"Uri, uinciri, uerberari, ferroque necari"

"To endure burning with fire, shackling with chains, to be whipped with rods and killed with steel". Not a fun time! Still, this was the Roman gladiator's oath of submission and it illustrated the life they led pretty well. Last year, I decided I wanted me some action in the arena, so I got a box each of the Italeri and Pegasus gladiators and a copy of the "Red Sands, Blue Sky: Heroes of the Arena" rules from Two Hour Wargames. This is a neat sense of rules that allows you to play at three levels: solo game (always a good idea), head-head campaign where you are the head of a troupe of gladiators or familia gladiatoria, or a campaign where your gladiator(s) try to make it to Rome and win the coveted rudis (wooden sword) and freedom.

The game is pretty complete, coming with pretty much all the rules you will need, paper miniatures and a paper arena. Paper is for pussies I tell you. We are here to get our hands dirty with styrene and polyethelene and paints. So I went ahead and painted one each of the six gladiator types outlined in the rules:

Hoplomachus (sans shield): Italeri

Murmillo (front): Italeri

Murmillo (back) 

Retarius (net added from gauze): Italeri

Secutor (without helmet): Pegasus

Thraex: Pegasus

Dimachaerus: Pegasus

It was a fun little project. I still have more gladiators to paint if I so desire (including women and midgets who are also included in the ruleset) and some animals. Now, to motivate myself to build a small arena and invite fellow blogger Thanos from Miniatures and Terrain for an evening of casual slaughter sine missione (without mercy) on the sands.

Screaming Meemie and Anti tank guns

I finally managed to get some stuff finished this week. I made a resolution to finish everything that has been primed and assembled so far until the New Year, but with the young Master being ill all the time, work (at last) picking up and the Mrs. having demands on my time (have you ever tried to use the IKEA kitchen design program? Don't) I find this highly doubtful. Still, I'll give it a try.

First of all, the SHQ Nebelwerfer, otherwise known as the Screaming Meemie. I don't understand why I see so many of these on gaming tables as they were usually Divisional or Corps level artillery assets, but I had to build one. Not as good as the old Esci model (whatever happened to those molds?) but serviceable. Comes with 4 figures; two reloading, one officer with binoculars and a guy carrying what seems to be a mess tin. Oh, well. Duly finished and based.

Next up, the new Italeri PaK-40s. These are new molds, not part of the old (and still highly serviceable) set. The box comes with 2 guns, 2 boxes of ammo and 6 crew for each gun. Unfortunately only 5 crewmembers are useable. I don't know if anyone has found out what to do with the peg-handed sitting guy, but I kept him as a potential driver. The figures are done in the usual excellent Italeri style and are good for late war.


There are some ejection pin marks, but the set is cheap (under 10 euros), the guns are put together very easily and you get an almost complete crew. You can't possibly lose. Now, if only someone would make a 50mm PaK-38 in plastic, I'd be very happy.

That's all for now from Athens, where the sun is yet again shinning.

Works in progress

With the young master being ill almost every week (yeah, we pay for daycare and he spends 2 workdays a week at home) I can't paint as much as I like. Sure, the compressor for my airbrush is quiet, but my workspace is right next to the little one's bedroom. So, I glue and fill and sand and hope that his immune system will help me finish some of this stuff soon.


I have some Italieri Shermans and Priests all ready for paint. Some small seams need sorting out but it won't take me more than half an hour with a cotton bud and some nail polish remover. The Italieri T-34 was another story entirely as the amount of filler can demonstrate. Stay away. Italieri has been hit and miss lately and this is (unfortunately) one of the misses. The other T-34 needs no introductions. Although part of the gun assembly is damaged (Revell or Matchbox must have done something wrong to the mold) it fits together like a dream and its a great kit. People might complain that it's 1/76, but I can live with that.


