smallest size was 1.5", vice the 1" suggested in the blog. This page had an actual .jpg sheet done up: http://bloodofkittens.com/40kblogs/2012/03/07/great-ideas-vehicle-damage-markers/ so you could print out and cut out.

The problem was they were made with the same idea of 1" discs. I didn't want to have little pieces of paper glued to bigger discs, so with my power point skills, I made this:



They are 1.25", so it provides a little border around the edge for the 1.5" discs. At Michael's, the bag sizes were 22 discs for 2.99, so I got three (about 10 bucks after tax) and then hit the home depot for black spray paint (4 bucks after tax). So less then 20 bucks (if you count paper and ink) I had everything I needed.

From there I pretty much followed the directions provided by the FTW page. Sprayed all the discs black on both sides. I printed and cut out two sheets of the above picture. I used a total of 60 discs, the HP 3 went on the back of the Turbo, and the HP 2 on the back of HP 1. From there, I used a brush to put regular elmar's glue on the disc, and then put the paper on. I let everything dry for about an hour (Bottle says 35 minute to dry in order to handle, over night for best bond). After dinner I went through and spread another layer of glue on top of the paper.

Here's my pile of markers after everything was done:



The only mistake I've seen is that on my "Move Flat Out" marker, I've got 12"-18" ... obviously this is only true if the vehicle moved cruise. So i'll just ignore that when I use the Flat Out marker ... should be obvious to everyone I think.

And Finally, my works in progress:







I built myself a mobile painting station and here's what it looks like, currently has 3 flamers on the line:

So the point in starting this blog was to get my butt in gear and do stuff.

Well I've been doing stuff, I'm just lazy.

I started a Sisters of Battle army. It's assembled but all white with primer. Couple of test models.

I also started WFB with and Empire army. So I've started that assembly.

Finally, I started building a table for my wargaming. I drew up some plans:



Then did some research on where to buy supplies. I ultimately settled on Lowes as they will cut your lumber for you if you want. Since I don't own a table or circular saw I decided to go that route. Come to find out that particular Lowes had an inoperable cutter so I resorted to using my jig saw. Not what it was designed for, but worked none the less. I cut all the lumber yesterday, and then assembled today. Here are some photos (all taken with my iPhone):







So far, It's been about ... 7-8 hours of work and about a 110 dollars. 90% of that is lumber. This week I'll be picking up some lumber to build legs and the foam insulation to build the gaming area. Enjoy

And another infrequent post to my P&M Blog. I recently got into Flames of War, bought the Open Fire Box set and so far painted up the StuG's. These are my first models that are 15mm, as you can see previously I've done mostly 28mm GW games. So see my first attempts below:



I will eventually add a guy sticking out of the hatch on the one that is open, for right now ... he just forgot to button up.


Up Close on one of the StuG's....



And now on to the more daunting task ...

Okay, so since the last post I started working on all my infantry units, you can see the before picture above. What these means as well as that I've finished painting the German forces from the Open Fire box set. Pretty stoked about it. They aren't finished basing yet, but wanted to show my progress and actually post in this P&M blog. So here we go:

The company commander, his 2iC, and their Panzershreck team:



1st Grenadier Platoon:



2nd Grenadier Platoon:



The 7.5cm PaK 40s, not shown are their command unit. Forgot to put them in, however you'll see them in the overall army picture.




My first addition to my army beyond the Open Fire box, was a pack of NW41 15cm Nebelwerfers:





And Finally, the painted army together:



Next up ... the box of Panzer IV H's. They are assembled, primed, and mounted on some wine corks for painting. After that it's on to the 2 boxes of SdKfz 251/D's in order to make those Grenadiers into Panzergrenadiers!

Panzer IV H's complete!





This brings my late war German army up to 1365 points.

Next up, some transportation! I've got a Kubelwagen and 2 SdKfz 251/10s on the drying rack after their soapy, and I've got 10 PSC 251/D's ready for sprue removal!

I love the StuG's I use to have one of those models so long ago

Thanks Kalshandra. As I was cleaning out my Open Fire box, I realized a piece broke off one of the StuGs. So I need to paint it up and reattached it.

Sorry not a big update, however I painted up my Kubelwagen so that the Nebelwerfer Observers have a ride!




While I was doing that, I also built the 10 SdKfz 251/1D's from PSC and 2 SdKfz 251/10s from Battlefront. Since the picture below, the entires of all the PSC 251s have been painted.



Once these are all painted up I'll have a 1530 point Panzergrenadier army. From there it's time to build a matching British force with the other half of the Open Fire box.

Alright, so these were done awhile ago and it's been a busy time, but here are my 10 finished SdKfz 251/1s and 2 SdKfz 251/10s ....










next up my american force:

5 M4A3E8
10 M4
3 M7s
1 Jeep
1 L4 Grasshopper
1 Paratrooper Platoon

So all the American forces in the previous post have been built and primed. In the mean time I ordered a bunch of terrain from http://www.4ground.co.uk/. The stuff looks great (and smells delightful too!) So this blog for a bit is going to be dominated by unboxing photos and build/review photos. So without further ado, here is the unboxing and all the stuff I'll be building:

So from the day I ordered to the day it arrived was 10 days. I ordered on a weekend, so that might have contributed to the length. Shipping itself was only 4 days, as I was hawking the UPS tracking page like it would go faster! Packing itself was good, the picture below was what was underneath the bubble wrap:



The website doesn't list them anywhere that I could find, but here are what their levels correspond to:

Lvl1 - basic & simple
Lvl2 - simple & snap together
Lvl3 - Average difficulty glue is required
Lvl4 - Adult supervision required at times, glue & tweezers required
Lvl5 - Advanced modeller's kits, many modelling tools & glues required

I didn't get anything that was Level 1 or 2. I got two items that were level 3, two that were level 5, and everything else was level 4. So here's everything:

Ruined Hamlet


Stone Bridge


Stone Hotel


Timber Village


Timber House


Damaged Terrace Type 1


Wood Fencing


Semi Detached Type 3


Semi Detached Type 1


Stone Fencing


Damaged Stone Hotel


Finally, The Farmhouse was listed as Pre-Order but was obviously already shipping. They even put in clothespins and rubber pins for clamps! This is inside the box:



As I put these together, I will post pictures and review each of them. So far material looks good and I'm excited to piece them together!

So the pictures of assembly and final product of all the 4Ground stuff has been completed and it's in my gallery if anyone wants to look. It's a lot so haven't gotten around to a review.

In the mean time I've started my Americans. Below is the US Airborne platoon from the Open Fire box:





Finally, the staff and command team for the Platoon of M7 Priests that are assembled but not yet painted.

An update. I finished these a little bit ago but hadn't the opportunity to post them. Photos are a tad dark, but here we are:

My Tank Destroyer Platoon ...



It currently has 2 M10 3" GMC ...



And the security section, a .50 cal Jeep and 2 M20 Utility Cars ...



My Armored Artillery Battery, currently just 1 section of M7s, but I want another section..



Close up of the M7 with it's crew ...



The "Ninja" M4 Sherman OP ...



And the AOP, a huge pain if you don't have any AA to deal with it ...




And finally plenty of Sherman-y goodness! First some M4 Shermans from the Open Fire box set, kept the 75mm on these:



Switched out the 75mm for a 76mm on 3 of the Open Fire Shermans ...



Here are 6 M4s ...



And finally, my group of M4A3E8s, love these things. Stabilizers plus Smooth Ride for the win! Expensive though ...




Next up, German pioneers with their SdKfz 251/7 (Pioneer) halftracks and Goliath vehicles, some MG42 teams, and an 8cm mortar platoon ....