All 8 Gallic Warbands

I have finally finished all eight elements of Gallic warband! My psiloi is also in the bag, so now I just have three chariots and a general element to paint. Then on to the Marian Romans.

Hasegawa Pz.Kpfw VI Tiger I Ausf. E Late Model

I bought this tank a little while ago to go with my recently finished Esci US Paratroopers. I'm thinking about the possibility of - dare I say it - starting a new wargame. This is probably a terrible idea, since I already have a handful of unfinished wargame projects sitting around, but I like the idea of a skirmish-style WW2 wargame set in Normandy after the invasions.
I learned after I got the kit that the rough zimmerit coating (applied to late war German tanks to prevent magnetic grenades from sticking to the hull) was not modelled in the plastic of the tank; in other words, I had to apply it myself.
I looked up methods of doing this on modelling forums and such, and was inundated with a wealth of accumulated knowledge on the subject. Wow. It's amazing how much people have to say about zimmerit coating.  Anyway, one method rose above the rest, and it works very well.
Apply a thin coat of regular modelling glue (I use Testors) over the surface area to be treated. (The surfaces to be coated with zimmerit are the sides of the turret, the front of the turret, the sides of the hull, and the front and back). Wait for the glue to dry, about 30 minutes. Wait too little, and the glue will be too wet and sticky. Too long, and you won't be able to make an impression in it.
Once the glue has dried for about 30 minutes, take a small screwdriver and make horizontal marks in the surface of the paint, forming columns running vertically down the vehicle.As you can imagine, this takes a really long time.
Unfortunately for me, the Tamiya Dark Yellow paint I ordered for the dunkelgelb camouflage (literally 'dark yellow' in German) will not arrive for several weeks, so even after I finish the tedious task of applying the zimmerit, I won't be able to finish the model for a while.

You can see my attempts at zimmerit on the side of the tank

The size of the screw driver I use in comparison to the model

Esci WW2 US Paratroopers

I got these figures years ago, and finally got around to painting my first batch. I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out; I added a little water to thin down the varnish shadow wash, and I think it helped.
The Esci advertising for this set is very self-contradictory: the box proclaims them to be 82nd Airborne "Screaming Eagles." Any WW2 buff will tell you, the 101st, NOT the 82nd, had the nickname "Screaming Eagles." They are also pictured with the 82nd division's 'All American' double A badge on the sleeve.
Anyway, I painted these guys with the 82nd's insignia, despite the fact that one pose features the mohawk haircut that was a trademark of the 101st. Whatever.
As to the set itself, the figures are superbly modeled and, despite the mixup on the box, historically accurate. They wear the 1943-style uniform which, ironically, was worn in 1944 during the D-Day landings and afterward. The details are great and the poses anatomically correct. A great set all round. 

A Small Wargame

A few days ago I whipped up some simple, fast-play modern skirmish rules. I adapted parts of Chain Reaction 3.1 and Fireteam Tactical Combat (which you can find at Freewwargamesrules Wiki) and blended them up with some ideas from my own imagination to create World War III: Armageddon. Ostensibly, these will be the working rules for my WWIII wargame, though they work just as well for WWII or other modern conflicts. The system is easy to learn and requires only 1D6 for all tests.
Here are some pics from the first test game. I used 16 of my WWIII Russians against 8 Modern British and 8 US WW2 Paratroopers, since I didn't have enough Brits painted up. The game was fun, but it definitely needs some revisions. Once I have a system of playable rules, I might put them up on this blog.
It started off badly for me, with my opponent wiping off my entire raw unit in the first turn and then bagging my elite officer in the second. I managed to strike back late and take out some of his bolt-action rifles on my right flank, but it was too little, too late. 

Airfix Messerschmitt Bf110 C-4/B, Eastern Front, 1941

I don't post a lot of aircraft models, partly because I do very few, and partly because I'm not very good at them. This is my most recent and best aircraft model. While it is no-where near the quality of some other aircraft-painting aficionados whose work looks real enough to be dropping bombs over Russia, it is what it is.

Some More Zulu Wars Brits

Haven't painted any of my ACTA Zulu Wars minis in a while, so I thought I'd change that.
I like this batch better than the last; it's always good to see clear marks of progress in your technique.
I really like these figures; crisp and clean details and lively poses. My one complaint, which I may have mentioned before, is the flash. I did my best to trim these figures before painting, but sometimes those annoying little bits of flash don't show up until the minis are painted.

And here's the lot of 'em

Next Batch of Modern British Infantry

I like the camo on these ones a little better than on the previous batch. I think it matches the early 2000s
pattern of DPM better.

These figures are a little disappointing to paint,  because their PLCE (Personal Load Carrying Equipment) webbing is made of the same camouflage material as the rest of the uniform, thus making it hard to distinguish. So, in effect, these figures end up looking a bit like camouflaged blobs.
Also, Caesar did a pretty poor job on the L85A2 rifles. If you ask me, these are some pretty boss

assault rifles, designed in the unusual bullpup layout, with the magazine and action behind the trigger group. This allows the rifle to be shorter without sacrificing accuracy.
However, Caesar turned this rifle into another indeterminate mass of gray plastic with almost no detailing. The SUSAT scope becomes a cylindrical blob, the barrel a pathetically droopy little pipe.

This pose is visually interesting, but is a lot less useful for wargaming purposes. Where did this guy find a wall to suddenly jump over? And the wall looks pretty narrow to me - I mean, couldn't he just walk around it? Sometimes tiny plastic men just aren't that bright.

I hope this officer is telling his soldier to stop screwing around on that wall and start doing something useful. 

The full infantry section (8 soldiers), made up of two four-man fire teams.

New Gallic DBA Elements

So, after endless pictures of the same old 3Wb Gallic elements featuring the same poses in endless repetition... here's something new.

On the left a 3wb element with a one-of-a-kind pose at the fore, and on the right the lone psiloi element called for in the army list

Here's what I've completed so far for my Gallic army:
7x3Wb
1x2Ps

Now I just need to finish up the last warband, the general element, and the two chariots.

Caesar Modern British Army

So I got these guys a while ago, and just got around to painting my first batch of them.
They are meant to be a part of my still-under-development WWIII wargame, and need to be dated no later than 2008. Thus, they are wearing the temperate DPM camo as opposed to the newer MTP camo which was phased in starting in 2010.
I still don't quite know which rules system to use for my WWIII wargame, but I'm thinking about using a modified and revised version of Chain Reaction by Two Hour Wargames.