British Pioneer Platoon Transports (Part 2 - Jeep+Trailer)

Another update already?!

Tis true. Trying to get stuff off my desk and make sure I have everything ready for next weekend’s tournament.

Not my best work, but these Jeep+trailer stands round out my Pioneer Platoon. Drivers are absent as these are actually American models and so came with the obvious American drivers which I can’t use. Obviously.

I've since given these a spray with the dullcoat.

you can hardly see it in this pic - but hidden by the windscreen is a propped up tommy gun. The thing was already broken in the blister pack when it arrived, so I clipped a piece of paperclip and hey-presto (!) only the super vigilant will realise I made a ham-fisted attmept at repairing the gun! :P

Really nice sculpts with loads of character. Will be scrounging about on the NorcalFlamesofWar forum to see if anyone has any spare generic Brit drivers methinks.

Last two pieces required for this tournament are these two stands – a Piat team and a Light Mortar team for my 3^rd platoon of infantry. Decided I can’t be arsed to paint up a whole platoon in one go so will be using my trusty Commandos as they are pretty much the same minis, minus these two stands to round out the platoon to the required 9 stands.

Used some of the Battlefront "Rural" theme'd bases for these and will do the remainder of the platoon with the same. They're okay - very much made for the new plastic infantry, the irregular sized pegs on the metal infantry need a lot of trimming, etc to fit in the base holes.

Next up on the desk? No idea – but I’ve a hankering to paint something overwhelmingly different and nasty of a sudden…

British Pioneer Platoon transports (Part 1 - 15CWT Truck)

I had originally painted this truck a while back as a generic "no-markings" truck so I could use it in whatever list, Mid or Late War. After since painting up my Pioneer troops, I instead decided it would be better used as the platoon's truck transport.

After a small amount of research, decals slapped on and some impatient free-hand painted unit markings I think this one's ready to roll my Engineers up so they can clear out barbed wire and clear minefields.

I still have to finish two jeep+trailer combos to complete the transport options for this platoon, they are currently around 50% done.

British Pioneers (Part 1 - The Troops)

British Pioneer (Non-paratroop mind) platoons in Mid & Late War Flames of War are tiny four-stand affairs mounted in jeeps with trailers. They are cheap, so sometimes can fill in when you've got points left over in a list, but typically there's usually better options out there. Saying that, they still have the ability to get rid of pesky barbed wire and minefields and can also scare tanks away from assaulting them with their AT4 in assaults.

4 men on a stand as opposed to the normal 5 on regular infantry made these fellows a swifter paintjob, which was nice.

This is a platoon that will not see much time on my playing surfaces seeing as my regular opponent has yet to use fortifications, minefields or barbed wire, but the first tournament of 2015 is a small Infantry companies only 1200 point effort and I found they were all I could fit in to my list. Battlefront's own Brit Pioneer sculpts are more for their Italy Campaign line, and so I decided to look elsewhere as I wanted mine to fit in with my current Late War Canadians who are based around a Western Europe theme. Peter Pig Miniatures had a wee pack of their own Pioneers and whilst a little smaller than Battlefront's sculpts, seemed to fit in and give enough character to my stands that they couldn't be confused with regular infantry.

Close up showing that this very suspicious cask needs investigating by these brave Engineers.

Yup, that's a bit dodgy looking alright.

More Pioneers on the move, cautiously scanning for hidden mines.

Jerry has booby-trapped these supplies. 

And taken all the wine and brandy from the crates to boot! Gits!

Platoon Commander

Next up for these blokes will be their Jeeps and a 15CWT Truck, but I'm still waiting for those to arrive in the post.

British 8th Army HQ and others (WIP - part 2)

A day late for last week’s post, whoops.

Saying that, I have gotten out of my slump and been painting lots this weekend, which is refreshing.

Here are the infantry stands for my 8^th Army HQ. I honestly thought painting desert infantry would be easier (When compared to painting Western European Brit uniforms) prior to beginning these fellows, but they require about the same amount of effort. The one part that was easier was the basing. I used some grainy texture paste stuff by Liquitex and some Silfor grass tufts and I think it looks pretty good.

The transport vehicles for this lot are being worked on next and as you’ll see below, I’ve even stuck a spare dog in to further differentiate the White’s Scout Car as the 1iC’s personal transport. :)

1iC contemplating the enemy positions with a mug of tea and trusty pooch "Séamus" the Red Setter.

 

My 2iC will most likely be platoon commander for the HQ Mortars every game, so he gets some binoculars to help spot valid targets.

HQ Mortar #1. The crew are not Battlefront sculpts and it shows. No idea which company produced these, but they are bloody shite in comparison. Still, seems a lick of paint can improve the appearance of a pig afterall.

HQ Mortar #2. Again, non-Battlefront crew, but at least between the two teams I was able to not double up on any of the poses.

This is the 1iC's Scout Car transport. As you can see, I had a spare dog that I am going to paint up as though he's enjoying the hot desert air blowing his face and ears about as the car zooms about the battlefield. Red Setters are not known for being all that smart, so it fits. 

And these aren't the only models I've managed to paint either. I've also gotten about 4/5's of a British Late War Pioneers platoon done, with just some basing and also transport vehicles to get finished. I didn't have the camera to hand when I put down my brushes last night, so I'll get a new post sorted for those boyo's in the next few days. 

Lastly I finally managed to get in some games of the Fantasy Flight's X-Wing Miniatures game after my good friend Gregg managed to pick up the basic set and a handful of ships on the cheap. I played as the Imperials (Of course) versus Gregg and Frank who took on the mantle of the Rebel Alliance (Though Gregg was playing an E-Wing, which I guess in the Star Wars timeline would have made them New Republic?) We kept the game simple, leaving out the purchasing of gear, usage of named pilots and rules for torpedoes, etc so we could learn the core rules and get them down as best we were able. I think I managed to win one game and then got thumped the others. I will say I really like the moving mechanics of the game, though there is far too much reliance on luck with the dice rolling for my preferences. The models themselves looked very nice, but when I looked them up online, they were way more expensive than I had anticipated and trying to get hold of the early Wave 1 ships for their release prices is damned near impossible. Almost like a bloody collectible card game. That aside, I am looking forward to getting to play again, though I don't think I'll be buying into X-Wing and will let Gregg provide the game and pieces.