All,
Ahh, finally stepping away from paratroopers for a bit, mixing in some good, old-fashioned U.S. dogfaces for a change, based for temperate climates such as Normandy, Dragoon, the pursuit across France, etc... And not just foot troops, I've got some armor and other stuff to show ya, too!
This force is about a 50/50 mix of stuff I bought and stuff I painted myself. Most of the really good looking stuff came from my buddy AJ, while the landing craft are very nicely done and came from a gentleman on Ebay. The rest is stuff I bought from another gentleman on Ebay at a very large discount; it was painted to a decent wargaming standard, but it didn't match the stuff I got from AJ, so I spray-painted over it and went to work trying to make it look like AJ's stuff.
The entire force, consisting of:
-A Commanding Officer
-An Executive Officer (XO)
-Five Rifle Platoons (three squads, a Platoon Commander -PC-, and a bazooka team)
-An MG Platoon (three MGs and a PC)
-A Mortar Platoon (three tubes and a PC)
-A light ATG Platoon (two M1 57mm guns and a PC)
-A heavy ATG Platoon (two M5 3" guns)
-An Artillery Platoon (two M1 105mm howitzers and an FO)
-An Anti-Aircraft Platoon (one quad-.50 cal HMG and one 37mm Bofors)
I also have some armor and landing craft to add to my already decent-sized collection of US armor:
-Another M3 Lee (I already have five)
-Two more M3 Gun Motor Carriages (GMCs) (I already had two)
-Three M5 Stuarts
-Three M8 GMCs
-Three Landing Craft Vehicle-Personnel (LCVPs)
-One Landing Craft Tank (LCT)
-A knocked out Sherman
-A knocked out Stuart
Another look.
A closer look at the infantry.
Heavy weapons.
Arty, armored vehicles, and landing craft.
Another look at the landing craft, adding the Stuarts and the knocked out vehicles.
A look at some of the Rifle Platoon command stands. These are all Battlefront metals, some painted by AJ and some painted by me. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which ;)
A closeup, good look at the radio man.
M1911 drawn, leading his men into the fray, probably about to become a casualty...
A good look at the Tommy Gun-toting Lieutenant.
A look at some of the bazooka teams.
A closeup. Very nice models, though that bazooka is looking a little thick to me, probably a 5.5" model, rather than your standard 2.36" model ;)
Another look, kneeling and firing.
A look at some of the rifle stands. These three were painted by AJ.
Very nice.
Another look. It was always funny to me how very few of the old Battlefront metal US infantyrmen were actually using their weapons; as you can see, all four of these are advancing, rifles at the ready. Not that it's a bad thing, or unrealistic, just kind of funny when the majority of other sets seem to be riflemen actually employing their personal weapons.
And one more. I did add leader's stripes (vertical for officers, horizontal for NCOs) to all the stands, so if you're wondering why those white lines look so shaky, blame me, not AJ.
The MG platoon, consisting of three M-1919s on tripods. I did just buy a pack of water-cooled M-1917s, which I'll look to get painted up ASAP.
A closeup.
Another.
Their Platoon Commander. You can tell I painted these, my lines are always harder and my paintjobs always turn out darker...
The Mortar Platoon. I'm a bit embarrassed as this unit is quite the mish-mash of troops and equipment. Rather than buy a mortar platoon, I threw together what I had, which was one metal 60mm mortar, one plastic 60mm mortar, and one metal 81mm mortar, using troops infantry and ATG crew AJ had painted, with a PC that I painted. I need to add a third 60mm mortar, then get another 81mm mortar and split those off into their own platoon...
A closeup of the metal 60mm mortar.
The 57mm ATG platoon, with the guns/crews painted by AJ and the PC painted by me.
The PC. These figures are Battlefront metals, but different than the 'normal' US infantry, a bit thicker and taller.
A closeup of one of the guns.
And another.
The two M5 3" ATGs. I bought these off a gentleman on Ebay, but they didn't match, so I sprayed over them and re-did them.
A closeup.
And another.
The AA Platoon; AJ did the quad-.50, I did the Bofors.
A look at the Bofors.
Again.
And a look at the quad-.50. Hmmm, thought I had another pic of that in here...
A closeup.
Again. I like how they turned out.
The Forward Observer team.
Reverse.
The Command Stand, with M-20 Utility Car. I painted all of this, and here you see a third style of Battlefront metal infantry (the two guys at far left, and at top right). I believe they are from the old metal mechanized infantry; they are much thinner than the other two styles of metal infantry.
I wish I could find a platoon set of them, I'd like to use them as ARVN!
Reverse.
The XO's stand, with field table, field stool, and a radio.
Another look. That wraps up the infantry force, now we'll take a look at the armor and landing craft additions.
Another M3 Lee by AJ. He does great infantry, but his armored vehicles are absolute works of art.
Another look.
Two more M3 GMCs from AJ.
A closeup.
And looking at the business end.
A platoon of three M8 GMCs, Stuart tanks modified to have an open-topped 75mm howitzer.
A closeup.
Another.
And one more.
Three M5 Stuarts.
A closeup of the platoon commander.
Another.
And one more.
The LCT, carrying an M3 GMC.
And carrying an M8 GMC.
The three LCVPs. All the landing craft were bought off a gentleman on Ebay, a steal at about $100. The troop bases (two each) in the LCVPs are removable. It's all very well done.
A closeup.
Another.
And one more.
The knocked out Sherman, bought painted off Ebay. I simply spruced it up a bit.
Reverse.
And the knocked out Stuart, same deal.
Reverse. The funny thing about this one was that there is a crewman molded onto the base at bottom left, blown in half with his entrails dragging behind him, and painted up in a quite bloody fashion. I'm not usually one to shy away from such things, but it was a bit much for me and so I simply put some static grass over the poor bastard.
Well, that's it, my dogfaces are complete, ready to storm the beaches of Normandy. More on the way!
V/R,
Jack
