28mm 8th Army Valentine and Universal Carrier

So here's another random update of the ongoing War in the Western Desert project... some tuned-up British "armour" (and I use that term quite loosely).

Many years ago I acquired some desert armour in a trade... among the stuff I got were some Shermans (since repainted for NW Europe), a couple of early Pzkpfw IVs, a Fuman/Bandai Valentine, and a Tamiya Universal Carrier. The latter two models are pictured here.

The models were painted in base colours with a wash of some kind, and decals had been applied. I just needed to tune 'em up a bit with some more washes and sponge chipping, plus adding some stowage and a Perry tank commander to the Valentine.

I also added crew to the Carrier - these are standard Tamiya dudes with berets swapped for helmets. To complete the model I stuck a metal Bren gun in the firing port.

Insignia of 6th Armoured Division on rear fender. This will be fine for North Africa.

I kinda wished I could find a crewman for this Carrier other than "pointing guy". But oh well.

I have a Tamiya Matilda to be assembled yet, a Stuart Honey from Blitzkrieg in primer, and a Grant supposedly on the way from them too - already bought and paid for but they missed packing it in my order. That should do for British armour for the time being.

Meanwhile, back to the DAK platoon that is sooooo close to done! 

28mm 8th Army Six-Pounder AT Guns

Escalation in the Western Desert continues... I picked up these 28mm Bolt Action 6-pounders and crews from Tista Minis a couple weeks ago - they're the first Brits I've painted for the 8th Army part of the Western Desert project.

Each gun comes with three crew. The base is wood, from Michaels. It's 3" diameter and just about ideal for mounting AT guns. They come 6 in a pack for $3.49.

The crew and gun were painted in the usual way - starting with AK Interactive Light Earth and an Agrax Earthshade wash, highlighting back up to AKILE, and adding some sponge chipping for weathering.

I quite like the animation of the crew here, they're all quite busy with essential tasks. It's just too bad there's no obvious commander for the gun.

Should cause some trouble for the Panzers, what? I decided to go straight for six-pounders in the 8th Army arsenal as the German armour I've got going is on the heavier side, and two-pounders just wouldn't make much of a game.

Fortunately the desert is still holding my attention (re-reading the excellent "War Without Hate" is helping) and I have some more stuff in the pipeline, including the DAK infantry platoon and Panzer reinforcements. Stay tuned!

Challenge Submission #10 - No. 11 (Scottish) Commando in North Africa

 

To fulfill the theme requirement of one of the Challenge Quadrant planets, I painted two sections of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando, who were involved in 'Operation Flipper'. These are the first British North Africa figures I have done, but I am not sure if I want to expand my miniature collection further in that direction. I kind of bought them by mistake, and didn't realize until I opened the blisters that half of the figures were wearing shorts or 'Bombay Bloomers'. I was planning to just sell them unpainted online, but when I saw the 'Desert' theme on the Challenge Quadrant I thought, "I have just the figures for that theme."

The miniatures are by Artizan Designs and consist of an officer in a Balmoral, a sergeant wearing a Tam O'Shanter and kilt with kilt apron, and a dozen soldiers armed with a mix of SMLE No. 1 Mk IIIs, Bren guns, or Thompson submachine guns. I found the detail very pronounced, which made them quite enjoyable to paint, especially after painting all those PSC Soviets. In my usual style, I glued the figures onto 1" fender washers, added sand to the bases, and primed everything black using an airbrush. They were then painted using a selection of Vallejo acrylics suggested by the Artizan Designs painting guide for the 8th Army in North Africa. I also used some GW washes, specifically Reikland Fleshshade on all the skin areas, and Agrax Earthshade on the uniforms and weapons. All in all, I am pretty happy with the way things turned out.

Two sections of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando

No. 1 Section commanded by an officer

 

Close up of the officer with two supporting riflemen

No. 2 Section commanded by a sergeant

Close up of the sergeant with his kilt and kilt apron

 Thanks for reading.

Team Yankee 15mm British Challenger Tanks and Harrier Jets

Fresh off the painting desk I've got a squadron of beastly British Challenger tanks from Battlefront's Team Yankee range.

I painted these in the same style as my Chieftains. Basecoated Catachan Green, highlighted extensively with Vallejo German Uniform. Camo painted with a mix of craft black and Mechanicus Standard Grey. The tank was washed with thinned Nuln Oil, then the green was re-done with German Uniform. Drybrushed all over with Ushabti Bone, then dusted up with the same. Tool handles painted Skrag Brown, machineguns and shovel blades done with Leadbelcher, fire extinguishers in Mephiston Red.

Each of the five Challengers in the box can be assembled as standard or with the upgraded ROMOR armour pack shown above. 

You also get enough alternate fuel drums to outfit the unit with those as well.

Three crew figures are included in the box as well.

