Painting up some figures and kits.

 The ever chip away from the pile of figures and kits needing paint.

A few British Paras getting touch ups

A few Panzergrenadiers and Gerbjagers

And some vehicles getting paint and decals.

 

Stuart Recce made with spare bits

 Right. So I have several spare bits of Stuart hulls with tracks and spare tarp tops. While looking at other FB groups I've come up with a small project I can do on my days off.

A Stuart Recce with machine guns with a cloth top with foilage and Jerry cans.

It can work.

Pictures to follow 

I just need to find the time and where I put them.

Winter 1944-45 Allied offensive: 11th Armoured Division and 1st Airborne vs 2nd SS

 

the church tower has been a favorite spot for MG 42 and Panzercrecht teams

 the Comets and Firefly all go up and shortly after the Stuart also brews up

 the Airborne 75mm gun battery is  doing its best to give fire support 

the Cromwells are punching above their weight by taking out several Jagpanthers

a Panther Squadron takes cover to snipe at the British tanks

 the Brummbar is providing critical fire support 

while the King Tigers are smashing the British armor

a line of German mg 42 teams are holding back the Airborne 

and the Airborne are engaged in a firefight with the Mg 42 teams

Eventually after about 2 months, the British were able to push forward to take the church and the Ridge. As such, the Germans withdrew to their next line of defense. An allied victory 

Checking on my German forces

 I realized that I have a significant lack of tanks for my Germans!

Now while my collection has some good bits of kit, I dont really have a full compliment of tanks for any of the Divisions I have put together. 

While setting up for a campaign game, I realized that my collection is suitable for the Bolt action games but not so much for the Flames of war!

In total, I can field only 1 Panzer Division worth of kit. My British army i can put at least 2 Divisions on the table and the Canadians 3!

So, i will seriously consider buying a Battlefront Miniatures German Panzer boxed ser.

At present count my Germans consist of

4 Panzer III

2 Panzer IV

2 Tigers, (one to be built)

2 Panthers

2 King Tigers

2 Wespe SP guns

2 Panzerjagers (panzer iv)

2 88mm guns

A mixed Squadron of 4 234s

A 222 Recce Squadron made up of a Radio car armed with an MG, a 20mm gun and a 28mm gun. 

4 Skz 252

A Brummbar 

What I would like to be able to do is to build up my tanks to at least give each Division 1 Squadron of what they need.

So, over the next bit, I shall be focusing on building up the Panzer arm. I'm also contemplating switching to a smaller scale to beef up my units. In the long term it's a cheaper option and I have access to a potential supply 

M8 Scout Car

 Back during the summer I was able to pick up a pair of these as die cast sets. 

Now my Canadian forces will press them into service for their Division level Recce Squadron so they will become the 12th Manitoba Dragoons as I have not been able to find Stag hound Armoured cars in this scale.

So these fellows will find themselves on the battlefields of Europe, and Asia, plus anywhere else they were found in the Cold War period 

M3 Scout Car

 I was able to stop at another hobby shop in Halifax and pick up this Zeveda kit

Its scale is 1/100 sit it fits well with my British force of the same scale. My plan is to get it painted and kitted up as the HQ element for the 7th Armoured Division.

Decals being added and it is now the HQ Observer for the 7th Armoured Division in North west Europe, Summer 1944

7th Armoured Division Cromwells

 I've started building up the force for this unit.

The first tank I built was a 95mm armed one. Just because I could. This one will be the HQ tank. I also want something that gives a big bang

The other 2 squadrons will be 2 Cromwells with a Firefly.

Thus my new 7th Armoured Division is ready

Thus the Regiment is 

The County of London Yeomanry

With the decals provided and what I had in my collection, I have been able to build A and B Squadrons

And C Squadron is fielded with this one to complimented the RA marked one

 

7th Armoured Division M10 Jackson 17pdr

 To add punch to its Anti-tank Regiments, the British Utilized the M10  Tank destroyer however, the British gave it a 17pdr gun just to give it some more punch.

This section of 2 vehicles will become the Anti-tank Squadron. They now have Anti-tank Squadron decals 

The 65th (Norfolk Yeomanry) Anti-tank Regiment Royal Artillery is what these have become.

Now to just get them on the table against Panzers

7th Armoured Division 25pdr Artillery battery

 I'm doing some more research on this 

but I can't remember which battery was attached either the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery or the 5th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery 

I've talked briefly about the gun system before but this post I'm going to research about the specific battery.

The guns. I'm still trying to decide if I will have them as a 4 gun or 2 gun battery, depending on the needs of the other units

The infantry observer is the FOO which I'm going to mount in the Universal carrier 

New paint shall dress the figures 

Soviet T-34/85

 

By far my most favorite tank! This machine defeated Nazism and kept on going into the 1990s!

It had the ability to take on the best German tanks  and still gave American tanks a run for their money into the 1960s.

Once I get issues sorted out between new job, days off and catching up with Bill's, I'll be expanding on this.

I've also painted a section of 3 up for use in the Middle East.

New Soviet force Su 152

When the Soviets wanted an Assault gun, they went big. 

The weapon system can either fire as an Artillery bombardment or as Direct fire.

I'm going to use this system for both World War 2 and the Cold War. 

 

Major offensive in the works for a Flames of War style campaign

 So I've finally gotten a Flames of War rule book from Battlefront Miniatures. Now while the scale for the game is 15mm, and most of my collections are 1/72, I'm still going to use them in this gaming system as my collection is so large.

Henceforth when I want to fight big battles I will use Flames of war, and skirmishes with Bolt action.

Should be fun 

Battlefront Miniatures Soviet Armoured Regiment starter

oh I'm so giddy

 Like the British, I have bought a late war Soviet Armoured force. My main goal is to turn the kits into units for the Korean war as well as some Arab wars and earlier cold war scenarios. 

I have built a 76mm gun. 

Battlefront Miniatures British Armoured Division

 So I took the plunge and bought a British Armoured starter set from Battlefront Miniatures. The store I get my Team Yankee kits from had an over abundance of starter sets. The first one i have picked up is to start an Armoured force.

It includes lots which i have wanted and will build up. I will consider making this force late war and also to be used for The Korean War as well.

One of the other ideas I have is to fight the campaign for the Schelt, and over the Rhineland in 1945.

Tanks from this force will also be used as the basis of a Jordanian force as well.

Juno beach exhibit Halifax Citadel summer 2020

 

German pin ups

the inside of a bunker

Part of Hitler's Atlantic wall, which Rommel did his best with what he had 

Barbed wire

What my grandfather saw a lot of

A box of what were probably grenades 

Breached wall

As the Third Division troops saw as they came ashore

About to disembark 

How they managed to do this, they were lucky if they made it to the bunker.

53rd Welsh Division takes on 9th SS past Caen July 1944

covering both sides, I'm wearing my Luftwaffen Field cap and my British Army Desert DPM

the battlefield, some town in Normandy

one of the objectives is the church. Right off the bat, the British open fire on the church tower taking out the sniper

Cromwells, Churchills, and Comets begin to advance

a solo Dailmer advances up the road

British HQ

German forces consist of a 9th Waffen SS group 

while the unit is small, its powerful with very heavy tanks.