Pass and Review: French Micro Armor

WWII French Armor.  Figures by GHQ, painting and photo by Peter Wort.

I consider painting miniatures a necessary evil of the wargaming hobby.  While I've painted figures for years, my work has never evolved above mediocre.  Despite my feelings of dread when it comes to painting, I'd gut through the process, slather paint on to miniature figures and buildings at every chance I could, in order to make my collection presentable.

Then, about a year ago, I developed tendinitis.  In fact, I didn't see a doctor about my condition until it hurt just to hold a paint brush.  So I asked around for someone willing to do "contract work" on my figures and found Peter Wort.  I've known Peter through our regional wargaming group the Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society (NHMGS) and our annual Enfilade! gaming convention. 

I thought I'd start off by getting my World War II French tanks refurbished.  You see, when I first started collecting micro armor, I'd merely paint the vehicles with one color--based on the counter colors of the game Squad Leader. 

Yup.  My French tanks were a rich, dark blue. 

Now that I'm into developing wargaming YouTube videos, I'm thinking "cinematically" and realize such non-historical color concoctions just won't cut it.  Fortunately for my cinematic reputation (such as it is), Peter repainted my small force in their typical camouflage pattern (seen above).

But wait, there's more.

A couple of years ago, my friend Adrian gave me his unpainted collection of Arab & Israeli tanks (circa Yom Kippur War).  This spurred me on to collect more modern micro-armor.  So in addition to the "usual suspects" of Arabs vs. Israelis, I bought some modern French vehicles and indigenous "technicals"  (pickup trucks with heavy weapons), for some Toyota Wars gaming.

Modern French, Israeli, US and ad-hoc vehicles.  Figures by GHQ and C&C, painting and photo by Peter Wort.

Peter seemed to really enjoy painting the technicals.  Both of us loved the way they turned out.  They're not "too hard" to spot in the above photo.

Since I sent these vehicles straight-away to Peter, without counting them, I was shocked when told me this batch consisted of 99 vehicles.

Yikes!  Now I'm wondering just how large my World War II, modern and sci-fi micro armor collection really is.

Then again, maybe I don't want to know...