That's a seriously ostentatious helmet crest

When I first picked up that box of Grenadier Fighting-Men, I was probably the least excited about painting this guy. His sword looked like a half-cooked noodle, and his helmet crest was... well... uninspired. I mean, I understand that miniatures casting back then wasn't the same as the techniques companies use today. And he's made of pure lead, which is much softer than the pewter and white metal used today for your typical Warhammer 40k dude.

But ... inspiration struck over the weekend. I've got a huge collection of spare bits, helmets, weapons, shields, laser guns, etc., from my years collecting and painting Warhammer armies. And it just so happened that I had the biggest, most ostentatious helmet crest in the world, along with a freakin' spiked mace that would put a 10th-level cleric to shame.

Take a look at the finished product. On top of his helm: that's a unicorn, with a pennant, topped by a fleur-de-lis. It's probably bigger than his actual helmet. And that's totally fine—this guy isn't going to be hiding behind doors or slinking through dim passageways. He's going to announce his presence with a ringing challenge to the agents of chaos lurking in the depths of the dungeon. Good stuff! I have just 3 fighting-men left to paint before I've completed the set.

10mm Soviet Gallery

Here are a few photos of the 10mm Soviet infantry I just finished, along with a few shots of the relevant infantry next to my prepainted 1/144 plastic Soviet tanks. They scale pretty well, all things considered.

(All captions refer to the photo below them.)

These are Pendraken 10mm infantry figs. I based 'em on 1x2-inch metal bases, four soldiers to a base. I could have done more, especially at 10mm, but I was trying to stretch my pool of figures and do more with less. I'm thrifty that way. To represent the somewhat haphazard way Soviet troops received their individual arms, I put one submachine gun trooper with three riflemen on each base. The rightmost stand has a DT machinegunner as well. The platoon commander is based separately up front.


This is a prepainted 1/144 KV-1 from the World Tank Museum line.


This is a T-34/85 from the same line. On the whole I'm very pleased with these prepainted models.


This is a T-34/76 from World Tank Museum, along with some Soviet infantry.


This is a prepainted SU-76 from the Axis & Allies Miniatures line. Most of their tanks and vehicles are closer to 1/120, as opposed to 1/144, but certain pieces (like this tank destroyer) scale pretty well.


This is a prepainted T-70 from my Axis & Allies Miniatures collection. Again, it scales pretty well despite not being designed for 10mm modeling.