FoW: Slovak Artillery - 15cm vz.25 battery

Well, here we are yet again, and this time, its a big one! We are going to follow the story of one of Slovakia's lesser known artillery pieces.... although one that could pack a hell of a punch when it was called on to do so... the 15cm vz.25 Hruba Houfnice - The 15cm model 1925 Heavy Howitzer... and then I'm going to show you how to go about scratch building and painting a battery of these beasts!

So let us step back in time to an era when Czechoslovakia was still 'kind of a big deal!'

Czechoslovakian heavy artillery was, in the first years of its existence, limited to small amounts of French guns, chiefly the 15cm vz.14/16 Heavy Howitzers. These were venerable weapons with proven value, matching all other nations heavy howitzers except in range. The insufficient range of these guns however is what led to the Czech high command deciding that a new weapon needed to be developed and to cease orders of further 15cm vz.14/16's.

In terms of positional warfare a range of 8 km had been considered more than adequate when balanced with the needs of material mobility. The experiences of the last months of the First World War and the subsequent fighting in Slovakia brought about the requirement for a substantial extension to the range for all categories of artillery.

Skoda did not sit by, quiescent in the wake of these realisations but instead her designers began in 1919 to start addressing the modernisation of the army's howitzers. Because they had already had lots of experience and success in the modification of their lightweight vz.14/19 and vz.16/19 howitzers they set out with a proven way of extending the barrel and reinforcing the mount, which promised superb results.

It is at this point in time that Skoda may have erred and started down a metaphoric cul-de-sac. There were already in existence before the start of World War 1, artillery pieces that used a drop breech configuration where the breech could be lowered below the level of the trail but at this time it was a somewhat untested format, and within this category of weapons was the added criticism that this calibre of weapon had developed beyond the ability of hippo traction to adequately pull it. At this point in time across all armies in Europe all medium artillery that was subordinated at a divisional level was drawn by horse power. This was not just an economic consideration but also the fact that at this point tractor technology wasn't reliable enough to move off road in terms of difficult terrain.

It was only on the eve of the First World War that the situation with regards to trucks and tractors began to change. Perhaps unsurprisingly up to this point Skoda had not considered motorising their new artillery, instead staying with their proven concepts of hippo-traction.

Their new gun was given a barrel extension from the 14/16 pattern by 4 calibres and 60mm. and achieved a range of 11,000m. The new carriage and trail had been properly reinforced and the balancers and cradle had been adjusted to suit as well. The 14/20 prototype was completed in 1922 and was offered to the military for purchase.

Thorough testing by the army however revealed a number of deficiencies in the new design. The military was particularly concerned with the excessive shot dispersion and it turned out that the adjustments made to the mount did not produce the expected results. The test committee therefore recommended the creation of a completely new carriage which actually gave the impetus to design a new artillery piece from the ground up. 

The existing barrel, which was being provided with a constant thread inside the barrel did not give the shot sufficient rotation. Skoda engineers therefore designed a more modern type of barrel with a progressive thread which improved the shot dispersion. The new carriage, referred to as Corporate Model-24 in the corporate documentation, was adapted to the experience gained in previous tests. It was reinforced, and the cradle was reconstructed, which, together with a massive shield, became the main distinguishing feature of the new design.

Since the crew could not be transported on the new howitzer, it was necessary to expand the seating on the limber so that more men could sit on them and provide some relief.  Thus, when compared to the 14/16 pattern gun there was no significant reduction in the mobility of the team. During 1924 gthe new gun was subjected to rigorous testing and because it passed with flying colours the artillery department recommended introducing it to the army. Skoda received authorisation to start serial production and was issued an order for the first 69 pieces, provisionally termed the Model 24. The army received its first howitzers in 1925 and was subsequently termed the 15cm hruba houfnice vz.25.

Given the negative legacy reputation that this weapon has been left with it is perhaps of some value to compare its performance and design with other European weapons of the day to draw a conclusion on whether this weapon was obsolete before even being introduced to the army. One of the most common artillery pieces across Europe, and especially that of the French army until the fall of France in 1940 was well equipped with 155mm mle.15 and mle.17. This cannon, which relied solely on hippo-traction, weighed almost 700kg more than the carriage of the vz.25 and the transport of the artillery piece across difficult terrain was right at the very limit of the abilities of a six horse train. The British 152mm howitzer model 1917 had a range of one less kilometre and had a carriage weight of 1200kg over that of the 15cm vz.25.

