A bit more armour for the allies. An M10 Wolverine tank
destroyer by Warlord games in 1/56 scale. Marked out in
British colours of the 20th Anti-Tank Regiment with men from
3rd Infantry Division. The original picture the mini diorama is
based on is a short distance from Sword Beach on the 6th
of June 1944.
The raised railway line is simple 28mm resin and the embankment
is styrene. The road is real earth.
Been busy at home during this corona virus lock down
adding bits and pieces . This is a simple large, fallen
oak tree made from wire wrapped in woodland scenic flex
paste. The canopy is made from a floor cleaning pad that
was ripped up and the roots are a combination of sponge, real
dirt and rubberised horse hair. Basically anything spare lying
about was included in the build.
Lords of Midnight
For while now I have been wanting to recreate a favourite 80`s
computer game called The Lords of Midnight into table top
wargaming and I fortunately stumbled into Para Bellum`s
Conquest game which seems to fit perfectly with my vision.
For those of you who are too young to remember the 80`s or just
missed this game it focussed on a land locked ice kingdom with
the good fighting the bad in a Lord of the Rings type environment
and more.
Para Bellum`s new conquest figures which are roughly 36mm are enough
of a match and ideal for conversion to get me started.
The soldier in the picture comes from the Men at arms figure set
and will represent a Lord of Midnight. Hope the frozen atmosphere
of the landscape comes across ?
Just a small update of progress being made during these strange and worrying times.
The picture is of a mock up for the front entrance of the chateau before I start
gluing things in place. I have an excellent contact who is able to make most
things from laser cut mdf and he is responsible for the brilliant doors and windows.
I now have a large ready made supply of doors and windows for the project so things
should start to get a move on shortly.
The stretcher bearers are from Black Tree Designs, otherwise known
as EOS Orbis Black Tree Design.
These guys are for my Commonwealth Crete force and are made of metal.
A word of warning. The figures are quiet nice but the company is
completely useless. Don’t just take my word for search around on the
internet and read the tales of disappointment. I gave up waiting for my figures
to arrive after numerous emails and phone calls which never get answered. Luckily
Paypal came to the rescue and got me my money back and eventually I bought the figures
off fleabay from a private seller.
These are the Cretan Police force on Crete in WWII. They fought for the resistance and
the Germans depending on local and personal loyalties. This bunch are on the allied side
and are a conversion of Gripping Beast Ottoman Turks with French kepi heads.
Armed with basic rifles and looted German kit.
After the success of my foam card French house project in 2019 I have
decided to be a bit more adventurous and go the whole hog and build
a chateau. I love individually built terrain as it brings something
unique to the table top, that combined with a desire for centre piece
for the table fits perfectly with the idea of building a chateau.
On top of this a lack of ready made buildings is driving me on and
the strange discovery of a beautiful abandoned chateau online has
aroused by creative curiosity.
I discovered the beautiful abandoned chateau online while searching
for images. It turns out there is unique bunch of urban explorers who
specialise in discovering and photographing derelict and abandoned properties.
The details of many of the places are kept secret as once a location is
known it often becomes vandalised. Luckily with a bit of research I was able
to locate the said chateau on google maps helping me get a better idea of
the layout. Sorry the chateau location stays a secret and my chateau name
is fictional.
So progress so far is slow, but its a start and I’m finding the scale
and complexity challenging for my basic ability.
I have measured the whole thing out and drawn a master diagram. I have
also started cutting out the ground floor walls. On top of this I have
started on some of the internal room features such as fire places etc.
I am presenting working on the internals wall and will post up pics
shortly.
Chateau diagram
I bought these two very different glider kits for
wargaming Bolt Action on the island of Crete. The larger
kit is by Sarissa and is apparently 28mm and made from a
combination of mdf and card board.
The smaller kit is made by Hobby and is a 1/48 normal
plastic kit.
Pros and cons, cons first. The Sarissa kit is huge, compared
to the 1/48 scale Hobby kit and to be honest is an incorrect size.
It has also started to come apart along some of the joint lines
and will warp if left near a heat source. I also had to reinforce the
wings to support the weight.
The Hobby kit was quite difficult to assemble and the glass windows
were a royal pain to insert into place. The Hobby kit was nearly twice
the price of the Sarissa kit.
The positive points were that both kits look excellent when painted
up and really bring the wargaming table into the lime light. They are
also an essential part of the Cretan terrain if your wargaming the
invasion of Crete.
I’ve been wanting one of these for my Bolt Action table and finally somebody
has decided to make one . A company called,”paintandglue”
have made a 3d printed version which is ok but low on detail. Saying that I’m not complaining its
better than nothing by a long way.
The Challenger A30 was developed because of a need to have a tank that could mount a 17pdr gun
and take on the German armour. Unfortunately its slow development and cost(it was much easier and cheaper to
build a Sherman Firefly housing the same gun) made it almost obsolete by D-Day.
Even so a limited number(less than 200)reached the battlefield serving with the Guards Armoured Division and
11th Armoured Division in Normandy. The vehicle was unpopular with crew because of its large turret,
lack of armour and faulty suspension, but it was able to take on any German armour on the
battlefield.
My A30 is a an 11th Armoured vehicle with the 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry used in the reconnaissance roll.
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.
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