Second World War Canadians

With many of the Conscripts involved in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, there have not been many posts on our blog page lately, so here is another one of my ‘Armies in Review’ posts. When I started doing Bolt Action my first army of choice was a Canadian force, and as I had been a member of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in my younger days, I wanted to paint up my infantry units marked for the 2^nd Canadian Division, and all the supporting units marked for those that actually supported the Camerons in Northwest Europe in 1944-45. At the moment I can currently field two 38 man infantry platoons, a company headquarters, a 6pdr anti-tank gun, 3 Vickers medium machine guns, 2 medium mortars, a carrier platoon of four Universal carriers, a few 25pdr field guns, a forward observation officer, a reconnaissance troop of scout and armoured cars, a troop of Sherman tanks, and a pair of Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers.

The full force on parade.

Vickers machine gun teams, mortar teams, and 6pdr anti-tank gun

The machine gun teams are a mix of manufacturers being (from left to right) old school Bolt Action, Crusader Miniatures, and Westwind Miniatures. The team 'on the move' is also by Westwind. The 6pdr anti-tank gun and the mortar teams are by Battle Honors.

Carrier platoon to rapidly move the support weapons

The two carriers on the left are metal models by Battle Honors, with crews and extra stowage by Bolt Action. The two carriers on the right are resin casting by Bolt Action, as are the crews. The dimensions for the Battle Honors carriers are a bit off, primarily in that the part of the vehicle in front of the driver is too short. They end up being wider than the Bolt Action castings, but the same length.

Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers

The Ram Kangaroos are conversions using the chassis from a 1/50 scale Solido Grant tank and a resin kit from Quarter Kit. I had purchased the Grants as something to use with my Soviets, but once I had enough T34/76 tanks, they got repurposed. The conversion kit went together very nicely, but I think they are no longer available.

Company headquarters, with supporting artillery in behind

All the figures are from the Westwind range, with the jeep being a repainted 1/50 scale Corgi diecast model with a crew from Bolt Action that was specifically marketed to go with the Corgi jeeps. At some point I have to do a conversion on the officer to replace his forage cap with a proper Highland Balmoral.

First platoon of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada

The platoon consists of a headquarters, a PIAT team, a light mortar team, and three 10 man sections, all wearing the blue divisional patch of the 2nd Canadian Division. The infantry sections are a mix of Westwind Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures. The Westwind figures are closer to true 25mm size, and I really love the animation in the sculpts. Each section consists of a section commander with a Sten gun, a Bren gun team and seven riflemen. The officer, NCO, and radio team of the platoon headquarters are Westwind castings, and the PIAT and Mortar teams are from Crusader.

Second platoon with the same composition as the first

A reconnaissance troop of two scout cars and two armoured cars

The reconnaissance regiment of the 2nd Canadian Division was the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment (14th Canadian Hussars). The Daimler 'Dingo' scout cars and the Daimler armoured cars are repainted Dinky Toy diecast models that I picked up cheaply from eBay. All had seen a lot of wear and tear, and much of the original paint had worn off, which was the main reason why I got them for the minimum bid. I didn't mind about the paint as I planned to repaint them anyway.

A troop of Sherman tanks 

The 2nd Canadiain Division regularly received armoured support from the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Since this gave me another opportunity to represent a home town unit on the gaming table, these Shermans are marked as 'C' Squadron Fort Garry Horse. They are all Solido 1/50 diecast models. Two were originally the version of the Sherman with the 105mm howitzer. On one of these I replaced the howitzer barrel with an appropriate 76mm barrel, while the other was converted to a Sherman 'Firefly' with a 17pdr anti-tank gun using a resin kit from Quarter Kit. All have extra track sections welded to their hulls to beef up their armour, as well as plenty of gear stowed on the rear deck. The extra track and stowage are resin casting.

25pdr field gun, transport, and a forward observation officer

One of the artillery units that was part of the 2nd Canadian Division was the 4th Field Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery. All the vehicles sport the proper tactical signs for that unit. The field gun, limbers, and crew are Battle Honors casting, while the Quad Field Artillery Tractors are again Dinky Toy diecast models acquired off of eBay and repainted. 

Me (on the right) in a Universal carrier

The above photo was taken in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building during the 100th Anniversary parade of the formation of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in 2010. The vehicle bears the correct tactical signs for the Camerons. Thanks for reading. I wish everyone all the best in 2022, and good luck to all the Conscripts who are involved in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

 

Bolt Action and Crusader early-WW2 German Infantry and Support Weapons

 While Conscript Dallas was busy painting up his platoon of early war German infantry in preparation for the attack on the Polish Post Office scenario, I was working on a backlog of miniatures by Bolt Action and Crusader, some of which have been based and primed for years, Others were still unassembled in the original box or zipper bag in which they were shipped. Just as an indication of how long these have been on my 'To Do' list, a number of them are no longer in production, or the sculpts have been changed since I bought them.

