20mm WW1 British 18lbr

Just a quick post for now.  I've added a British 18lbr with 4 crew from Irregular Minitures to my British and Empire forces suitable for Palestine, Persia and Russian Civil War intervention forces.

The crew is suitable for summer scenarios as well as arid climates, as they have discarded their tunics and are carrying out their warm work in shirt sleeves.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Russians

So, this week I have mostly been painting WW1 Russian infantry.  These are mainly from the HAT Russian infantry box, together with some officers, a machine gun and a couple of mortars from the HAT Russian Heavy Weapons pack.  They are painted in Russian Uniform, highlighted green grey, with black boots, khaki grey, London grey and blue grey greatcoat rolls, saddle brown for leather pouches and water bottles, oily steel for belt buckles and cap badges.

The whole platoon, four sections, each of 10 riflemen, an officer with runner and a senior officer with field telephone operator.

The officer, standing with pistol and runner in marching pose.  The officer is from the heavy weapons pack.

Senior officer and field telephone operator.

A selection of riflemen.

More riflemen.

Heavy weapons (L-R) a Maxim MG, a Litonov 47mm mortar and a French 58mm motar, each with three crewmen.

The Maxim MG.

The Litonov mortar.

The French 58mm mortar.

A selection of spare officers, telephone operators and spotters.

The colourful chap rear right is painted to look like one of the more colourful "White" Russian units, the Drozdovsky Regiment.  If I see another pack of figures, I'll add a platoon from the Drozdovsky or maybe the Kornilov Regiment, possibly a couple of sections from both.

Some heavy artillery support, A 76mm field gun with 4 crew, from Irregular Miniatures.

Another force suitable for Andreivia, alongside the Cossacks and the Garford-Putilov armoured car that I've posted on earlier.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Western Front British

Well, it's Remembrance Sunday here in the U.K., so fairly appropriate to post some pictures of the latest additions to my collection, some WW1 British/Commonwealth infantry for the Western Front.  These guys are mainly HAT WW1 Canadians, generally good figures, no flash, but not a lot of detail in the faces and fine for British, Canadian and other Commonwealth/Empire troops.

I went with English Uniform for the err ..... uniform, khaki grey for the puttees, NATO black for boots and weapons, brown beige for rifle stocks, Citadel Ogryn Camo for belts, webbing, gas mask cases, cartridge cases and packs, Russian uniform for helmets.  All are washed with Agrax Earthshade, then flat flesh for faces and hands, washed with Reikland flesh wash.

First up, the whole platoon.  The platoon commander at the front with batman/runner and sniper, then 4 10 man sections, two with Lewis light machine guns and two with grenadiers, so two LMG sections and two bomber sections.  At the back are a couple of spare officers, snipers and a spare Lewis gun team.

The platoon commander, runner and sniper.

Riflemen.

More riflemen.

Bombers in the centre.

More riflemen.

Then we have, at the back, half a platoon of mortars and, in front, half a platoon of Vickers machine guns.  The mortars have a command team of officer and telephone operator, surprisingly identical to the spotter team in the front row.  In the middle is an officer standing brandishing a pistol plus two crouching officers, also with pistols.

Mortar team.

Vickers MG team.

Spotter team.

Various officer figures.

These figures are quite appropriate for 1916 onwards and so are also suitable for my intervention force in the Andreivian Civil War for 1918.

They are dressed as all four of my son's great grandfathers would have been, all of whom survived the war more or less intact, as well as a fair few of their brothers, including Private Francis Victor Harding of the Royal West Kent Regiment and Private Robert McNeil of the Cheshire Regiment, neither of whom survived the war and are both buried in Flanders.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm Early 20th Century armed civilians

Just a quick post just now as a busy weekend awaits.  These are some armed civilians from Irregular Miniatures A Very British Civil War range, but I figure they will do for any early 20th Century setting from 1900 to the 1950's.  While distinctly British in appearance overall, they will also pass muster for most Europeans, Colonial and North American settings.

First up (L-R) we have a gent in bowler hat with what looks vaguely like a Tommy gun or other early SMG, then a gent in a waistcoat with rifle, a more rustic gent in bowler hat carrying cane and a poacher/gamekeeper type with shotgun. 

Then we have a spiffing gent in top hat carrying pistol, youth carrying a standard (got to decide on a suitable flag), chap in shirt sleeves with Lewis gun and a lady brandishing a rifle.

Not the most detailed figures but they seem to paint up OK.  In the second picture, the figure in lilac coat and top hat is a shoe-in for an eccentric Russian Civil War commander, with his trusty standard bearer and female companion.  In the first picture, the guy with Tommy gun could be a city gent or even Churchill in a Sealion setting.  The other figures would make great rustic or workers revolutionary fighters, with lots of mix and match between them.  Not sure on the rest of the range with Boy Scouts, Fox Hunters, Cricketers etc., being a little too British in appearance.

These figures will form some local militia forces for our Andreivia setting and eccentric commanders for "White Russian" or other anti-Bolshevik militias.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Desert Model Ts

Here is a pair of Ford Model T transports for British WW1 troops in the Middle East.  One crew in sola topees and the other in various side cap headgear.  The models are from Early War Miniatures and were surprisingly easy to put together making robust models, ideal for the wargames table.

