Borodino 1812 (part 9): The Imperial Guard 3e Grenadiers a pied (Dutch) and the Vistula Legion infantry for AOE in 20mm

Time for more French side units for the Russian campaign of 1812. These two were glued to some ugly strips of card waiting for years for a definitive set of rules and bases. Even so the Dutch Grenadiers needed four new figures and the Vistula infantry some ten. 

The Dutch imperial guardsmen are all Airfix and one pioneer from Esci. Exceptuating the pioneer figure, the Airfix box had everything you need for the foot Imperial Guard, flag bearer, officer, drummer and NCOs. 

The Polish Vistula Legion infantry is mostly made from Esci French due to the short jacket in Bardin style. A few Esci Russian bodies were also used with French shakoes. Apparently the Vistula infantry didn´t use the Czapka making these Esci figures a reasonable choice. The lapels were disguised with several coats of paint.  Here the problems start as the different sources (or interpretations, if you want) show many different details regarding cords, cuffs and even chin strap colors. The only thing they all agree is the white epaulettes for the grenadiers. I hope that the amount of yellow on these figures makes them stand apart from the masses of French infantry near by

Again the figures are glued to each other in order to have a sturdier base with no paint coming out. 

The problem with these old boxes from Esci is the lack of equipment in many figures. So all of them had a backpack from a deceased figure namely the kneeling figure at the front row and the shooting figure in the second row. In the third row there are some Airfix French artillerymen with a Pom Pom made of a piece of heated plastic. Finally there are also some Hat figures for variety. 

The flags were taken from this image on the Web.This is my usual way to produce flags: I simply doubled them into a word page and resized it into a convenient size. 

Next: Retroranda 3d prints and FtF models for WW2 or more Napoleonics

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 16) - Ukrainian Su-25s

 

The Su-25 was and still is the main ground attack aircraft of the PS ZSU. The Ukrainian air force went to war with 43 flyable Su-25s, got an extra 18 airframes from Macedonia and Bulgaria and lost at least 20 of the jets in action, leaving at most 41 in service.  The models came from Aliexpress and they build very easily with all parts already painted (thus two Number 9...). This is great as the digital camouflage is very hard to paint and that reason is kepting me from making a Su-27 and a pair of Mig-29 from the stash.

 They are meant to be toys and a few details are missing like the front sensors. The aircraft stands were painted to look like the Altaya stands in the collection. 

I have all aircraft for this conflict with pilots inside and these last ones were the only addition. 

They came with some simple wheels and if you don´t use them some holes will be left to be seen. Nothing you can´t live with as this angle is not seen in wargaming (I hope...).

Next: More Retroaranda models for WW2 or more Napoleonics.

The Italians and Neapolitans under Napoleon for AOE/V&F in 20mm

The Italians and Neapolitans came to my mind when, decades ago I got Osprey Men-at arms No88 about Italians and Neapolitans. Maybe around that time Military Modelling November 87 came with a nice article on the battle of Maloyaroslavets 1812 and this post started by then with a non existant internet. 

The two groups were made initially with line and light infantry and cavalry made from Esci figures and the guard infantry and artillery made from Airfix. The majority of the figures are then the Esci "wrong" infantry, a mix of Bardin tail coats and pre-1812 fronts, only good enough for Jeune Guard. Even so Mike Chappell's plates on Italians and Neapolitans mostly show short coat tails and that encouraged me to move forward with the Esci figures. 

The two groups are organized for AgeOf Eagles rules but with a growing eye on the much simpler Valour&Fortitude. 

What I only had already painted for the Italian Guard was the front kneeling Airfix figures, an officer and the standard bearer. So in the last few days the two rear lines were added made from a mix of Airfix and Esci figures. 

The Italian Line infantry (4th and 5th line) were the opposite as I only added the front rank of kneeling figures from Esci and Italeri. As I do with most packed stands I use a bit of super glue to attach figures to each other using mostly the bayonet or the rifle to lean on backpacks, shakoes and such of the figure standing in front. Like this the figures don´t bend when hold and paint holds much better. Also there are a number of Esci figures that had Hat industries backpacks glued as, typical of Esci, many figures had incomplete gear. 

Don´t know really why but this 2nd Neapolitan Chasseurs was the unit chosen to be painted as cavalry. Maybe I found some information about them in those day's magazines. The figures and horses are Esci Polish cavalry with the Czapka replaced by and Infantry shako with added plume made from a pin with Araldite resin for shape. In those days patience was really at it most!

The Neapolitan Line infantry is also Esci and made for years with a few more recent Hat Industry tossed in to complete the three ranks. The regiment to the back is also Esci with a rear line of Airfix artillerymen. The original don´t have pompons and the elite companies had them made from pins with Araldite and the fusilier companies from a piece of plastic burned into a round shape, 

The 2nd Neapolitan light infantry was turned into skirmishers as like this they can be used in regimental sized rules. The reason for that is that all had the same kneeling position which didn´t allow them to be used in three lines. 