Construction work on the new patterns of field howitzers was at a prototype stage throughout Europe through the 1920's and the first modern types appeared in the early 1930's. Taking these facts into consideration it is easy to see that the Czech army did not in fact miss an opportunity to modernise its artillery but instead placed their faith in an artillery piece that had practically no competition at the time of its creation.

Skoda's concept of transporting the artillery piece in two units has been criticised for the slow set up speed of the artillery piece and the need for two transport teams, but this was balanced out by the mobility of the gun, which was comparable to the light artillery pieces of the day.

In 1925 the army took delivery of the first 49 howitzers that were delivered to the artillery department to begin training. Deliveries of the new artillery piece continued throughout the next couple of years, and a new order was issued to cover the planned mobilisation needs of the heavy artillery regiments.

In 1926 the army received another 37 howitzers, but in the following years production continued at a relatively slow pace, as Skoda wanted to maintain a production continuity through the lean years ahead, when the army was not ordering new weapons. On 30 March 1931 at the Army Shooting Range, Skoda held a small celebration on the occasion of the shooting of a full battery of 15cm vz.25's. In the following year the army received another 57 howitzers and production was discontinued in 1933 with the supply of a final 36 howitzers. Finally in 1935 one more battery and eight reserves were produced before the production line finally went silent. 

At this time in the Czechoslovakian Army was a total of 340 pieces of this type qualifying it as an important part of the inventory. During its development and integration process of this weapon Skoda also completed development of a number of different types of ammunition for use with them. Despite having a number of new ammunition types being developed for it however, the artillery was still able to use all of the older ammunition for the vz. 14/16 howitzers. Material increases in the artillery began with the increase in the trained number of operators to supplement and later replace the older vz. 14/16 guns. In the early 1930's these howitzers were ;lready forming the core of the Czechoslovakian heavy artillery complement.

All of the regiments equipped with these heavy artillery pieces, with two exceptions, were subordinated to army divisions. Twelve regiments, numbered 101 to 112 were each composed of two sections. The other heavy artillery regiments which were in service had three batteries of 15cm vz.25 howitzers with remainder in storage in replacement depots.

The howitzer enjoyed great popularity with its crews on account of their reliability, ruggedness and of course how much damage they could cause. After a series of exercises and shows the artillery piece drew unprecedented public opinion on account of their sheer presence and abilities.

The whole artillery team was divided neatly into two. The crew serving the gun itself comprised nine soldiers with one extra being made available where required from the auxiliary horse team. The gun team itself consisted of a gun layer, a timer, a shooter, an assistant, a charger, a shell loader, a charge loader, and three assistants. This team was supplemented by an auxiliary team comprising of seven horse drovers.

These men all served a single gun and there were four such teams in a single battery. The staff of a battery consisted of three officers and 150 NCO's and soldiers. The battery had four guns that were transported by eight six horse limbers, 17 ammunition  wagons and 21 reserve horses which also served as individual mounts. The marching length of a battery amounted to 251m.

By the second half of the 1930's with the gradual intesification of the political landscape the military role of the heavy artillery began to take on an ever more important aspect and the first considerations for the replacement of these, now venerable pieces began. Skoda at this time was working full tilt on their export markets for which they were supplying their ultra modern K series heavy howitzers, a small number of which were taken into service in the Czech army as the 15cm vz.37. This new weapon however, was primarily being used to replace the obsolete the vz.14/16 series howitzers and complement them until their removal. Only at the beginning of the 1940's was the gradual phasing out of the vz.25's due to begin. This gun therefore would have played a decisive role in any ensuing conflict with Nazi Germany that should have occurred in 1938.

In 1937 there was a fundamental reorganisation of the army. The heavy artillery regiments were removed from their traditional subordination to infantry divisions and instead assigned to newly created corps.In addition, the majority of them had the creation of a third section included within their TO&E's, but for the lack of materials, the numbers of guns in the batteries had to be reduced from four to three. 

After the Munich Crisis and the subsequent demobilisation of the army the heavy artillery had to adapt to the new circumstances. For the 15cm vz.25's this meant only a short and unhappy episode which ended in March 1939 with their mass handover to the occupying Wehrmacht. The Germans, without a single shot being fired, took possession of 227 complete howitzers, 26 replacements and 289,909 artillery shells for them.

