Weekly WIP: Bolt Action Anti-Tank Gun
For the longest time I’ve wanted to be part of an escalation league. This is a miniature wargames league where over time the size of the army you need to bring slowly increases. Having spent too little time painting or too much time dabbling in various games having an organized game which uses a smaller army size sounds like the perfect fit for me.
Painting miniatures on a craft stick makes it easy to paint them quickly. WWII Canadian Anti-Tank Team by Bolt Action
Turns out I’m looking for a “small army league” as the escalation part is killing me. Now that I’ve joined a Bolt Action escalation league I’ve found that I’m struggling to keep up. We meet every two weeks and each meeting requires a larger force within a set range. I thought I was fielding the max size but I wasn’t which means I have to grow even more for next meeting.
It wouldn’t be as bad if Bolt Action was better stocked in my town. Ordering online really cuts into my painting time and I’m still trying to complete my Guild Ball project on schedule. Yes, I realize I’m also behind schedule on an update to that project too. The past week I was lucky in that a local player had a spare QF 6pdr lying around.
Compared to painting just the skin of a single miniature in an evening I was able to paint the skin, battledress and webbing of these miniatures in one evening. WWII Canadian Anti-Tank Team by Warlord Games.
Painting the anti-tank gun was a nice break from both Batman and Guild Ball. I was able to completely let go of my perfectionist tendencies and paint the figures quickly. My loyalty lies with men over machines so I don’t get much practice painting equipment like the anti-tank gun so it was also an interesting change.
I started by mounting the men on a craft stick using hot glue, then attaching that to my painting grips. This let me paint all of them at the same time without constantly picking up and putting down small miniatures on a cluttered workspace.
The finished crew were superglued to the base and then Liquitex Modelling Paste was applied to blend them in. The paste was worked with a stiff brush as it dried for texture and the wheels of the AT Gun pressed into the surface. WWII Canadian Anti-Tank Team by Warlord Games.
Since it has been so long since I painted my last WWII figures I had to break out my previous painting log to see what colours I had used. I write down almost every colour I use in a log so I can recreate colour schemes without too much hassle. At first I would carefully record mixing ratios and even paint swatches but now I don’t bother. WWII Canadians are fun since it’s hard to get a consensus on uniform colour and no-one makes a paint that works for their uniform out of the bottle. I’ve experimented with a number of mixes and have expanded the saying to “horseshoes, handgrenades and Canadian Battledress Green”.
As usual I flatted the miniature with the base colours and then applied a shadow, highlight and them tied the two together with a mid-colour. If I were to do it again I think I would flat the miniatures with the shadow colour to save a step but even so I finished all three in a couple of evenings.
After the base was painted and flock added the AT Gun was glued to the surface, then the whole thing was varnished together. WWII Canadian Anti-Tank Team by Warlord Games.
Once the crew was painted I glued them to the base and applied modeling paste to blend them into the ground. Once the putty had dried slightly I used a damp, stiff brush to stipple the surface and give it texture. Once I had painted and added flock I glued the AT-Gun in place and varnished the whole thing.
It was nice to get it finished in time for my game on Sunday. I managed with win, although a miscount at the end made us think we had initially tied. Now I have the grow my army even more and I’m not sure I want to go through this every week.
Compared to the Brewers the Masons have a simpler colour scheme. The challenge will be keeping the metal looking good without spending too much time on it. Guild Ball Mason’s Mallet and Honour by Steamforged Games.
I did manage to paint a little of my Guild Ball miniatures. I had the idea to paint two figures at once for Guild Ball going forward and with the time I spent painting the anti-tank gun it has gone from a chance to finish early to a chance to actually finish on time.
Mallet’s face really came together well and I’m hoping that will represent a good omen for the rest of the paint job. Guild Ball Mason’s Mallet and Honour by Steamforged Games.
“Quick” painted or no, you did a great job with the gun and crew.
Escalation leagues sound fun until you get above the “small army size” and then you really have to commit. Maybe throw in some tanks as a quick way to add points?
That’s a good idea. The biggest thing has been the size of the escalation, 100 points every two weeks. It recently got dropped to 50 points. Since we play to a range of points I should be able to give myself a big boost and then coast for a bit. If the local store stocked the product I need it would be easier but considering shipping it will be tight.
There may also be high value – low figure count units that could help (like tanks, but infantry).
i.e. officers, or medics, or forward observers etc.
Not that familiar with bolt-action, but most games seem to work that way. You just have to balance out the need for more points with the need to have a coherent end point!