Archive for September, 2019

The British rifle section in Normandy

Posted: September 16, 2019 in 1/56, Bolt Action, British, Wargaming, WW2
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The rifle section was the core building block of the British army organization of WW2 and was the chief instrument in Normandy in closing with the enemy and destroying him.
In 1944 the British rifle section consisted of ten men. The section was commanded by a Corporal who would normally divide his team into six riflemen, which he led and a bren gun team of two with a Lance corporal commanding (so two groups of 7 and 3 men).

The standard infantry man was equipped with a Lee Enfield number 4 .303 rifle and could fire at targets up to 550yds away. This bolt action rifle was reliable and accurate.

The section leader carried a 9mm Sten gun which even though was an inaccurate and somewhat unreliable weapon was favoured for its effectiveness in close quarter battles, especially as it was able to fire 500 rounds a minute.
Each section was issued one Bren gun and the two-man team that operated it was known as the “gun group”. The team consisted of a No1 who carried and operated the Bren and a No 2 who loaded and spotted targets. The No2 also carried spare ammunition and barrels. Additional ammunition for the Bren was also carried my all members of the rifle section. The Bren usefully also fired 303 rounds and had an effective range of 600 yards. It fired 500 rounds a minute

Individual riflemen were also equipped with grenades, the No 36 grenade and White Phosphorous grenade (Phosphorous grenades were used to produce smoke).

In combat the section centred on the Bren gun with its considerable flexibility and reliability. As the 1937 training manual,” Application of Fire” stated the lmg was main fire producing weapon and led to tactics revolving around this weapon.

In attack the British section would split into two. The Bren gun team of 3 men would move to the flank and provide suppressing fire on the target while the other group of riflemen(team of 7) would close with the enemy. Ideally the Bren gun would get to 90 degrees of the target allowing a cross fire between the two groups.
The rifle team would close with the enemy using grenades and bayonets to finish the job off.

Scratch built Normandy House for Bolt Action

Posted: September 9, 2019 in 1/56, 28mm, Bolt Action, Scratch Built, Terrain, Wargaming
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This was my first real adventure of using foam card to scratch build a bit terrain
and I think it went really well.

Ok, so why scratch build your own terrain ? Your fed up with the lack commercially available
terrain on the market and you want something different, a piece of terrain that will stand out
on the gaming board as something special. Plus you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

I choose foam board as its the cheapest(its cheap if you buy in bulk) and easiest material to work
with. I used Kapa lined foam board as it has a simple outer layer than can be peeled off and then
sculpted. A word of warning, there are lots of companies that sell foam board but I have yet to
find any that easily peels off the outer surface, thus making it useless.

The sections of the house were easy to cut with a very sharp knife and glue together using simple
pva glue. The stone texture was created by stripping off the outer layer of the foam card and using
a pencil to gently mark the individual bricks.
I had the windows and doors made in bulk from laser cut mdf(£20 will get you 30 doors and 60 windows of various sizes),leaving me plenty spare for additional projects.
The outer wooden panelling is made from balsa wood strips, the lower barn type building roof is a scalecast mould
and the taller house roof is made from embossed sheets.
The chimney is also foam board and the chimney pots are 1/48 scale dolls house chimney pots.