The contents of this box are familiar to all of us. The lovely Airfix Matilda (with small modifications to help it appear more suitable for the fields of France in '40), 5.5" gun and assorted tractors. I still haven't finished the 25lbr but I think I'll be done with it before the week is through.



Here are some more figs and guns. Italieri PaK-40s with crew (Italieri) and a SHQ Neberlwefer and crew. After I'm done with the ratmen, they will be next on the paint block. I have the trucks waiting to carry them ready for almost a year now. And finally the Irregular ratmen and some GW rat swarms. The Irregular figs "paint up well" as does a lot of Irregular's stuff. And they are cheap. So, no complains.

That's all that's cooking in Athens this windy and chilly evening. Apparently, fall, if not winter, is finally setting in.

Russian Tank Park

With the young master being ill almost constantly (the first year of kindergarten or day care or whatever you call it is hell on kids and parents alike), I've spent a good amount of time home working on my Russians. I had a bunch of different Russian tanks in various states of assembly (some still in the box in fact) and I decided to finally do something with them. Three weeks, five tanks.

First of all, the Pegasus BT-7s. Great little models and they've been assembled and ready for paint for the last year or so. If you are into early war Eastern Front they should be definitely in your "to buy" list. Easy to build, great detail, cheap. What's not to like?

Chronologically next is the Zvezda T-34. It's a 1943 model T-34 and one of the best snap together kits out there. Yes, no glue required, but I went ahead and glued it anyways. It's not particularly cheap (10 euros), but it looks great and there is absolutely no hassle involved. Italieri T-34 is about a euro cheaper but the amount of filling and sanding somehow detracts from the whole experience. The Armourfast T-34s are half the price but they look like crap. I think that next to the Matchbox T-34, this is the best one (with a 76mm gun that is; Pegasus and Revell have superlative T-34/85s)

Next up, the JS-2 (fast build) and ISU-152 (normal build) from Italieri. Don't. Seriously, don't. The normal build ISU was not so bad, other than the six-piece auxilliary tanks (6 pieces? 6? and they still look like crap?) and the the link-and-length tracks that don't really fit. The fast build kits look like they have a permanent erection. They're OK to bulk up your forces, but Pegasus stuff is just so much better and at almost the same price (about a euro's difference per tank). The only thing that I like about Italieri is their decal sheets.

Right now I'll go back to fantasy for a spell (I have some 15mm Irregular ratmen ready for paint) and then go back to WWII, probably to paint the hordes of Russian infantry I have based. Plus I'm running out of space. IKEA didn't have any more of those cool boxes I picked up last time and now my Russians are sharing space together with Cylons and Elves.

That's for now from Athens, where all hell is probably about to get loose.

Italeri fast build ISU-152

One of the good things about the financial crisis in Greece is that it forces you to go back to old projects and trim the stash down a bit. I had build a couple of Russian tanks a couple of months back but never got around to finishing them. The first was an ISU-152 quick build from Italeri. I prefer the Russian fast builds by Pegasus as the detail on the Italeri ones is a bit soft, but this came with a normal ISU kit, so I got it. It's an easy kit that gets build in about half an hour tops. Some filling was needed in the rear joint of the upper and lower hull pieces but that was pretty much it. My major problem was not the softish detail but the fact that the barrel of the main gun is stuck at the position seen below. It looks as if the ISU got a couple of extra blue pills (if you know what I mean) and its not really attractive. Still, its a free kit. Instead of painting in the normal Russian Armour Green, I went for a Green-Sand-Brown camouflage that would make it at least a bit more interesting. I used a black/burnt umber wash and dusted it with Dark Earth. All in all, it took a couple of evenings and it was done.

I have quite a few things waiting to be completed. Another Italeri fast build (an IS-2), a Zvezda T-34 (a real gem of a kit), and Russian support weapons. Hopefully all of this will be ready by the end of next week.

That's all for now from Athens, where once again nothing really works.

Giant Cat Spotted Fever

Happy Holidays all (or y'all as they would say south of the Mason-Dixon line). Work is over for a few days, I'm catching up on my sleep and more than catching up with my food. Blame my mother in law. Her cooking is excellent.

