'Fellowship' from JamesM: LCA Passengers

Hi folks,

Very rushed post as I am expecting MartinC to arrive any moment to whisk me away to Hammerhead.

This entry consists of some of the passengers for the LCA's I painted earlier in the challenge.

Suffice to say my feelings are that there could be no better definition of the term 'fellowship' than those chaps waiting, seasick and scared, to land on a hostile shore.

These are the Battlefront 15mm figures that came with the LCA's. There are three different 'poses' of strip, each strip 4 men long.

I've glued them to small bases to keep them together, and removable from the LCA's.

Here they are in the craft:

So a total of 72 figures for 72 points.

'Water Feature' from JamesM: Swimming DD's

Hi folks,

A rather obvious entry for those who know my obsession with 15mm Normandy stuff.

These 15mm swimming (Duplex Drive) Shermans are resin models bought on e-bay from a 3rd party seller, rather than my usual Battlefront offerings. As such, they are lacking detail, full of resin bubbles and nowhere near as much fun to paint. However, as effectively 'tokens' for a short time in specific games, they will do (for now!).

No basing or substantial decals made them nice and simple to do, which meant I could get them done in time for this bonus round.

There are numerous examples of the effect these odd looking craft had on troops who saw them when not forewarned. Both allied soldiers who witnessed them emerging from the water for the first time during training and German soldiers on the beaches apparently stopped what they were doing in disbelief as these vehicles emerged from the water. Given that the British and Canadian units on D-Day had issues with being swamped, I think the models sit pretty 'high' compared to how the tanks would have sat in the water, with only a small amount of the canvas screen showing.

Three x 15mm vehicles would be 24 points!

'Sport' from JamesM: NAAFI Van

Hi Folks,

Aiming for the most tenuous link to a bonus round theme ever...! I present you - a Tea Van!

So, why does this entry qualify as 'Sport', I hear you (loudly and repeatedly) ask?

Well, obviously this is a NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes - probably in this case staffed by Expeditionary Force Institutes personnel) Tea Van 'somewhere in Normandy'.

It is currently closed (the serving counter is covered by the hatch).

Meanwhile a queue of thirsty British soldiers waits with gradually decreasing politeness in the scorching sun for it to open and serve hot tea to help cool them down (I don't understand that either!), mugs in hand.

Thus, this entry represents at least three of the British national sports (more if you include things like 'inappropriate head-wear for the weather', 'having tea breaks', 'complaining about the amount of time others take on their tea breaks', 'fighting wars in France', etc). The main three 'national sports' represented are:

1.  Tea drinking/Tea breaks
2.  Queueing
3.  Poor customer service

As well as some of our lesser known but very popular local sports, which include:

3a.  Politely making your presence known by coughing quietly, and if very angry, by also tapping a foot.
3b.  Being unable to complain about them not being open on time, without them replying 'well, we're open now', thus rendering your carefully crafted argument moot.
3c.  Making your thunderous displeasure known by tutting and looking at your (looted) watch.
3d.  Catching the eye of other people in the queue and rolling your eyes while shaking your head slightly, but otherwise avoiding any conversation at all costs. Perhaps also tutting, if your really really angry.
3e.   Accepting any excuse they offer with a 'no problem', no matter how ridiculous the excuse was,  and the fact you could see them round the back having a smoke rather than doing their job, and they knew you were waiting as they had caught your eye while you stared at them to let them know you could see them having a smoke, but they still made no effort to hurry up until the last 30 seconds when they pretended to be in a mad rush to help you...
3f.   A sense of humour that does not always travel well.

The model of the van came all the way from Canada to the UK, care of my good friend Dennis (also known as Matt Varnish on YouTube). I believe the project found it's basis during the last challenge, when I was asked to produce a tea truck by a certain Aussie.

The truck is a 15mm Battlefront tournament objective. I believe it may be from a set they did severl years ago with some of the characters from Dad's Army and the Butchers van. I added a plasticard sheet onto the side to represent a cover over a serving counter, turning it more into a mobile canteen.

