Fireteam Drava

 Hello guys,

It took me longer than planned to get this batch painted. I started working on them some three weeks ago, as I have put my hobby on a side rail for a while.

Fourth letter in a Slovene alphabet is actually Č (ch as in cheese), but I decided to skip it as it wouldn't be used in international codes I presume. Drava is a river, so there is not much to add here.

This is my fourth and last fireteam, and as Empress miniatures only sell three packed teams, this one was built from various packs.
 
From left to right there is a grenadier (command pack), SAW gunner (support pack, sniper), rifleman /AT gunner (support pack AT4) and another rifleman (EOD pack).

 The conversions are mostly the usual addition of canteens, slight alternation to helmets (elastic strap for grass) and, naturally, weapon swaps.

Sniper-to-SAW-gunner conversion also included broadening of the pouches to make them a bit more accurate. Below is a sniper miniature before it was converted, with my dead-end sniper project next to it. While using sniper as a SAW gunner allowed me to get another fire team (and with that another full squad), I won't have a suitable sniper miniature until I buy sniper/ATGM teams pack in future.

Below are miniatures at an early conversion stage (Weapons in place, but hands haven't been sculpted except at SAW gunner that was done way earlier). As you can see AT4 gained some bulk, but I feel it is a tad too short. He had his right arm completely cut off and repositioned at a different angle (with AT4 he held a tube, while RGW has handles). He also had his rifle pinned to his hip, but I didn't bother sculpting straps - they are a nightmare!

This is it for today. I have 4 more miniatures to convert and paint and I will be done with what I currently own for moderns. I plan on purchasing more packs in future, but probably not in the first half of the year. After those are done, I will tackle my unpainted pile (either medieval fantasy I started a while ago or even finally paint survivors I owned for years) as I do not plan on ordering anything new.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Fireteam Celje

Hello guys,

I don't know if it is all this New Year's magic or just a coincidence, but my mojo is returning (*cheering sounds*). I painted this fireteam in just a few days and while I can't put my finger on it, I think I have been sloppy.

Moving on with naming them after the Slovene phonetic alphabet, enter Fireteam Celje, named by a city that was a home of Slovenia's most famous aristocratic family known as the Counts of Celje. As a side fact, three starts from their coat of arms are featured in our flag. Keep in mind, after Carantania lost it's independence around 8th Century, Slovene aristocracy was slowly Germanised and it is hard to tell who was of what descent, because Germanised names were used in the high circles.

On to the modern times, this fireteam is different to the two previously shown as the rifleman with the optical sight is replaced by a rifleman carrying "ordinary" version of the gun in addition to a disposable anti-tank launcher.

Now obviously, depending on a mission a squad could carry more or less of the launchers and for the gaming purposes, I decided to include one "protioklepnik" (the anti armour "guy") because they look cool.

Other than usual weapon swaps and inclusion of canteens, they are an out of a box pack of Empress US infantry "on patrol".
I can only apologise for bad photos, and I really think they look better in person. I don't know why I am unable to paint a decent face lately and their vest came out way too dark. Other than that, they will look okay on the board next to the rest of the guys.

From left to right there is a team leader, carrying an FN F2000S on his hip, talking on the radio (he is not smoking). Then there is the SAW gunner, the grenadier and the AT specialist. I was working on that bloody tube for about a year (on and off) and I was still not really happy with it in the end, but now that it is painted it looks just fine.

I have one more fire team (the one that was built up with "leftovers" from other packs) in need of basing before I can start painting it and I am already working on the command pack as well. If I keep the momentum going, I should have them all painted by end of January!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Fireteam Bled

Hello guys,

I am day late, but I finished another Slovene fire team, Bled. It is, again, made up of rifleman, grenadier, saw gunner and a rifleman with optics, so it would not be in the same squad as the last one, if we're being picky.

Below is a pre-painting photo. Conversion work, as usual, is limited to weapon swaps, added canteens and remodeled hand where necessary.

It took me a bit to paint them and I'm quite happy with the camo, but I am disappointed in the skin. I am fairly certain I used to be better at painting faces.
This fire team is in a "firefight" poses, so two of them are firing their weapons, one seems to be out of place and is resting and the fourth is shouting (orders).

 To add to a variation, this time knee pads are painted black (green in previous team), 40mm grenade pouches are tan (green in previous team) and one guy is wearing desert boots.

 Below is a single shot of the optics rifleman. You can see how lazy I became and I didn't bother with properly positioning his rifle. I am a bit disappointed with myself for doing that, but I suppose we could say he is observing or just starting to aim.

 SAW gunner is nothing to write home about, except his weapon has a folded stock, again, for the sake of variety.

 Lastly, grenadier is "firing his GL". To be really fair, his rifle should be pointing upwards, but there is a limit to what I can do without completely resculpting arms. Also, his head should be tilted over the gun, as grenade launcher sights are on the "starboard" (I blame Clint's naval game for the term!) side of the gun, so the side you see on the photo below.
Grenade launcher on F2000 is accessibly by "simply" extending your finger further  (as opposed to most weapons, where you'd grab a handle or magazine to fire it), so the position of his finger is very subtle.

This is all I have for this week and I will hopefully play another game next week. I will not be painting any modern soldiers for a while now as I haven't yet converted the rest. Both fire teams need anti tank launchers made mostly from scrap. I might leave those for later and start converting command figures instead (radioman, medic and two riflemen that will take the role of squad leaders).

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Fireteam Ankaran

Hello guys,

I managed to paint my first actual SAF fireteam, Ankaran. The name comes from SAF phonetic alphabet. Ankaran, a coastal settlement and would be an equivalent of the famous "Alpha".

Infantry team in Slovenian army is pretty standardised. It consists of (from left to right):
a rifleman with F2000S (that would also carry a LAW that I never sculpted to a satisfactory degree)
a SAW gunner, armed with FN Minimi
a grenadier, armed with F2000S with an under slung GL
a section sharpshooter, armed with F2000S with optics (whereas other rifles are armed with red dot sight)

Only one fireteam in a section (that consists 2 teams and a section leader) would have a sharpshooter, but I might just put one in every team for the sake of using them.

I don't have a pre-painting photo unfortunately, but they had their weapons swapped, canteens added on two of them and camo strap fitted to their helmets. Two of them have helmet cams, which I'm not too fond of, but I didn't really feel like removing them, either.

I only one complaint about Empress figures at this point. A lot of my miniatures have leg halves not matching (the mould probably slipped). It's not too visible when painted, but it irritated the hell out of me when I was working on them. I did contact the guys at Empress and I was offered replacements, so that is not a rant over service. In the end, I just kept mine as I couldn't send back half massacred miniatures, could I now?

As you probably can NOT see on the photo below, the camo on them has larger blotches, but also a lot more of white. It's hard to photo standing and prone figures together, but I have to admit I'm quite satisfied with how they all look like, even if there is a lot I wish I'd do different.

Lastly, a random patrol photo below. I wish I didn't paint camo on the Humvee gunner's face, but to be perfectly honest, I wish I'd paint camo on everyone else's instead!

That is it for today, I have only one more team ready to be painted and then I'll have to start converting them again as I took a bit of a break from cutting all the metal. I am thinking about a game as well, so hopefully I'll have an AAR for your next, if I don't manage to paint the other team in time.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo