Project 2016, 2. Gebirgsjäger Division, Gebirgsjägerkompanie

Hi there!

Some of you might already have spied on my FB page and/or Instagram feed and noticed the Project 2016 and seen what it's all about. Well today I'm going to talk about it here took.

The Project 2016 is about building a themed army, my first actually, and fullfilling my all time love for one force: Gebirgsjägers. The brave men that trained to fight in the mountains.

Lets talk about what got me into building a themed army. First of as Battlefront changed their points limit for Late War tournament scene, I went to think about all the different forces I had used before, Panzergrenadiers, Schwere Panzers, Panzers and so on. The one force I haven't properly tried was foot-slogging infantry without trucks or half-tracks.

The history of Gebirgsjägers is also full of details, fought in Finland (yes, there were actually several Gebirgsjäger Divisions fighting in the Finnish Lapland) and Caucasus mountains, and all Gebirgsjägers can draw their heritage to Austria, a place close to my heart.

So there are many reasons for me why I should build this army.

But why a Late War army and not Mid War as the ETC is Mid War themed this year? Well mostly because the local meta is Late War and because in Late War you get to field all sorts of great tools, and I like the thought that I can upgrade this force very quickly to 1750 or more with, lets say, Jagdpanthers. Also there is an OOB directly available for one unit that fought in Finland, 2. Gebirgsjäger Division, found in Gebirgsjägers in the West PDF.

About the force that I'm working. I tried to make it as balanced as I could, taking template weapons, a mobile unit, anti-infantry power and a lot of anti-tank power with all the panzerfausts and panzerschrecks. It's not propably going to win many tournaments but it will win games and it will give some headache to any opponent who faces it. I'm not going to go into details here of why I picked a certain platoon as everyone of you whole play Flames of War can propably already see the use for every platoon.

What has been done so far? I have bulk of the army already at home, some of it painted, some of it not. Few platoons are yet to come but all of them have been ordered and I'm confident that Battlefront can deliver the rest of thd force soon. And as the title says this is a project for 2016 so I still have many months to complite this.

For the end I'll let you all see the platoons that have been painted and that have just been assembled. Thank you for reading and as always comments are welcom

Building 15mm scale HMG nests

Hi all!

I've been asked how I did my HMG nests and objectives for Flames of War. What do I use to do them and where do I pull my ideas. The ideas come from everyday life and from experience, everyday life, from the works of others and from reference pictures.

Tools

- tooth picks/coctail sticks (a lot of them)
- PVA glue
- clippers

- pincers (optional, only if you don't want to glue your fingers)
- hobby knife (a sharp one, WATCH THOSE FINGERS!)

- little scissors (for cutting the gauge)
- medium/large bases (depends on what you want to build)
- pumice (you can chose the color and thickness by yourself, I'm using Brown Earth)
- tools to spread the pumice (the smaller the better, you can fit into small gaps)

- diyed gauge (feel free to use any color or method you like for diying, I used tea)
- The Plan

First, before anything, you have to have a clear plan, a visual (drawing, reference picture, plan in your head), what you're about to do. In my case, and example here, I had a visual of an L-shaped MG nest that we used to dig in the army, although we did it open topped.

The Plan

For starters I planned the general shape of the nest and the placement of camo nets, at this point all other, more decorative, groundwork was skipped. For this I used Adobe Photoshop CS 6 but this could have been made just as easily with Paint. The only thing that was measured into correct size was the base as it greatly helps to adjust everything else into correct size. For the HMG nests I use medium bases. which are 2”/50mm wide by 1¼”/32mm deep. If I'd do an objective I'd use large base which is 2”/50mm wide by 2½”/65mm deep.

First part - The Build - Front view

Following the plan closely I started cutting all the needed pieces for the first layer. I did it this way so I could first match up one layer and then cut the rest of the pieces using the firsts as guides.

Once all the pieces were cut I used PVA glue to make up the first layer and let it settle for a while. It's easier to work after the base is stabile. I prefer PVA over super glue because it hardens slowly and you have time to adjust the "logs" into right place. I suggest using pincers to help with the placement (I didn't use and got my fingers glued - luckily only with PVA which you can get off easily).

First part - The Build - Back view

I first built the basic structure without the roof as I added some support beams inside. Then made the roof to stabily the whole built. The entryway and the firing slit outer walls were built last.

First part - The Build - Top view

Second part - The Ground - Front view

After the PVA had dried I glued some tree trunks (the fallen tree trunk was added after the pumice) and then dug out my Brown Earth pumice and started to spread it with a small tool. I tried to leave the roof and one layer of logs visible. I forgot first to put pumice to the roof but put it there later on.

