15mm US Paratroopers

Members of the Defenders club are organising a Flames of War tournament/campaign to run over the winter.  Although I'm not very familiar with the rules system, I thought I'd sign up and dust off my 15mm collection.  As an aside to the game we're also going to play a BKCII game using the same forces to see how the feel of the two systems compares on the same scenario.

My US paratrooper forces are the nearest to being complete and should be able to make up the 1750 points needed.  Although painted with shoulder patches attempting to show the "Screaming Eagle" of the 101st Airborne Division, for the campaign they are going to represent the 82nd "All American" Airborne Division plus attachments suitable for Normandy.

Here is a Parachute Infantry Company HQ with CO stand (actually the FoW Maxwell Taylor stand) and 2iC stand, plus optional extras of 3 bazooka and three sniper stands.

 A reinforced Parachute Rifle Platoon (1st platoon) of three rifle/mg sections, each of two stands plus an optional extra stand, plus a mortar squad of one bazooka and one 60mm mortar stand.  Note the larger than normal platoon command stand at the front.

 2nd Parachute Rifle Platoon, organised as 1st Platoon.

 3rd Parachute Rifle Platoon, organised as 1st and 2nd Platoons.

 A Parachute MG platoon of two MG sections, each of four stands, plus two optional additional bazookas.

 A Parachute Mortar Platoon, with two sections of 81mm mortars, each of two stands and optional additional bazooka stands.

 One gun section from a Parachute Field Artillery Battery with command stand, observer team and staff team.

 A Parachute Engineer Combat Platoon with two operating squads of two rifle/pioneer stands, plus a weapons squad of two MG stands, with a pioneer supply cart and command stand (actually the FoW Gen Gavin stand).

 An attached Glider Rifle Platoon with three sections of three stands, command stand and bazooka.

 Two M1 57mm gun sections plus the command stand (actually the FoW Eureka Beacon stand) from a Glider AT platoon.

One tank destroyer section of two M10 3" GMC tank destroyers, plus an M20 utility car and carbine team, with command stand and jeep with .50 cal AA MG, all from an 899th Tank Destroyer Platoon.

For the actual campaign, I shall have to be careful in what I select as its likely that they will be up against some armour heavy forces.  The only dedicated AT weapons are the tank destroyers of the 899th and some glider-borne 57mm guns, so I will need to go with a few of the optional bazookas and hope for some close in fighting in dense terrain - bring on the bocage or some forests.

Looking forward to getting these guys into action.  Thanks for looking.

The Smashes - A one day Dreadball tournament

Having played my first game of Dreadball on Thursday night, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I found myself at the Defenders club this Saturday, taking my place in a 10 team tournament, the "Smashes".  The games I was involved in were all played in a really friendly manner, at least in part because of the large number of us learning the rules.

The Hollywood All-stars played against various forms of rodent, locust and orx, before coming up against another human corporation.  The team name came about as all that came into my head when trying to name them were movie stars, so the team featured strikers named Steve McQueen (captain), George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, guards named Arnie (nuff said and he did come back after several knock downs) and Bruce Willis, and Jacks named Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Yul Brynner.  I suspect the players names says more about my age than anything else.  Needless to say that the captain played a real captains test series and was the highest scorer although George and Brad did sterling work.  Matt spent a lot of time in recovery.  Arnie was initially a bit reluctant to get stuck in, but Bruce's example encouraged him and he was soon dishing out all manner of violence too.  The jacks mainly tried to stand in the way and seemed quite good at that.

I won't say any more about the result of the tournament, modesty forbids!  More details of the games and the views of the manager of the Carbis Bay Buccaneers can be found on Ricks blog via the link below.

All in all a really fun game and a great event.  Thanks to all involved in making the day such a success.  Looking forward to the next time.

http://rgmb-stonebridge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-smashes-2013-brief-report-of.html

Late war British odds and ends

I'm still trying to clear some of the odds and ends on my painting table to make room for the winter projects.  Here are some late war British vehicles.

Four DUKW transports, ready to carry supplies across the Normandy beaches or over the Rhine.

 The DUKWs in more detail.

 A pair of Leyland Hippos - heavy transport vehicles I thought would make ideal transports for infantry bridging units for a Market Garden scenario.

 A Hippo in more detail.

 Caterpillar D-8 tractors/dozers doing some heavy engineering work.

 A D-8 in more detail.

 A Humber LRC (Light Recce Car) - recce stand for an infantry battalion.

Lots more on the way as I'm both clearing up a lot of the dusty corners of my painting table and reorganising storage, so I have a chance to dig out the western desert kit and press on with my 21st Panzer Normandy project, as well as 1980's French and 20mm Fallschirmjaeger and modern insurgent forces.

