A fresh start!

I was a pretty active blogger, posting pictures of my games and miniatures before I went on a bit of a break.  My old blog was called "Close the Ranks".  What did I do during this break?  Well, I happened to meet the love of my life, dated her, married her, bought a new house and finally we got all settled.  Now I'm painting again and so I thought I'd start another blog.  Why?  Because for me it's a fun way to see how much I've accomplished.  Also, it's motivation to paint, because I hate to let my blog go too long without any activity.  So, here I am and I'm starting a new project.  This project will be for the Eastern Front of WW2 around the time of the Battle of Kursk.  Who doesn't love big tank battles after all?

The first unit I got is a gift from my wife, an artillery unit of 76mm ZIS-3s.  One of her favorite things about this unit when she was picking them out was a dead cow on one of the bases.  When I unwrapped it she pointed at it and said, "Because... DEAD COWS!"  Now you see why I love this woman!

And so... here they are.

I read and saw lots of pictures of vehicles covered with mud because it had been raining so I took this as an opportunity to play around and see if I could make some muddy-looking bases.  Unfortunately, as a side effect I think my soldiers came out looking a little glossy.

The dead cow... also slightly muddy.

Anyway, it feels good to be painting again. So there will be more to come!
Rod