World War 2 in 20mm: A nostalgic view (2)

This is the second of my WW2 nostalgia posts, a review of 50 years of accumulated 20mm World War 2 wargames equipment/armies. 

This time the British army, actually begun in the 1980s as a paratroop force for the WRG 2nd Edition rules, transitioned to the 'Rapid Fire' rules set, and subsequently renovated, and based, for the Spearhead rules too.

Then there was the gift from good friend Gerard Davey of figures suitable for an early war British (BEF) army for France 1940. Those figures are pretty much as Gerard painted them, just rebased for SH

BEF 1940 infantry

British 2 AT gunpdr

A BEF command stand, with piper

The ubiquitous British Vickers MMG

The late war infantry .. a battalion each of paratroops, commandos, and line infantry

Paratroops with the handy brick walls.. always carry your hard cover with you LOL They were painted and based for Arnhem games originally

Airfix commandos

Recon jeep (one of several), and airborne 75mm guns

An airborne Tetrarch tank, one of two scratch built by an old school friend in the 70's

The late war armour, Cromwells, and M10 AT support, and some Churchills

Air support - a typhoon, and one for Korea.. a Vampire (again, yes not the correct ground support tool - it should be Corsairs, Thunderbolts etc, but also .. again.. too cool not to have on the table top)

Early war armour - A13s, and Vickers Mk VI's

Airborne jeeps

Parts of the army (the early war troops) have seen some table top action, a few years ago. The late war equipment saw games in the 90's ( a few WRG 2nd Edition, and some Rapid Fire, games) but nothing since.

World War 2 in 20mm: a nostalgic view (1)

 A couple of photos I posted onto a local club Fb page last week had me thinking about the armies I have built over the years. It seemed reasonable (yes, I'm easily fooled like that) to review some of the armies I still have.. a bit of a walk down memory lane, a dose of nostalgia, if you like, certainly a little self indulgence.

I thought I'd begin pretty much where it all began: my 20mm Russian WW2 army. After a faltering start with some British in 1971, I turned to Russians. It was one of those classic wargames 'weapons creep' things. The rules we used at the time were not exactly balanced, and the players using German armies always got the biggest and best kit, it seemed. The only nationality that seemed to be able to 'foot it' with them was the Russian army. On offer at the time were the Airfix Russians, and the good old T34/76 and T34/85 kit (the double turret thing and the ability to swap them out depending on the year in which the game was set was very useful).

This is truly the nostalgia army, and when I decided to renovate/revamp the 20mm armies to play WW2 Spearhead about 10 years ago, these were the first to receive some TLC.

The infantry box... 

Here are three battalions of infantry in SH terms (each base represents a platoon). Model manufacturers have been obliging over the past 50 years and so I was able to add some infantry support weapons (and a wider range of AFVs).

A command base ..

Black Sea Fleet marines.. Brittania miniatures, I think?

A 76mm infantry support gun stand (remembering that this represents 3-5 guns)

The first of the heavy armour (KV1s), and other support weapons, including Su76s, an SU85, an SU100 and a JSU152 (all Airfix conversions).

I decided I wanted to be able to use heavier amour and systems in a speculative 'cold war gone hot' situation, and also tackle some Korean War scenarios, so a little post war air support (yes I know, the Mig 17 wasn't a ground attack aircraft, but it looks cool). I have three T54/55's sitting in kit form yet to be assembled, for this project. Maybe I should get onto that, if for no other reason than completeness?

In SH games, I never leave home without AA

BA64 armoured car for recon..

The main box of armour

An American M5 Stewart .. lendlease. I can't recall the kit that gave me the running gear, but the hull and turret were scratch built.. one of those great Airfix Mag Chris Ellis projects. I couldn't get the colour saturation right in this photo .. it's actually an overall khaki colour)

A JS1 based on the old Airfix JS3 hull, with a scratchbuilt turret. Not sure how accurate it was/is

A couple of lendlease M3Grants

A scratch built BT7, built in the days before you could buy kits. The road wheels are from a T34 kit, and hull and turret completely scratch built (again, a Chris Ellis Airfix Mag project). I recall that hull front being challenging to make.

