AHPC 16 - Russo-Finnish Winter War - Finnish 37mm Bofars - Oh Rats!

For my next entry it's back to the 1939-40 Winter War, the figures are once again from Parkfield Miniatures, great range packs WWF33 the Bofors and WWF34 the crew. You get 5 crew in the pack, but only need 3 crew in Bolt Action, but I thought It might as well paint them all up. The base from Charlie Foxtrot and is a spare from my Retreat from Moscow French.

The 1939 Finnish 37 mm Bofors anti-tank gun was a highly effective, Swedish-designed weapon that played an important role during both the Winter War and the Continuation War. Originally developed by Bofors in the early 1930s, it was intended to provide infantry units with a lightweight yet powerful defense against armored vehicles. Weighing only about 370 kilograms, the gun was easy to maneuver and could even be towed by a single horse in Finnish service, making it well suited to Finland’s rugged terrain and mobile tactics.

In combat, the gun proved accurate and reliable, with a practical rate of fire of around 12 rounds per minute. Firing a 37×257 mm cartridge, it could penetrate approximately 40 mm of armor at 300 meters—more than sufficient to destroy most light Soviet tanks such as the T-26 and BT series encountered during the early stages of the Winter War. Its semi-automatic mechanism automatically ejected spent shells to speed reloading, while an optical sight and protective shield enhanced both accuracy and crew protection.

Finland relied on both imported Swedish-made guns and domestically produced copies, with roughly 355 Finnish-built versions manufactured under the designation 37 psv.K/36 or VTT37-36. Although the weapon gradually became obsolete as heavier Soviet tanks like the T-34 entered service and thicker armor rendered the 37 mm gun less effective by 1943, it remained a dependable and durable asset. During the initial phases of the conflict especially, the Bofors 37 mm was a critical component of Finland’s anti-tank defences.

For the points, there are 5 figures, one of them is laying down - 22.5 pts

1 Crew served weapon - 10pts

Plus whatever Dave wants to give me for the base?

Next we have some Rats, that will fit into either the Winter War or the Retreat from Moscow.

I'm sure they didn't starve unlike the poor French and Allies, I guess they were the breakfast dinner and Tea!

I bought these at the Warfare Show last November and can't for the life of me remember the company I bought them from????? I know they came in a little round tine, with Body Parts written on it??

Anyway the 25mm Rats will add a little discomfort to our snowy game, there are 20 rats all in all, 3 are based on 25mm circular bases while the bigger horde is on a slightly larger irregular base.

I'd guess at 2pts per rat, as they're roughly the size of a 15mm horse?

But again, I'll leave that up to Dave!

Retreat from Moscow - 25mm Burnt out Buildings

I've been a very busy boy this month, so I've been neglecting my blog and not commenting on others blogs as much as I would have liked, even paining has been pretty difficult. Life has just got in the way as it does. Mrs R has just celebrated a big Birthday so we had a few days of meals out and party's, and all the organizing of those!!

But I'm hopefully back on track.

I think it was Lee who bought these 6 buildings from Charlie Foxtrot a few months ago, just before my move I had a little spare time and decided to these all fixed up and painted. I did plan on us doing that when we made the gaming mat and tree bases, but we ran out of time.

The first three Razed can be found here.

 

We bought 3 of each building, to make a burnt out village, they are all built the same but decorated slightly different, to make them individual looking.

On these three buildings I cut down the chimney breasts, they were just too big and would be a bugger to store. I did toye with the idea of having them stand free, but knowing the Rejects they'd be knocked over every few minutes. So they were all cut down and glued in place.

These three are the smaller Razed Buildings, from Charlie Foxtrot

Again I cut down the chimney's, on this one I left it out completely.

I used all the wooden beams provided and raided by bits box for more rubble.

I did make one mistake making these though, I wanted to build up the rubble and snow in the corners of all the houses, so added a mix of sand, gravel and flock, glued into place with PVA. I spayed everything black to kelp give them a burnt look, added a wood colour here and there, but.....and its a big but. after I added the snow effect, the same as we'd used on the figure bases, the green flock in my mix leached out and turned the snow green and yellow. 

After I'd calmed down, I figured I'd have to paint over all the snow white, this covered all the discoloured snow (thank gawd) and they turned out fine...

So lesson learnt, don't cover flock with snow!!!

 

AHPC15 - Retreat from Moscow - French artillery

 

And yet again, its more from my Retreat from Moscow project.

But this time its a little different. Here we have 2 6pdr French artillery pieces, with 5 crew each.

Which is a bit of a bugger coz, Perry's sell them as 1 gun plus 4 infantry, but in Sharpe Practice there should be 5 artillery men.....sigh, more expense.

So I bought a pack of  Hired Help from Perry's to add the extra 2 figures I needed. 

I was going to paint both crew in blue, but thought some nice brown coats would look cool, also just looking at the figures I forgot to paint the red trim around the chaps cap on the left.....damn it!!!

French artillerymen in greatcoats, a very rare figure, I couldn't find many companies that sell a range like Perry's ones.

Myself and Lee, thought these bases would look nice for the artillery, we've 2 bases of each size, and the good thing is I've already got a stack of French Napoleonic artillery in various sizes, so can swap these over whenever, also I might buy some other nationality artillerymen as well, perhaps some Pole, it depends on who sell them in great coats, but I could always get the guillotine out again??

Next up.....more of the same, but this time in blue and a bigger base. I suppose these could be used for the larger guns?

Not sure about standing in front of the gun though???

Looks a little dangerous to me?

I think the bases really make the pieces look great, I will probably add a few barrels and stuff to them at a later date. The smaller base can be bought here. for £1.75 and the larger one, here for £2

What a bargain!

Points are pretty easy

10 x 25mm figures 50pts

2 x 6pder artillery 20pts

Making a total of 70 pts!

Warfare 2023 Loot

 

I had quite a successful spending spree at Warfare, once again I hadn't planned on spending much but......

Products for Wargaming had some very nice field bases. I was planning on making my own, but it was easier buying them. I went for 1 x 15x8 field, 2 x 12x6 and 2 x 6x4's.

They were £8, £6 and £4, so a bargain!

2 buildings from Warbases

5 small cobblestone mats from Deepcut Studio

These can be used in any of my 25/28mm periods.

A few paints.....from Sheppey Models

You can never have enough Oxen can you?  These Black Tree figures were in the bargain bin from 

Mill-Art

Can't remember who I bought these from, these will be used to make some 2mm woods and forests.

An impulse buy from Charlie Foxtrot, some 28mm walling for my Haitian Revolution project.

Back to Products for Wargaming. Another building, this one is from their luvvly medieval range.

If Iron Gate Scenery are at a show, I have to get something from them. Their range of bits and bobs are brilliant. This time round it was some Highland cattle, a tannery, perfect for some Native American's and a stone sheep pen.

Lastly more Highland Cattle, these 2 were from Disdain Studios, why do I need more 

Highland Cattle, you ask?

Well.....why not?