The three figures are also from Battlefront, and have been altered using greenstuff and some plastic rod to be (roughly) holding 'mugs'. This included chopping a Bren magazine from a hand and greenstuffing a magazine on the gun.

Basing was applied using my standard technique. With the base looking a bit bare I also raided the bits box for a barrel and added a plasticard sign.

I also made an attempt to paint the NAAFI crest on the side of the truck... As well as hand painting some of the signage from pictures and re-enactors vehicles. The crest looks like this close up, so i don't think I did too badly at this scale!

This base will form another little diorama somewhere on a table at some point. I may even attach special rules to it (+1 to morale checks if within X inches?).

The truck was painted to include some 'non uniform' darker greens along the wheel arches, to represent it's slightly less military duties. I was tempted to add a Aerial Recognition Star, but decided to leave it looking a bit more civilian. 

The whole base consists of 1 x 15mm vehicle at 8 points, and 3 x 15mm infantry figures at 2 points each, for a total of 14 points!

'Reconnaissance' from JamesM: 6mm British 'Modern' Recce

Hi folks,

Finally, I've broken my duck for this challenge, with some 6mm British Team Yankee Recon units forging the way...

These models are from a variety of manufacturers - the FV107 Scimitars at the front are rather gorgeous GHQ 1:285th scale, with gun barrels so bendy a stiff breeze would take them out. The FV432 Swingfires (Anti Tank Guided Missile launching vehicles) behind and to the Scimitars right are from Butlers Printed Models (BPM). These are much more basic than the GHQ, but painted up and at a distance they look fine. Behind those are some BPM FV432 Trojan APC's.

On the left we have some Heroics and Ros 1:300 FV103 Spartans with the MCT turrets (Milan Anti Tank Guided Missile Turret), and behind them some BPM 1:285th plain old FV103 Spartan APC's.

Nothing special for my first entry I'm afraid! I had hoped to get some 15mm vehicles painted in time for this entry, but poor planning and lack of recce led to me being caught short with regards the number of days.

These were models I had hoped to paint in last years challenge, but that didn't make the table. I've a few more still to do and a boat load of infantry to go with them. All to try and slow down DaveD's tank hordes.

19 x 6mm vehicles = 38 points!

'Monstrous' from JamesM: 'The command is given, the command is WALK!'

Hi folks,

In a change from what I had planned for this round, I've strayed away from my 15mm stuff and reduced scale slightly... down to 3mm! The quote from the title comes from one of my favourite Warhammer 40k books, Titanicus. that should give a clue as to what (at least some) of these models are!

At 3mm scale, my 'Monstrous' entry therefore consists of pretty small models! But I consider these to be monstrous for a reason! Here's some pictures with some of their smaller, infantry, allies.

Standing hundreds of feet tall, these walkers would shake the earth when they moved, light the skies when they fired and make any infantryman wonder what the point of being on the battlefield actually was!

These models are from Vanguard Miniatures 'Defeat in Detail' 3mm range - although the two types of 'Stalkers' I've painted are prototypes and not available for sale currently. The walkers are massive when compared to the Novan Elite troopers I've added to the bases above to help show scale (the Novan Elites are in power armour and are 7 meters tall - Vanguard's 3mm range is true scale). I've included a Novan Elite 'Trojan' APC as well as a couple of Gladiator infantry walkers.

While I'm using Vanguard's models, my concept is to use these models as proxies for a Warhammer 30k game set during the Betrayal of Calth. My Novan Elites are painted as Ultramarines, while the Stalkers are Reaver Titan Proxies for the Legio Praesagius Titan Legion who supported the Ultramarine Legion.

Two of the Stalkers are 'Dreadnought Stalkers', the 'Medium' or 'Main Battle' tier stalkers in the Cybershadow's faction armies. One is armed with an arm mounted Plasma Array and Triple Laser Cannon and dorsal Twin laser Cannon, while the other has a dorsal Multiple Rocket Launcher and arm mounted Hyper Laser and Heavy Rotary Cannon.

