8th Army Machinegun Platoon, Heavy Weapons and Company Command

Gearing up for a birthday Flames of War game on Thanksgiving weekend, I thought I'd better finish the Brits before moving on to painting the Afrika Korps infantry contingent. So this weekend I painted a machinegun platoon of four Vickers .303s and crew, the Boys AT rifle and 2' mortar teams from the second infantry platoon, and two stands to represent the company command.

 

First off - the machinegun platoon. These models are from Forged in Battle and are pretty nice. You get four machineguns and 12 crewmen for 10 GBP. As you might recall from my previous FiB post there was a bit of post-delivery followup required as I didn't get enough gunners for the MGs, but fortunately that was sorted.

 

They're pretty nice models. The guns and tripods are one piece which makes putting it all together quite easy.

There are two variations of the "third crewman" - one kneeling and one prone with binoculars.

These will come in handy in the desert if I can get some German infantry done!

Next up are some heavy weapons for the second infantry platoon. As you might recall the platoon was mostly from FiB, but they only supply one Boys AT rifle team and one 2" mortar team in their platoon pack, so I needed to go elsewhere for a second Boys team and mortar team. Where else but Peter Pig?

 

The Piggies supply the models in 8-figure packs - two moving teams and two prone. The prone models are too long to fit on a Flames of War small base (booo!) but the moving ones are great, so that's what I used. Above, Boys AT rifle team.

 

Here's the 2" mortar team. A little bit harder to determine how they're armed at first glance but the assistant is carrying a large box of mortar bombs.

Lastly we have the company command stands! These are also from Peter Pig.

Great character in these models, I love the officers gesticulating enthusiastically while the poor sod on the radio looks on with a bemused expression. Check out the mustache on the Major!

The second stand's models are also from Peter Pig. In fact I had to pinch a rifleman from the Boys AT pack - he is the assistant gunner from the second "moving" team and really came in handy.

I think I've discovered a repeatable basing technique for these Flames of War models - I paint the infantry on popsicle sticks, then superglue them down to the black-primed bases. Next I prepare a slurry of basing gel tinted with brown paint and apply it to the base. The groundwork is painted with Khaki and drybrushed Rakarth Flesh. Finally the static grass and tufts are applied.

With that, the infantry company is ready for a game. Next up 'll paint the Afrika Korps infantry - but looking at the Flames of War army list there aren't nearly as many of 'em, which is fine by me. Stay tuned for that in the next two weeks.

Toodles!