It's All Greek to Me! (Part 3 - Bren Carriers done!)

 

As described in my previous post, I was indeed fortunate enough to get time to myself free from family responsibility this weekend and so I managed to get on with some more hobby.

 

The result? A pair of Bren Carriers for my Greek force painted up and ready for a little weathering, that will be done once all the vehicles in the force are done.

 

With their big/little brother, the FT-17. 

Prior to the Italian invasion of Greece in 1940, the Greek government seeing the crumbling political situation in the Balkans with Italy on their doorstep after taking over Albania petitioned many countries for arms and armour to prepare for a possible invasion. The UK promised to send over a large amount of tanks and munitions, but only came through (For many reasons, lack of time being one of the main ones along with having to supply their conflict in North Africa.) with a limited supply of extremely light pieces, including the excellent Bren Carrier. (I intend to add a Vickers mkVI light tank to this collection at a later date.)

 

That’s a brief history on these things. I found these 3D-printed models for a very reasonable price on Etsy. They came crew-less and “Bren-gun-less” though so I cut up some spare Soviet infantry as driver and gunner (Soviet helmets are close enough in style to Greek ones imo) and added the pintle mounted Bren-guns using a paperclip and metal casted gun by The Assault Group. (Looking at the models now, I realise I could have added a little stowage too – maybe something I’ll attempt at a later date.)

 

Like the FT-17, I went with a straight forward “green” scheme as that is likely the one they received them in upon delivery. I found this reference image online (The ONLY one I found) for markings, etc – simple stuff. Used the designation number in the pic on one and then a made up one on the second. Free hand is wobbly as usual, I think that’s more due to the expected degeneration of my eyesight (Darn you old age). LOL

You might notice that these two carrier models don't match! Thats because I didn't realise that the "great deal" I found was for a mk1 carrier and a mk2, not two mk1's as would have been delivered to Greece. No matter. They basically do the same thing. 

I'm pretty happy with how they came out and with these two done, I'm able to get on with the final vehicle in my planned Greek army - a captured Italian CV33 tankette. Although the following pic doesn't show it (As I took it prior to getting some paint on) there actually has been some paint applied, along with a wash. No idea when I'll get more time for hobby what with holidays impending though. 

Such a tiny tank, but so cool for it!

And with the Carriers done my Draxian Painting Chart gets a little more green! Encouraging stuff. 

No idea when the next update will be, or if that will be before the end of year. Regardless, I hope all reading this are well out there!

- Dai

It's All Greek to Me! (Part 2 - FT-17 tank done! Almost.)

 A three-day weekend just past to commemorate Veteran's Day here in the US and Armistice Day in the UK. I like to raise a glass to the men in my family who served and fought for their countries:

• My Grandfather David, who joined the RAF during WW2, serving in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Then after the war as a Chaplain in her majesty's Royal Navy.
• My other Grandfather Wilson, who joined the US Army Air Corps prior to the US entering WW2 and then went on to serve in the Pacific.
• My God Father John, who also served in the British military during WW2 (Branch unknown) and who served as Principle Chaplain of her Majesty's Royal Navy after the war.
• And my Dad, who, in an effort to avoid the draft and being thrown into the awful meatgrinder that was the Vietnam conflict, enlisted in the US Navy instead. (And detested every minute of it.)

If not for the bravery of these men and others like them, our lives in here in the States and UK would not be what they are now. Sadly, not a one of the listed men here are still alive, but their memory remains and the stories I've been told over the years will hopefully be passed down to my own children so they and their sacrifices won't be forgotten.

Image stolen from some site or another.

On to the actual topic of this post. My wife was called away to spend time (Shopping or nail appointment - whatever women do with their free time!) with her sister who's birthday falls on November 11th so I had a few hours to myself. This provided me with a few hours for hobby which meant I managed to give all of the pieces an undercoat in Rustoleum Flat Grey primer and almost finish the FT-17 tank for my WW2 Greek force. ("Almost" because I plan to add a little mud effects at a later date, once all of the vehicles for this army are completed.)

I'm still having a little trouble actually finding any evidence online that the Royal Hellenic army even using this model of tank during WW2, but the official Warlord army lists have them as an option so I went with it, if only because it is a cool looking model and it's in-game rules make it the cheapest Medium Machinegun option out there.

There is very little in the way of pictures or references for vehicle markings for WW2 Greek armour. They had so few vehicles in general prior to the Italian invasion (Mainly Bren Carriers and a smattering of Vickers Mk vi tanks.) and captured a number of Italian tankettes during the conflict, but it's tricky to find many clear images online. So I went for a simple Hellenic Royal cross on the hulls, horribly hand painted, and I can add other markings later on as I find evidence.

For hull colour I queried the appropriate colour from a professor of Balkan history. He too said there wasn't much out there but that they'd likely be in the same colour they were provided in, or just plain dark green. (In this case, Vallejo's "Brown Violet".)

In-game, this little lumbering thing is pretty lightly armoured, incredibly slow and suffers from a rule whereby an order test has to be taken if one wishes to both move AND shoot in a turn! Sounds awful, but also fun!

With this done, my path to "Fully Painted" on this project is begun! (Though there is a LOT left to get on with. First steps first though...) I've been fortunate enough to be told I am to have another free Saturday this weekend (Hoorah!) whilst my wife is off at a craft faire with her grandmother so I hope to have the two Bren Carriers done and perhaps something else if time allows.

For any who is keeping track, here's the Draxian Painting chart now updated to show all parts of this army now primed, the FT-17 painted and "Painting in Progress" for the Bren Carriers.

No red boxes - this is a good thing! :) (I should probably include the key to this chart in the next stallment.)

Hope all are well out there and I should have another post up next Monday!

