Finished: 15mm RAF Liaison and Lt. Col. Jolly

Hi folks,

Progress slightly delayed due to a weeks holiday in a very sunny North Wales, however I have managed to finish more vehicles on my painting plan. 

On show today are two models from Battlefront - these came from a out of production pack 'Colonel Vandeleur & Forward Observer' (BR885) which were included in the old V3 Market Garden book for Guards Armoured Division. These have been more usefully repurposed to units which actually achieved something in NWE (yes, really - name one successful operation they took part in).

I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the figure in the Humber Scout, until I remembered recently seeing some footage of some 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps tanks being followed by a liaison vehicle. 

As such, I added a pintle mounted Bren and a bit of a tarp cover over the stowage on the rear. I had previously added extra stowage. I decided the officer figure could represent my Grandfather's regimental commander, Lt. Col. Alan Jolly. I marked up the appropriate decals - including using some of those I had made specifically and that I plan to use when updating all the original 144RAC Shermans I have. 

Post painting, aerials and decals were applied. The whole model was then weathered (perhaps looking a little too dusty looking) but the weathering powder shows up more in the light from the pictures. 

The other vehicle is an M3 White Scout Car. The model comes with an RAF officer and a radio operator. 

I struggled a little with the blue of the RAF uniform colour. It should be more grey blue, but I went with what I had. I also added the numerous aerials and a few bits of stowage. I struggled for what markings this vehicle should have, before spotting that the infantry brigade HQ units included an RAF Liaison vehicle which was mounted in a truck or M3 White Scout Car. As such, this one has been marked with the HQ AoS of 154 Brigade (a white 94 on a browny green background), along with the Highland Division markings. 

Interestingly, it seems like the RAF officers with army units would tend to wear standard battledress due to the risk of friendly fire as the RAF uniforms were too similar to the German field grey. However, this model was clearly in RAF blues, so I went with that. 

I am, sadly, starting to run down my stock of decals. Doms Decals doesn't appear to be fulfilling orders. As such, there is a still a little to do with regards the WD numbers and I'm having to be a lot more careful with what I use and where. 

I also finished five M5 Halftracks for my 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry squadron. These are done with the exception of the crew and passengers, so I'll display them when these are finished. 

Oh, and bases - these are from Warbases. Flames of War medium base sized MDF with a pre-cut hole for a 2mm by 5mm magnet. This means I don't need to do anything else to magnetise these bases for my storage. My plan is to move the few other half-tracks I have painted to medium bases as well (mainly to reduce the space these models take in storage as well).  

6MMRPC: Finished - D7 Angledozer and Humber Scout Cars

Home again this weekend and today has been spent finish off the models I was working on last week. This should have been a quick hit for me, but while spraying the varnish on all 4 mini's at once, the varnish on the ARV clouded.

I have no idea why. I was spraying all 4 mini's at the same time and the other 3 were fine.

Anyway, in my rush to prevent too much damage I probably caused more. I ended up running the model under the tap before resorting to trying to scrape the worst of the white gunk off - which took off the paint and decals underneath the rear hull section. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. I searching online to see if there was anything I could do other than repaint the whole model and found someone saying that the cloudiness could be removed by painted on varnish from a bottle.

I tried that, and it did clear most of the issues. I had done a lot of damage before getting to that point though, so ended up repainting sections anyway. As such, that model wasn't finished today.

I also spent some time preparing some A4 craft boxes with magnetic sheeting to act as extra storage for my models. Two boxes done and they work pretty well. This included adding the steel paper to the underside of the models I have recently finished so that they can be stored away.

Today also involved a quick visit to the Carluke and Law Wargames club, where I swapped 3 Sherman V's and a Firefly (the first ones I painted) for 3 Sherman I's and a Hybrid Firefly (all brand new in in box). So Challenge wise I am now less some painted models and up some unpainted ones...

Anyway, onto todays finished models. D7 Angledozer:

Humber Scout Cars:

And the WiP ARV:

Box (Boxes, I used velcro to make sure they stack) - with all my FoW stuff painted so far in the challenge.

And I made a start on the next batch - a Troop of Sherman I's with a Sherman Firefly (one on the right hasn't had any highlights applied to the hull yet):

6MMRPC: Auxiliary vehicles WiP

With so much time spent away from home at the moment I'm trying to pick units I can get finished in a weekend or two. This weekend I decided to go with some of the 'other' Flames of War/Battlegroup Overlord vehicles I had sitting on the shelf. 

These took the form of my Breaching Group's D7 Angledozer and my Armoured Squadron's Sherman ARV mk.1 and Humber Scout Cars (for my 144RAC liaison unit). These vehicles had all already been painted and varnished, so I just had to apply highlights, decals, crew, aerials, weathering, matt varnish and bases.