The combat record of this weapon in the front line with the Wehrmacht is testament to the far from obsolete nature of this weapon. 219 of these guns were deployed by the Germans in september 1939, with numbers increasing in the French campaign of 1940 finally reaching peak deployment with the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. In fact by the end of the war the Germans still had 67 of these guns in front line service.

On the declaration of their independence from the Czech state Slovakia was able to appropriate 113 of these heavy howitzers. The lack of qualified available manpower was an immediate problem however and these howitzers could not really be counted as a part of any operational force, in fact only Artillery Regiment 12 based in Nizny Hrabovec could count any in their order of battle.

Officially in May 1939 the Slovakian army counted 72 pieces in its inventory although after the military reorganisation of August 1939 they claimed 115 in their inventory with a total munitions stockpile of 107,684 rounds.

Owing to the lack of manpower available to the Slovaks the amount of different artillery pieces in the lists was streamlined with the 15cm vz.25 being the only heavy howitzer that was kept within operational service.

In the summer of 1939 the first reorganisations of the Slovak artillery regiments was ordered with Artillery Regiments 1 and 2 having 12 batteries of 7.5cm, 10cm and 15cm guns within their composition. Artillery Regiments 3 and 4 had nine batteries each of the same calibres, with AR3 having three gun batteries and AR4 with four gun batteries. The only other artillery regiment that included the 15cm vz.25 in its TO&E's was AR52 which had a total of only six batteries. Batteries 4-6 were four gun batteries of 15cm vz.25.

Artillery Regiments 1 and 2 marched over the Polish border with the 1st 'Janosik' and 2nd 'Skultety' infantry divisions.

In November of 1939 AR4 and AR52 were disbanded and their equipment was distributed amongst the remaining artillery regiments. AR1-3 was now slated to be assigned, one each to the infantry divisions with AR51 being held in the army reserve. 

The only one that retained 15cm vz.25's within their TO&E's was AR51 which now comprised four battalions. Battalion 1 had four 4-gun batteries of 10.5cm vz.35 howitzers, Battalions 2 and 3 each had four 4-gun batteries each of 15cm vz.25 whilst the reserve battalion; Battalion 4 had four of each of the two types of howitzer.

The reorganisations of the Slovak artillery continued until completion in 1940 with the consolidation of all artillery assets into only four regiments:

Artillery Regiment 1 - Divisional asset. Based in Topolcianky

Artillery Regiment 2 - Divisional asset. Based in Ruzomeberok

Artillery Regiment 11 - Corps asset. Motorised. Based in Zilina

Artillery Regiment 12 - Corps asset. Horse drawn. Based in Kezmarok

After this final reorganisation only AR12 was left with any 15cm vz.25's and in 1940 had a mobilised strength of 49 howitzers. This type of howitzer was the only type of gun in the regiment. These numbers varied of course and in March 1943 AR12 only had 37 howitzers left. 

At the start of the Russian campaign AR12 followed behind the Mobile Group as it went over the Soviet border, in full strength and accompanied with the two battalions of AR11 that were not accompanying the Mobile Group.

At the end of August 1941 the Mobile Brigade (formerly Group) was upgraded to the Mobile Division whilst the other army assets were formed into the Security Division which received two battalions of the newly formed AR31 with 24 10cm vz.14/19 howitzers.

With the formation of the Security Division all of the remaining 15cm vz.25's left in the field returned to Slovakia and never again crossed the borders in such strength.

The Slovak army, after the severe losses of 1942 and early 1943, underwent a rearmament program called Eiche and the 15cm vz.25's were once again seen in the frontline orders of battle. Under this rearmament scheme Artillery Regiment 12's battalions were each assigned to support a different field formation. The final disposition of AR12 on 22 July 1944 was as follows:

1st Infantry Division had a battalion of AR12 with nine 15cm vz.25's in three 3-gun batteries.

2nd Infantry Division had a battalion of AR12 with nine 15cm vz.25's in three 3-gun batteries

Army Headquarters had a battalion of AR12 with eighteen 15cm vz.25's in six 3-gun batteries

The 4th replacement battalion also had twelve 15cm vz.25's at Kezmarok.

All of this artillery was confiscated by the Germans soon after the Slovak uprising began. There were however a couple of pieces that remained within the rebel held territories, and even under the extreme duress of an insurgency falling to pieces around their ears, these few remaining pieces were still mainly used for training purposes right up until the very end of the Uprising. On 27 October 1944 near Polkanovej the last two 15cm vz.25's left in the field covered the retreat of the insurgents into the mountains fighting a stiff rearguard action destroying two German tanks in the process. After firing all of their remaining ammunition their crews spiked the guns and accompanied the tail of the partisan columns heading up into the mountains.

