The French Infantry Corps 1915-18, Great War Spearhead rules in 20mm

This corps, as well most of my WWI miniatures, was built and painted decades ago. This forced the new ones to be painted in the same way as the previous ones, PVA primed and block painted, for the sake of consistency. This also allowed for a much quicker painting method and to bring reinforcements that turned divisions into Corps. Again most of the infantry and cavalry is plastic with plenty of conversions and tanks, artillery and airplanes are resin and metal.

Great War Spearhead II in 20mm. The support weapons of the French Infantry Corps in WWI

Many years ago I built a number of armies for WW1. They were painted in a simple block painting and glued to some fragile 6cmX2cm rectangles. Recently I started to change the basing to GWSH style and trying to have a full corps of every main belligerent of this conflict. For that I´m in the process of adding a number of stands to each miniature army and thus returning to the block painting style to go along with the many miniatures painted in the past. On the down side they don´t become so flashy but on the other hand you speed up painting really quick which is particularly helpful when you need many hundred figures. 

After doing this to the Germans, which you can see in the two previous videos on this blog (or on the You Tube to be able to see it bigger), I went to the French. The rifle companies of the six regiments made up to the moment are not shown as they are simple Revell, Airfix and Pegasus figures with nothing special to say about them, instead you can see here a number of conversions that I hope can be useful to anyone modelling French WW1 in 20mm. For the full French corps there is a another video being prepared were you can see everything altogether. 

 

The group already converted and ready to be painted. Everything was primed with PVA glue. 

For each infantry regiment you need a 37mm TIR gun. These guns were used to take away MG nests and the sort and there was also a wheeled version. The gun tube comes from the HAT US WW1 box and needs a proper support as the one offered in the box suits only the Hotchkiss 8mm MG (there are a total of four different guns per sprue but only one type of support). With some styrene you can have a simple and effective support as shown in this picture. Don´t bother too much with detail as the figures lying on top of the support will hide most of it.  

I used conversions of the  relatively useless Revell laying down figures shooting the Lebel rifle for artillery men together with some Pegasus extras and even some old rifleman from Airfix with new arms.  

The painted lot, one 37mm TIR for each infantry regiment. If you don`t want to bother making these gun conversions you can use the StreletsR Colonial Foreign Legion ones which, for obvious reasons,  are not very easy to find today. 

The corps needs a total of 18 (or 24 if you want divisons with four regiments) Hotchkiss 8mm HMGs. The majority are Revell which have two per box but after using plenty of them for WW2 I had to made up the last five. I used HAT MGs from the US WW1 and the WW2 Foreign Legion boxes with converted firers from the wounded Airfix WW1 British (with GreenStuff arms) and Chauchat firers from Revell. 

The laying down Revell figures are also useful top make binoculars observers and loaders after cutting the rifle and applying some heat to the arms. 

So all these figures ended doing something that they were not designed for. 

The French used a number of different trench mortars including the British Stokes but I wanted something different as these 86mm Boileau- Debladis compressed air mortars. I used the Newton 6 inch included in the HAT US WW1 box as a start and added a number of plastic parts to make it reasonably close to the Boileau-Debladis mortar. The compressed air container is made from a WW2 or modern aircraft bomb. 

No, the mortar bombs are not Italian but just the colors I found in the web for these, even if  not 100% sure about that. The figures are from the WW2 French artillery set by HAT. 

A picture of the real thing for extra detail. 

To the left you see the Corps command stand and to the right the 2nd division command stand. 

The radios are made from pieces of styrene and the radiomen are Airfix figures with new GreenStuff arms and are intended to portray some rough examples of the TSF posts. 

The officer figures comes from the HAT WW2 French artillery, WW2 Pegasus and WW1 Revell sets. 

All my HAT WW1 cavalrymen were sucked into the 5e DLC for 1940 so I had to improvise for the six stands of cavalry necessary for the infantry corps. The horsemen of the HAT WW2 French artillery were used for the effect with lances made out of broom sticks. The horses are Napoleonic Italeri with some GreenStuff extras used to conceal the pistols. 

The cavalry rifles came from a number of WW2 plastic sets and need to be on the back of the cavalrymen. 

The figures were also helpful as the right arm can help to hold the lance with the help of a piece of leather as originally. 

The Cavalry MG is another scratch-built thing with Italeri Napoleonic horses, Esci wheels and styrene and metal tubing carriage and gun. 

I found this one in the invaluable GBM magazine (of course...). 

The Hotchkiss MG started as a 12,7mm Browning and after cuts and additions got closer to the intended gun. 

The majority of my WW1 artillery is Irregular Miniatures but these 75mm 1897 guns are 3d prints from MiniGeneral with FtF wheels. 

The artillerymen are Hat WW2 artillery figures and conversions from Airfix and Pegasus with Greenstuff arms. 

Next: a video on the French Infantry WW1 corps.

