20mm WW1 Middle East British artillery (lockdown 17)

While I ordered the infantry in solar topees to head swop for the British lancers, I also picked up a pack of Hat British artillery crew and 4.5" howitzers.  First up is an Emhar 18lbr with Hat crew figures head swopped with solar topees,

And a second one.  The crew that come with the Emhar kits don't really look the part, much better with the Hat crews.

The pair of 18lbrs.

One of the Hat 4.5" howitzers with Hat crew.  These were modified with helmet neck guards made from thin strips of kitchen roll and PVA glue.

And a second howitzer.

The pair of howitzers.

Then for spotter/command stands, I started out with the telescope and heliograph figures from the Strelets British Camel Corps set and added a Hat artillery crew commander with solar topee head swop.

And for a second spotter/command base, these are Emhar and Hat artillery crew commanders with kitchen roll neck guards and an Airfix WW1 British infantry signaller with solar topee head swop.

Although not truly artillery, this is a Roden FWD model B 3 ton truck to haul ammunition for the artillery.  The kit doesn't include crew, so I used one of the seated Hat artillery crew figures, trimmed a little to fit the cab and with a kitchen roll neck guard.  Not sure if these were used in the Middle East, but it looks good and will fit right in, especially in any what-if type games.

I used the painting guide for WW1 British troops in the Middle East by Mark Hargreaves for 28mm figures and modified his guide to suite the smaller scale and my painting abilities.  It made a nice change working with the blue-grey palette for the artillery crew and I enjoyed painting the disruptive camo pattern on the 4.5" howitzers.

I've got the Camel Corps figures to finish off and then will try something different while I decide what next for my WW1 collection.  As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Middle East British lancers (lockdown 15)

A unit of 12 British lancers.  These chaps are the Hat Early War British cavalry set with solar topees head swapped from the WW1 Tropical British infantry set.  Nice figures, one or two overly bendy lances, due to the soft plastic, but not too bad, although the lances weren't as detailed as the bamboo lances of the Bengal lancers.

These chaps again wear khaki drill uniforms and are mounted on chestnut horses - I've given some of them white blazes and socks for a bit of variety.

The unit in column of march.

Detail of the commander.

Head swops were a bit fiddly - they are just held on with a good superglue and I'm hoping that the glue, plus paint and varnish layers will provide enough stability that they don't drop off, otherwise they are getting a pin through the head.

I plan to do some dismounts for these using the Strelets Imperial Camel Corps dismounted figures, despite these figures having the wrong bandoleers (no pouches on the back according to PSR).  That still leaves plenty of figures from that set for dismounts for the mounted set (9 camels and riders), plus enough for another couple of 12 man mounted sections.  I might do my Strelets late WW1 cavalry as mounted yeomanry and head swop some of the Strelets dismounted figures with Brodie helmets.  Still so much to do and as lockdown is gradually lifting, so too will my free time alas.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW1 Bengal Lancers (lockdown 10)

For a bit of variety from WW2, I dug out a box of Hat Colonial era Bengal Lancers.  Comparing pictures of WW1 Indian Lancers from Mark Hargreaves book on painting WW1 British, Dominion and Indian figures, there was little difference between the colonial era and WW1 era troops and at this scale, I figured I could get away with it.

I largely followed the paint recipes in the book, although decided I wanted to give them the dress puggree/turban, to make them more colourful to stand out on the tabletop.

Close up of the commander and a couple of lancers charging with lances levelled.

From behind - I could find no images of the neck covering part of the pugree, so followed a similar pattern to that on the front of the puggree/turban.  I added some old gold as a fringe at the bottom, although this may have been reserved for officers and other ranks may have had to make do with a white or some other light coloured fringe.

These figures from Hat are made in their soft, bendy plastic, but I found them to be easy to work with.  The soft plastic made it easy to cut away the hilt and guard of the sheathed sword on the officer with sword drawn, as well as the butt of the rifle protruding from the rifle bucket of the two rifle armed troopers.  The bamboo lances don't appear to be significantly bent out of shape, although the very long upright lances mean I have to use a double height storage box to avoid crushing them.  I might add some pennants to the lances at some time, to give some more colour, although they weren't used on active service, so I guess these are more realistic for combat.

These should be useful for early 20th Century operations in the NW Frontier, East Persian cordon, Mesopotamia, Palestine and even on the Western Front, although deployment of mounted lancers in Flanders would have been unlikely in the extreme.  They will also be great for what ifs, such as allied intervention forces in the Russian Civil War for Setting the East Ablaze and may even pop up in the fictional Black Sea country of Andreivia at some point.

Thanks for looking. 

20mm WW2 US forces

Some 20mm US troops for WW2 - most of these were painted earlier this year, but I never got round to photographing them.

A pair of Ready 2 Roll softskins, the Dodge weapons carrier and a comms Jeep, both with crew from the Hat USA tank riders set, except for the two drivers and the radio operator in the Jeep, which came with the vehicles.

Viewed from the rear.

Converted turretless M5 recce vehicle with .50 cal.  Hull was a miscast from EWM at a show, tracks and crew were kindly donated by Will, weapons and stowage were from Sgts Mess.

Ready 2 Roll M8 Greyhound.

Ready 2 Roll M20 Utility car.

Dismounted armoured infantry platoon, figures mainly Italeri/Esci and Caesar.  Bazooka teams from Britannia Miniatures/Grubby.

Command squad.

Two medium MG teams.

1st BAR squad

2nd BAR squad.

A pair of water-cooled MMG teams.

Various engineers (and Rangers with grapnels) from Britannia/Kelly's Heroes/Grubby.

Artillery spotter team.

Medic with wounded and an improvised stretcher-bearer team, both from Britannia/Kelly's Heroes.

A pair of die-cast Pershings, picked up at various Bring n Buys.

A pair of Ready 2 Roll Sherman dozers.

I've still got some Shermans to post pictures of, as well as more infantry, including some Italeri/Esci winter troops.  Next to work on will be some Britannia/Grubby AT guns and 105mm howitzers.

As ever, thanks for looking.