The Italian artillery has two foot artillery stands (left) and one horse artillery. All figures and guns are Airfix but with new heads. The foot artillery has new Esci shakoes as these allow for the peak to be removed and the horse artillery has Esci Polish Czapkas. 

Next: Ukrainian Su-25 Frofoot

Rapid Fire! Blitzkrieg in 20mm - German inflatable boats for the Meuse

This was an old idea of mine since I started my French and German armies for 1940 campaigns. The Meuse crossing by the Germans always caught my imaginaton as it involved the 5e DCL and two French infantry divisions and even some counter attacks by French tank units. The Meuse crossings are also on my visit list for the future. The boats are resin Anyscale Models and the figures are converted soft plastics. There are also ten Revell rowers from five  boxes of Engineers. They just needed some cuts in the anorak as the original is the late war for them to look like the the feldbluse. 

These twelve boats are enough for three battalions, one per fusilier company and one for the support and command companies (quite crammed these last two). There should be more people inside the boats tahn the 6 I used as the period pictures shows sometimes 12 men inside. The Anyscale models German inflatable boats in 20mm size maybe should be a bit bigger but they capture the essential of the piece. 

I used old soft plastics for the figures, mostly Airfix, Esci, Revell Hat and Matchbox. This one is the charging Airfix German and was one of the most used figures for the right hand side of the rowers. The trick was always the same: the figures got cut by the waist; the portable gun was taken out and replaced by a piece of heated plastic broom stick; a rifle or SMG was glued to the back; the legs were made in Milliput; the bottom part of the jacket was also modelled in Milliput and the boots were glued to the trousers while the Milliput was still drying. 

This one is the Esci mortar figure with new legs and left arm. 

Now the same for the relatively useless Airfix DAK figure with a shovel. 

This one was also from the Airfix DAK figure. Its the one in shorts bayonetting the opponent , something that Rommel forbade (not bayonetting but using shorts :) 

The most used torso was the Esci grenade thrower with new arms and used in both sides of the boats. 

The Airfix MG34 gunner just got new legs and its old boots. 

In this one there is an Esci DAK torso hold a LMG, a Hat cyclist (rower) and a Matchbox figure. The two figures on the lower right corner are again Matchbox and Airfix. 

 Some of the boats have a LMG or a flamethrower lying on the floor. Virtuelly all figures neede new gas mask containers, shovel and bayonet, bread bag and canteens and these ones were taken from Preiser or cut from the original figures before the torso was glued to the legs. Nowadays you can also do all this using much more recent figures like Caesar and Pegasus but this is a way to use these old figures in a different, fun and useful fashion. 

Next: Italians for the Russian campaign of 1812. 

Rapid Fire! Pacific USMC in 20mm

This a USMC landing force based on a Marine infantry regiment and its LVT´s. The Destroyer is Lindberg in 1/125th scale with 15mm figures everything for the sake of space. The LCT 6s are Britannia and scratchbuilt. The LVT´s and DUKWs are Frontline Wargaming, Altaya and Airfix. The infanty is mostly Revell but with plenty of add-ons from Matchbox, Airfix, SHQ, Hasegawa and Esci for the non-existant support weapons of the Revell box.

Rapid Fire! in 20mm, Vercors 1944 (part 4) - The Gotha Go 242s at Vassieux

 

On the 23-24 July 1944, three Gotha Go 242 landed on the Vercors plateau at Vassieux in support of the DFS 230 that had already landed. They could carry 20 fully armed men and support weapons, about the double capacity of the DFS 230. One of them brought a 20mm AA gun which reinforced Schäffer´s men. 

What has been puzzling me is the rest of the number "2" that you can see at the tail, while the "019" at the front is clearly seen at the only known photo of one of the Vassieux Gothas, present in the Osprey book on Vercors 1944. This photo also shows up in French videos on the subject and most probably in other publications.

I tried everything, all forms of AI , books and the rest of internet and nothing. There is a very dark and blurry shadow over the number (and probaly the Balkreuz) so its very difficult to decipher the rest of the numbers and letters. Like that the number "2" was left alone until one day someone can solve the mistery. Sometimes I think that I need to go to the Vercors Resistance museum for some clarifications. Maybe when I get retired... but will I remember I need that by then? :) 

The camouflage was made of Vallejo Russian Infantry Green and darkened medium blue giving very aproximate colors to the originals. These Gothas also got different types of camouflage, this one being one of the most usual. The B/W photo of the Vassieux Gotha shows some strange blotches at the front but they may be due to the poor quality of the photo.  

The model is a Retroaranda 3d printed PLA model from Spain. The models are quite nice as Retroaranda solves the problematic PLA plastic by dividing and cleaning around 30 parts, making this model very easy to put together and with no extra plastic around. The only problem is that, probably due to the cleaning process, you need a bit over 20 days for the parcel to arrive from a neighboring country. In the end you get a nice model 2/3 times cheaper that the one from Italeri or IBG. 

Next: a video on the USMC in WW2