Far East Project - part four

Here is my final post for a while for this project.

Once again, these are all Peter Pig 15mm figures, mainly from the 8th Army range, apart from the radio operator with the FOO (on the left) and the sniper on the right. Those two are both later war figures, but in neither case does it really matter. They look fine as they have been painted and based. The Vickers MMG team is all standard troops.

These will all be support options for the basic platoon force. The sniper was wrapped in a small piece of butter muslin soaked in PVA glue before undercoating. You can just about see that he is wearing a cap comforter.

For this earlier period, I still have a couple of Universal Carriers to do, together with crews, which will also have dismounted figures. One will be a standard Bren carrier and the other will have a 2" mortar. 

I also have the figures for a later war platoon and supports dressed in the JG uniform which began to be introduced in 1943 and more widely adopted the year after. I am planning to paint these troops as Gurkha Rifles with a British officer. I haven't even based these up yet, so they will have to wait for a while.

Far East project - part three

This post covers a second platoon for my 1942-3 Malaya, Singapore and Burma project and that platoon is a Sikh one;

Above is the platoon HQ, plus a Vickers MMG support option. These are all, once again Peter Pig 15mm figures from their 8th Army range.

Next, the three infantry sections that make up the platoon;

The platoon is structured the same as a British one, with the HQ consisting of a Lieutanant, who is British, a Havildar (platoon sergeant), a Boys anti-tank rifle team and a 2" mortar team.

Each section is led by a Naik (corporal) with a SMG, a three-man Bren team and six riflemen.

Peter Pig does a nice selection of Sikh infantry with beards and wearing the dastār or turban, but sadly not for everything. Therefore, I have used some British figures wearing the Mk II helmet where necessary. Needs must etc.

As with the British platoon, I have put a radio operator on the lieutenant's base, but I didn't do this with the havildar, because his pose is different to the one I've used for the naiks.

I wanted to use troops from the Indian Army because they provided the largest part of the manpower of the formations that fought in most of the campaigns between 1942 and 1945, as also suffered the heaviest casualties.

Far East project - part two

To go with my initial platoon, I have some support options. First, a 2-pdr anti-tank gun and a Lanchester 6x4 armoured car

The gun and crew are from Peter Pig and the armoured car is a 3-D print from Butlers. I would have preferred to get the Skytrex version of the Lanchester but it was out of stock, so I took my first step into the world of printed vehicles. It is OK, but it has a lot of visible printing lines on the model. It will do, though because I doubt that it will survive on the table for very long. If it does, all those Vickers MMGs will come in handy.

The 2-pdr gun should be a threat to any Japanese tanks that might turn up. 

My other supports are, from left to right, a FOO, a Vickers MMG team and a sniper. These are all Peter Pig. The radio operator with the FOO is actually a late war British figure, with BD trousers and a MK III helmet, but at this scale it doesn't make any difference. In any case, his legs are covered by vegetation. The sniper is also a late war figure, but underneath that camo netting, who will ever know?

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.

 

Some What A Tanker! action

Last Sunday we had one of our occasional all-day sessions at the club. Although I had something planned for the afternoon, my diary was empty for the morning. Therefore, I grabbed my WaT folder and a few tanks and bunged them in the car.

The tanks I chose were Western Desert 8th Army and DAK ones. I took the four DAK tanks I painted up some time ago, as seen here and here, plus some British ones that I bought ready-painted at our Tabletop Sale in 2018. 

Doing this turned out to be a good idea, as Matt, a recent new member needed a game, so we played some WaT. Given the option, Matt chose the Desert Rats, picking a Matilda II and a Crusader II, both with the QF 2pdr gun. I decided on two PzKfw III tanks, an Ausf. H with the shorter 5cm Kwk 38 gun and a Ausf. L with the longer 5cm KwK 39 gun.

The scenario was pretty simple, an encounter in and around a small oasis.

I decided that I'd get the PzKfw IIIL into cover, where its superior firepower might give me the edge.

I then sent the PzKfw IIIH around the other side of the oasis.

Things were quite cagey at first, bit I did inflict a bit of damage on the Crusader which decided to go to ground in some partial cover.

I was horrified when the Matilda managed to brew-up my main strike tank, the IIIL pretty soon after it had sustained damaged gun optics from an earlier shot of mine.

The rest of the game was all about my remaining tank dodging the two British ones, while taking potshots whenever possible, nibbling away at their effectiveness and eventually knocking out the Crusader in a tense exchange of fire across the limpid waters of the oasis.

Eventually, I also managed to take the Matilda out, despite my tank having taken damage to both gun optics and running gear.

All in all, a fun game, which reminded me of what excellent rules these are. Once again, well done the Lardies!