'Water Feature' from BenitoM: Higgins Landing Craft

My contribution to this week’s bonus round is indirectly related to the British Airborne project: a landing craft (the US Higgins) widely used in the Normandy beaches on June 44.

Actually and to make things more clear, this entry should have been the landing craft AND a section of the Royal Marine Commandos, which were the first troops to contact with the airborne unit defending the positions at the famous Pegasus Bridge. 

Unfortunately, despite ordering some Commando blisters from Warlord in early January, the order was lost and only recovered in the system by the end of the month, hitting my mailbox at home too late to be finished for this entry.

Focusing on the model, this is a very nice  resin casting, full historically designed and produced by Barrage Miniatures. The model is fairly large (almost 20 cm long) and as you can see in the photos below can accommodate a good number of infantry models (mine are based in 25 mm rounds, but with use 20mm bases these can be put two to a file).

The ramp is also very cleverly designed to be either close or open with a “snap” mechanism that keeps it in place in either position.

I had some trouble finding a suitable crew models until alerted by a Swedish Lard penguin about the Rubicon amphibious Buffalo crew. These actually come with the 30mm cal. MMGs and perfectly fit in the positions of the Barrage model. Note nonetheless that Rubicon models are truly 25mm scale and therefore look slightly small when compared to the Warlord 28mm size figures.

This entry credits some additional 80 points to my Challenge score:

Vehicle (landing craft): 20 points

Crew: 2 half models + 1 full size model = 10 points

Bonus round extra: 50 points

'Sport' from BenitoM: Battlefield Hunters

This bonus round has given me some headaches… “Sports”?? How could I fit this topic in my major project, the British Airborne platoon. Until I remember a wargame scenario for Through the Mud and the Blood (TooFatLardies 1WW rules), some years ago: it featured a British officer and large landowner, acting as sniper and hunting enemies like when he was hunting in his estate in Britain.

So the closest models I can argue are in compliance with the current bonus round are these two snipers teams.

I’m not totally sure they acted in pairs, but the British Airborne platoon in the Second World War had a reinforced allocation of marksmen. A sniper team was attached to the headquarters of the platoon and a second team was embedded in the third section of the platoon (integrated by two LMG teams).

The models presented here are from the Warlord British Airborne range. The sniper figures are from a metal blister reference while the guarding companions are from the plastic box.

Note the model standing is wearing neither a beret nor a steel helmet but the camouflaged scarf usually wore around the neck by the paras.

With this entry I credit an additional 70 points to my Challenge Score (4 models

x 5 points + 50 points bonus)

  

'Reconnaissance' from BenitoM: British Armour Leading Forward

My project for this Bonus Round will have a very British flavour and of course related to my WW2 British Airborne project this year. Let me introduce you my trio for this round.

The first is a Humber Car, widely used by the armoured divisions in the roles of command vehicle and also for scout purposes. In this case, the model is representing the vehicle of  Brigadier J.O.E. Vandeleur (aka Michael Cane), who led the spearhead of the XXX Corps across the infamous Hell’s Highway in Holland September 1944.

The model has the marks of the 3^rd Battalion Irish Guards (32^nd Guards Division) who together with the 2^nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards were the leading elements of advance towards Eindhoven, Nijmegen and finally (failed) Arnhem.

 

This model is a resin + metal kit from Warlord Games and will be part of my support elements of the British Airborne platoon.

The second model for the bonus round is this Cromwell tank.

The tank has the markings of the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment of the 11^th Armoured Division (Black Bulls) and the white cirlce in the turret indicates that it belongs to the C Squadron. 

This is the Warlord plastic kit (the resin has been discontinued) and although presenting good detail, generally I still prefer the Rubicon models (sadly no Cromwells yet in their catalogue).

The Cromwell will also represent my first entry (not the last!) for the What a Tanker! contest (hi Rich, hi Nick).

My breakfast mug for those really hard working days

My third and last entry for the bonus round is the eponymous Willys jeep of the famous 1^st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron led by Major Gough. This was the first unit to engage in combat with the Germans defenders a few hours after glider-landing, failing to achieve its key objective, the bridge at Arnhem over the Rhine river.