Second part - The Ground - Back view

Now it was time to add the rocks to bring some more life to the bases. I did this before the pumice dried so didn't have to use any glue on them.

Sorry for missing all the pictures of part three which was painting the whole thing up.

Ground:
First a wash with Nuln Oil, followed by multiple drybrush layers of VMC Beige Brown (until you are hapy with it). Then highlighted with Citadel Kommando Khaki (again until you're hapy with it).

Nest:
Basecoated with VMC Chocolate Brown and then washed with Nuln Oil to deepen the reccess. I then used the Beige Brown to highlight the the woodworks and did secondary highlight with a mix of Beige Brown and White (can't remember my mix but you do it with what looks good for you). And naturally you can try with different colors to create different type of trees. Or you can leave the tree trunks as is. I actually tried to mimic birch with the fallen tree, basecoated it with Black, then made random patterns with Pale Grey Blue and highlighted with White.

MGs were painted with Light Grey, washed with Nuln Oil and highlighted with Light Grey.

Fourth part - Camoflage - Back view

Once all the painting was done it was time to add rest of the nature. I tried to randomize the placement for the bushes (suggesting PVA for this) and grass (use watered down PVA for this). Lastly it was time to add camo nets. First cutted the gauge into rectangular shapes and positioned them somewhat where I think it would help to hide the nest. I then applied watered down PVA with a brush and bend the gauge into shape.

Fourth part - Camoflage - Front view

And here you go, the end result of our build. Notice how the gauge has darkened while the PVA has dried.

Finished result - Back view

Finished result - Birds eye

Finished result - Front view

And here is a little flashback of my older I-shaped HMG nests. These are also build on medium base but as they are only I-shaped they have more room inside so I could fit a gunner with MG inside instead of just an MG like in L-shaped nest.

I-shaped, finished, HMG nests

I hope you find this usefull but if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments :)

Long time no post - Please have some HMG!

Hi and sorry for not posting anything up for a long time. I've been quite busy at my work and personal life and thus it has all limited my time to finish anything.

But something has been finished, it's nothing big but I'm quite fond of them although two of them will be shipping out but I hope to still see them on the battlefield and AARs by a friend abroad. So what have I finished, well three HMG nests.

These are built in L-shape with exit routes. The idea came to me thanks to the friend who asked me to do some nests and from my time in Finnish Defence Forces and when we dug up this kind of possitions into the woods. Otherwise these are built just like the earlier HMG nests.

Thank you and enjoy!

Last line of defence, objective

While I'm waiting for the Jagdtiger to arrive to LGS for the Nibelungen Works objective, I've started planning for the next build. I think this could be located to either front or inside Berlin itself, a last defence line. It will be an Anti-Tank bunker armed with 3,7cm PaK36 (definately outdated by the end of the war) which will be defended by two German soldiers armed to the teeth with panzerfausts, panzerschreck and an MG42.

This would be either an active bunker made out of concrete (would be build like the wall on the Nibelungen Works) or a destroyed one, I haven't desided yet.

So far there is only a sketch drawing with no thought given to troop or equipment placement. I will get to that once I'm closer to finishing the Nibelungen Works objective.

If you'd like to help with planning and have your "touch" seen in this build, drop me a comment with your suggestion.

Thank you for reading!

Jagdtiger factory - Nibelungen Works, objective

Hello there!

Thanks to some other very good painters and bloggers I've opted to build and paint a red tone Jagdtiger. Difference in my work is, I'm going to use it not only in gaming but also as an objective. I thought that I should do something different on this build compared to what others have do (or what I've seen) so why not build some surroundings. And what would be more iconic than the building site of these behemoths, the Nibelungen Works.

Due to heavy weight of JT I need to do some more work for the building and planning stages as I'll need to add some magnets to hold the massive weight of the JT in place. For this I'll be using 3 or 4 5mm*1mm round rare earth magnets with one side drilled into the tracks and the other smoothed to pavement level with pumice.

The scene will be set as a JT parked next to a concrete wall while a guard watches over so no one will try to steal or sabotage this great beast.

The concrete wall is made with inner core from coctail sticks and a light layer of pumice to create the concrete itself, the coctail sticks create a nice shape, just like the one when builders use a mold build from planks to cast the concrete.

As my pumice is light brownish I first painted it black and then light grey. It was then washed to bring out the details and drybrushed with different shades of light grey. I also reasoned that my wall would need a barbed wire on top of it so I took some wire and rolled it around a paintbrush. I then painted it grey with a bit different shade than the wall itself and clued it in place.

