Unit Reveal - Group Picture!

It's D-Day, and here is a picture of the full force in all its glory!

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of everything, including the WIP parts, to give you an impression of what's at stake!

We have the US Army on the bottom left, the finished Airborne on the bottom right, then the vehicles, including the unfinished Deuce and a half and armored cars, then a WIP platoon of Rangers on the top right and the unfinished Airborne on the top right.

So, with us being a bit behind the painting schedule, we thought it would only be fair to extend your deadline, too!

Raffle tickets are available until

Saturday, June 8^th, 8 PM CST (Beijing), 1 PM BST (London), 8 AM EDT (East Coast USA), 5 AM PDT (West Coast USA).

And just as a reminder: You can get raffle tickets by contributing through PayPal (there is a button on the top right of this website, if you can’t see it, switch from mobile to web view at the bottom of the page!). PayPal also allows you to use a credit card if you don’t have an account.

One ticket for the raffle is 2 NZ-$, which I about 1.35 US-$ or 1.20 Euros. Multiples of that give you multiple tickets, e.g. 20 NZ-$ give you 10 tickets.

So, when will we have the army finished? I can't guarantee anything, but I would say we will ship it to our lucky winner on the 17th of June, fully painted and ready to go.

What's next? I hope that we will have pictures of the finished M8 Scott, Deuce and a half and at least a squad of Rangers before the deadline for contributions on Saturday.
Everything else will get its unit reveal, too, but likely after the raffle is done.

Review - Stoessi's Heroes Airborne Characters

We are very proud to count Stoessi's Heroes among our sponsors. They have an amazing range of miniatures based on real life characters from WW2, and they are doing an amazing job at capturing their essence.

The miniatures are packed in robust blister packs, and I say robust for a reason. Poor Dick Winters had an encounter with a 6 months old boxer mix and came out of it alright:

Although his blister got chewed up quite good, he himself didn't suffer any damage:

Every miniatures comes with a description of its real life equivalent.

So let's have a closer look at the other characters:

US Airborne Technician Fourth Grade Eugene Gilbert Roe
Sr.Roe was one of Easy Company’s medics and by the time they went into Carentan, Roe was already a seasoned veteran, able to patch and diagnose wounds in a methodical way.
Roe participated in Operation Market Garden and jumped into the Netherlands.
He also took part in the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne. Allied supplies were low and Roe had to go from man to man to get more supplies. In the extreme cold weather, he had to tuck plasma bottles into his armpits to keep them from freezing.

US Airborne Lieutenant Colonel Robert George Cole
On June 11, 1944 LtCol. Robert Cole with the 101st Airborne Division, had the objective to take Carentan. The young commander called in a smoke barrage right in front of the German positions and ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge. Many Americans were killed as they assaulted, but more than 100 of Cole’s men managed to reach the German lines causing the defenders to flee. The attack would go down in history as “Cole’s Charge”. Cole won the Medal of Honor, but got killed in combat before the citation could be presented.

US Airborne Lieutenant Ronald C. Speirs
Lt. Speirs served in the 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. During the battle for Foy in Bastogne, a platoon had been ordered to go on a flanking mission. To countermand this order, Speirs ran through the town and German lines, linked up with the platoon and relayed the order. Having completed this, he then ran back through the German-occupied town.
“At first the Germans didn’t shoot at him. I think they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. But that wasn’t the really astounding thing. The astounding thing was that, after he hooked up with I Company, he came back.” – Carwood Lipton

US Airborne First Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton
Lynn Davis “Buck” Compton was a commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, in the 101st Airborne Division.
During the company’s action at Brécourt Manor on D-Day, Compton and others, under the leadership of Lieutenant Richard Winters, assaulted a German battery of four 105 mm howitzers firing on Utah Beach, disabling the guns and routing the enemy.
Compton took one of the gun emplacements by himself and was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the assault.

US Airborne Staff Sergeant “Wild Bill” Guarnere
William J. Guarnere was a US Army soldier who fought in WWII as a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
The night before the invasion of Normandy, Guarnere found out his brother was killed at Monte Cassino, Italy. He made the parachute drop on D-day. After regrouping with his company, the unit encountered a German patrol and ambushed it, affording Guarnere his revenge for the loss of his brother at Monte Cassino.

The quality of the miniatures is flawless and I appreciate that they come without a base or gate. Poses are very life-like and all the details look right. They also mix very well with other ranges (like this partly painted Warlord Games Paratrooper):

Stoessi's Heroes has a wide range of miniatures, including all major powers and even some iconic movie characters. Definitely worth a look!