The jeep depicts the well-known “Mickey Mouse” camouflage pattern used by the British and shown in many contemporary photos of the Market Garden   operation.

The model is a superb resin and metal kit made by Warlord, which include the four-man crew as presented here and a nice decal sheet of the 1^st Airborne.

In addition to painting, the most challenging aspect of this entry for me has been untangling and understanding how the British war-era vehicles marking systems worked, especially for the lighter vehicles.

After much researching and gazing in Internet I found a couple of interesting sites that I share now you.

The first is a real and amazing trove of information called “Arnhem Jim”, curated by a  retired US Naval officer. In 2012 he posted a very detailed and well research report on how the Bren Carriers and the Jeeps brought by the British Airlanding Division were marked. Lots of original sources and contemporary photos, quite inspiring to provide authenticity for a project like mine.

The second source is this short but very clarifying video in YouTube made by Fog of War called Understanding British Vehicle Markings.

Finally, the Flames of War website  has extensive documentation about the different British Armour units like for example the post on the 11th Armoured Division linked here.

All models have been painted using my recently acquired skills with the airbrush, a fantastic tool to reach a new painting level; I know airbrushing can be fearsome for many but I can assure you that it is easier than you may think and, if I regret something, is not to have tried it before. 

These models also have been my first attempt to use AK pigments for the weathering phase. I may have gone too far is some cases but I found the final result to be more "natural" than my previous attempts with piants using the dry-brushing technique. As with the airbrush, I strongly advise wargame painters to test and experiment with the pigments, don't be afraid. 

Finally, my score for this entry would be calculated as follows:

Bonus round 50 points

Humber 20 points

Cromwell  20 points

Airborne Jeep 20 points + 4 x 5 points crew = 40

Total: 130 points

I don't know if the trailer and the tank and Humber crews will also merit addditional points, so I'll leave this to the discretion of Lord Campbell of the Snow.

I hope you enjoy the work presented today and find the references useful for some of your projects.

'Music/Musician' from BenitoM: Marching to the Drums

My constribution to the Bonus Round are four Napoleonic drummers models, two Austrians and two French.

The French models are painted one as Light and one as Line Infantry respectively. These are metal models from Perry.

The Austrian are also from Perry but this time from the plastic infantry box and represent the first cadre of two new Line battalions that I expect to paint over the next weeks.

The four models are 28 mm. This should add 70 points to my Challenge score ( 4 x 5 points + 50 bonus points) and must also be accounted in the Black Powder Duel roster.

'BFG' from BenitoM: Kaiser Franz's Little Daughter

I'm lost with the deadline for the BFG Bonus Round so I'm writing this at an insane 1AM Sunday in Spain, not sure if I'm late or not. I have spent most of Friday afternoon and Saturday after lunch hurrying to finish this artillery piece, which of course would have to be ... Austrian!

This is the first gun of the first battery for my Austrian Napolenoci Army. Quite remarkable uniforms, it took a lot of time to find the satisfying brown tone for the coats of the crew. I finally used a mixed of brown chocolate and orange brown.

The gun is a six pounder. I'm planning to use 2 models per battery for my General d'Armee units, so hopefully at least will paint another model before the end of the Challenge.

Still undecided about the basing, likely I'll leave as they are now and put them on some large generic gabion bases that can be used with any other armies.

The models are Perry 28mm

'Armour' from BenitoM: German Kitten in Iron Clad

My submission for the first Bonus Round is this Pzkw V Ausf G "Panther" ready to fight the Yankees in the Ardennes forests.

This is a resin Warlord model with some metal parts;  I suspect is now out of production, being replaced by the new plastic range. A pity because the quality of the Warlord plastics is in my view not very good, I'm inclined to continue my collection with Rubicon Models in the future.

I have chosen the three colour cammo scheme with the discs pattern used (if I'm correct) first fter the summer ´44, widely in the Ardennes and then to the end of the war in April.

This model will be the perfect companion to the small little Hetzer that I posted in the Challenge last year. Humm... I foresee a Chain of Command Ardennes game coming soon...