I managed to get highlights and decals done as well as making a start on the bases. Crew were finished previously and just need adding. I've still to do some weathering, add aerials and final varnish. The bases only need some tufts and flowers, and a tidy up round the edges.

So, the D7:

 

This is a Skytrex model, purchased only a few weeks before Battlefront (BF) released their version... It's a nice model, scales well with my BF figures and looks very beefy. I mentioned why I wanted one of these here - but struggled with the markings. I can find no mention of who that brave Dozer belonged to unit wise, so in the end went with a Dozer from 149th Assault Park Squadron Royal Engineers - one of the Brigade assets of 1st Assualt Brigade Royal Engineers. Which in turn was part of 79th Armoured Division. Mainly I used these decals as my other Breaching Group tanks are all 'Funnies' of 79th Armoured Division.

 

I suspect though, on that dark night, the Dozer was from one of the Highland Divisions Field Park Squadrons R.E.

 

Next up, my conversion of a spare M4A4 Sherman (Sherman V) into a Sherman V Armoured Recovery Vehicle Mark I. The BF model is actually of a very very late type of ARV that only really was issued to Armoured Divisions in 1945 (the Mark II version). So I decided to build my own Mark I version.

 

 

Then we have two Humber Scout Cars. I bought these as the Armoured Regiments of Independent Armoured Brigades (like 33 Armoured Brigade) were supported by a number of these vehicles. These were used as runabouts for senior officers and for liaison work between Squadrons and other units. I liked the idea of including these for Battlegroup games, but also like the idea of including them if/when I ever do my own army list for 144 Royal Armoured Corps. Again these are Skytrex models... And again bought just before BF released their own version. C'est la Guerre!

 

 

The decals for these guys and for the ARV still have to be corrected to show the 174 AoS markings of 144RAC. These are mainly Doms Decals, although the tac markings on the Humbers and the 33 Armoured Brigade symbols are from another manufacturer. Dom's Decals also came through for me with more Allied Stars, HD badges, Infantry Division support AoS markings (I was running short following the 4.2" unit) and 2nd Canadian Corps badges (for my 17 Pounder SP battery). I used the allied stars to finish the last 4.2" Mortar Loyd Carrier - although these also still need weathering and crew!

 

The Humbers still need crew, aerials and possibly Bren MG's on pintle mounts. The Sherman ARV just need aerials and the D7 just needs its single crew member. All need Matt varnish. The bases I left drying pending next weekend...

 

 

In other news my copy of Frostgrave arrived as did my new pack of Italian Campaign 4.2" Mortars with the different crew sculpts. I've had an Auster AOP model in my eBay basket for days now but I'm waiting on finishing something before I take the plunge. I'm also trading my first platoon of Shermans (which were the incorrect Sherman V version rather than my beloved Sherman I's) for packs of unpainted Sherman I's.

 

The madness never ceases!

 

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Actual modelling progress (aka take that #6MMRPC!)

I'm not sure whether it was having the day off, the nice weather or the fact it's the Carronade Wargames show this weekend (Scotland's biggest). Whichever it was I got myself organised and actually did some hobby related work.

The first was cleaning all the vehicles I have been prepping over the last few weeks. I had meant to do this on Saturday and then Sunday...

Several of these blisters have more than one vehicle in them. Not a huge amount of work to clean them all, just time consuming.

I have seen a bit of discussion recently on one of the FoW Facebook groups on whether there is a need to wash your mini's. Honestly, if you saw the colour of the water after washing this lot you would clean all your mini's. I have no idea what effect all that crap has on the painting, but I don't want to find out!

Then I decided to spray some models - this became a bit of a job as I first tried the Plastic Soldier Company British Armour spray directly on to my Forged in Battle Universal Carriers. The FiB Carriers are a white resin, and the spray just did not go on properly. Now, this may be an issue with the spray or just with the colour of the resin. I dug around and found a can of Black (a Armypainter one) and gave them a skoosh. Then went back with the Plastic Soldier Company green. I also did the Churchill Croc I had done before as I wasn't happy with the tone of the green going on without a black undercoat.

So that's 12 Universal Carriers (+1 that was almost ready to be sprayed, I think it might end up being the 4.2" Spotter carrier), 1 Churchill Croc and 3 Wasp Carriers.

Then, since I had sprayed stuff and it was still nice, I decided to try my Dark Tone Army Painter dip. Slight issue with this since I left it sitting out open last summer, it's gone very thick and I may have to replace it. Still, I decided to do a tank or two, and a few hours later...

I'd done my whole winter backlog.

'A' was a little miffed to come home to me and the kitchen stinking of turps tho!