In total I completed a ten man infantry section, two additional LMG teams, an anti-tank rifle team, a MMG, two mortar teams, a 75mm infantry gun, a 37mm anti-tank gun, and a bailed out Panzer crew.

Bolt Action infantry section

Close up of the rifle group

Close up of the LMG group

 

Crusader LMG teams, and Bolt Action anti-tank rifle team

 

Bolt Action 37mm anti-tank gun (Panzerabwehrkanone 36)

Bolt Action 75mm infantry gun (7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18)

 

Crusader 50mm mortar teams and MG34 on a tripod

Bolt Action bailed out Panzer crew (OOP) with a Corgi 1/50 diecast Panther

The infantry section, infantry gun, and the MMG will all see action in Danzig at the Polish Post Office. Currently on the work bench are additional support weapons. More to follow.

Painting Challenge Submission 18 - 28mm Byzantine Skutatoi

A Byzantine tribute to the Snow Lord masses in my kitchen...

The conclusion of the 10th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is almost upon us - it will end at midnight this Friday.  This submission is therefore making it "just under the wire". Here are two new units of 28mm Byzantine troops. These are skutatoi, tough spearmen of the Byzantine empire.  These two particular units are armoured, and carrying kite-shaped shields, which would place them in the later spectrum of the Byzantines' long period in history.  There are 24 spearmen in each unit.

You will see behind each unit there are two small groups of four archers...it was often the case that Byzantine spear units had the direct support of archers (or troops with javelins) mixed in the unit.  Rather than mix the archers in among the spearmen, I opted to go with these small groups at the back.  This allows some flexibility - to remove the archers, or swap them out for troops with javelins or slings or other things.

When Curt gave me this specific goal - while in his guise of the "Snow Lord" of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - he noted, two years ago I launched a new project, and while there is no need to reprise the background here, it was one that was long overdue - see here for more on that.  I thought back at the time that I would indeed move ahead with a 28mm Byzantine collection, but after that initial burst of progress 2018, my efforts stalled and the prospect of painting more Byzantines faded...I have not painted a Byzantine since finishing that heavy cavalry unit back in AHPC 8.

When I saw the new format for Challenge X take shape, and I saw various Challengers receive their specific tasks from the "Snow Lord", I had little doubt as to which undertaking would come my way once I made my own attempt on the great peak in the centre of Challenge Island.  This premonition sharpened further once I saw Curt unveil his new Ottoman project...I pulled the old box of Byzantine bits from the pile in anticipation, even as I worked to finish more and more Winter WW2 Germans.

The "Snow Lord" did not disappoint, tasking me with completing two new units of 28mm Byzantine troops.  I suppose I could have squeezed a bit, and done a unit of skirmishers (six or eight models), but I always remember Curt saying to me "It is a painting challenge, after all" and I thought this would be the time to put a good foundation in place for my Byzantines: two main infantry units - the skutatoi - that would serve as a solid base for the force. It would be a big chunk of work, one that was out of step with my current brush whims, but I thought I was up for it.  And it was early February, there was still tons of time left in the Challenge, and I can paint pretty fast when I feel like it, right?

What is that saying about biting off more than one can chew...?

Fireforge Games

Fireforge miniatures make up the red unit.

I thought this was the perfect time to crack open the boxes of Fireforge Games' plastic spearmen - they had been released a few years ago, and looked quite sharp - for plastic models.  Fireforge had even released command kits to go with the units. What a great chance to give them a go! Yeah...

The plastic figures do not mix well into a unit with narrow frontage.

The bases are 50mm square...the figures barely fit, and don't work well together.

The basic spear-armed infantry have plastic tabs under their feet.  That is not unusual - a number of plastic figure sets do this.  The problem is that, first of all, it is not consistently done - the command figures don't have the same thing, and neither do the archers.  The second problem is that these plastic tabs are rather spacious, and would block the figures from fitting together on the narrower frontage I was hoping to achieve.  So I had to waste a lot of time cutting up the stupid plastic tabs off of 21 plastic spearmen...

Just to be clear, f**k plastic and f**k spray cans. 

And...well, we've all had the occasional encounter with bad primer and bad plastic.  Thankfully this was limited, and I was able to cover these sins with some paint, but still...f**k spray cans and f**k plastic. 

Then we have the command group.  These are NOT plastic, but rather a soft plastic resin, managing to combine many of the worst features of both materials.  The "restic" is super bendy, and the details are very soft, many of them fading beneath the base coat of black primer. Why do figure manufacturers use this useless material? Why?

