How to Winterwash- The Poochie technique

So, let me start by saying that it is entirely possible that my technique is not unique, nor my own. But, here it is at any rate!

I came up with this idea for painting Whitewash on Soviet tanks many years ago- in Flames of War terms it was when Za Stalina the book came out (which is a while...) when I painted up 15 T34 76mm tanks, then proceeded to sell them. Regretting that everytime I wanted Soviets since then, I still wanted to have another crack at the colour scheme.

So with the aid of a helpful M4 Sherman, here is the Poochie Whitewash technique!

Start by assembling and undercoating the tank.


I use just a cheap matt black spray can from the local hardware store, although I have started using German Armour Grey from the Battlefront range for a couple of things and have liked it, so might keep looking into that too.

Then apply Vallejo Russian Green over everything on the model (because almost all of it is green!)



Then put some Vallejo white onto a flat surface- I personally use the plastic packaging that minis come in for this, I think the example is from a Dystopian Wars large ship!



Then using a piece of foam from the packaging (recycle here team), get a small amount of white paint onto the foam, then dab it on to the miniature. Key points here are having a small amount of white paint (it is easier to add more than take away), and to make sure to dab rather than brush. This will leave a few gaps in the white to allow the green underneath to show through. Don't put whitewash onto the roadwheels of the tank, these were left green according to the photos I have seen.



Next step is to paint the tracks of the tank, which I use Dark Rust for (more Vallejo), pretty simple case of painting the tracks with the colour, can't say much more than that...



Next step is really the only other tip I have, and that is using German Camo Medium Brown (I love this colour), and dab it on just like the whitewash, but focusing on the wheels, tracks and underside of the tank. I tend to turn it upside down to do this, then with a little German Camo Brown on the foam square basically dab on the brown to simulate a bit of early winter mud spread up over the tank!



Then from there, it is a case of painting the stowage (I use Khaki and Flat Brown usually), as well as painting the tools and machineguns with Gunmetal Grey.

If you are like me, you will have accidentally put too much white onto areas such as the hatches on the turrets, totally obscuring the details. My solution is to use Games Workshop's Nuln Oil ink wash over the hatch, just to make the details reappear. After all, the hatches would have lost their whitewash probably first out of any part of the tank due to the most wear and contact.

So, you should be able to end up with something like this...





Clear as mud? I know it doesn't seem like much of a how to (or at least that's what it seems to be like for me writing it), really, it is a very simple way to paint quick, good looking winterised Soviet tanks.

If you have any questions on how I did it, or ways it could be better or anything else really about it, especially if you were to try it for yourself, put something in the comments about it, I would love to hear it!

Tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel...

CP

Day of Days 2012- Kiwi's Big Weekend Out

Well, over the weekend my 4th Armoured Kiwi's went for a wee outing down to Timaru, to try to take Italy. Coming along for the ride (or leading the charge) was the 22nd Motor Brigade, supported by the Royal Horse Artillery- In the form of 8 Priests!

My list was simple,
HQ- 2 Shermans, 1 with a 50 cal
Tank Platoon- 3 Shermans
Tank Platoon- 3 Shermans

Nick's had a little more finesse!
HQ with smoking mortars
2 Motor Platoons
Carriers with an ungodly number of MGs
8 Priests

Ok, so not much more finesse, but it had more than the 8 shermans did!

So how did the games go? Well, Nick and I managed to win the first game, and then we progressivly got worse and worse at rolling dice. Things like failing 8 out of 8 Sherman tank saves, frontally to Panzer III's (yep, that would be 8 1's and 2's) followed by him rolling ALL the firepowers (all 4+) made it pretty hard!

But, that being said, Nick and I gave ourselves the best possible chances to win each game, we just managed to NOT roll the dice we needed at critical points, and somehow we made it so that our opponents were able to do the opposite!

The most telling statistic? I played 4 games, with 8 sherman tanks each game. So out of 32 Sherman tanks used in the tournament, I had 28 destroyed. Not run away, actually destroyed. The remaining 4 actually survived the games!

Thanks firstly to our opponents Craig, Ian, Nigel, Dale, David, Tony, Stephen and Noel, I did enjoy our 4 games! Then a huge thanks to Craig for getting DoD sorted, I think we are on to a winning formula with what we have here, we are already tweaking things for next years DoD- Alamein baby!

Now, lots of photos of the weekend

All in all, a fun weekend. Next up? Tonight I will post about Achilles' first run around...

CP

New Zealand 4th Armoured Division

Well, here is my 1200 point force for Day of Days this year, the New Zealand Armoured!

Now, in keeping with the "Ironman Challenge"- I had to choose a force that was either mechanised or tank based. This all stemmed from Jamie pointing out the proliferation of "tough" infantry forces- and the players running them not taking any risks with the lists!

1200 points, in all it's glory!

So, for 1200 points, what do I get?

Company HQ- 2 Sherman M4A2, 1 AA 50 cal HMG
Tank Platoon- 3 M4A2 Sherman
Tank Platoon- 3 M4A2 Sherman

Company HQ- Tank numbers 15 and 16

First Platoon- Tank Numbers 3, 4 and 5

Second Platoon- Tanks 6,7 and 8

So that is 1200 points. To bring it up to the 1750 needed for Warclouds (if i go) I needed to add yet more stuff!

Sherman OP Tank (left) and an extra Company HQ Sherman- number 17

An M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle

'The story goes that the 4th armoured had only wheeled recovery vehicles on their Order of Battle, but the terrain in Italy demanded the need for something more capable! The 20th Armoured Regiment came upon a suspicious looking haystack in their advance in Italy, lo and behold an armoured recovery vehicle was inside, bogged down! So once the kiwis had pulled it out under sporadic mortar fire, they painted over the allied star and then it was theirs! Eventually the Americans wanted it back, but the 20th managed to keep it. Once the 20th had gotten theirs, the other armoured regiments got one through far more legitimate means!'

Three Stuart V Jalopies- Tank Numbers 4,5 and 6

The Stuart Light tank had been in service since the desert war, acting as a light tank, but by late war was relegated totally to a recon role. The 37mm turret was removed, to produce the Jalopy. This gave it better cross country performance (due to the reduced weight). Defense was kept with a 50 cal HMG, which the Kiwis put with a gun shield (borrowed in this case from a BF ACAV kit). 

Hope you like them! Need more stuff for Warclouds, need to paint more for Valleycon and then I did this last night....

This will be my infantry aces army! More on this over the weekend...

Having 3 flames of war armies on the go at once is a good idea right?

CP

Bunkers and Beaches (better known as Bedecon!)

This weekend I am off to Wellington, to compete in a new tournament, run by a good mate, Bede. This is going to be my last tournament of the year, much to the delight of my partner who I am sure has had enough of my being away playing toy soldiers!

The tournament itself is themed around the battle of Normandy, spanning the initial landings on D-Day, up until around the time the Falaise pocket closed. So, plenty of scope for some pretty cool armies, and some very cool tables. Bede has been a consitently fantastic terrain maker, and especially as a provider of pieces for a tournament, so from the "prettyness of the table" aspect, I am pretty excited.

As to my list? I am running US 2nd Armoured Division "Hell on Wheels". I am putting all of my eggs into this guys basket...

General William Tecumseh Sherman, famous general of the Union in the Civil War, especially famous for his "scorced earth" tactics against the Confederacy. So to carry on his legacy, I am bringing along a whole heap of his namesakes!

To break it down further...

Company HQ- 2 M4A1 Sherman Tanks, one with a bulldozer blade (because it looks cool)

Tank Platoon- 5 M4A1 (76mm) Sherman tanks. You can see the "Speed Numbers" on the side (this platoon is D-11 through D-15) representing company, tank platoon and tank numbers. I chose Dog company naturally (get it?). I also wrote them in white (some were white, some yellow) because I could only get my hands on a white pen!

Tank Platoon- 4 M4A1 (75mm) Sherman tanks.

Armoured Mortar Platoon- 2 M4 81mm Mortar Carriers with AA .50 cal MGs, and a command M3 halftrack. In front of them is their dismounts.

Recon Platoon- Full Strength, Bazooka Team and a 37mm gun on the M2 Halftrack

Armoured Rifle Platoon- Full Strength, all M3 Halftracks with 50 cal MG

Corps Field Artillery Battery- 4 105mm guns. These guys are sadly trained (the rest of the force is vet) but will hopefully make up for their rating by bringing in the Freedom Rounds on those dirty Nazis.

And last but not least, I have my two objectives. A wrecked M5 Stuart light tank, and my scratchbuilt Caterpillar D7 bulldozer. The bulldozer has been with this American army for a long time, I consider it a good luck charm now!


There is an extra side competition in the tournament, that is to claim scalps (head here if you dont get it), which can be done by destroying a German infantry or man packed gun team in assault! So, from now on these will be called "Patton Points", because heck, if i am assaulting Germans, I am probably following the orders of Patton! I will just have to make sure I achieve the mission, otherwise I will be in for a serious dressing down and loss of rank from the General!

So, tournament starts on Saturday, I will have an update about it on Monday. For those who read this blog for Dystopian Wars, there are new projects on the way. For those who started reading for Napoleonics stuff; sorry there has not been much lately! I will rectify that soon, promise.

Anyway, time to pack.
CP