One thing I have discovered with the Army Painter dip is that previously I had just been dabbing off the excess and having to do a bit of work afterwards due to the amount of dip still on the model. Now I splodge it on, leave it a minute or two then dab off the excess. I then wash the brush in turps again, wipe off most of it leaving the brush a little wet, and do a 'reverse drybrush'. The turps still on the brush takes the dip off the higher points and makes the details 'pop' a bit more while still giving shade where it's needed. Hopefully that's not compromising the varnish, but I'm pretty sure there is turps in the AP.

So, that was my May bank holiday!

AAR - Late war Highlanders vs Fusilier Company 16/8/14

A rare Saturday to myself (due to A having a day out in Edinburgh), so Davey and YD picked me up for a day out at the Carluke and Law wargames club.

Myself and YD had agreed to play a 1000pt game of Flames of War, using our respective late war lists. As usual I decided to go with my Highland Division list from the Overlord book. YD went for a Fusilier list from one of his books (I think from Atlantik Wall).

His list consisted of (roughly):

Füsilierkompanie HQ (352.)  p.33	2 1	Cmd SMG team Panzerschreck team	70
Combat Platoons
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 6	Cmd Panzerknacker SMG team MG team	185
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 4	Cmd MG team MG team	130
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 4	Cmd MG team MG team	130
Weapons Platoons
Füsilier Machine-gun Platoon (352.)  p.35	1 2	Cmd SMG team MG42 HMG	70
Regimental Support
Füsilier Regimental Anti-tank Gun Platoon (352.)  p.37	1 2 2	Cmd SMG team 7.5cm PaK40 gun 3-ton truck	110
Support Platoons
StuG Platoon (352.)  p.39	3	StuG G	285
Luftwaffe Anti-aircraft Assault Platoon  Reluctant  Trained Allied Platoon  p.229	1 2	Cmd SMG team Luftwaffe 8.8cm FlaK36 gun	95
Company Points:			1075

We decided to play a defensive mission (No Retreat) as my army included a Breaching Group - meaning I had 'Always Attacks'. On the picture above (I forgot to take a 1st turn picture, so this one is 2nd or 3rd turn) YD is deployed on the right with his 2 Fusilier platoons and the MG platoon dug in and defending the road line and his 88's on the hill.

My army consisted of:

Rifle Company HQ (51st)  p.143	1 1 1	Cmd Rifle team Cmd Rifle Bagpiper team Troop Carrier	40
Combat Platoons
Rifle Platoon (51st)  p.144	1 1 1 6 2	Cmd Rifle/MG team PIAT team Light Mortar team Rifle/MG team Defrocked Priest APC	160
Rifle Platoon (51st)  p.144	1 1 1 6 2	Cmd Rifle/MG team PIAT team Light Mortar team Rifle/MG team Defrocked Priest APC	160
Support Platoons
Breaching Group  Confident  Trained   p.70	1 2 2	Sherman V Sherman Crab AVRE	155
Infantry Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery (51st)  p.154	1 2	Cmd Rifle team OQF 17 pdr gun	115
Recce Platoon (51st)  p.152	3 2	Humber IV Humber LRC III	170
Infantry Field Battery, Royal Artillery (51st)  p.156	2 1 1 1 4	Cmd Rifle team Staff team Observer Rifle team OP Carrier OQF 25 pdr gun	165
Infantry Light Anti-aircraft Platoon, RA (51st)  p.155	1 2	Cmd Rifle team 40mm Bofors gun	55
Company Points:			1020

This was a bit of a strange army for me - it was mainly designed to include things I had just painted, had still to paint or just had not used. Built around the backbone of the 2 infantry platoons in Kangeroos and the breaching group. I figured YD might include some big cats, so took the 17 pounders. The Artillery I took for a change over the mortars, Bofors because they have just been painted and never used. Recce because I had the Humbers to paint (now started) and breaching group because I like my flail models and wanted to encourage myself to start the Churchills (now started). I also added M5 Halftracks on a whim, taking me up to 1025 points - but YD was fine with this as he had re-jigged his infantry platoons to give himself 3 platoons rather than 2 he had on his original list.

My army on the day - I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of all of YD's stuff - mainly because he already had it deployed on the table!

I decided to make use of the Night Attack special rule the Bits have - mainly because those 88's terrify me. Plus we always forget about the national rules and the Night Attack rule fits with my Totalise Highlanders theme.

Given the layout of the table I deployed my AA platoon in the centre (where it did nothing the whole game - facing off against dug in, concealed and gone to ground Veteran troops...), with my breaching group on the left flank. My infantry, the recce and the A/T guns on the right planning to use the forest for cover to get into assault range of the 88's hill. Behind them sat the 25 pounders. The Churchill AVsRE went up the centre.

