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.
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.
Right, a big update on what I have been up to so far.
First up I have completed painting 13 Fallschirmjager from Foundry and another
six from Warlord, all metal. There is a nice mixture of postures and the two manufacturers
go well together. Please note the flame thrower and Panzerschreck figures came with the group so
I painted them up as well even though I am not aware of these types of equipment being used in the
invasion of Crete but they would of been present with the occupation force later on.
Next is two small buildings from Charlie Foxtrot models. Both come from the pan tile Italian range but
fit perfectly into any Mediterranean setting. I added a scratch built trellis for the outside of one
building as I found a really nice picture of a similar building being used as make shift field hospital
with injured troops recovering under the shade. It also gave me a chance to finally use the pink
scatter and create a beautiful Bougainvillea climbing up.
I have also started on two DFS 230 gliders. One is from Sarissa(28mm laser cut) and the other is plastic kit by Hobby in 1/48 scale. The strange thing is that the 28mm kit is bigger than the 1/48 kit and I have measured both and the 1/48 is very accurate for scale.
Finally I have started converting a Sarissa aerial kit into a radio transmitter station.
I have now painted up a small squad of Warlord Games figures. These figures are labelled mid-late war by Warlord Games but as long as you ensure they have the right weapons for the period they can easily fit it. At the time of the invasion of Crete new uniforms were starting to come through to the troops on the ground, specifically camouflage tops and helmet covers. There are lots of pictures of Germans on Crete wearing mixed uniform. Please note I have not confused the later pictures of occupation troops wearing camouflage which is a common mistake, often made.
I must admit of the all the figures painted so far these are my least favourite. They are plastic
and seem clumsy as in the way the bodies are sculpted. Whats also apparent is Warlords Heroic scale
which shows up the large oversized heads.
They will also need a weight added to the bottom as they are easily knocked over. I will have to raid the 2p jar again lol
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