First part of long announced new project

 These are the first actual figures I completed for my long announced 1/35 scale skirmish project.

It took me quite a while to paint these guys and then I realized that the style I use for smaller scale gives a very cartoony result on a bigger scale.

But I don't think that's a bad thing, after all I want to use these models for gaming, not for display, so it does not really bother me.

I'll see if with future models I'll decide to go another direction or stick to this style.

To give a better idea of what I envision for this project here is a little bit of explanation.

My main WW2 scale will remain 1/72, to play bigger scale games, such as Blitzkrieg Commander or Rapid Fire Reload.

For smaller action games IlVJ and I both have small forces of 28mm figures (which will slowly be expanded) for games such Bolt Action.

The final piece of the puzzle, to play squad level games, is the 1/35 scale that I started with these figures.

My idea is to use "One hour skirmish wargames" and have games to represent actions more "behind the enemy lines", imagine a raid to steal supplies, or free some prisoners, etc

In my mind these games won't involve tanks or other big front line units, but transports, gun emplacements or even livestock or rear guard encampments for more narrative games.

Having figures in three different scales for the same historical period might seem redundant, but I'll try to have different style of games with the different sizes.

I'm also more of a painter than a gamer, so having the opportunity to try my hand at different things is always good.

Anyway, the models I'm posting today are some 1/35 scale very old Esci models, they are really big for the scale, looking almost like 1/32 scale, but they have a huge nostalgic element for me, me and my brother grew up with Esci and even if the quality is not up to more modern stuff, I'd still chose this kind of models and have fun with the process of building and painting them.

German assault engineer with barbed wire shears. This model might be a bit hard to use in games, but it is an interesting pose and might be good as decoration on the table. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Wounded soldier with attending comrade. For these two guys I decided to make a little vignette, I might use them as a mission objective or decoration for the rear areas of the battlefield. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Stormtrooper with assault rifle and cluster grenade. This guy is a very good example of the cartoony look I was talking about. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

Assault engineer with flame thrower. A very fearsome piece of kit, this guy will probably only see occasional use on the battlefield. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

 

Stormtroopers NCO. This is another example of "cartoonyness", his face, with those eyes, is quite ridiculous. 1/35, Esci, painted by Ginzio

The whole set, 1/35 figures are really more suited for dioramas or display than wargame, but it was fun to paint something outside my comfort zone and it will be great to find a way to use these models in games.

World War two 1/35 Italian Self-Propelled Gun Semovente M40

 This is a 1/35 scale Tamiya model that our friend James made many years ago and ended up giving to my brother a while back.

Last time I went to visit them in Japan, I ended up with it somehow and recently proceeded to try a restoration.

Some parts had come loose or broken, so I had to try and reassemble what I could and paint over its original single coat of sand colour to cover the imperfections that were visible.

The decals were covered in this process and I realized I didn't have anything in this scale to replace them, so I decided to go for a heavy weathering (it was also a good opportunity to try sponge chipping) and leave it without marking, save a single serial number in the front.

The idea is to use it as an objective marker or piece of terrain for Warzone. Warzone figures are quite big, so the tank is not too big and is quite appropriate with the aesthetic of that game.

Italian Self-Propelled Gun Semovente M40. 1/35 Tamiya, painted by Ginzio

New project (like I needed one...)/Nuovo progetto (come se me ne servisse uno...)

 This is the very slow beginning of a new project I came up with talking with IlVJ and our friend Andrea. 

As usual, we come up with projects while spread over three different continents, me in Canada, IlVJ in Japan and Andrea in Italy, but what can we do, gaming buddies are those you discuss stuff with and come up with ideas, wherever they happen to be. 

The idea started when we saw someone playing Bold Action with 1/35 scale models, we were talking about how crazy that idea is and how much time it would take to put together a force, as well as how big a table should be to make it work. But we thought it still would be cool and IlVJ also suggested how easy it is to find second hand Tamiya kits in Japan. The next thought was, what if we played using only small infantry squads? The idea would be of a 5-10 man force per side, a true skirmish, with no support weapons or vehicles.

We could play on a 4"x4" table with a lot of terrain and use the odd support weapon or vehicle as objective or terrain piece, just to give us the opportunity to flex some modelling muscles.

I started checking on line for some rules and I found a home made set of rules that in just a few pages gives you a simple system to fight it out with that specific scale of models.

While visiting IlVJ at New Year I did some moderate shopping, I got three sets of German figures to start working on something and my brother also happened to have a model that his friend James gave him to restore, an old Italian self propelled Bassotto with some tankers and a Bersagliere to go with it.