With work being hectic before the holidays I did not have much time to complete any of my ongoing projects. However, I did manage to finish painting and weathering one of Italeri's quick-build Panther Gs. Great kit, easy to build. My main problem was the lack of schurtzen, but that was easily rectified with plastic card.

I've opted to go with the late war "ambush" type camouflage. As usual, I washed with Devlan Mud, did some drybrushing with a medium grey, and some weathering with diluted British Dark Earth. I plan to make an almost full troop of 3 tanks. For games in the Western front, this will be very difficult for the Allied player, as Panthers tend to dominate due to their long range, good mobility and sloping armour. But for Eastern Front games, with those nasty T-34/85s in large numbers, a troop is not too bad. Two of the models will be the Italeri easy kits and one the more detailed Revell Panther G. It's a great little kit and very easy to build despite the large number of parts.
Here is the "to do pile" on my modeling desk. A couple of Pegasus T-34s, 2 Russian light tanks, some terrain, an Armourfast Hanomag and one more Panther G. I hope I'll get at least some of them done by the end of my vacation (although the Mrs. has other ideas as to what constitutes quality time).
Finally, this being Plane Month and all, I could not avoid posting a picture of an airplane, although this particular model was was completed a couple of months ago. This is an Airfix Hurricane Mk. II, a rather old mold (probably older than me) but a very satisfying build regardless. There are tons of Hurricane decal sheets out there and I have more than a few. This was done as an all-black Mk. IIb night intruder. If you have not build an Airfix Hurricane, go out there and buy one. With some TLC you'll have a great model for the shelf or the wargames table.

Now I'm off to get some some soda to help with the indigestion. Have a great night y'all from Athens.

Sturmpanzer IV

Sturmpanzer IV (otherwise known as the Brummbär by the Allies but not by the Germans) is one of the most misunderstood tanks in my part of the world. First of all, we've seen whole platoons of StuPas take the field. With only 300-some built, whole platoons at battalion or regimental-level games is kinda strange. Even a platoon might be stretching it in fact. The weirdness reaches new levels when the StuPas take the field and are used as heavy tanks. Yes, that's a mighty BFG they are packing (150mm L/12) but it fires low velocity rounds. They might ruin your day if they hit you, but you have to move real close to have any chance of getting a hit on a mobile target like, say, a tank. So far, I've never heard or seen of a StuPa being used for what it was originally intended; providing close support and reducing fortified buildings and strongpoints.


Still, its an impressive tank and a beautiful one, in a weird, boxy way. I'm pretty sure that Dragon or Trumpeter has issued a brand-new, highly accurate Brummbär but my favourite model has always been the old Esci kit, the first one with length-and-link tracks I've ever built. When Esci went the way of the Dodo, the molds went here and there, ended up with Italeri (or Italieri as it was then known). It's an easy enough kit to build. The tracks are not up to Revell's standards, but with some care and choice swear words everything fits.

The kit offers some interesting marking options and I tried to do the one from Caen from (Sturmpanzer Abteilung 217) but my airbrush skills are not up to it. So, I made the best of the situation and made a fictional, yet interesting camouflage. I followed up with a layer of Future (called Pronto in Greece), a wash of Devlan Mud, drybrushing with Dark Gull Grey to dull the colours and blend everything together and then some very diluted British Dark Earth to dirty things up even more. A final coat of matte varnish made my Stupa look like its been through intense and long combat. Considering the low number of vehicles manufactured, this is not an unlikely proposition. The tracks were painted black, drybrushed with Boltgun Metal, washed with diluted Rust and then drybrused with Boltgun Metal again, but more lightly this time. The figure was from a Preiser set.

So, that's my Sturmpanzer IV. I'll only build one of them, and this was a lot of fun. Brought a lot of memories back from my childhood years too. I hope you enjoy it as much.