The troops in topees man a pair of Lewis guns, one firing forward and the other to the rear.  The other vehicle has a single rear firing Lewis gun.  There are plenty of accessories supplied with each kit including batteries, fuel cans, spare tyres/inner tubes, rifles in holsters, picks and wooden cases, which give a nice "gypsy caravan" look to the vehicles.

Nice models and will hopefully add some fun mobility on the table top.  These will make an appearance in WW1 scenarios for the Middle East, intervention forces in the RCW and, of course, Andreivia.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 vehicles

These last few days, I've been making an effort to finish off some of the Shellhole Scenics WW1 models that I picked up at Phalanx back in the summer.

This is the Shellhole Scenics resin and metal model of the WW1 Mark IV Austin armoured car.  It was relatively simple to build, although a set of instructions on their web site would have been tremendous.  It builds into a robust model which looks the part to me.  It has that satisfying "Heath-Robinson" feel for a lot of WW1 vehicles, especially with the twin MG turrets.

I painted this one in khaki grey, dry brushed Iraqi sand and ink washed in Army Painted strong tone.

Shellhole Scenics  also make a rather nice model of the Whippet tank.  Again, this is a resin and white metal kit, but this one required quite a bit of internet research to work out where all the parts fitted.  I was also disappointed at the way the white metal tracks fitted to the resin hull as once glued, there is a weakness which allows the tracks to bow in at the base and can result in an unwary moment for the whole model to come apart in your hands.  I found that industrial strength superglue did the trick - I suspect I could throw it across the room and it wouldn't come apart, but I'm not going to try.

This model is also in khaki grey dry brushed Iraqi sand.  Rusted exhausts and tracks are shown in orange brown, while the tracks themselves are oily steel with light orange brown dry brushing.

I'll look out for a suitable set of decals for vehicle numbers and I need a commander figure to put in the open hatch.  I have some batteries and water bottles spare from the Early War Miniatures Model T Fords that I'm working on and these will find their way into the external bins on the turret sides.

And finally, for this post, here is Shellhole Scenics version of the Garforth-Putilov armoured car.  This one is painted in bronze green, dry brushed Iraqi sand, washed with Agrax Earthshade and varnished.  This has an even more "Heath-Robinson" look to it.

Shown with a passing Cossack to give an idea of scale.

These models should work for late WW1 in the Middle East and for intervention forces in the Russian Civil War.  They will also provide some mobile support to the Empire Intervention Force in the Andreivian campaign next year.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Royal Naval Division and Indian Army

The big push (excuse the pun) is one for WW1 figures and vehicles at the moment.  At the Derby/Castle Donnington show, I picked up a pack each of Shellhole Scenics Royal Naval Division infantry in helmets and hats.  Each set comprises a pack of 10 figures, one officer/petty officer with revolver, a two man Lewis gun team and seven riflemen, three advancing high port fixed bayonet, two advancing low port fixed bayonets and two attempting to fix bayonets while advancing.  The pack with tin hats also contained a bonus figure with bare head advancing at high port.

They were nice clean castings, which required very little pre-undercoat filing - there was a tiny amount of flash between the legs of two or three figures.  They were base coated in dark sea blue, khaki for gaiters and webbing/ammo packs and flat blue for scarf with white trim.  I was more impressed with the figures in tin helmets, but the figures in hats, although perfectly usable, appear to lack necks, with heads firmly growing from the shoulders, thus resembling Soltarans.  However, that isn't going to stop them making appearances on my table.

Wearing tin helmets.

Wearing hats.

These look the part and will be used for naval landing parties in WW1 and RCW scenarios and I hope they will make an appearance as part of the Empire Intervention Force heading to Andreivia in March next year.

Then we have British infantry in tropical kit from HAT Industries.  These are useful for scenarios set in WW1 in the Middle East, but can also form intervention forces for the Russian Civil War.  These, with a handful of troops in tin hats interspersed, will form the core of an Andreivian intervention force sent either from India, Persia or Palestine - pictures on the net of British soldiers in Persia (as it was then) show them in topees, tin hats and field service caps, not that different from a generation later in WW2 (think "It Aint 'Alf Hot Mum").

Then we have a 2.5" RML screw gun, crewed by Indian Army artillerymen (Sikhs I think give the turbans they are wearing).

I'm having lots of fun researching WW1 uniforms and troops who would have potentially been available at the end of the Great War to form a larger intervention force in the Russian Civil War than was actually used in real life.  This has also led to me reading around the subject of the Russian Civil War itself, which I knew very little about before, and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which I knew nothing about.

Next up will be a couple of vehicles, which I've just about wrapped up, and then I'm working on the first batch of British infantry in tin helmets.  I was lucky enough to pick up a box of HAT Australian Light Horse and some Caesar Late WW1 Germans (?Czech Legion?), plus an Emhar MkIV female tank kit, so hope to get them going as well.

As ever, thanks for looking.