On liberation and the reformation of the Czechoslovakian state at the end of the Second World War a small number of these pieces entered the TO&E's of the reborn Czechoslovakian army but this was for a very short period only as after the country was once more occupied, this time by the Soviets there was a big emphasis on the streamlining of supplies.

The 15cm vz.25 was finally retired from service with a couple of examples globally to be found still in museums.

So there we have it. The latest tale in my potted histories of the arms and armaments of the Slovak state... and of course it goes without saying that, as this is a somewhat exotic piece of weaponry to be fielding with the Slovaks there is nobody on the planet who makes them so I had to make my own!

Go figure!!!

So how did I do it I hear you say? Well I'm glad you asked. Here's how:

So, the first thing that needs to be done when making these beasts is to collect the assets together. In the case of building these I ordered four of Battlefront's FRO507 155mm C mle 1917 Howitzers. Discard the gun shield and both spoked and pneumatic tyres because you wont need them. As you will see from the picture I have also enlisted the help of some True North spoked artillery wheels Adler miniatures spoked cannon wheels and some spoked caisson wheels for use as hand gears.

All of the wheels and gears have their outside edges thoroughly cleaned making them as smooth as possible. All existing flash across the whole surface of the wheels is removed and on the Adler cannon and caisson wheels every other spoke is removed leaving just a cross of four spokes remaining on each of the smaller wheels to be used as hand gears, finished off with the inside edges of each if these wheels cleaned up as well.

We next turn our attention to the guns carriage and trail. All that needs to be done with this is to trim and file away all surface detail, box lids, handles and other such fluff and leave yourself with a smooth body.

The cannons barrel and cradle is where you start some real surgery. Firstly the cradle that runs almost to the end of the barrel needs to be cut away right back to the two trunions, which are the two spigots, one on either side of the barrel, that support the barrel in the carriage. Once cut away a further nick needs to be cut into the base of the remains of the cradle, level with the back of the barrels breech. This will enable you to elevate the barrel high in the final configuration of the model.

The next thing that needs to be dealt with is the barrel itself. The barrel needs to be chopped in half at the ridge where the barrels jacket meets the tube. The section of the barrel that you have just cut off needs to be cut to just over half its length with the end cross section matching the diameter of plastic tubing that you will use to complete the barrel length (2mm). The remaining section then needs to be glued to the end of the barrel jacket.

The next thing that I did was to organise the parts that would actually complete the barrel section of the model. I cut 1mm thick plastic strips that matched the width of the barrel cradle that runs under the barrel itself.

Just under the barrel jacket, where it meets the trunions, on top of the cradle now needs to be squared off to a depth of 2m to accommodate the 1mm plastic strip double stacked.

Each gun has a plastic tube section of 10mm long prepared for it with the 1mm plastic strip cut into two sections. One of 16mm and one of 12mm

The pieces are now assembled. The 2mm diameter plastic tubes are now glued to the end of the barrel sections that were previously glued to the end of the barrel jackets. Make sure that are straight and have no overhanging lips. File off where necessary.

The two 1mm thick plastic strips are now glued on top of each other with one of the ends being a flush end with no overlap with the shorter section being on the topside.

The plastic strip composite is now butted up against the right angle where the barrel cradle meets the barrel jacket at the trunions. Don't worry if the length of the strip does not sit flush against the barrel as it isn't important at this time. What is important is that the end sits flush against the cradle and that the length of the strip runs parallel with the centre line of the barrel.

Once the barrels are completed put them to one side. Its now time to start working on the gun shields.

For these 0.5mm thick plastic sheet is used with an initial 20mm x 20mm square cut from which the gun shield will be formed. Each plastic square has a gun aperture marked on it in pencil. Mark a rectangle first 2mm from the top and 3mm bottom and 7mm in from either side. Each of the corners is then rounded off to a general 45degree angle.

This aperture is then bored and cut out. The gun shields are now placed to one side.

The next thing to do is assemble the assets for the wheels and axles that will be glued to the carriage and trail.

At this point the wheels have already been cleaned up so just have them to hand. For this artillery piece though the wheels should have the same axle width that allows the outside face of the wheel to align with the outside edge of the gun shield so a total width of 20mm is appropriate.

