All,
Greetings, all, and welcome to my piece de resistance! You simply cannot do Market-Garden without having British Airborne based to fight in the dilapidated, bombed-out streets of Arnhem and 'Der Hexenkessel!' Ugh, hope I don't sound too snobbish, just joking around, and making the point that I've wanted to have this force ever since I was little kid watching "A Bridge Too Far." Well, now I've got it! And how did I get it? Well, most of the figures came to me painted off a gentleman on Ebay, but they weren't based the way I wanted them, so I ripped them off their bases and did them myself, doing my best to mimic what my buddy AJ had already done on my Soviets and Germans.
So here are my best efforts to replicate Sean Connery and Anthony Hopkins, I mean General Urquhart and Colonel Frost, please take a look.
The entire force, consisting of:
-One Officer Commanding (OC) stand
-One Second in Charge (2iC) stand
-Five Rifle Platoons (of three sections, a Platoon Commander -PC-, and a PIAT team, each)
-One MG Platoon (Four Vickers and a PC)
-One Mortar Platon (Three 3" tubes and a PC)
-One Anti-Tank Gun (ATG) Platoon (two 6-pdr guns and a PC)
-One Artillery Platoon (two 75mm pack howitzers and a PC)
-A Forward Observer Officer (FOO) stand
-Two 'extra' command stands
-A Flamethrower stand
Another look.
The OC Stand, all Battlefront metals painted by the Ebay guy. And they're really beautiful, too ;) How is my basing? I worry that I didn't cover as much area with brick as AJ did, but I'm pretty happy with my gray drybrush efforts.
From the other side.
The 2iC's stand. The guy at right (with trolley) was actually bought off some Chinese painter on Ebay.
Again. Can never have enough red berets.
And once more.
Now don't get mad at me, I know this is meant as a Pathfinder, but I'm using it as the FOO stand.
Another look.
And once more.
The 'extra' command stands. I painted these, and they're Battlefront plastics.
Another look.
And one more.
The flamethrower team. I painted these, too, and they're actually from Plastic Soldier Company.
Reverse.
Three of the Rifle Platoon command stands, Battlefront metals from the Ebay guy.
A closeup.
Another.
A closeup of a radioman with Sten.
Three of the PIAT teams, all in different poses.
Kneeling and firing.
Lying down, maybe reloading?
And advancing.
Three of the rifle stands.
Too many helmets, but still good looking. Bren at the front.
Another rifle stand, NCO with Sten, Bren over the gunner's shoulder.
Another rifle stand, three Stens and a dude in beret firing his rifle.
The MG Platoon of four Vickers and a PC. These MGs are all Battlefront plastics painted by yours truly.
A closeup.
Another.
The Mortar Platoon of three 3" tubes and a PC. Again, the tubes are just leftovers I had lying around, the PC is Battlefront metal infantry from the Ebay guy, and the mortar crews are actually Battlefront Engineers in metal from the Chinese painter off Ebay.
A closer look.
And another.
The ATG Platoon, with two 6-pdrs. Again, it's set up much the same way, with some guys from the Ebay dude and some from the Chinese painter.
Closeup.
Another.
And look at that Platoon Commander, blowing his horn!
And the artillery, with two pack howitzers, but this time the crews are from the Ebay dude and the PC is from the Chinese painter.
Closeup.
And again.
A British Airborne rifle section cautiously advances through the rubble. Yeah, I know that's a knocked out T-34 over there, gimme a break! ;)
I hope you like them, I absolutely love them, and can't wait to get into some scraps with them. But I need an opponent, right? And I assure you that opponent is not the greatcoated Germans you saw in the last post; I'm currently working on some SS troops in urban basing (boo, hiss, yes, I know they're evil, but that's who I want to face off against in Arnhem, and I've got another surprise in store: I'm doing some 82nd Airborne Yanks for Hunner Park and its immediate environs in Nijmegen. Yeah, I've definitely gone too far, but that also means I've gone too far to stop!
More to come!
V/R,
Jack
"...gone too far to stop.... words to wargame by.
ReplyDeleteAs long as it's not to do with bridges....
Seriously nice work.
Well, I'm in good company then! ;)
DeleteHey, I hope I soon get to making it about bridges, such as those at Son, Nijmegen, and Arnhem, that's been the whole point of a lot of this!
I greatly appreciate the kind words; I don't recall seeing you post a comment here previously (my apologies if you have), so I extend a hearty 'welcome!'
V/R,
Jack
Excellent. Looks like you've been smashing up a house brick for scatter on the bases. Great work.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Andy
Thanks, Andy! And yessir, that's exactly it. It's so simple:
Delete-Paint the base brown
-Let it dry
-Paint the areas you want to be rubble with that same brown
-Toss on your pulverized brick
-Shake it off
-Let it dry
-Drybrush some gray on it.
I love how they turned out.
V/R,
Jack
Looks great. I've seen someone try with cat litter, but it doesn't really look like brick - too blobby. Yours works really well.
DeleteCheers, Andy
Yup, I tried kitty litter, too ;)
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Love the Brits. The basing looks fine, should be great for the planned battles on the Red Planet :-) Actually they do seem as though they will fit in fine with AJ's basing. I thought these would be the last figures to show us but at then end you mention you are still painting. When you are on a roll, keep going!
ReplyDeleteMe too, brother! Yeah, just have to clutter the mat up with enough stuff, and keep the photos in close enough that the orange doesn't scream at you. I've been trying to figure out a way to alter the mat to tone it down some, but I'm scared of completely ruining it.
DeleteAnd you are correct more, more forces are almost done and more are on the way. I suppose I am on a roll, but I can't seem to stop and it's taking me over a cliff! ;)
V/R,
Jack