ReaperCon 2018 Projects - Starting off

While I have begun to work on the various miniatures for the dioramas, I decided I needed to make some progress on my armor entry; an M4A1 76 from Trenchworx.

I started with a grey primer and worked my way up through various shades of olive drab from Ammo by Mig using the airbrush. Not sure how I feel about it right now but at least it has been started. I will move on to the decals next and then follow it up with weathering and other effects.

Assembled

Primed

Dark Olive Drab Base

Mid tone, not pleased with the consistency of the mid tone paint, its almost to thin even for an airbrush

Light Olive Drab applied

Final highlight Olive Drab. Its hard to see the variations in tones under these lights they are so bright they tend to wash out the changes in tones.

After this a little brush work on some of the higher details and then I'll apply the decals and start the weathering.

Review - Trench; A History of Trench Warfare on the Western Front by Stephen Bull

I’m not really sure what I was expecting with this book, but it came through in flying colors. A well detailed look at life in the trenches during WWI. It covers the men, the trenches, the weapons and the machines that were part of the “empty battlefield” of WWI. Definitely not a dry read, it is well written and brings to you a good overall sense of what was going on during the trench warfare period. How new weapons and tactics were developed to break the static warfare from 1915 – 1917 and interspersed with actual accounts of men that were. It is filled with pictures and diagrams and an excellent bibliography that will help you really dig deep into the subject if you so desire. It even covers how the trenches were constructed and how they developed and evolved over this period. How they were used and in the end how the war moved from the trenches and back to the mobile battlefield. You can see the early stages of tactics used in WWII being developed in the trenches of WWI. A great book, a must have for the library.

"Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-1918" - Paddy Griffith

I just finished reading my newly arrived copy of “Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-1918” by Osprey, part of their Fortress series. This one got into the detail I was really looking for as far as how and why trenches were constructed and what their role on the battlefield was during this period. Well written and with pictures, original diagrams and drawings this one will give me a good start on building trench terrain for my foray into the Great War period. If you are giving thought on building a trench system for any period from WWI up this is an excellent resource.