 Thanks for reading and be sure to check out for further updates on the project.

German objectives

Hi all :)

I finally managed to finish my two objectives I have been building for almost two months now. As the summer begun so did my "daytime" job (nightshifts) which perfectly cut my painting time to zero. But I did took some time where I could and little by little finished this build.

I'm quite pleased for the end results though I think the "bunker" came out too high. What I really like is the look of the forward outpost. As an after thought I could have added some more equipments like panzerfausts and boxes but I can add those later if I want (no varnish applied).

I am already planning new objectives to be built, or pillboxes on a large base. Will post some sketch images once I get my pen and paper out.

Thanks for reading.

Painting German LW infantry, Halkomahooli-style

Hi there!

After I posted some finished pictures of my LW German infantry for the two unfinished objectives I'm currently building, I've been asked on how I did that part or this. So I thought I should propably collect it all under one headline. Here I give you, fellow gamers and painters, a painting guide on how I painted my German troops, Halkomahooli-style.

Helmets are a mix of unknown portions of VMC Light Grey, VMC Black and VMC Cam. Olive Green. Likely the mix is as follows: 6:1:3. It can also be a bit lighter in which case add more Light Grey.

After applying a few coats of this mix, washed with Nuln Oil. First highlight added with the original color and top highlight with pure Light Grey.

Uniforms are a result of Basecolor VMC Black followed by VMC Luftwaffe Cam. Green. Next added VMC Cam. Olive Green and VMC Russian Unif. WWII.

Final highlight was a light mix of Cam. Olive Green and VMC Pale Grey Blue. It's quite light color that I use, the mix is something like 5:2 which is enough to get it very light.

After this I washed the uniform with watered down Cam. Olive Green (CAUTION! Use very little amount of this green wash and wipe 95% or more of it off or you'll lose the initial highlights!) and after that with Nuln Oil. Then I re-highlighted the uniform with the mix I had created before, first with a bit darker tone (add 1 or 2 drops of Cam. Olive Green) and then with original mix.

MGs, and other metallish parts were made NMM (non-metallic metal) with Light Grey as a base, washed with Nuln Oil and highlighted with Light Grey.

Bags, straps and pouches were made the same way as the MGs stocks. A coat of Chocolate Brown followed by a coat of Beige Brown. After this washed lightly with Nuln Oil and highlighted with Beige Brown.

Gasmask canister and the tent mattres were first painted with a mix of VMC Middlestone and Beige Brown, the mix was about 3:2. I then washed with them lightly with Nuln Oil. Highlights were made with the basecoat mix and extreme highlights with pure Middlestone.

Faces were painted Dwarf Flesh (GW), and highlighted with it after a Nuln Oil wash.

The boots were left Black.

So here you you have a nicely finished LW German troops. It took me 6 hours to just do these 4 guys so it might not be a way to quickly get your minis painted. Though I'm not the fastest painter around :)

See you around!

Modelling Carius and Jagdtiger

Hi all!

Before we had Winter War tournament in the break of January-February, I got some time on taking a look on different lists for 2./512.sPzJgAbt. I pondered on having a company full of infantry and heavy tank killers. During the tournament my wanting for this kind of heavy hitting list grew but only with 3 Jagdtigers it wasn't going to pull through.

So I got to get myself a fourth Jagdtiger.

In the tournament I used my only JT with a commander pocking out to represent Carius but that left me with a problem, how to tell a part my 2iC and the lonely JT platoon which neither had a commander visible (I could tell which one was which by looking at the gun barrel colors). So with the fourth I set to work to make myself an individual Carius model. I bought a normal Battlefront JT model from a sale and a platoon of tank escorts to have something special to add to this model.

It was then time to go to work and follow my plan (which you can find here).

First up was the conversion work. I added AA MG and some blankets, bags and a helmet for personalization. I also removed some details for a more individual look and checked places for the tank escorts. Then it was time for the paintjob.

I used Vallejo Black as an undercoat for the whole model. This helps me to create shadowlines to the model. Next I mixed Beige Brown and White to get a light brown basecolor. I then used masking tape to create camouflage pattern I was happy with.

Camouflage was done with Pale Blue Grey painted in two or three light layers. After removing the masking tapes I corrected any errors free hand. As you can see I did add some more patterns to the left side of the hull just before highlights as i deemed the left side was too bare. I did this free hand.

I then moved on to apply highlights to the PBG areas that were higher than the main body of the hull (ventilation, hooks etc.). I used PBG mixed with White to get a lighter color and picked up details. I then used pure White as an extreme highlight.

Highlights for the rest of the tank were achieved using my mix of Beige Brown and White with more White added. This time I only picked up most highest of surfaces. The extreme highlights were done by adding even more White to the previous mix.

The bag, camonet, tools and plankets first got a coat of Chocolat Brown followed by a coat of Beige Brown. Gun, MG, spare tracks, jack and tracks were painted grey with a mix of Black and White (I was out of my usual color of grey). For the camonet I did blops with Beige Brown. Exhausts were painted with Hull Red, washed with Nuln Oil and the highlighted again with Hull Red. Measurement poles on the right side of the hull were first painted with Hull Red and the stripes were done with White.

I used various greens on camonet and Beige Brown in several layers with Nuln Oil in between. I washed every detail with Nuln Oil. Once this was done I started to highlight all the areas with appropriate colors. For the green plankets highlights I used Beide Brown mixed with Russian Uniform Green in about 1:2. Brown planket was done with Beige Brown as a mid tone tooned down with Nuln Oil and then highlighting again with Beige Brown. The tracks I left without highlights as it seemed best.

Carius was only highlighted with grey. Face and hands painted with Dwarf Flesh, washed with Nuln Oil and Highlighted again with Dwarf Flesh. Belt and headphones were done with Chocolat Brown highlighted with Beige Brown. Headphones wire was highlighted with Pale Blue Grey.

Now as the Jagdtiger was ready, it was time to start painting the tank escorts. I painted these part by part and I begun from the clothes. First I applied an even coat of Luftwaffe Cam. Green. Then I mixed in a very little amount of Pale Blue Grey and applied that leaving a tiny bit of previous color showing to the deeper parts. I repeated this twice more adding ever so little more PBG into the previous mix. Later, after some suggestions (thanks guys at Flames of War FB group), I washed the clothing with watered down Luftwaffe Cam. Green. Helmets were washed very carefully with watered down grey mix and then to more darker effect with Nuln Oil. I tried to left some green showing in the helmets to create an illusional effect, I'm not sure if this turned out ok.

Leather and wood parts were first painted with Chocolat Brown, highlighted with Beige Brown, tooned down with Nuln Oil and then highlighted again with Beige Brown. Finally I did a extreme highlight with Beige Brown mixed with a small amount of Pale Blue Grey. Metal parts and cantines were painted with grey, washed with Nuln Oil and then highlighted with grey. Extreme highlights were done with pure Pale Blue Grey. Boots were left black, highlighted with grey and tooned down with Nuln Oil.

Finishing touches

As the painting of the camonet turned out to be a total fiasko, I asked some help from Flames of War FB group. From there I got very good advices to use roll bandage as a camonet after I've coloured it. For a tutorial on how to do camouflage nets I highly suggest you take a look at this tutotial. Thanks to these advices my Carius in his Jagdtiger is now finished.

Basecoat

All masked and camouflage applied

This is how it looked after removing the tapes

Highlights added

Finished Jagdtiger and Carius

Clothes done and ready

Finished Begleit Tank Escorts

All done and ready, camos added and escorts are ready to protect and serve!

Well here you have it. I hope this has enlighten you on how I did this model. I liked to work with this model and with all the little conversions. Perhaps I have to do another conversion like this some day :)

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me with this project, eiher with advices or any other means. And I like to thank you dear readers for reading my blog!

Cheers!

My sons first own tank and some other news!

My 3 years old son has wanted to have my tanks as his toys so I bought him one (not to use as a toy though!). Just built it with him and now I will teach him how to paint it.

This serves in two ways:
1. I may one day have a gaming buddy without leaving home.
2. As I'm a trained to use AT weapons in military, I may start teaching him some tricks and to identify different tanks and types.

He's so going to grow to be a good panssarintorjuntamies!
*Proud father*

In the other news!

I today got my order of fourth Jagdtiger and a Begleit Assault Platoon. This one I'm going to build to be my Carius so I'm going to give it some extra touches that will give him off at the battlefield.

Planned modifications are quite straight from the "Bridge at Remagen" -book, an MG to the back deck for AA usage and partial removal of side skirts. I may do some other modifications too but I haven't desided anything yet.

Also I'm quite not sure how I can do a camouflage that I've chosen with normal brushes, I don't have airbrush at my disposal nor do I have an access to use one. The camouflage has been chosen deliberately to be very different from my other tanks.

Pre-planned camouflage for Carius

One idea for the Begleits, though I may not use as many as four.

Hope you like the ideas. All comments and helps regarding painting, and conversion ideas are more than welcomed!

EDIT: Current stage of Jagdtigers conversions. Some changes possible. All ideas are welcomed!