Far East project - part one

It is almost exactly a month since I announced my next project. I will admit to spending at least two weeks or more not working on it at all, but I have now got my basic units finished. I will start off with a British core platoon.

First the platoon HQ, lieutenant, platoon sergeant, 2" mortar team and Boys anti-tank rifle team.

Next, three sections of infantry, each with a corporal with a SMG, a three-man Bren team and a six-man rifle team

I decided that the easiest way to identify the two senior leaders, the lieutenant and the platoon sergeant was to put a radio operator on the base next to them. This isn't historically accurate at all, but it does make identification easier on the table.

Looking at the sections, the corporal is on a 2cm base and has a Thompson SMG, the Bren gunner and loader are on a 3cm base and the rest are on 1.5cm bases. Where the Bren team is lying down, I've used a kneeling figure with a SMG as the third man and in the case of the standing Bren team the third man is just carrying a rifle. This is purely because of the figures I had available.

I've used Peter Pig Eighth Army figures for these troops, because in the early part of the Malaya. Singapore and Burma campaigns the British and Indian Army forces involved wore the same khaki drill tropical uniform as those serving in the Mediterranean and Africa.

I chose to use Army Painter skeleton bone spray primer as the basic colour for the uniforms, because it seemed to be a decent match for khaki drill, with German camouflage beige for the webbing and khaki for socks and helmets. Once painted, they were washed with the water-soluble version of Army Painter strong tone. I think that they have come out looking pretty reasonable. After all, bright sunlight does have a bleaching effect on fabrics and in black and white photos from the period, helmets seem to look a bit of a darker colour than the KD uniforms.

I'll do a few more posts to cover various support options, as well as a platoon of Sikh infantry.

Obviously, these will be used with Chain of Command rules.