It's the Little Things That Count...

Greetings again, I've had had a bit of a quiet weekend but I have managed to finish a few odd little odds & ends.

This first one is a special Jump Off Point (JOP) for Chain of Command. I was thinking about a Too Fat Lardies' pod cast or video where the idea of a JOP was mentioned as a point where it's safe to deploy with maybe a scout or directing officer pointing the way. I thought a JOP with a military policeman directing movements might look good. So here it is. It's only good for Germans but I might make a few others (I do have a couple of NKVD officer figures doing nothing). The figure and bike are from AB. The other piece is from Simon's Soldiers.

These two are from a kit with a variety of small vehicles. The kit might be Fujimi, but I'm not sure (it's up stairs and I'm downstairs and I'm too lazy to go and check). So my fallschirmjager have a kettengrad and my G.I's have an amphibious jeep. A DUKW-ling, if you will. The figures are all from AB.

And my BEF finally get a commander. I'm not sure about Battlegroup, but in CoC they have a lieutenant and a sergeant. The command figures are from Simon's Soldiers and the signalman is from Lancer Miniatures.

Just a few little additions to keep things going. 

The blog must flow!

Almost Done With These

I've been painting some odds and ends to finish off both my DAK and my single BEF platoon.

For the DAK I've added an assault pioneer section. These can be used for various games. In Battlegroup you can field a full pioneer platoon so I'm thinking that I can just spread these figures out with the regular troops to add a bit of a pioneer flavour.

As I was doing these figures I thought that they would be the last DAK I would need to paint. But then I remembered that I still need to do a few figures for a Kradschutzen (motorcycle) Section. Really, I don't need to do these but if I ever want to do a decent company sized DAK game and incorporate a motorcycle recce section, then I'm going to need them. If I ever want to do a full Kradschutzen platoon, I'll just use the regular figures but I'm gonna need another nine motorcycles!

 Also a flamethrower and mine clearance team.

 A 50mm mortar and a forward observer.

For my BEF I've added a couple of support elements. I'm still waiting on the arrival of some HQ elements and when I get them they should pretty much finish off a 1940 platoon for Blitzkrieg period games.

A Boys AT Rifle, a 2" mortar and a Lewis MMG.

And lastly, a set of PSC Opal Blitz for blitzkrieg period.

All Sorts (Except Licorice)

Greetings folk,

I've been making all sorts of stuff lately. A few buildings for Europe and the desert, I finished painting my BEF platoon and I've made a few models. There are some other things I've completed but these are the ones I have for posting today.

These desert houses are made of 5mm cork sheet. I like this material for making basic buildings like these because it has a nice texture that sits well. It's also pretty easy to work with. These buildings are very basic and I plan to make quite a few more that will (I hope) become a bit more complex as I become more adventurous.

These buildings are from Plasticraft. I ordered a bunch of these last year and made a pretty nice little town with little effort. These two were left over just because I had enough and I got a bit sick of painting them. So they have been sitting there making me feel guilty ever since. But now they're painted and they'll be on the table pretty soon.

 The back of the  roofs come off so that you can place troops inside on various levels.

Little Brits - So I've almost finished my BEF Platoon. For now this is all the infantry I need, which is enough for a basic game using CoC or Battlegroup. However, I'm waiting on some more figures for the command section to finish it off. I also have a Lewis Gun team, a Boys AT rifle and 2" mortar half painted. I think I also have a Vickers MMG coming with the command group.

This is a 1pdr AT gun. They were actually 25mm French pieces that the BEF borrowed to make up for shortages. I'll also be able to use this with the French when they arrive (and they are on order!).

 Some more support - A sniper and Rifle Grenade.

And some German recce to give those BEF lads a hard time. Not a bad little model from a Polish company. It was supposed to have the funker aerials on top which proved to be a real pain because the struts to hold it up were so delicate they just snapped when I tried to cut them off the sprue. Same with the main gun (which is a replacement).

And some SdKfz 251 halftracks. These are the Italeri quick-make kit with two in the box. Sandy coloured. painted for Tunisia and beyond, they can also stand in for basic desert vehicles. I'm not a purist. I paint my models to get the widest use out of them. As long as they're not green in the desert or Caunter Scheme in 1940 France, I'm okay with it.

And lastly... This stuff. This is cobbled road on thick card. It looks okay but it's too neat for my liking. It's for railway layouts. I'm not sure what to do with it. I bought it a while back for some reason. I suppose I can stick in on to thicker card or maybe even give it a backing of gaffer tape. That is a possibility because gaffer tape might lend it a degree of flexibility over time.

There's a lot more of it than appears in the pic. Maybe I should get to taping.

Finally, the BEF Have Arrived!

I've been looking at getting some BEF and I finally got some. These figures are from Lancer Miniatures and they look pretty nice (even if they are a bit chubby).

I bought them on the basis that they looked okay on the Lancer website and they were pretty cheap. But when I got them I thought; "Oh dear. These are crappy." However, they painted up okay even though some of them are quite shite. The range of poses is pretty limited and there isn't a decent commander amongst the lot. No worries, though! I have an order from Early War Miniatures on the way with some nice looking commanders and such-like.

I still have a third section to do as well as other command elements like a Boys ATR and 2" & mortar as well as some support  - a 25mm/1pdr, a sniper and FOO.

Figures in the raw.

 Closer for detail. Looking pretty nice when painted.

And I've also finished the tropical uniform gun crew for my 25pdrs. Identical poses as the others in in the PSC kit, the only difference is the uniform.

And lastly, a 75mm infantry howitzer from Simon's Soldiers. These are formerly Wartime Miniatures under a new owner. I have Wartime DAK and I ordered some more from SS. This gun is a very nice and clean 3d print. So it was straight out of the pack and onto a base and painted. Very easy. The crew are Italeri from other kits.