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.
Somewhere over the skies of .. Korea? Ore even Europe in the dark days post World War 2, when east faced off against west. Jets streaked through the skies, piston engined aircraft toiled away as well. It was a time of transition in military hardware. As a part of the longer term Korean war project (an extension of the Spearhead WW2 interest and forces) I have been working on several early jet aircraft to provide air support, for the allies, the De Havilland Vampire.
The kit I have used is the retooled Airfix kit. The kit depicts a two seater trainer, but I think opponents will forgive the inaccuracy for the sake of the sight of a beautiful twin boomed jet aircraft streaking across the table top.
The positioning of the pilots in the cockpit proved to be problematic. The crew sit too high to allow the canopy to fit over them in the closed position. I had to shave a lot off the underside of their seats (and their feet, what's more) to get a fit. This was an acknowledged problem here on the Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum.
The rest of the kit fitted together very well.
An issue I did note with the Airfix aircraft kits is an over-abundance of microscopically small transfers of various crew and maintenance instructions which frankly I couldn't be bothered applying. A boon for dedicated modellers I have no doubt, but for this wargaming boy just too much.
This is the second jet aircraft model kit I have assembled over the past little while, and I can't say I'm overly happy with the finishes I produce. Overall I produced a better finish with respect to join lines, and used a new silver paint that Andy gave me (Vallejo's Model metallic Silver RLM021 - thanks Andy). I applied three thin coats and it produced a better finish than the Citadel silver I used on the Mig15.
There is an F86 sabre kit to be assembled ay some stage, but it's time for a change of pace... what next, I wonder?
One of my long standing fascinations was with early jet aircraft. In this regard I have also had a long and unsatisfied interest in the Korean conflict. So I have been accumulating additions to my existing late war allied and Russian armies to fight actions in Korea, but also in some possible 'cold war gone hot' scenarios set between 1945 abnd .. say .. 1955), all using my fav Spearhead rules. So it all started with some later armour (a Centurion that I'd bought a LOOOONG time ago for some long forgotten project, to which such things as late model Sherman Easy Eights have been added), all to pit themselves against the ubiquitous T34/85 and hopefully a host of other late war and post war armour (I'm on the look out). This project is a continuation of the 20mm Spearhead armies as distinct from the 6mm armies with which I more usually fight. Look on it as an excuse to make late model 1/72 scale tanks and aircraft AND have a use for them. After all, collecting and making models just to trap dust wouldn't be the done thing, would it.
Here is the first bit of modelling to bring these interests in early jets, and post WW2conflict, together: a MiG 15 jet. I do need to paint the framing on the canopy in order to say it's complete.
Now before anyone says anything, yes I know that the MiG was a fighter designed to fight for air superiority, while Spearhead is a ground action set of rules. So realistically MiGs shouldn't appear over the table in ground support roles. But .. frankly I don't care, these are just such awesome looking aircraft, how could I resist? Awaiting assembly are a DH Vampire (much more likely to be used in a ground support role as it was, flown by Kiwis, in the Malayan crisis) and an F86 Sabre.
In the meantime here is some video footage of a MiG 15 today. Enjoy!!!
I started the process of packing up the 'games room yesterday. Over the past few months I've been progressively sorting boxes, and discarding or giving away unwanted material. A lot of it fell into that most luscious of categories of 'aspirational purchases', a turn of phrase I've picked up from colleague, friend and wargames opponent Andrew T. I've also assembled/painted/completed quite a few of those kits/boxes of figures as well, so there is a lot to be said for aspirational purchasing.
As a consequence a number of projects have made a lot of progress, not the least of which has been the 20mm US 1944 force designed to play Spearhead (again these will double for the Korean conflict too). This project was a late comer to the wargaming stable, after I decided to make use of the US infantry that my son had painted up probably a decade or more ago to play Rapid Fire. We never did, so those troops had sat in the games room unused, hidden away in a box.
The project has required some additional purchases, and I've just completed what will probably be the last of the US armour, these two M10 tank destroyers which provide the AT component for the US armoured OOBs (Light and Heavy divisions). These are the Armourfast M10s, simple yet effective fast build models. I could have tried to detail them a lot more, put crew in the turrets etc (the open turrets certainly lend themselves to this) but at this stage I'm not really in the frame of mind for this. Maybe, one day .... I do have some of the necessary 'gubbins' in the spares box.
I do need to take a little more care when 'lining out' ... but things are a little rushed as our move looms on the horizon.
However one thing is for sure, the need to sort and pack has certainly had benefits in terms of the assault on that pile of lead and plastic. Predictably of course I have on several occasions given material away thinking I'll never use it, only to come up with a realistic use for it within a week or so .. those good old laws of the Universe, eh!!
You see, there was this box in the bottom of the 'unbuilt kits' box.. I found it because I've been digging, digging in search of the bottom of that dark dark place called the bottom of the unbuilt kits box. I have no idea why I bought this, but I think I bought it some time around 1972. It had struck me that a lot of the late war American, Russian and British kit could do nicely for some action in the Korean Peninsula, using either WW2 Spearhead, or Modern Spearhead. And there was this old Airfix Centurion Mk 8 kit. A little doctoring on the barrel to remove the fume extractor, and it would make a passable Mk 3 for 1950. The Centurion is one of my favourite tanks.
So there we go.
Mind you, the big attraction (apart from satisfying my economist's predilection for efficiency by getting multiple use out of my armies) is that I .. LOVE.. THOSE .. EARLY ... JETS.
Only problem is that the jets weren't used in a ground attack role. But.. be damned, they'll do as proxies for the actual ground attack aircraft. So, coming soon,.,. an F86 Sabre and a MiG 15...
However, first up there are those kits I've just bought to sort the basis for the 1944 American armour... yep, I'm a hopeless case!!!
