Sunday Church services

About 3 weeks ago I bought a set from Flames of War
Caen Church is the name of the set and it's a painted built set of terrain which I have added to my collection. It works within many different historical periods
It is scaled for 1/100 but I've put 1/72 figures in it and they work also.
Pictures will follow

makes for a nice ruler holder as well

53rd Welsh Division hits Siegfried Line Point Defense, February, 1945

The Welsh hit the Germans hard. The RA earn their cups of tea with a well laid bombardment pinning down most of the Germans while the Welsh creep up to hit with grenades, the bayonets and Men of Harlic

RA pounds the German position

Welsh battalion hold in reserve

Welsh infantry hit the front.

7th Armored Division advance to flank the German left

Welsh troops with armor support hit the German trenches hard

British 49th West Riding Division: Polar bears

The following units I have painted up for this Division
Essex Regiment: modeled by troops in green berets
Royal Scots Fusiliers: 2 companies 6 figures
Leicestershire Regiment: I company 5 figures with an M3 Half-track

Duke of Wellington Regiment:

I've found some time and I'm updating this page.

The 8th Armoured Brigade is attached and I'm going to list what I have.

A 25pdr gun with CMP tractor

A 40mm Bofors AA gun

A Sherman Firefly

A Stuart Honey

A Universal Carrier patrols of 2 carriers

An M3 Half-track 

An M3 Half-track with Mortar fir the Kensington Regiment with an additional pair of mortars and Vickers MMG 

9th Durham Light Infantry: 3 stands

1st Leicestershire Regiment: 2 stands

11th Royal Scots Fusiliers: 1 stand

British 50th Division TT

The following units I have painted up as 50th Division

1 Dorset Regiment: 12 Figures
6 Durham Light Infantry: 5 figures with an M3 Half-track

6 Durham Light Infantry: 4 Bren teams
5 East Yorkshire Regiment: 4 Bren teams

1 Hampshire Regiment: 4 Bren teams

1 Dorset Regiment: 4 teams

6 Green Howards: 2 teams

Support: 2 Cheshire Regiment: 2x Vickers MG, 2x 81mm motar.

1 M3 Half-track 

2 M3 AA Half-track 

1 M3 Scout car

British 11th Armoured Division 1944-45

Having finally begun to organise and paint up my Bolt Action collection, I will begin to label and organise my units.

The 11th Armoured Division was made up of these units:
23rd Hussars: Sherman,
3rd Royal Tank Regiment: Sherman
2nd Fife Forfar Yeomanry: 2 Comet tanks

2nd Northampton Yeomanry: Stuart Honey as Recce

Motor Battalion: 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade mounted in M3 Half-track
151st Ayreshire Yeomanry, Royal Artillery: 25pdr gun.
75th Anti-Tank Royal Artillery: towed 17pdr gun.
This is one of my stronger divisions on the table due to the amount of kit for an armoured division.
Pictures to follow.

Osprey publishing The British Army 1939-1945 (1) North-West Europe

The British Army 1939-45 (1) North-West Europe by Brayley and Chappell (2001)

While I have several books on Canadian units, I didnt have anything on the British. Well not except my book on the Scottish Units.

German 16th Division in Italy 1943

I am modelling this division as it fits in with my gamming for either the Eastern Front or the Italian campaign.

Another version of this division was also reconstituted as the 179th Panzer Reserve division where it was badly broken at Falise.

As the 116th it was comprised of: and had a Greyhound as its insignia. 

• 16th Panzer Regiment: Modeled with Panzer III
• 60th Panzergrenadier Regiment
• 156th Panzergrenadier Regiment
• 146th Panzer Artillery Regiment 
• 116th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion
• 281st Army Flak Battalion modeled with 88mm gun in 15mm
• 228th Panzerjager Battalion modeled with StuG III in 15mm
• 675th Panzer Engineer Battalion
• 228th Panzer Signals Battalion
• 146th Field-Replacement Battalion

British Armored Divisions: 6th, 8th, 1st and 11th

6th Armoured Division

8th Armoured Division

1st Armoured Division

A mixed brigade comprising elements of 11th Armoured Division

Juno Beach June 6, 1944

The German defences on Juno beach

The North Shore (New Brunswick) hit the beach. The Queens Own Rifles are also in the attack.

