All,
So, here I am, keeping the ball rolling, with a ton more posts to make cataloging my 28mm miniatures collection, all on the road to, you know, actually playing a game.
Last time I showed you my British force for Italy and Sicily, so I figured this would be a good time to throw in my Brits force North Africa (or Western Desert, if you prefer). These are all from Warlord’s “Bolt Action” range of figures, minus a pair of 3D printed figures, and are largely the plastic multi-pose guys, with a few metals for the crew-served weapons. I’ve also got a bunch of vehicles (from various sources), but I’ll wait and throw them into their own, separate post.
Overall I’m a big fan of the Warlord plastics; they’re fun to put together, offer a decent amount of variation, and I know some folks aren’t fans of their ‘heroic’ proportions, but I find them clean, relatively dynamic, and of no concern on the tabletop. I’m generally not a fan of the Warlord metals, which are mostly significantly smaller than their plastic counterparts and sometimes have some VERY odd poses or proportions. And to circle back on the plastics; I really fell in love with them and had a great time building and painting them, BUT… at this point I can’t take it anymore! I have built sooooo many of them, and then I’ve built a bunch from Rubicon (all Vietnam stuff), Wargames Atlantic (WWII), and Black Powder Red Earth (Ultramodern), and while those figures are all fantastic, they can be a real #%$& to build! At this point I’ve pretty much resolved to only purchase metal figures that don’t require any assembly, I just can’t take anymore.
As always with my 28mm troops, I used Contrast Paints, and I can’t tell you how much I love them. They’re quick, easy, and have actually made painting fun and relaxing for me. Which is part of why I can’t seem to stop for long enough to get a game in…
Let’s get to it!
The whole mess, a bunch of infantry with a couple ATRs, a 2-pdr anti-tank gun, a Vickers machine gun, and a 3” mortar. Plenty of goodies to get at the Germans and Italians in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.
Let’s start with some prone Bren guns, of which I have five.
A closeup of one of the light machine gunners; quite the handsome chap. Painting was a snap; paint the whole damn thing Skeleton Horse, go over the webbing, pack, slings, and netted helmets with Plaguebearer Flesh, Gore Grunta Fur for wood, Basilicum Gray on shoes and weapons (followed by some highlighting with Lead Belcher on metal), the Gulliman Flesh (note: I prime in light gray and Gulliman Flesh looks okay over that, but I actually hit all the skin with matte white then the Gulliman Flesh in order to make it pop).
A look at the opposite side (of a different gunner, this one’s got a netted helmet).
Another look.
And now my two .55-caliber Boyes anti-tank rifles.
And the other side. Very nicely modeled, go together very easily.
A pair of 2” mortars which, like the ATRs, are organic to the rifle platoons. I don’t mind the prone pose, but I kind of prefer a kneeling pose with the 2” mortars but you just can’t pull it off with the parts provided.
I built these guys out to be assistant gunners for my prone Bren gunners.
A closeup; you can see a Bren magazine in his right hand.
I built these two to partner with either the ATRs or 2” mortars, depending on scenario. I’m sure you’ll notice these are the only guys in the whole force with long sleeves; that’s because this pack doesn’t have parts to build out guys looking through field glasses, so I actually had to steal the arms from Warlord’s Afrika Korps set!
A closeup.
A couple riflemen in a good kneeling shooting position.
Another group of riflemen, this time cycling the bolt to eject a spent casing and insert a fresh round into the chamber.
A closeup. I really like this pose, a solid looking dude taking care of his business.
And I forgot all about this guy! He, too, has long sleeves, and that’s because I wanted a PIAT for Italy (before deciding to go with Artizan figures for a separate force for Italy), and so I scrounged some parts from one of the old British NWE plastic sets (before they molded weapons in their hands) and slapp e them on an 8th Army torso.
Then I’ve got a dude with a pickaxe.
And one with spare PIAT or mortar rounds.
And here we’ve got six guys in a good off-hand position.
Two more guys with pickaxes or ammo.
Five dudes moving up at the double, bayonets fixed.
Dudes hustling forward in different poses/equipment.
A bunch of Corporals with M-1928 Thompson SMGs.
Very nicely sculpted. I even stole some of these Tommy Guns and gave them to my early war US Marines ;)
I really like this one, signaling the boys to follow.
Clearing a bunker or trench.
A couple Bren gunners on the move.
And some Officer/Sergeant types with barracks covers.
Leading the charge, Webley revolver in hand.
Platoon Sergeant signaling the men.
And the 2-pdr ATG.
Again.
And the two 3D printed guys, one with flamethrower and one with Gammon bomb.
And just to show you how my basing scheme looks on my actual desert mat. Not a perfect match, but close enough for me.
Well, there you go, hope you like them, and many more to follow. Because there are so many I'm going to push to get two posts out per week until this is all cleaned up.
V/R,
Jack
A very nice set of painted miniatures. Good to see the contrast paints worked out for you.
ReplyDeletePeter,
DeleteThanks, hope all is well! YES, the Contrast Paints are perfect for my limited painting abilities, couldn’t have done it without them!
V/R,
Jack
A splendid force, I too am a fan of warlord plastics. For our Sicily battles I have concentrated on the Americans and now Italians but one day I might do some British ?
ReplyDeleteMatt,
DeleteThank you Sir! And yes, I’ve really enjoyed both your Sealion and your Sicily campaigns. The Warlord plastics (at least the newer stuff with the weapons molded into the hands) are actually pretty fun… to a certain extent ;) And I can think of at least a dozen reasons you need to get you some British ;)
V/R,
Jack
They look lovely too, the contrast paints look great. I feel your pain wrt the assembly, I had some the early PSC 15mm US and Russian sets, and almost every figure needed sticking together. I nearly went mad. The newer figures are generally single piece mouldings, which is the way to go. 3D printing makes it much easier to do single pieces.
ReplyDeleteMartin,
DeleteHoly cow, yes, those early 15mm PSC were absolutely horrible little things, had me tearing my hair out! These 28s are much easier, but I’m with you, some of these 3D printed models now are absolutely gorgeous, AND require no assembly
V/R,
Jack.
A desert mat. With miniatures on them. But not part of a game. Mate, that is a diorama, not wargaming :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Brits are obviously my favourite and you have done a great job with them.
Shaun,
DeleteOMGoodness, that’s hilarious! I’d never thought of it that way, a diorama maker…. Well, I am actively working on breaking out of the collector/diorama maker rut, just need a bit more time at the painting table. That doesn’t mean I’m done painting, still have a sizeable lead/plastic mountain, but there are two more 28mm forced I really want to get finished before I get back to gaming.
Thanks for the kind words on my 8th Army guys. Knowing Brits are your favorite, I can tell you there are still four more posts coming for Brits (five if you count some Commonwealth troops): infantry for NWE, Airborne, vehicles for NWE, and vehicles for North Africa.
V/R,
Jack
Lovely looking figures, very characterful. Especially loove figures that carry the anti-tank rifle, ever since I read in a memoir that their only use (in the Desert) was as "penance for the company drunk".
ReplyDeleteHello John, how are you? Hope all is well, and hope retirement/transition is treating you well. Thanks man, I appreciate it, and that’s a good one about the Boys ATR. I plan on having fun with them against the Italians in Western Desert and maybe BEF in France.
DeleteV/R,
Jack