Happy New Year, friends! I painted a Churchill Second World War infantry tank for Tom Egan‘s Festive Tank Challenge over 21 – 31 December 2023. Did it come out perfectly?…No, but it looks good I think and it’s done, which is perfect in its own way!

I built it from the Warlord Games kit which went together fine, though the tracks are a bit fiddly. It also includes enough parts to make a 7 different variants, though not enough to make 2 different versions at the same time even though it would mean only adding 5 extra (small) parts to the sprue to enable this (basically an extra stowage box and an extra tube that sits on the side of the turret, and 2 extra aerials). Essentially, the hull is more or less the same but the turret /armament changes for the various different versions.

I primarily painted this as a Soviet (Lend/Lease) Mark III/IV Churchill which was actually used by the Russians in Stalingrad and at Kursk, so I might actually be able to use it in a game. I didn’t have a Russian tank commander figure but I may add one later.

Given there were (almost) enough parts for a second variant I thought I would also build a British version and so I built it as an NA75 version just because I thought it looked the coolest. Given these were only used in Italy I added markings to the back of the tank for the 21st Tank Brigade–hopefully these are unobtrusive enough not to be noticed when used as a Russian tank.

I also chose to make a British tank because I wanted an excuse to use the tank commander figure sculpted by Paul Hicks for charity in the likeness of James Holland. (There is also a figure of Al Murray as a paratrooper which I will paint when I get around to doing my Market Garden project, some very well painted examples are HERE).

It is a great figure, though he is sculpted wearing a cricket vest (I think – I only worked this out by looking at other painted photos of the figure) which to me doesn’t visually work as it breaks up the figure in an unnatural way. Hence, I decided to cut his legs off and stick him in a tank turret which looks a lot better, I think. You can’t see in these photos but I also painted his trousers khaki instead of green which worked better visually than having a cream band across the middle of an otherwise green/brown uniformed figure.

I painted the vest in the colours of James’ actual cricket club, the Chalke Valley Cricket Club, which features a burgundy and navy stripe, as per the photo below. (James appears front row, second from the left in said vest.)

The NA75 turret is missing a few bits, as mentioned above, so I added a star on the back in place of the stowage box, left off the tube on the side, and added aerials made from brush bristles in place of the aerials which came in the kit–these actually look a lot better than the stock aerials!

Overall, I’m happy with the tank, though I weathered it heavily to cover up my very average paint job.

The colours used were:

Tank Body: Sprayed with Tamiya Olive Drab from a rattlecan, an all over wash with Citadel Nuln Oil, then drybrushed with Mr Hobby Olive Drab adding Vallejo Iraqui Sand for successive layers.

James: Uniform jacket was painted Vallejo Russian Uniform adding Vallejo Iraqui sand to highlight up to pure Iraqui Sand. The jacket was blacklined and a wash of Citadel Flesh contrast paint was added. Hair: Bestial Brown, washed with Flesh contrast paint, then highlighted with Citadel Desert Yellow. Skin, all Citadel, Dark Flesh, then Dwarf Flesh leaving Dark Flesh only in the recesses, washed with flesh contrast, then reapply the Dwarf Flesh, then highlight sparingly with Elf Flesh.

The transfers are a mix of Warlord (for the British tank, from the Warlord kit) and Rubicon (for the Soviet markings, coming from the Rubicon T34/75 kit)

Plans for 2024

My plans for 2024 are:

1. Get my 5th ed Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elves into playable and mostly painted condition. This is for both Warhammer: The Old World and for Midgard rules. If time permits I would also like to get my Dark Elves into playable condition.
2. Paint some of my early-War Second World War collection (an intended project for 1941-42 Eastern front using the Chain of Command rules, as well as a tongue-in-cheek Operation: Sealion project, and if time permits start painting later water stuff for Arnhem/Market Garden).
3. Necromunda or Gorkamorka – hoping to perhaps get my son interested in one of these – Necromunda ash wastes might be good and the desert scenery usable for that and for Gorkamorka too, as well as many other projects.
4. Space Hulk and Epic 40K.
5. Finish some of the part-painted eldar left over from my old school eldar project along with painting various other random half finished figures in between other projects.
6. Make a start on my Cold War Gone Hot project. I would like to slowly start accumulating and painting a 6mm Cold War collection for Operation: Northag and/or Team Yankee. There is no particular rhyme nor reason for this but it is something I have become interested in, and I would like to do some 6mm collections. This will be a slow burn project.

You may notice many of these projects are carried over from 2023 where I really didn’t achieve much at all for various reasons. Still, onwards and upwards! I hope you all have a happy and prosperous 2024!