So, as a soft start, I quickly restored the tank commander and the Bersagliere, base them and gave them weapons (they were missing them), they are not prize winning models, but they will do for gaming purposes, in the future I will build the Germans I got and restore as best I can the vehicle, then we will see if we actually manage to get someone else involved and maybe get some game out of this.

Wish me luck.

Questo e' il timido inizio di un nuovo progetto che e' venuto in mente a me, IlVJ ed il nostro amico Andrea.

Come al solito e' un progetto partorito a tre menti su tre continenti, visto che io sono in Canada, mio fratello in Giappone e Andrea in Italia, ma si sa, i compari dei pupazzi sono quelli con cui si discute e ci si fanno venire le idee, anche se sono lontani.

L'idea e' partita vedendo delle foto di qualcuno che giocava a Bolt Action con modelli in scala 1/35 e pensando a quanto tempo, denaro e sforzo la cosa richiedesse, per non parlare delle dimensioni del tavolo da gioco. Ma pansando comunque che fosse una cosa interessaante e spinti dal VJ che ci ricordava quando comuni fossero i kit della Tamiya di seconda mano in Giappone, abbiamo ragionato sul fatto che sarebbe interessante travare un modo per giocare usando solo una piccola squadra di fanteria a testa, senza armi di supporto o veicoli, un vero e proprio skirmish su un tavolo di dimensioni ragionevoli (120x120), veicoli e cannoni, se uno volesse cimentarsi a livello modellistico, potrebbero fungere da elementi scenici o obiettivi per le partie.

Io mi sono messo a cercare in rete ed ho trovato un regolamento gratuito di poche pagine proprio per il genere di gioco che avevo in mente, quindi il progetto mi e' sembrato fattibile con sforzo, finanze e tempi non assurdi.

Mentre ero dal VJ in Giappone per capodanno, ho cominciato con del modesto shopping, procurandomi tre kit di truppe tedesche, tanto per cominciare ed e' anche venuto fuori che James, un amico del VJ, gli aveva dato un semovente italiano Bassotto in 1/35 con dei carristi ed un Bersagliere.

Quindi, come inizio morbido, ho restaurato il Bersagliere ed il capocarro che non avrei piu' utilizzato sul veicolo, siccome lo restaurero' con i portelli chiusi. I due modelli non erano muniti di armi, ma avevo un paio di opzioni avanzate dal kit della Dragon che ho postato qualche tempo fa, cosi' ho potuto renderli utilizzabili. Non sono nulla di che' come pittura, ma possono andre per il tavolo da gioco, poi piu' avanti mi mettero' sotto con i kit che ho preso in Giappone e vedremo se riusciro' a giocare qualche partita prima o poi.

Auguratemi buona fotruna.

The kits I got in Japan/I kit che ho preso in Giappone

Bersaglere with MAB 1938A submachine gun and tank commander with machine gun Breda mod.30/Bersagliere con mitra MAB 1938A e capocarro con mitragliatrice Mod. 30. 1/35, Italeri and Tamyia, painted by Ginzio

WWII figures/Figurini della seconda guerra mondiale

 This is a 1/35 figures set from Dragon that IlVJ bought because he wanted to paint the Italian Bersagliere, I ended up painting the Germans and we decided to put them all together on big base as the set was originally conceived.

I don't really like the title, so I stuck the little plate on the back of the base, as a reminder of what it is, but you don't really see it from the front.

It was fun to paint models in a different scale from what we ususally do and I got to try painting some pea dot camo, but I won't repeat the experience soon.

Questo e' un set della Dragon di figurini in 1/35 della seconda guerra mondiale che IlVJ compro' per dipingere il Bersagliere italiano. Io ho dipinto i tedeschi ed abbiamo deciso di mettere tutti assieme su una base grande per mantenere il set come concepito originariamente.

Il titolo del set non mi piace particolarmente, quindi ho messo la targhetta sul retro del piedistallo in modo che si possa sapere di cosa si tratta, senza pero' vederla dal davanti.

E' stato divertente dipingere modelli in una scala che di solito non utilizziamo ed ho anche avuto un'occsasione per dipingere una mimetica pea dot, ma non credo sara' una cosa che rifaro' tanto presto.

Geramn and Italian WWII soldiers/Soldati tedeschi e italiano della seconda guerra mondiale. 1/35, Dragon, painted by Ginzio and IlVJ