For strength a 1mm brass rod of about 18mm is prepared with a length of 2mm plastic tubing of a slightly shorter length. The section of brass rod that extends from the plastic rod once it is slid over the brass rod should be just enough to provide a spigot that can be glued into the wheel.

These assembled pieces should look like the above photograph, with the wheels being perfectly square against the axle direction.

The carriage and trail as a whole unit can now be assembled. The first and most obvious thing is that the wheels and axles are glued to the bottom of the carriage. You may need to adjust the original  indentation where the original axle would have gone to ensure that the axle now fits directly under to cradle mount where the guns spigots will fit. File this wider if necessary to accept the new axles more snugly.

There is a small collection of things to do here so I will deal with them one at a time.

The tow ring at the end of the solid tail needs to have the area underneath it filed square so there is a right angle between the lower face of the tow ring and the trail body. A small rectangle of 0.3mm brass sheet 6mm square now needs to be bent at right angles in the middle, and then glued into the right angle underneath the tow ring.

A 2mm plastic rod has a small section cut, the length that the gun trail is deep at the point where the solid trail meets the split carriage. This plastic rod is then cut in half with one half being glued on the left hand side of the trail against the outside edge of the trail just before the carriage begins.

On the top of the solid trail two box lids are cut and shaped with curved corners to sit slightly shy of the edges of the trail. The larger of the two sits on top of the solid trail just before where the carriage arms begin with the smaller one further down the trail. Both are small enough to have slight borders around them and both only go down the trail just a little over half way.

A small section of 1mm square plastic rod is the glued across the lower end of the trail above where the brass spade has been glued just ahead of the tow ring. This is then filed away so that the outside edges sit flush with the sides of the trail.

A 1mm section of 2mm plastic tube is now glued to the right hand side of the carriage and trail. It is placed at the outside centre point of the right hand arm that links the carriage to the trail. Once this is in place the smaller of the two Napoleonic wheels that you prepared at the beginning to be a gear wheel has its spigot glued into the cavity of the tube.

We now finish off the barrels prior to gluing them to the gun carriage and trail. The gap that at this point exists between the gun barrel and the recoil housing is now filled with your favourite epoxy resin. I personally use Magic Sculpt. This needs to flattened along the front edge of the upper section of the plastic strip that makes the upper half of the recoil housing and flattened to about a 45 degree angle from the outside upper corner edge of the length of the recoil housing until it meets the barrel.

These barrels are then left to cure until the resin is rock solid. The barrels are then glued onto the carriages side frames and where these particular weapons are concerned I prefer a high elevation gun barrel, just to emphasise the fact that they are heavy howitzers.

It is at this point that the gun shields need to be finished off and mounted in the final piece of this manufacturing puzzle and again there is a collection of steps that need to be done so I will take you through them one at a time.

The first thing that needs to done is the rounding off of the corners of the shield itself. Don't be too extravagant here but make sure it is smooth and reduces the 'squareness' of the shield noticeably.

The shield then needs to be bent at about 30 degrees. The line of the bend is across the two points where the lower curve meets the straight edges of the gun aperture. Score a line across the rear face of the shield. Heat a metal rod of some sort (I used a screw driver), place the shield in boiling water for 60 seconds and then bend across the metal rod until you have a consistent 30 degree angle

Take a piece of the smallest piece of plastic rod you can find (I think mine is 0.2mm) and glue a length around the outside edge of the gun aperture except at the bottom where it runs straight down the side of the aperture and carries on until it reaches the bottom edge of the gun shield.

The gear wheel is constructed exactly as it is with the smaller wheel on the carriage arm side. This time though the plastic tube is glued on the lower right corner of the shield so that when the gear wheel is in place it covers almost the entire lower right corner but does not extend past the limits of the shield.

The last thing to complete on the gun shield is the vision port shields. The vision port on this artillery piece has a shield that is split into three sections. The total size is 2mm x 5mm which is then divided into three sections. These three sections are then glued one on top of the other on the upper right shield. The hinges are made of a 5mm length of 1mm diameter plastic rod which is cut into lengths to match the sides of the three shield sections. These are then glued alongside the left hand edge of the vision port shield segments.

... and so we come to the final part of the making of the guns; the attaching of the gun shield.

The lower inside edge of the gun shield is attached to the leading edge of the guns lower carriage ahead of the side frames that the guns spigots are mounted on.

