Iron Painter: The Forces Gather

Iron Painter 2011: The Forces Gather This year at FlamesCon we thought it would be great to add some special events for people to either participate in, or just check out in between rounds. We had been discussing the idea of doing a 24 hour painting challenge for a very long time and this seemed like a great chance to give it a go. There was a lot of discussion around the office regarding what we should paint and of course how many points. The initial idea of a 1500 point Late War force was seriously considered (especially since FlamesCon this year is a Late War event) but in the end we thought it would be much more fun to paint a Raiding (or Garrison) Force from Burning Empires. Given the release of Raiding Aces in a few weeks this would also give some of us a leg up in terms of having our forces painted. With that in mind we each picked a force and planned out our first 500 points.

Victor's Brandenburgers For my raiding force, I've chosen the German Brandenburgers. I think the enemy disguises rule should be a lot of fun and has offered an interesting modeling opportunity.   To represent the enemy disguises, I¹ve included a British infantry figure on each base; Kinda like the DAK are posing as POWs escorted by the British before the ruse is revealed.

For my basing I used a mix of fine and medium grit sand, along with small rocks. I did some colour tests so I don¹t have to muck around on the day & I've chosen the bottom right colours: Base coat Sicily Yellow (FWP362), Wash with Brown shade, Dry brush with Sicily Yellow (FWP362) and Crusader Sand (FWP363).

To represent my captured vehicles, I've used CMP trucks and added sand channels, German crew and a fair bit of stowage to give them that rag-tag raiding feel. For the captured jeep I¹ve used SAS jeeps. It's a lot to get painted in 24 hours, but hopefully my assembly line approach to painting large groups will save me time. ~ Victor.

Chris's Compagnia Mitraglieri With the other guys deciding to do Raiding Forces, I thought it might be fun to do something a little different and instead went with and Italian Garrison force. My choice had nothing to do with the fact I could have a Fort! (it really did - Ed). The Mitraglieri cover both Early and Mid War, although the organisation changes quite significantly. For our painting challenge we were all doing Mid War lists which meant I would have a minimum of two Misto platoons - I really like these are they are broadly similar to the AS42 Fucilieri platoons from North Africa, having a couple of Rifle teams, an HMG team, 47/32 AT gun and 20/65 AA gun.

Despite being quite small (and clearly still a ways to go before they will be ready for painting on Saturday) these platoons pack a pile of firepower and are more than capable of defending themselves from a variety of opponents. Supporting the infantry is a full battery of 75/27 guns. Although most of the enemy forces were unlikely to be stopping anywhere any letting me pound away at them, the guns would give the force an extra dimension. They would also look good sitting inside my Fort as we progressed with our Raiding Aces Campaign.

The Mitraglieri are great in that not only do they get a pile of infantry platoons, AT guns and artillery, but they also have a couple of Autosahariana Platoons in support. Their job was to patrol the area around the Forts and provide a heavily armed and highly mobile reserve. Ever since Mike showed me a picture of the AS37 trucks I knew I wanted to have some of these and this was definitely my opportunity. Not only would it give my force something that could go hunting the LRDG and SAS trucks, it also gave me something different to paint.

I've upgraded all of my trucks to have either 20/65 AA guns or 47/32 AT guns, as well as extra machine-guns. My theory is that against other Raiding Forces I can blaze away with my MGs when I am on the move (or if I am shooting up infantry) and against armoured cars or dug-in infantry I can switch to the heavier guns. I think out of all the people doing this, I am probably the least confident that I will get them all finished (especially since I still have quite a bit of prep work to do) however I am also the most motivated as it would not take much effort to expand the force into an AS42 Fucilieri Company from North Africa. ~ Chris.

James's SAS Squadron My 500-point Raiding Aces force is pretty simple: SAS Squadron HQ   85 points  with 2 extra AA MGs  10 points     SAS Platoon (6 Jeeps)  250 points  with 6 extra AA MGs  30 points     SAS Platoon (3 Jeeps)  125 points     Total  500 points

All you need to make this list is two boxes of SAS Jeep Troop (BBX24) and a SAS / LRDG Dismounted Patrols (BR758) blister. But for the Iron Painter 24-hours challenge, I’m going to aim to paint the full 6 Jeeps for the second platoon, taking the force to a total of 625 points, which will give me a head start on the later turns. My conversion compulsion has taken over for this force, and I’ve added a few converted figures from the Commonwealth Rifle Platoon (BR768) blister, for a bit of variety. I’m planning on taking the movement-related abilities for my Raiding Ace – Flat-Out, Pit Stop, etc – so I’ve converted my Company Command and 2-iC jeeps to look like they’re speeding recklessly across the desert, with the commander bouncing over a small rise and the 2-iC skidding sideways, Tokyo Drift-style.

I’m planning something a little different for the painting of my force, involving lighting effects. It’s something I’ve never really tried before, so between that and the sleep deprivation, it’s bound to be an interesting weekend.

Wayne's LRDG Patrol Some time ago a began painting an LRDG desert raiding force, I managed to get five and a half Chev trucks painted and five infantry teams, but I then got side-tracked on to other projects.

This weekend’s Iron Painter challenge gives me a chance to complete this project, or at least get started on it again. I’m going to attempt to paint seven more Chev trucks and two Ford V8 pilot cars. I still had the original multi-part LRDG trucks from many years ago and whilst the new one piece resins (from BBX06) I may do some more infantry, but that will depend on time.

Over the next couple of weeks we will have some images and photos from the guys, showing their sucesses (or failures).