The German Infantry Corps of 1916, Great War Spearhead rules in 20mm

This video enlarges the previous one from one division to a full corps. The miniatures are Irregular Miniatures for the artillery, Britannia for the Jagers and plastic (Airfix, Revell, Hat and Emhar) for the Infantry. The Aircraft and tanks are Vacuum-formed and Revell and Airfix kits.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 11) - A new Ukrainian motorized battalion and its IMV´s

 One more Ukrainian battalion on the shelves slowly trying to get equal to the numbers of the Russians. The infantry figures are more of the usual plastic figures and its usual conversions (Esci, Revell and Orion) but the most interesting are the MSL Shield 4X4 armored vehicles that you can find in Chinese shops and supermarkets. The idea here is to place each infantry company in the MSL Shield vehicles and the command and support companies in the Humvees. 

In this picture I was still trying to picture the MSL Shield vehicles as the more usual IMV Kozak 2 vehicles with the double antenna at the front, but somehow its possible that a true accessible model of the Kozak 2 comes to the market (there are 3d prints but expensive) and that was left aside and the MSL vehicles idea stayed firm. Ukraine managed to buy (at least open information, with probable licence to build more) 11 of them from Italian TEKNE company with ex president Poroshenko´s money (he says...) and some crowd funding. The vehicles are on the service of the 79th Air Assault Brigade. You can find plenty of photos of them as Poroshenko flooded the web with its pictures, like this one:

"Yes, I wish I was wearing that green uniform the small guy is using..."

The MSL Shields and Humvees are the kind of Die-Cast toys supposedly 1/64th  scale but, I think and according to pictures, much closer to the  20mm size miniature and thus reasonable 1/72nd scale. Here you can see them with new wheels, surplus Hasegawa and Atlantic, and the top transparent plastic parts on the MSL Shields that need to be erased. They still don´t have the MG posts on top of the roof you can see in other pictures but important here is really to replace the Hot Wheels type of wheels by something bigger and more convincing.

The roof MG posts on the Humvees are different from the MSL Shields ones and all are made from plastic card and a Revell lying down figure cut appropriately by the waist. 

The delivered MSL Shields were all plain green but I camouflaged them in the usual Ukrainian digital camouflage for the sake of uniformity. An extra spare wheel was also attached to the right side.

This is how they look nowadays. Eventually I believe they will be painted in the digital camo in the future. 

The camo netting hides the ugly cuts made to erase those transparent plastic parts in the original toy model. 

The Humvees got white crosses for the Kharkov offensive but this is no limitation as this symbol has already been seen in the Kherson area maybe due to the transferring of units from one area to the other. As extras from the original you can see the weapon station, the engine exhaust pipe, the surplus wheel and the antenna. 

The command and heavy weapon's figures of the 2nd battalion are the usual plastic brands this time with yellow tape in the uniform and helmet. 

An example of an Ukrainian infantry company with converted Esci (US infantry and NATO boxes) and Revell (German Paratroopers and PzGrenadiers) figures. The rifle armed figures got their weapons converted to the AK-74 with some cuts and the famous curved ammunition clip and an anti-tank RPG. The Ukrainians received thousands of them from their partners and nowadays you see many times each infantryman carrying at least one of those. As many of the bullet proof vest are also camouflaged I didn't bother painting them differently from the uniform.

Next: a return to WWI most probably

The German Infantry Division of 1915-16, Great War Spearhead rules in 20mm

This is my first video on a series related to WWI. This one shows the German Infantry Division at the beginning of 1915 when the regiments were reduced from 4 to 3 and packed into one sole brigade. The figures are mostly Airfix, HAT and converted Revell and the artillery is Irregular Miniatures.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 10) - Ukrainian APC's for the Kharkiv offensive

 

While on the Kherson offensive the Ukrainian vehicles have yellow painted squares on the northern Kharkiv offensive they showed up with very distinctive white crosses some so big that are wrapping the entire vehicle. All vehicles are repainted Die-cast Altaya models with the exception of VAB with a figure manning the Browning 12,7 HMG which is a Heller kit. 

The figure on the right side VAB APC is a Esci torso with Greenstuff ath The French VAB APC is not in fact made for much action but more for transport. The Ukrainian need for infantry protection and speed made them being used as IFVs with several already destroyed.

 

The very old BTR-60PB is still being used and was eventually used to saturate the battlefield with relatively soft targets, as seen recently in some videos where speed looks to be the rule,  making the aiming of the Russian defenders more difficult. 

Next: maybe a video on the Arnhem buildings. 

The Carthaginian army at the battle of Cannae, 216 BC, in 20mm size for ...

This time something different. Most of the models are HAT, Revell and Italeri with plenty of Newline Designs to go along. The disposition of the figures is made for the understanding of the battle and not for a true DBM game. DBM rules are made with fast gaming in mind and each army proposed within its lists are far smaller than this one. So here you can see the entire Carthaginian army with 1 element to representing 200 real people.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 9) - Ukrainian new and old material and some musicians

This post is a mixture of old material - the Zil-159 command truck and the Polish/Czech T-72 M1 - and new - the Polaris buggies with the Stugna-P ATGW. Also a few Wagner PMC figures joined the previous group on the modelling table for a few days. 