As extra support a pair of vertical rods are mounted on top of the axles which then run vertically to the gun shield and are then glued in place. The rod is made of 2mm plastic rod with the bottom edge being flat and the top end being cut at an angle to sit flush against the shield.

... and there we have it! Finished!

Now, onto the painting and basing!

So there we have it. Above is an example of a completely painted battery of these beauties! I will take you through the colour schemes and painting methodology that I employ as well. A bit complex but personally I love the results so I'm happy with what I've got :)

Before we go any further I should also point out that every single miniature in this battery was a Battlefront 15mm Romanian until I nipped off their heads and replaced them with Peter Pig heads to turn them into Slovaks. Either the heads with the Slovak Helmets or else the ones with the Soviet Pilotka Caps.

The first thing that I normally do when putting together a battery once the guns are built is actually to actually paint all of the crew that serve the guns and where my Slovaks are concerned this obviously took a bit of work so let me take you through it all!

So, where painting all of the infantry is concerned its a relatively simple affair. They are done the way that I do them to look good from about 5ft away. Scrutinise them from up close and all of the flaws in the painting will probably slap you in the face.

The first step is to prime the miniatures and as with most of my other historical stuff, I prime with a black etch primer. You can buy these from any hardware store but the 'etch' in the primer ensures an exceptionally strong substrate to the acrylic layers that will go over the top.

The lions share of the work done on WW2 miniatures is the main uniform and where the Slovaks are concerned after a somewhat lengthy research period I decided to ditch the colour photos from the past and go with the uniform colours that all of the re-enactors in Czechoslovakia are using at the moment. In my experience all of these re-enactment guys are anal about accuracy so I would trust their opinions a lot more than raggedy amateur recoloured old photos.

My base coat was done with Vallejo's 887 Brown Violet for the deepest layers of the uniform. The first highlight, which presents the largest overall surface area that will be seen at the end was done with MIG's 113 Khaki Green No3 (Brit 1939-1942) with the final highlights along all of the raised edges being completed with MIG's 058 Light Green Khaki. This covers all of the cloth uniform and the puttees.

The helmet has a single coat of 50/50 mix of Vallejo's 897 Bronze Green and Vallejo's 887 Brown Violet with the blue helmet band having a basecoat of Vallejo's 925 Intense Blue, highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Vallejo's 925 Intense Blue and Vallejo's 943 Blue Grey. The little Slovak crosses are all hand painted with thinned down Vallejo's 820 Offwhite.

Everything else is relatively quick and simple after painting the uniform.

All of the Canvas bags and straps have a basecoat of Vallejo's 921 English Uniform applied with block highlights of AK Interactives 3072 M-44 Uniform Green Ochre Khaki whilst the leather belts and ammo pouches are basecoated in Vallejo's 045 Charred Brown and highlighted with Vallejo's 983 Flat Earth.

The boots are any matt black whilst the Gas Mask Tins are basecoated with Vallejo's 980 Black Green and highlighted with Lifecolor's UA224 Olive Drab Faded Type 2.

The rifle bodies are basecoated with Vallejo's 826 German Camo Medium Brown with the highlighted grain lines painted with Vallejo's 981 Orange Brown. All metal work is painted black first and then highlighted with Molten Metals Steel. The rifle straps are basecoated with Vallejo's 880 Khaki Grey and highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Vallejo's 880 Khaki Grey and Vallejo's 819 Iraqi Sand along the edge of the strap.

Where the skin is concerned you can paint it how you please but personally I use one of AK Interactive's paint sets for 'Flesh and Skin Colours' and I've never looked back!

All of the bases are actually really simple. I buy all of my bases from Tony at East Riding Miniatures. Hes a bit of a legend and REALLY helpful. They are all laser cut MDF which allows for easy scoring of the base surface. This scoring ensures that the tile grout and the miniatures that are fixed to the base have something more to help them bind.

I then glue the miniatures to the scored surface and apply a thin layer of tile grout over the top. Once this is dry I glue a layer of one of my sand mixes over the top. Generally speaking I create my own mixes for base coverings as I REALLY don't like a lot of the crap you buy from the shops. Its generally speaking far too gaudy in colour or uniform in texture for my tastes.

I like the generally fine sand BUT I like to have lots of the little stones in there so I can pick them out in different colours and create some contrasts with the dirt on the bases.

