15mm Flames of War DAK Status Markers #4 & Platoon Command – Battlefront Miniatures

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Status Markers, Platoon Command - Battlefront Miniatures

Thanks to the motivation (and limited choice) provided by “The Tray” (don’t worry, I’ll shut up about it eventually) I managed to get enough focus to sit down for an evening and complete these long-neglected models from my Flames of War DAK force.

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Status Markers - Battlefront Miniatures

The first set of models on show are my final four status markers – these ones are to represent the troops being “dug in”. I didn’t have tiny little sandbags, and ultimately felt that a pile of sand in front of them would represent it well enough without going all 15mm diorama on a 25mm base. Rather nicely, that concludes that little side project.

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Platoon Command - Battlefront Miniatures

The other four bases represent the Command and Light Support stands for my second and third platoons of Panzergrenadiers. They’re not that exciting without their platoons, of course – and those are in a right state still. But I figure I’ll add a few of them to the next Tray and use that to work my way through them. Because painting these little bastards might not be that hard, but since I made the boneheaded decision years ago to paint them in “more realistic” rag-tag campaign clothing, with different shades of jackets and pants to represent resupply, scavenged Commonwealth equipment and so forth. I mean, I decided on this after reading some accounts of and from the time, but I guess it goes to show that inspiration isn’t always the best thing for productivity…

Conan Kickstarter’s “Vanir Valkyrie” (aka Not-Red Sonja)

Conan Kickstarter. Vanir Valkyrie, Red Sonja

Today I have another model from the Conan Kickstarter. Well, the first one, not the current one that’s in the midst of a Pledge Manager clusterfuck. This model is of a character called “Valkyrie”, which implies the Arnie film version of Valeria, except, well the art seems to imply otherwise.

Because, you know, Valkyrie.

Kickstarter Text: A feisty warrior who is in NO WAY RELATED TO ANY CHARACTER YOU MAY KNOW is a character that can be used as both a Hero and an overlord minion!

However, Paolo Parente’s box artwork, seems to indicate someone else. Someone a bit more specific. I’d make a dumb joke about how I’m not sure who, but I already kinda gave it away with the heading. Not that you’d much help to guess who based on the art.

Conan Kickstarter. Vanir Valkyrie, Red Sonja

Like oh-so-many of my models, she was started a decent little while ago. Realistically, it would have been right after I finished the last roughly-human-sized Conan model, since I have a habit of starting a new model that relates to a thing right after finishing one. Which just means I end up with tons of half-painted models, hence my whole Neglected Model drive for the moment. I didn’t realise what was wrong with her leg until I was attempting to complete her a few days ago, when I figured out that she was missing a scabbard for a dagger on her thigh. So, basically, I got a dodgy model and didn’t notice until now. Not much I could do about that, so I went looking in my old bits boxes and found a 1/35 modern military sheathed combat knife and glued it on there, and then painted it up appropriately.

Conan Kickstarter. Vanir Valkyrie, Red Sonja

This model was pretty disappointing in terms of details – it’s basically only a half-steb above the original Bones models in terms of soft, chewing-gum detail. I mean, it’s fine as a boardgame piece, but it’s not what I’d consider a high quality miniature. Look at that awful fur and how soft the cloak is – not to mention her soft-looking NERF cosplay sword! Yeah, this wasn’t a model I wanted to spend extra time getting realistic looking fur. I just wanted to get her done and outta here. I also went with Contrast for the backs of her loincloths. Got them done, and good enough for this model.

Conan Kickstarter. Vanir Valkyrie, Red Sonja

Speaking of cosplay, I went against the box art for her front loincloth and combat bikini top, going with gold instead of fur. If you’re doing the chanmail bikini thing, you may as well go all the way, right? Anyway, she’s done and if I ever get around to playing Conan, she’ll see some tabletop time. Or if we ever need a fantasy chainmail bikini chick for anything else, I guess…