All,

Hello everyone, come on in and take a look at my US Airborne from Warlord.  These guys are painted up (decal'ed up) as being members of the 101st Airborne Division, as opposed to my guys from Artizan, which are painted up as members of the 82nd Airborne Division.  This is one of the first forces I built and painted; I wasn't sure how to do it but I saw a guy on Youtube with a very simple solution.  Spray prime the guys a dark gray, then cover them in "Aggros Dunes," one of the Contrast paint colors.  They're not beautiful paintjobs, but I'll tell you that I was able to knock these guys out in record time.  I just slathered Aggros Dunes everywhere, then went back and did the weapons (Gore Grunta Fur for wooden furniture and Basilicum Gray for metal), slapped Creed Camo on the helmets, then did up the flesh (hit is with matt white and then Gulliman Flesh), and they were done.  But I was kinda embarrassed about how plain they looked, so I went and actually decaled every single one of these guys with US Ensign and division patch (some with rank, as well).  So, I'd say they're a decent tabletop standard, and again, it was lightning quick.


Two metal leader types; not bad figures at all, but noticeably smaller than the plastic figures.


A medic with litter and a radioman.


Pair of riflemen with Garands, sighting in.


A pair of motivated paratroopers.


A machine gun team.

To see a bunch more photos, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2025/06/28mm-wwii-us-101st-airborne-from-warlord.html

And to further distract you, it's June 6th, 81st anniversary of D-Day.  I've been promising to get some toys on the table and roll some dice.  I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to do, but I do have the table set.


6 June 1944, left is north.  So we're a bit inland; not sure if I want to go with Airborne dropping behind enemy lines looking to take out a strongpoint guarding a bridge or battery, or with leg infantry that are pushing inland off the beaches, working to reduce a nearby enemy strongpoint.  Not sure if I want to do squad, platoon, or company level, or what rules I want to use. 

I know I want to get my two sons playing, and I know I don't know how to set up a 28mm WWII table!  That probably sounds horribly stupid, but this was the first time I've actually set up a 28mm table, and it felt really weird.  Everything is so big!  And, as you see, I got a new mat; I love my 'usual' teddy bear mat, but it's just so dark, and the fur is so long, so I hit up War Sigil and got this one, which is much brighter and shorter haired.  BUT... it's also much smaller, a true 72" x 48", whereas my other teddy bear fur mat is much bigger, drapes well over a 6' x 4' table.  What that means is I won't be able to put elevation under the mat anymore, I've got to use hills that pop on top.  That was a bit of a shock, I'm going to have to get this figured out quickly.  For now, this table is flat as a chessboard...


Looking south at the German strongpoint.


Looking north at the French village.

So not sure what, but we're going to be getting up to something here soon.

V/R,
Jack

They might be a quick and dirty paint job Jack, but they look fine and you will forget all the little bits you didn't like once on the table and in action. Yep, I imagine the 28mm table top looks and feels really weird after all of our 6mm games. Looks good though !

Looks great

Thanks fellas!

Yeah Steve, doing closeup photos never does it justice, the blemishes/things I'm not happy about are not even noticeable on the table.  And YES, I'm not sure how to handle this or set it up, it's so big!!!  I will admit to having a moment of panic; remember, this is what always keeps me from using my damn 15mm stuff!  For a moment my thoughts leapt to "sell it all and go back to 10mm"...  Sometimes wargaming makes me feel really, really dumb...

V/R,
Jack

I find table setup can depend quite a lot on rules too. 

One thing to be aware of with 28mm figures, is that the unit footprint can be really quite large, especially if in a bit of a skirmish formation. 

Ultimately don't over-think it, try a game, if the terrain is too dense, then open it up a bit in the next game. I doubt it's too sparse, but you might find you have left some long sight lines open. 

If you want to use hills under the cloth (which I favour) perhaps use both base cloths, then the bigger one will cover any gaps at the edge of the table, and the smaller one on top to give the gaming surface

Great points to think on, Fred, I appreciate it!

V/R,
Jack

      

Wot Steve & Fred sed

👍🏻