I've added decals to them to try and make them a bit more heraldic and individual, while still keeping them part of the same army. The decals came from various W40k sets I've picked up over the last few months! I viewed them as having their own heraldry, while trying to stick to the Legio Praesagius colours - although reference pictures for these Warhammer Titans are few and far between.

The third stalker is a currently unnamed model, but is a conversion kit for a 6mm Scale model which was sold by Vanguard (I believe it might be switching to a 3mm model with the conversion kit added). It's described as being a 'Battle Cruiser' Stalker, that uses shields, agility and speed to get up close and personal. I've built mine as a 'duelist' or ambush hunter, with close combat weapons and a light twin rotary cannon. While it might not make sense something this size being an ambush hunter, if you've read the Titanicus book you'll understand how it's possible!

The three Super Heavy Tanks are 'Punisher' tanks for my Novan Elites, equipped with various Anti-Tank and anti personnel weapons:

 Again, to give some idea of scale...

So 3 models that qualify as 28mm models, and 3 that probably count as 6mm models!

'Childhood' from JamesM: Unguided/Misguided Youth

Hi folks,

My original plans for this entry had been to get some of my 6mm BAOR Team Yankee figures painted, representing my own childhood. However, my mess up with dates for the last themed round meant I had 3 Nebelwerfers left to paint, and Martin gave me a cunning plan (so cunning, it couldn't possibly fail twice...).

My entry this round is yet another unit of 15mm scale Battlefront Nebelwerfers. This time, fitting with the theme, from 12th SS Panzer Division 'Hitlerjudend' or 'Hitleryouth'. This division was formed in July/August of 1943, and comprised mainly of 17 year olds but with some younger boys from Hitler Youth groups. NCO's and officers generally came from 2000 veterans of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler", who were generally brutalised from fighting on the Eastern Front. The unit fought against British and Canadian troops from D-Day onward, committing various atrocities against prisoners of war and French civilians. Often fighting with a fanaticism bred from years of indoctrination into the Nazi creed, the divisions stubborn resistance meant they contributed heavily to the German defences in Normandy, but came at the cost of horrific losses in men. By the time the Division fled from Normandy it was reduced to a shell, having lost 80% of it's troops and tanks.

During Operation Totalize, several 12th SS battlegroups responded to the allied 'break in' on 8th August and launched local counter attacks. These were beaten off, but delayed the allied advance and limited it's forward momentum.

Obviously, the post title is a play on both the state of the weapon system and the crews. Most wars will have a substantial impact on the children on all sides, but Nazi Germany made a particular point of mobilising it's youth and sending them off to fight. 

These Nebelwerfers are from SS-Werferbataillon 12, which provided integral Nebelwerfer support to the Division.

These models did take a bit of extra work. Battlefront don't make any Waffen-SS Nebelwerfer crews, as far as I'm aware, so I took the regular Heer models and did some conversion work. This involved adding 'green stuff' to helmets to make SS style canvas covered helmets as well as trimming off the shoulder tabs to make the jackets more 'smock' like.

The chap on the left has 'Oak Leaf' helmet cover, 'Pea Dot' Jacket and Spring 'Plane Tree' trousers! His colleague has a 'Oak Leaf' jacket and 'Plane Tree' helmet cover. 

Painting wise, I also attempted to add three different camo patterns. Specifically 'Plane Tree', 'Oak Leaf' and 'Pea Dot' camo. As the units supply of uniforms and equipment was so irregular, I've mixed up items. Some crew have the regular army jacket or trousers, a couple have camo's of different types on trousers and jackets.

The launchers themselves I went for a full on camo, rather than the more obvious yellow's of my Heer launchers. 

I've also painted a spotter team for these launchers, again as SS using the various camo options.

So 3 x 15mm scale launchers and 17 crew figures bring this batch to a total of 46 points.