It's All Greek to Me! (Part 1 - Force composition)

Found this cool art online to be good reference for Greek uniforms. No idea who the artist is though.

For my 400th post I thought I'd preview my main project (That admittedly should have begun earlier this year, but life happened.) that I plan to work on. In February the local Bolt Action Facebook group plans to hold a small tourney and I am hoping to be able to attend, and when I do, I want to be able to bring a new army to play with!

And so "Greeks?" you might ask. Why yes, WW2 1940-41 Greeks are going to be my next Bolt Action project and here are the main reasons:

1. Firstly, I wanted to have and be able to play an army that represented a minor nation and something that is rarely seen on the tabletops (Mainly due to their army lists and national rules being considered pretty awful). I also wanted a force from the Early years of WW2. (My Soviets represent 1944-45 and my Canadians Mid War 1942 so a 1940-1941 era force seemed appropriate.)

2. My grandmother was Greek and suffered the brutal Nazi occupation of her home country during the war. By researching and collecting together this force I felt I was connecting to her memory and my own of the stories she would tell me of her experiences during those years. At least in a small way. 

3. My Bolt Action gaming pal, Densmol, decided he too wanted to stray from his primary faction (Germans) and so chose Italians(!). So what better adversary than a bunch of Retsina and Ouzo drinking, heavily moustachio'd mountain fighters to face them!? *Who also historically kicked them back into Albania! (To date, Densmol has yet to confirm which part of the war he's going to paint his Italians up for though.) 

4. As mentioned in my brief year review post for 2022, I had found on Facebook a digital sculptor who's sculpts were simply sublime. Studio Historia actually work out of Greece and their main creators are passionate about their source material, so I felt that their 3D printed sculpts would be some of the best out there and, once they arrived, I was not disappointed. Add in some lovely metal Great Escape Games "Evzones" (Tough Greek mountain troops) and some 3rd party 3D printed vehicles I found on Etsy and I had an army for a relatively affordable financial investment.

The make up of the basic 1000 point force is as follows (All are rated as "Regulars", for those who know Bolt Action.):

KEY: Red = Unassembled, Orange = Assembled and Primed, Yellow = Painting in Progress & Green = Completed.

This is the Draxian organizational painting chart/excel sheet I'll be using and updating as this project progresses until it's all "fully painted green" in the many posts to come. 

Here are pics of the unpainted mini's glued to their bases, ready for primer so you can get an idea of just how nice these 3d printed minis are. I've become more and more impressed with the quality of 3D printed miniatures in resin as the tech just gets better and better and can see me purchasing more in the future:

2nd Lieutenant #1 & Adjutant (An Adjutant sounding a bugle!? Sign me up!)

Regular Infantry Squad #1 (11-man squad with Rifles, 1x LMG & 1x VB Launcher. The resin fellow front-right will get a flagpole in his left hand.)

 

Regular Infantry Squad #2 (11-man squad with Rifles, 1x LMG & 1x VB Launcher)

Medium Mortar Team (There is another crew member, but I left him out as Bolt Action only calls for 3 crew to a mortar. With Spotter - Not pictured)

Sniper Team (What it says on the tin.)

Anti-Tank Rifle Team (Although the Greeks had a few Boys AT rifles supplied by the Brits, they were few and far between and I don't think they even had much ammo for them, so the Greek troops procured Italian Solothern AT Rifles when they were able to liberate them. The base was a freebie I got from an Etsy 3D print order. I've also since added basing texture to match the rest of the force. )

Medium Howitzer (An old Schneider 85mm artillery piece from the Interwar period. There are far too many crew on this gun per the Bolt Action rules, but the whole scene just looked too darn cool to leave out anyone. Also with Spotter - not pictured)

L3/35 Tankette (Captured from the Italians. This little terror takes up the Armoured Car slot in the list.) 

Renault FT-17 Tank (Still researching IF the Greeks actually had these. So far, online evidence says "no", but the Bolt Action list includes the option so until that changes I'll keep this ugly little thing in. Absolutely lovely 3D print found on Etsy. ) 

2nd Lieutenant #2 & Adjutant (Who is actually an Orthodox Priest - flippin love this sculpt! Both Great Escape Games minis.)

Oof! That’s an awful mold line on the officer’s helmet! 

Evzones Mountain Brigade Squad #1 (5x Rifles and all Tough Fighters. Metal minis by Great Escape Games)

Evzones Mountain Brigade Squad #2 (5x Rifles and all Tough Fighters. Also Metal minis by Great Escape Games)

Mk 1 Bren Carrier #1 (Another 3D printed model found on Etsy. Had to add crew made from spare Soviet bits ((Soviet helmets are close enough to Greek I feel.)) and a pintle-mounted Bren Gun made up from a paper clip and loose Bren gun produced by The Assault Group in the UK.)

Mk 1 Bren Carrier #2 (As above but this one I think is actually a Mk 2? I don't care though, it'll do as far as I'm concerned.)

*The Bren Carriers have actually had painting started so I need to change the painting chart to reflect this, but I’ll do that next post.

Playing-wise, this force should be pretty balanced. The small Evzones squads, mounted in their Bren Carriers will be reactionary options to come in on outflank and a hammer to slam down if they can get in the charge. Two full sized infantry squads can be used for objective holding but also large enough to endure a little punishment if they have to hoof it across the battlefield or open fire on a target. Everything else is pretty much in support of these four infantry squads. This army isn't going to win many games, especially against armies that have tough armour, but Bolt Action is an infantry game and if I can defeat my opponent's infantry, then I should have free reign to take objectives. At least that's the theory.

So there you go, my main project for the remainder of 2023 and beginning of 2024. Hope I can get all this completed by the beginning of February! *gulp* 

- Dai