As well as the alternate track skirts, you also get the ROMOR front hull armour add-on. No decals included with the box though. The Union flags were from my spares box.

Here's the standard armour configuration. Note track skirts and lack of reinforcement on the front hull.

Here's a closer look at the skirts.

Rear end sans fuel drums...

...and plain front end. I'm thinking that the Challys will be a useful addition to my British force. They're certainly worth a bucketload of points but they should be, with a front armour rating of 20 (standard) and 21 (ROMOR) and an anti-tank factor of 22 for the main gun! 

The Challengers are BIG... from left to right I've lined up a T-64, Leopard 2, Chieftain, and Challenger.

Crazy how much bigger this thing is than a Soviet T-64. Length of the Soviet tank hull is 6.54m vs. 8.33m for the Chally... looks about right I guess.

As if the Challengers weren't enough of a force multiplier, I also painted a pair of Harrier ground attack aircraft.

These are also from Battlefront... sort of. These are the new plastic kit Harriers that have replaced the previously offered resin kits. Good on Battlefront for offering plastic kits at a lower price than the old resin box, but that's not really the end of the story. The fact is that the new Battlefront Harriers are just repackaged sprues from "Ace Corporation". It's kind of funny actually... the sprues include landing gear and other parts that aren't even referred to in the Battlefront assembly instructions.

The box comes with a nice decal sheet though, including extra serials, tail flashes, and even roundels.

These two chaps should come in handy... being jump jets they can shoot at helicopters (!) and arrive on a 3+ each turn (!!)

Heh... another funny thing about the "Ace Corporation" sprues is that the canopy was obviously meant to be clear in the original (it was on a separate sprue from everything else) but in the Battlefront version it's cast in the same grey plastic.

I was thinking about getting some SU-25 Frogfoots for my Soviets and note that there are new "plastic kit" versions of those available from Battlefront now too... guess who makes a 1:144 Frogfoot kit? You got it, Ace Corporation.

Colonel Barnaby for the Sudan

Another lovely morning in the desert, hunting Mahdists..Colonel Fred Barnaby from Perry Miniatures

Just a lone 28mm figure to share in this post - this is a 28mm figure of Colonel Fred Barnaby sculpted by the Perry Twins. The figure came along with an order I made to Perry Miniatures a while back, and since a lot of my recent hobby-ing and painting has been involved with my 28mm Sudan Revolt collection, I thought it would be fun and quick to paint this lovely figure.

Another great sculpt from the Perrys...

Barnaby is something of a larger-than-life hero of the colonial era.  Much smarter people can tell you about his rather amazing life.  Barnaby's adventures took him to the Sudan, where he participated in the campaign around the Red Sea port of Suakin, and was later killed in action at Abu Klea during the campaign to relieve Gordon in Khartoum. For my part, I thought the figure was lovely (as all the Perry sculpts are) and it was fun to keep in a bit of practice for the Sudan as Curt's next Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge looms.  

This figure will now wait for another game in the Sudan...

I think Barnaby will make either an excellent command figure or just some manner of bonus token or marker within a British square during games of Black Powder. The sculpt is wonderful, and I have really been enjoying painting different Perry miniatures through the fall.

So there you have it - a lone 28mm figure, not a heck of a lot to share. But I have been painting some stuff for a new period, and I hope to tell you more about that soon...

The British Arrive - Sudan Re-Basing Part 2

"Steady lads!" The 28mm British forces ready to fight the Mahdists in the Sudan...or in my kitchen...

This is part two of the long, long, long-delayed completion of the re-basing of my 28mm Mahdist Revolt collection. Here are the British infantry forces and commanders on their new bases.

For the British infantry I wanted to go with a very narrow frontage for the figures.  They were generally in squares for actions in the Sudanese theatre, and were greatly outnumbered in the battles. Your firing line is going to be compact, the men close together, firing volley after volley, hoping the enemy will break...I hoped the figures would represent that, so the frontage is narrow - 15mm per foot model.   With 24 models per infantry unit that works out to a frontage of 180mm in line, which is very reasonable for battles on 6' x 4' tables.

I'm pleased with how it turned out - narrow enough to give the solid look to the battle line, but still large enough to take up a decent amount of space on the table, and not too large in contrast of the Mahdist warbands.

Screw gun and crew hold the flank near the stout members of the KRRC.

My original effort had centered around painting the units involved with General Graham's forces who were based at the port of Suakin on the Red Sea coast.  These units engaged Mahdist forces in the battles of El Teb and Tamai in the spring of 1884.  My first British infantry were a group of Yorks & Lancs (who could probably represent one of several units present, as several battalions had similar-looking uniforms and kit issued to them), then a group of Cameron Highlanders (at least, I think they were Camerons...I tried my best with the tartan.  Maybe they are Gordons? But they are not the Black Watch) and associated support.  This would include the notorious Gatling and Gardner guns, and a screw gun.