Archers at the back...these are also multipart plastic figures from Fireforge...

The final issue with the Fireforge figures is that they don't mix very well together as a unit. Some of the poses are fine for close ranks, but others certainly are not, and it was a terrible thing to come up with a way to fit them on the bases.  I like spear units to appear dense - the soldiers close up for protection and maximum effectiveness.  I wanted a frontage of a little over 15mm for each figure.  It was a hell of a thing to make that happen with these Fireforge figures.

I can't get over the size of the musician's horn...presumably he can summon Cthulu with that thing...

Anyway, this very first unit of Fireforge plastics will be my last.  I think they would make great figures for individually-based skirmish games like "Lion Rampant" (and this is the plan I have for the second box of plastic Byzantine spearmen I have from this company).  Getting this bunch painted, built and based took way more time than I expected,but I got this one unit done...and hey, I still had several weeks left in the Challenge...

Crusader Miniatures

Crusader Miniatures Byzantine spearmen.

Crusader is a well-known miniature brand in the gaming hobby, so I was looking forward to this.  First of all, the figures are metal, and we all know that metal > plastic.  But Crusader has a number of frustrations too, ones that I did not expect.

First of all, they don't include spears, but sell them separately.  This is a terrible habit - when you sell spearmen, you should include spears, full stop.  I don't care if they are available separately...they should be included in the pack too, no exceptions. 

It was also tough to find the right sort of metal or steel spears for the figures...many of the steel spears out there these days are so skinny and thin that they look, at best, more like javelins than long Byzantine kontarion.  Curt helpfully suggested getting some steel pikes from Wargames Foundry, and just cutting them down slightly, so I did this for the bulk of the spearmen in this unit, although there are a few soft metal spears from Gripping Beast mixed in.

As with the other unit, a group of archers at the back, providing direct support.

Having found weapons, I then discovered that getting the figures to hold the spears was quite the obstacle in itself.  The right hands were cast poorly, and I found I had to carve/hack each hand in order to create a "channel" of sorts so each spearman could hold the spear.  The results were uneven, and in some cases the spears appear to almost be levitating near the hand, as opposed to actually being in the grasp of the soldier...even now, many of the spears snap loose easily, and I have re-glued a number of them several times...they won't last on the table.

There are a few metal spears from Gripping Beast, but most are cut-down steel pikes from Wargames Foundry.

The final obstacle to enjoying the Crusader miniatures is the shields - they mix up the shields! Why, why, why? First of all, it makes it very hard/impossible to use shield transfers and second...it's just stupid! Let me pick one style and use it consistently! F**k.

You can see the variety of small differences in the shields...this, in my opinion, is NOT a feature.

And so for weeks the Hobby Gods have mocked my hubris and overconfidence, and something I thought I could knock off with ease has taken more than a month of hard slogging.  Throw in travel challenges and work demands (which are OK - I like work, because it pays for figures!), and it was starting to look like I might miss the deadline all together.  Some late nights this past weekend helped me close the gap...and these units are now ready for action on the tabletop. 

For God and the Emperor!

There were a lot of hobby headaches finishing this bunch, and yet it is a painting challenge after all! I probably would have just moved on to something else at another time of the year, but the Challenge held my feet to the fire. Now that the headaches are over with, I'm thrilled to have these finished - and to have made a major contribution to my dormant Byzantine-collection ambitions! The next steps, when they come, will seem a little easier I'm sure. 

Thanks for looking...I hope all folks, friends and family are safe and healthy, and that these challenging times might allow for some hobby time to take the edge off...

Reinforcements for the 2nd Canadian Division

The painting competition is quickly becoming a distant memory [This happens a lot when you get to my age, regardless of how recent the event] and I ended up so far behind the pack that the leaders were but specks on the horizon, rapidly increasing the distance between me and them. I am hoping to achieve a personal goal of increasing my painting output for the year 2011 and by December 31st have at least one miniature painted for every day of the year. 28 down, 337 to go. Several years ago I picked up some West Wind WW2 Brits/Canadians [part of their "Berlin or Bust" range - http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=3_67] which I painted up to represent the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. Since then I have acquired some Bolt Action and Crusader miniatures to add a second rifle platoon as well as some heavy weapons. Only the heavy weapons (PIAT's, mortars and heavy machine guns) got completed in time for the Fall Painting competition, but the rest of rifle sections have now moved off the assembly line and are marching to the front. Next up is the 6-pounder anti-tank gun and a carrier platoon of 4 Universal carriers. The heavy weapons teams are mostly by Crusader with the exception of the Vickers HMG on the front left, which is by Bolt Action. The second rifle platoon is now complete with Bren gun teams [front right] A close-up of some the section commanders, armed with Sten guns.