 

My main attack was going to be with the infantry in their Kangeroos supported by the Recce to help remove Gone to Ground and provide pinning fire. The 17 pounders were to follow up and deploy where they could cover the infantry from the StuG's I suspected would be wandering about.

You'll note the two Kangeroos at the edge of the forest. I had debated sending them via the forest, but decided to send them left around it. A conversation with YD made me doubt my choice, so I decided 'bugger it, they can cut through those trees!'. The Kangeroos spent the whole game bogging their way slowly through this tiny forest, only contributing by one of them laying down 50 cal fire that supported a later assault. I could have deployed the infantry from them, but kept them buttoned up as a ready reserve.

In the center my Churchills moved slowly closer.

The aim was to use the Petard Mortar on those dug in infantry - but I only used the MG's as moving and shooting at dug in, GtG, Concealed Vets with a RoF 1 gun made moving and shooting impossible!

By my turn 3 I had moved up my assault troops close enough to be ready to disembark, so out they popped.

In YD's turn 3 the sun failed to rise, but in the improving light his 88's managed to get enough of a bead on my Recce platoon (perhaps drawn by the tracer from their MG's shooting up the infantry to their front) and take out the two Humber LRC's. His infantry also managed to take a couple of squads of my Highlanders out as they moved up to the start line for their assault.

YD also managed to bring on his StuG's at this point, choosing to place them on the table edge where they were facing my infantry and recce.

The StuG's opening volley (again, a good roll on the vision distance chart made my troops visible) took out one of my Humber A/C's - however, the platoon passed it's motivation check to remain on the table. 

The darkness proved to be a hindrance for both of us, as it seemed to take until daylight (at the start of my turn 4) for my FOO to realise he was looking at a brick wall rather than out a window, and call down fire on those nasty 88's - killing one and pinning the platoon.

The other notable thing that happened on my turn 4 was the 17 pounders disembarked and swung into action. Only one gun had LoS to the StuG's, and managed to knock one of the predatory little Jerry blighters out.

Lots of shooting at the German Infantry at the base of the 88's hill (including from the Churchills, which I brought over from the center) preceded an assault, which failed to connect due to the only close enough highlander team falling to defensive fire. YD decided to counter attack, but his troops were put off by the skirl of pipes and failed to cause any damage. The Highlanders counter attack was not so gentle, wiping out the majority of the Fusilier platoon and causing it to fail motivation and vanish from the table. The HMG platoon also broke off, leaving the highlanders on the base of the hill.

In YD's turn he got his Pak 40's on, and had them deploy facing my Sherman Flails. His 88's unpinned and destroyed one Churchill and bailed the other - Petard Mortars unfired!

His StuG's moved up and killed one infantry team but missed the 17 pounders.  His remaining Fusilier platoon and the company HQ arrived from reserve alongside the PaK 40's, but were concealed by a wood and moved forward to protect the hill objective (and counter my marauding Highlanders).

Fire this turn from the Pak 40's destroyed one flail tank and bailed the troop command tank. These Shermans had so far spent the game shooting with no effect at the dug in, GtG, Concealed Veteran infantry... YD's HMG platoon had unpinned and killed one of my infantry teams.

However, in my turn revenge was swift. While the FOO called down arty on the remaining 88, finishing it off, the 17 pounders put three shots into the two remaining StuG's, knocking out the platoon. My bailed Sherman crew sorted themselves out and the two tanks left in the troop knocked out both the PaK 40's. My highlanders at the base of the hill moved forward and took out the remaining HMG platoon, causing the HQ unit to fail motivation and run.

My Humbers moved forward to a position behind the dug in Fusiliers - to try and remove GtG on them in a later turn and dash for the cornfield objective.

In YD's turn his newly arrived infantry assaulted my Highlanders on the hill top, pushing them back. (Damn reluctant rating). However, time was getting on, so we decided to end with a draw. As a little experiment YD's SMG Panzerknacker team tried an assault on my Shermans - mainly as we had never really used tank assault teams before. The final layout of the battle (lacking some smoke puffs):

And some of YD's lovely infantry:

My most useful unit award probably would be a close run thing between the one infantry platoon I had in action, the 17-pounders or - to my surprise - the 25-pounders. Although the Night Fight rules meant the 25-pounders were silent for most of the game.

my 17 pounders following the assault troops

my 25 pounders waiting patiently for a fire mission!

My most useless unit was....

The Bofors AA guns, which didn't fire a shot the whole game!

As games go it was quite quick, although we did bog down a few times (mainly on the assaults). It was also as good natured and fun as ever. It also seems to have given me the kick up the bum I needed to start working on the unpainted units I had taken along for the day, so hopefully I can post some progress updates on them soon.