Thanks for looking!

20mm Fallschirmjaeger

I thought I'd try a test and paint up a company's worth (8 figures) of the Airfix German Paratroopers that I picked up recently at Modelzone.  These are painted as early war troops for the Low Countries and Crete.  I'm basing them for Rapid-Fire as this seems a popular set of rules at the club for 20mm WW2 games and their web site has some useful scenarios as a starting point for battles in Crete.

They were washed in detergent and undercoated in acrylic gesso - all paints used were Vallejo except Middle East flesh which is an old pot of Howard Hues.  Unfortunately, the Airfix plastic used for these figures is really soft and unusually water repellent.  The jump smock was painted in Russian Uniform and highlighted with Green grey, helmet, trousers and jacket lapels were painted in German Luftwaffe grey, highlighted with the base coat and a little white.  Water bottles are Flat brown with Black grey boots and webbing, weapons are Beige brown and Gunmetal.  SMG magazine holders and ammo pouches are Beige.  Skin is painted using Middle East Flesh base and Medium flesh highlights.  Insignia were painted on in White.  The figures were washed with dilute Army Painted dark tone ink and varnished courtesy of Wilkinsons matt acrylic varnish.

 

 

 

 

I'm generally pretty pleased with the way these have turned out.  There should be enough basic infantry in the two boxes of Airfix figures for three battalions, and I will fill out the specialist equipment with some SHQ purchases, either later this month or sometime in October.  This should provide enough forces for some Crete-based scenarios.  With some appropriate engineer figures, I should also be able to do some of the Low Countries actions such as Eben Email and the actions in the Netherlands.

Thanks for looking.

Modelzone booty

I was sad to hear that Modelzone (a U.K. based high street model shop chain) has gone into administration and is being wound up.  However, "it is an ill wind ...." as they say and I have had the opportunity to scour Modelzone shops in Chester, Swansea and Plymouth for bargains being sold off with some reasonable discounts.

In the end, I finished up with two packs of Airfix German paratroopers (I'm going to paint these up as early war for the Low Countries and Crete).  Also got two packs of Revell WW2 British Infantry (hadn't realised these are the original Matchbox figures rereleased by Revell - not sure what I'm going to do with these yet).  Also picked up two boxes of Italeri 100 years war English knights and foot soldiers, enough for a handfull of units).  Then I also picked up a die-cast Challenger tank and an Airfix JSIII tank - the Challenger can support my modern British infantry, while I thought the JSIII tank would make a useful armour addition to an Andreivia militia unit, having been liberated from a museum.  Finally, I got a Modelzone diecast Stuka divebomber to provide some close air support for the paratroopers.

All in all, not a bad haul at a greatly discounted price, and some nice little projects to keep me going through the autumn and winter.  Unfortunately no ACW figures in the sales - these seem to have fallen off the radar at the moment.  Still very sorry to see Modelzone go under as it was my main local source for Woodland Scenics products - looks like it will have to be mail order from now on.  I wish all Modelzone employees good luck in finding new jobs, let's hope someone comes along to fill the vacuum left by the chains demise.

Thanks for looking!

More early war German armour

WARNING:  The images on this post include my poor attempt at representing flags of the Nazi regime (1933-45) ruling in Germany.  These are included purely in the interests of historical accuracy.  If you are located in a region where viewing this material is illegal, please do not proceed any further!

Another Panzer Battalion for early war BKCII, this time of Pz38ts.  Three light kompanies, each of one Pz II platoon and 2 Pz38t platoons, and one depleted heavy kompanie of one (should be two at full strength but I don't have enough models) Pz IV and one Pz II.  Also a Pz II recce platoon and an HQ stand with Pz II, kubelwagen and kettenkrad.

One of the light kompanies, with Pz II at the back and Pz 38ts in the foreground.

 Heavy kompanie with Pz IV platoon at the back and Pz II in front.  I need to get another Pz IV from Heroics and Ros to complete the kompanie.

 The HQ stand with Pz II, Kettenkrad and Kubelwagen, and the Pz II recce stand.

Need to get some more Pz IIs and IVs and I've got enough for another similar battalion.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Early War British Armour

This is a British Tank Battalion, suitable for the Arras based game we are planning for next week.  It's a mixed Matilda I and II infantry tank battalion, three squadrons, each of two Matilda Is and one Matilda II and an HQ of a Matilda I and Daimler Scout Car.

 One of the squadrons, based for BKCII (one stand equals a platoon), a mixed Matilda I and II platoon.  Now where is Rommel and where are those 88s?

 The HQ stand, a Matilda I and Daimler Scout Car.

Next up Pz38ts.

Thanks for looking!