The Polish/Czech T-72 M1 have been very active on the Ukrainian counter-attacks on the Kherson and Kharkiv fronts. These two have the yellow squares used in the Kherson counter-offensives at least in one of the sectors. Close to them were seen some Portuguese M-113 and also the Dutch YPR-765. 

The models are Revell and Altaya Die-cast. Both had plenty of Kontakt explosive reactive armor (ERA) cassettes placed in the most likely areas to be hit for some extra protection. Each ERA block is made of two small rectangles of 1mm thick Evergreen plastic sheet glued together. The frontal ERA are Modelcollect leftover parts. The Ukrainians pay more attention to camouflage than the Russians so gauze was mixed with PVA glue to model some of it around the gun barrel, front and turret.  The tank commander is a Xan Miniatures figure. 

The Polaris Stugna-P armed buggies are used apparently by some SOF and they have been used for quick hit-and-run attacks. 

The models are Die-cast Matchbox models in 1/64th scale. A few days ago I was looking at a parked civilian one and they are really smaller in 1/72nd scale. The military version has some extra protections at the front but they are complicated to scratch built so gauze was used to disguise that part. Only a piece of extra armor can be seen in front of the driver. The Stugna-P ATGW is scratch built and the Esci crew got new arms made of GreenStuff. 

Some kind of command vehicle is necessary for the Ukrainian brigade so I used this old ICM Zil-157 for that purpose. The original idea was for it to be built once more to my Iraqis but there is at least one photo showing this old model in the current war.  

               

Only some resin 3d printed jerrycans and some gauze was added for it to look nicer. 

                                       

Mixed in this lot are some Russian Wagner PMC soldiers which have been used by the Russians as some of its best assault units together with the VDV. I´ve used different colors for the Wagner uniform than the greener Russians as I think Wagner doesn't use the Barmitsa or the Permyachka infantry equipment. 

The figures are easily found on Aliexpress and are made in 3d printed resin (no brand name though). The detail is simply amazing and they are sturdy and clearly designed for 1/72nd scale wargaming. They also end up being better for wargaming than the Alex Miniatures I´ve showed you a few post ago as they are far more resistant with the Alex Miniatures being better for dioramas. 

 Next: more Russo-Ukrainian war or maybe a return to ancients.

A way to store and organize wargame models

Some of you have been asking how I store and organize the models you see on the videos. With this video there are some hints which I think can be useful even if nothing new or extraordinary. You can see a few types of cabinets:
1- Bought at stores but with extra shelves (you just need some 15 cm between them for your hand to reach the end of it).
2- Kitchen/living room/balcony furniture turned into cabinets with glass/acrylic doors.
3- Drawers in upward position also with extra shelves and glass/acrylic covered.
I avoid as much as possible to have models inside drawers I can´t see. Also all cabinets are piled up on top of each other as a space saving measure.

Able Archer/ RFR rules (?) - Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 in 20mm (part 8) - The Lend-Lease SPG´s for the Ukrainians

This one is a quickie as I don't have much to brag about. All models are Die-cast Altaya with extra antennas and figure on the Pz Haubitze 2000s and flags on the M-109s. The M-109 are the A6 Paladin model but close to the models the Ukrainians received from different sources. Only the Gepard was painted in NATO colors as it was green originally. Luckily the original paint schemes are quite good so a bit of black wash and some sand dry brushing and the erasing of the German crosses and licence plates  makes them good for the Ukrainians.  

Next: More 2022 Ukrainian and Russians or a video on the way I organize the basement to store the collection, something thousands of you have been asking. Well in fact it was just one of you but that one is worth a thousand.

 

The Germans at Mortain, Aug.44, for Rapid Fire! rules in 20mm size. Part...

The 17. SS Panzer Grenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen arrived Kampfwert IV, very diminished at Mortain, so it was placed under the command of the 2. SS Pz Division Das Reich division during the operation.

Panzer Lehr had its casualties during Operation Cobra exaggerated by its commander, General Fritz Bayerlein, so that the division would be able to rest. It somehow worked and the division was placed in the reserve during Operation Luttich.

Rapid Fire! in 20mm. Filling gaps in WW2 (part 6)

This one is just to complete some Russian OB´s where these four types of vehicles and guns were in short supply or didn't exist. 

The M-72 motorcycle with side-car was one of the two more common motorcycle in the Red Army (the other one was the Lend-Lease Harley Davidson 42 WLA). The models are Zvezda.  Still need to apply some colour on the uniform insignia but not sure exactly which.

For Steve Shann´s book "Seelow Heights" you need a pair of Bren Carriers. The models are 3d PLA prints from Minigeneral and the figures are my own conversions from soft and hard plastic figures (Esci and Revell) with arms made of GreenStuff. 

Two missing straight from the box Zvezda 76,2mm Infantry Guns model 1927. Only the coated figure came from Italeri.

Another Minigeneral 3d print, a Lend-Lease  M17 MGMC based on the M5 half-track, again for Steve Shaan´s book. 

Next: last part of the video on the Germans at Mortain.