General Graham and assorted supporting officers to represent the overall command and brigade commanders in "Black Powder"

In 2013 I worked to expand the British side of my collection.  I painted up a group to represent the King's Royal Rifle Corps, who had black leather belts and pouches.  I also added some cavalry - figures representing the 10th Hussars. There is a mix of figures with sabres and with improvised lances in that unit. The British cavalry found themselves turning to these lances in order to deal with terrain that, while nominally "flat" and "open", could often be very broken and difficult for cavalry troopers trained to operate under European battle conditions.  The Madhist warriors would make things tricky, lying low and lying down and making it hard for the mounted troopers to hit them. Lances were a solution...

One of the iconic pieces of this setting - a Gardner gun - deadly for Mahdists until it jams! Some naval ratings are present to the left and behind the gun.

Gatling gun in position at the corner of a brigade square.

In 2013 I also wanted to work toward some games set on the Gordon Relief Expedition, particularly the engagements at Abu Klea and Abu Kru involving the British Camel Corps. To this end I painted a group of figures to represent one of the Camel Regiments present in that column. These are some of my favourite figures from the setting, as they sport things like neck curtains, goggles, ammunition bandoleers and sword bayonets that offer a unique look.

The Yorks & Lancs (and potentially a number of other units) on their new bases.

Highlanders prepare to deliver a volley!

As "Black Powder" is a pretty easy-going set of rules, I didn't need to re-base the gun teams right now.  I might do that at some point, but as a blog visitor Murdock pointed out in the comment section of the previous post, the round base kind of lines up with the map symbol for artillery - I like that! At any rate, everything is measured easily from the barrel so these pieces will be fine, and they stay as originally painted back in 2007!

The 10th Hussars, sporting an assortment of weapons.

Another view of the Hussars...turns out I had painted 13 models, which is kind of...odd...anyway, one extra lad at the back.

This force is not totally coherent...the Camel Corps figures would not have seen action around Suakin for example, while the Highlanders and Hussars would not have been present with the Desert Column.  I don't think the Rifles were there either...but I'm not sure - the elements of the Desert Column are always a little confusing as the Regiments in question were pulled from volunteers from various units, including cavalry regiments and the Guards regiments.

But anyway, coherence aside, it will do for "Black Powder" games! Hopefully these lads will see action in the sands of the Sudan on the gaming table sometime this fall. 

Team Yankee: British Infantry and Lynx Helicopters

The latest Team Yankee escalation involves the British. Conscript Greg very kindly presented me with the infantry component of a British mechanised platoon for Christmas, knowing that I intended to fire up a troop of Chieftains. So I've now completed painting the infantry (see below) but wanted to add an aerial component to the small force as well. Enter the Westland Lynx helicopters.

Battlefront sells a great kit. The box contains two models, which can be built as either "Helarm" (TOW missiles in racks on either side of the fuselage, shown above) or the unarmed "transport" variants.

It's a good-looking helicopter! Rotors are one-piece and attach to the body with rare-earth magnets supplied in the box. I painted the helicopters in the same colours as the Chieftains - primed black, all over Catachan Green, then camo stripes of Abaddon Black mixed with a skosh of Mechanicus Standard Grey, then Vallejo German Uniform for the lighter green bits. Follow with a wash of Nuln Oil. Missile racks were drybrushed with MSG for highlights, and the tubes painted Steel Legion Drab.

Decals come in the box as well. Strangely, the models used in Battlefront's own propaganda shots (box front and in the Iron Maiden "codex") don't have applied decals. I had to search out the proper placement on the Internet (I know, wah wah wah)
  

Close-up of the TOW missile rack. Being indecisive and cheap, and wanting maximum flexibility out of the kits...

...I magnetised them! You can see the disc-shaped neo-dymium magnet in the picture above, directly inboard of the centre support of the missile rack, between the two supporting "legs".

This magnet adheres to a disc magnet superglued in the appropriate position inside the fuselage, on either side, before assembly. With magnets attached to the missile racks, they can be clipped on and off as you please. Just make sure to use magnets that are strong enough to grip each other through the plastic hull. The missile rack assembly is very light so it doesn't take much of a magnet to do the job.
  

Presto - just remove the missile racks and you have the "transport" variant.

Now on to the infantry - the mechanised platoon comes with seven large stands and one small one for the two-inch mortar.

Here's the platoon commander, identified by flowers on the base.

I love the poses and sculpts of the Battlefront infantry but just wish that the casting was better. There are still a few slipped molds and mangled faces/weapons in the lot.

Here's the British contingent so far. Next up will be sourcing some FV432s for the mech platoon, and maybe getting some guys with MILAN ATGWs, but I don't see the British force growing much beyond that. It's intended to be an allied contingent for the West Germans in "narrative" games and will do fine in that role.