One point of these first few posts is that having renovated these 20mm armies, I basically never play Spearhead with 20mm  models. I rarely play Spearhead at all at the. moment, just the way it rolls. There will be plenty to come, of course. But these 20mm armies don't quite work for Spearhead. All troops should be based on 1.25" square baes. The base size is important as it reflects appropriate troop densities on the battlefield. AFV's in 20mm are of course too large, meaning that the models take up to much table space. basically the models don't therefore reflect the appropriate troop densities. Not an impossible obstacle of course, but one to bear in mind.

I'm not hopeful of this 'kit' ever getting onto the table again, but.. you never know.

VSF Naval elements for HotT

 Andy and I have been contemplating the incorporation of 'naval' elements into our HotT (Hordes of the Things) games for some time, partly for the simple aesthetic, and also for some additional variation. My thinking has been inspired by the naval rules within the DBR rules set (once we have trialled them, I'll post them to the Fb groups etc for comment and 'massage'). Friend Keith played a DBR game usign an Elizabethan army with galleons, and I was hooked (thanks Keith).

Anyway, to play with naval elements, you of course need naval elements, and I have been trying to understand how I might make something suitable for my VSF armies. This is the result so far. The construction is a bit rough, and doesn't really stand close up scrutiny, but you get the idea.

The basic hull shape I drew freehand. I drew one side only, created a template, and then drew it along with a mirror image in order to get the symmetry the hull needed. The hull shape was cut from foam board, and the hull sides were added using simple thin card. This is how I managed to create the ram in the bow.

The superstructure was created from the scraps and spares boxes. The funnels etc are dismembered parts of an old Bic biro refill. The inner refill tops were cut down to create the two forward turrets. The rear turret is the cut off end of an external fuel tank from an Airfix T34 tank. The turret 'casements' are slices taken from the inner cardboard tubes in dog poop bags (I've said before that with two Border collies we have an ample supply of these tubes).

Not the best quality piece of scratch building I have done (please don't look too closely at the photos). You get the idea. Now, some HotT games with naval elements.

Fantasy graveyard terrain for HotT

Friend Andy has been doing some design stuff in 3D, and printing the results.  One of his recent designs offers some tombs and tombstones. He was kind enough to give me a few for a fantasy terrain piece for our HotT game tables. The piece could count as a stronghold, but I built it as a terrain piece, either 'rough going', or simply as a visual enhancement for the game aesthetic.

You can go to his web site, and buy the 3D print files, here.

The fantasy cemetery

The terrain piece with a stronghold, and soem HotT elements.

Gladiators for the mythical Romans

A little post-Christmas work as I get back into the painting groove.. this time some 20mm gladiators painted up for the mythical Roman army for Hordes of the Things (HotT). The figures were part of a generous gift from friend Andy. I have based them on 20mm deep bases. This means that they could be used as blades, or spears, or warband. I'm still not sure which I'll use, but then basing gives me options.

I also took the opportunity to touch up  six bases of Gauls that I'd painted probably 40-50 years ago.. these are warband, on the deeper 30mm bases.

Gladiators

The 3 bases of Gladiators

The Airfix Ancient Britons figures as traditional warband

Turkish field artillery

While I wait for the arrival of the next order of 6mm equipment I have been scouring the boxes to see what else I could use to flesh out the WW1 projects. I found a number of German artillery pieces sitting unused in a box of what I thought was surplus 6mm WW1 models and figures, and a little research showed quite a lot of the Turkish artillery was in fact supplied by German manufacturers. 

An easy decision, as the Middle East Turkish forces had no artillery yet. So.. a full division's worth of 77mm Field Guns for the Turkish army.

Roman Gods eh?

The mythical Roman army (using those long since painted and discredited Airfix Roman legionaries) has sat around for quite a while. The original legionaries were painted in 1974/75 as the start of a Roman army for WRG Ancients 3rd Edition.

I painted up some beasts bases last week, and the army had another addition today: a God in the form of a 54mm Roman Tribune figure courtesy of friend Andy.

The idea is not original (friend Nick created a cool Roman army a decade of more ago). It did however seem to be such a good idea, that I ought to do the same. When creating HotT armies I generally try to create a different combination of elements to the other armies I have, and I don't have one that is largely blades/beasts/God. This is it. There are some warband and spears to come.