Once dry the whole base is given a basecoat of Vallejo's 826 German Camo Medium Brown and given a heavy drybrush of Vallejo's 814 Green Ochre.

All of the little stones on the bases are then given a basecoat of Vallejo's 995 German Grey and roughly highlighted (to create a jagged uneven texture) with any lighter grey of your choice but personally I go with Vallejo's 992 Neutral Grey.

The sides of the bases are now painted Matt Black. I never used to bother with this BUT I've really gotten into the clean precise look this lends to the bases. I love it now.

Now we come to the final stage of the bases which is the covering. The static flock that I use is my own mix. I go for something that approximates the dead and dry grass you find on the Steppes with perhaps a little more green in it than usual. This allows an overall base aesthetic that can be used the length of Europe in my opinion.

To provide the final textural boost to the bases though I use a variety of clumps. I had a LOT of problems finding ones that I felt were suitable but after a couple of years I came across a company called Tajima Miniatures whose self adhesive tufts are without a doubt the best I have ever found. I use there stuff by the bucket load now, in great variety.

These all add to the final colour and texture of the bases of this army.

Now that the bases and the miniatures are all squared away the only thing left to do is sort the guns themselves out...

So the painting of the guns is where the real complexity begins. I should also point out by the way that I have opted not to apply mud and spattering weathering to these artillery pieces as I kind of really like the clean look of them. They do have plenty of knocks and rusty battered parts which adds to the scheme but that is where I have chosen to draw the line.

The main paint scheme of the guns is done by airbrush using my MIG Aircobra for the Priming and Basecoating and my Harder & Steenbeck for all of the shading and highlighting as my H&S has a 0.15 needle and provides a hell of a lot more control... but the MIG is SOOOOO easy to clean it just makes sense to use it where I can...

The Airbrushing steps are as follows:

i) The model is primed with a Matt Black Etch Primer

ii) The basecoat is Tamiya's XF-58's Olive Green

iii) The first highlight is LifeColors UA221 Khaki Olive Drab applied in a panel highlight fashion

iv) The second highlight is LifeColors UA224 Olive Drab Faded Type 2 applied as above but a bit lighter and gathered in along the edges and prominent areas

v) The third highlight is a 50/50 mix of LifeColors UA224 Olive Drab Faded Type 2 with LifeColor 01 White. This is applied sparingly just along the edges and prominent areas.

So that's the airbrushing complete and don't be overly concerned if your third highlight was too heavy as the next step will, if done correctly will tone the whole contrasted effect down.

vi) Now we apply the Filter over the whole thing to unify the colour aesthetic and clip the contrast a little. I apply MIG's Filter 1506 Brown for Dark Green.

vii) Once dry wipe of any serious excess from where it may have pooled but otherwise leave it untouched.

viii) At this point I apply the first layer of Varnish. It doesnt matter which varnish you choose so long as it fixes the Filter layer as its an oil based layer.

Once the varnish is dry its time for the next layer which is where the real depth starts to come out.

ix) Over every detail laden part of the model apply a Wash. I use AK Interactives Wash 075 Wash for NATO Camouflage Vehicles. Don't be shy with this step. Slap it on aplenty! Then leave to dry for a while.

x) Once its dry use cotton buds (cue tips for you Yankees out there...) and use a gentle white spirit to wipe away the excess leaving great detail and shadowing around all of your detail areas and a general lowering of the overall chroma luminosity. Personally I use Winsor & Newtons Artists White Spirit as I had a bad experience with normal white spirit and have no wish to repeat the disaster!

xi) Once the whole piece is dry to the touch apply another layer of varnish to fix everything in place.

... once all of the actual painting steps proper have been squared away the last thing to do on the miniature is actually the rusted patches. For this just use an old kitchen sponge and dab on Vallejo's Panzer Aces 302 Dark Rust along the edges of the gun shield and other edges and spots across different patches of the model.

These Dark Rust elements then have the heaviest sections lined with Vallejo's Model Color 819 Iraqi Sand. These lines need to be very fine but also work well to work in as actual scratches into the overall paint scheme.

The very last thing that needs to be done with the painting is the wheel rims which are painted  with LifeColor's UA733 Tire Black and highlighted with Vallejo's Model Color 995 German Grey.

Varnish one final time with a super matt varnish and that as they say is that!

Remove from workspace and attach to the finished bases at your leisure!

Go play... and don't forget your bayonets! :D