As I was so busy the past couple of weeks, Ian began to set up and do games on his own. His first Normandy game he was inspired by the film Saving Private Ryan. I then showed him some of the history of the Canadians on D-Day so he then set up another game. Did a good job.

Ian's Juno Beach June 6, 1944

I came home from work one morning to see Ian's own recreation of what some of the Normandy beaches looked like, after watching Saving Private Ryan.

He set up some pretty eleborate defences. Since he couldn't find any American figures, he used our Canadian ones.

Revell Panzergrenadier

While clearing out my stuff in storage, I was able to pick up some additional equipment my father had been able to acquire for me, over the last ten years. One of the items was a box of Revell Panzergrenadiers.

Pictures to follow of the box, and figures.

D-Day 'Piper Bill' Millin laid to rest

 A clip about Piper Bill Millin

Battlefield S5/E6 - The Battle for Caen

 The campaign my Grandpie was a part of.

More Universal Carriers

I plan to paint up two of these for the 2nd Canadian Division, one for the 4th Canadian Armored, and one for the 3rd Canadian Division. All these versions are Plastic Soldier Company from the UK. They were pretty easy to build, if you can match the parts with where they should go.

 A new universal carrier with crew and passangers. They are now having a coat of paint dry on them. 

Plastic Soldier Review box. The spooky looking picture is one my family had taken back in 1996, prior to my departure to South Korea. Sadly, it was the last family portrait of us all, due to my parents getting divorced, and my mother being killed in a car accident at Easter, 2014.

The shot was taken at Sherbrooke Village in Nova Scotia. My father and I wore our Pictou Highlanders uniforms, his was of a Lieutanant and my uniform was that of a band corporal. Both uniforms were originals from the First World War, which were going to be thrown out in the garbage. The lady called my father to see if he was interested. We got the uniform coat, blue patrol jacket, an original MacKenzie kilt.

Fire support for the Waffen SS

As I went through Akihabara, I stopped at Yellow Submarine to see what cheaper kits they had. There were several, but I only got two. These will be Ian's Christmas presents.
I'm still thinking on ordering kits from Plastic Soldier Company. I'd like to get him some Hanamog Half-tracks.
The first kit he gets is a Whirlwind Anti-aircraft tank, a Panzer IV version. He'll get some good use taking out troops and my carriers with this.
The other is a Nebelwefer! I think I had one of these in storage, but not sure.
So the Waffen SS will have a bit more sting come the New Year
Pictures of boxes to follow.

Battlefield S5/E6 - The Battle for Caen

 Part of the campaign, many men from my home town were involved in, including my grandfather.

Osprey Publishing - Bolt Action: Armies of Great Britain

Osprey Publishing - Bolt Action: Armies of Great Britain



Finally, I have my hands on what the British, Canadians, Australian, New Zealand, South African and Indian troops as well as other Commonwealth forces used in WW2.



I shall now be able to accurately field units for this conflict.

Saving Private Ryan The True Story

Take that! My beef with this film was the negative comments about the British and Canadians taking too long to get their objectives!

Osprey Publishing - Scottish Divisions in the World Wars

Osprey Publishing - Scottish Divisions in the World Wars



This is another book I got recently from www.amazon.uk for research on my Bolt Action gamming.

The text covers the Scottish divisions raised for the First World War and then the Second World War.



The premise of this text is explaining that the focus of the Scottish soldier in both conflicts was not necessarily on their regiment, but their division.



However, I would disagree. Scottish Regiments, and battalions are very much big on their esprit de corps, guarding their traditions fiercely with pride. Their tartans, mess traditions, cap badges all go to forging the tough soldiers Scotland has made.

I also bought the book in memory of the Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014.

Maximum attrition: Queens Own Rifles vs Luftwaffen Field battalion

Queens Own Rifles in their Universal carrier hide next to the buildings to jump out and pounce on the Luftwaffen. 

A lone Churchill with two bren gunners covers the Canadian flank.

One gunner takes flight into the woods for added cover.

The Luftwaffen take out the Universal carrier with grenades, then the Hertzer takes out the Churchill after two rounds bounce off.
All in all, the Luftwaffen fared better than expected. It was also our first game using this tank, and it did well, up until getting hit by a well placed 75mm round.