All,
Continuing with my 'airborne' theme, let me present my Fallschirmjaeger force, based for temperate climes (if you missed my desert FJ, they are here: BlackHawkHet: 15mm WWII German Fallschirmjaeger for North Africa, Sicily, and Italy) climes, such as France and the Low Countries, Normandy, and the Eastern Front (though I don't much about FJ on the Eastern Front, have to do some research).
I bought this force pretty much in its entirety off a gentleman on Ebay, and he did a fantastic job. The only things I painted completely myself were the MG Platoon and the truck on the Commander's stand. Having said that, I didn't completely get off the hook: they were based for the Med (Tunisia, Sicily, Italy), and they were in appropriate uniforms. Well, I already had FJ for the Med, so I had to repurpose these. All the trousers and most of the helmets had to be repainted, I put a simple camo brown on the gray-green smocks, and I had to knock the clump foliage off the bases, paint over the sand with brown earth, and add static grass, so a fair amount of work on my part, but it was worth it and I'm very happy how they turned out.
The entire force, comprised of:
-A Command Stand
-An Executive Officer (XO, or 2iC) stand
-Six Rifle Platoons (three sections and a Platoon Commander, or PC)*
-An MG Platoon (four MG-42s and a PC)
-A Mortar Platoon (four 8.0cm tubes and a PC)
-An Anti-Tank Gun Platoon (four 3.7cm PaK-36s with Stielgranate)
*Overall I think the force works throughout the entire war, if you can get past them wearing camo in the early war, but what's really killing me is, I have NO panzerschrecks for these guys, and I don't know how to go about getting them. I know Martin at Peter Pig sells separate panzerschreck packs, and I'm a huge fan of Peter Pig, but I'm scared they'll be much smaller than these Battlefront troops. Same guys for Russ at Old Glory...
Another look.
The overall force commander's stand. Pretty cool, no?
Reverse.
The XO's stand. I forgot, there is one dude with a panzerfaust here (right).
Another look. Here you get a good look at the simple camo I put over the gray-green tunics, and the darker green I used for the (previously sand-colored) trousers.
Reverse.
A look at some of the rifle platoon command stands.
A close up. All of the guys I bought on Ebay are Battlefront metals.
Another look.
And one more.
Some rifle section stands.
A closeup. Ahh, the "using my A-gunner as a tripod" pose, seemingly omnipresent in wargaming figures...
A closer look at how to make sure your assistant's brains are churned into chowder... A cool pose, nonetheless.
Another rifle stand.
And one more, this time with the machine gunner in a much more conventional pose, steadying his weapon on a tree stump, A-gunner feeding the weapon.
Again.
The MG platoon, four MG-42s on tripods and their PC. The MGs are painted by yours truly, and are the newer Battlefront plastics. So first, I much prefer the Battlefront metals in this case, the plastics have softer detail, are kind of goofy looking, and are much, much bigger than the metals.
Furthermore, the platoon turned out way too dark because I had previously used them for my desert FJ, then just painted over some pieces of them, before giving them a second inkwash. Not very clever of me...
Another look.
The mortar platoon, consisting of four tubes and a PC.
A close up. These are the old school Battlefront metals again, which I think are much better proportioned than the plastic MG platoon. Which is kind of funny, because the US and British plastics (both paratroopers and 'leg' infantry) have been fantastic.
Again.
And one more.
The ATG platoon. Yes, I really need to get some PaK-38s, but I couldn't help myself but use these PaK-36s with the little RPG-looking deal on the end ;)
A close up.
Again.
Oh, and I also used some of these guys to make up some proper command stands for my desert FJ force, figured I'd show them off here rather than making a separate post.
A look at the overall commander's stand, with a cute little Kubelwagen. In these pics you get to see what the temperate FJ looked like before I went to work on them (the yellow pants, some with yellow helmets, and the plain gray-green smock).
Reverse.
And the XO's stand.
Just love the FG-42 pose, looks straight out of a picture from Monte Cassino.
And one more.
So, there they are. Whaddaya think? I know I'm a goober, but I love how they turned out, and can't wait to get them on the table. Of course, I always say that, and it appears I'm working up to more forces than I could ever hope to get on the table in one lifetime, but c'est la vie (la guerre?), I'm having a great time and will soon have a pretty good handle on doing any campaign in WWII that interests me.
More on the way!
V/R,
Jack
Great mix of camo and helmets here. Love the FG42 pose.
ReplyDeleteGreat resource for me, as I am finishing some stuff for Carentan paras.
Thanks Darrin, and yeah, that FG-42 pose is awesome. Well, hurry up then, I'll follow your lead on Carentan ;)
DeleteWe've had some atrocious weather and so I was 'working from home today,' spent quite a bit of time perusing the FOBWWII rules again, really yearning for a game. The rules are pretty straightforward*, I'm just worried about all the pre-game work to roll up the Command, Engineering, FO, AA, Combat, and Defense dice for everything, and the basics of movement and combat are pretty easy, but some of the supporting stuff gets pretty complicated, maybe too complicated for my youngsters.
We shall see.
*Except the "Benefit from Rolling EVEN" table for rolling higher and even on fire, that says "Enemy infantry or vehicles (or vehicles carrying troops or towing weapons) fall back the difference in inches, Suppressed," and then the very next line says "Mounted infantry dismount and fall back the difference in inches, Suppressed." Well, which is it? Or both? That seems pretty harsh though, for a packed halftrack to fall back, THEN the infantry dismount and fall back again...
V/R,
Jack
outstanding, Jack. the battlefront metals are hard to beat for personality and authenticity. the new plastics are underwhelming.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve. Yeah, the metals had a few goblins (some dudes with really short torsos and/or really long arms), but overall they are very good sculpts with lots of character. Regarding the plastics, I've got quite a few, and rate them as follows:
Delete-US Airborne (both the platoon set, like you find in the 'Open Fire' box, and the giants from the Airborne Rifle Company box) - Pretty doggone good, on all accounts (detail, crispness, proportions, and poses).
-US Leg Infantry - sharp castings, good proportions, some good poses and some goofy poses.
-British Leg Infantry -Pretty doggone good
-British Airborne Infantry - Overall pretty good, but a little soft on detail
-German leg infantry (they've got platoon, company, and the Open Fire sets) - Pretty good on everything, but a bit brittle and lots of weapons break off
-German SS infantry - okay, little soft on detail, good on proportions, good on poses, but made of the bendy plastic
-German FJ (I only have the MG-42 platoon) - Soft on detail, really big, the poses are kinda goofy
For whatever it's worth.
V/R,
Jack
Nice. Not seen the Steilgranate option for the PAK 36 modelled before. Must look out for that. Add a couple of 76.2mm ex-Soviet AT guns and you're all ready to try and stop XXX Corps on the first day of Market Garden as well.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Andy
Thanks, Andy. Yeah, the PaK-36s are old Battlefront metals, but I couldn't tell you which pack number they are. And you're certainly on point, I have no doubt these troops will be facing off against XXX Corps in the (hopefully near) future.
DeleteV/R,
Jack
You managed to fill in all the airborne units for the major participants! You are right, you can play just about any game on any front in WW2 you wanted to.
ReplyDeleteShaun,
DeleteI'm certainly trying! I've still got a considerable amount of work to do, but when I'm finished with all this (everything I've already purchased and have on the work bench) I'll have everything I want (at least regarding WWII), except French for Fall of France and the Med.
V/R,
Jack