Rapid Fire! in 20mm, Vercors 1944 (part 3) - More Maquisards and the strange truck of Valchevrière

A group of metal Les Armées Oubliés figures stands next to the famous (for me at least) "Truck of Valchevrière". This photo in taken in the northern part of Vercors not far from Grenoble days before the first German attack at Saint Nizier. 

This photo was one of the first I found on the Vercors actions and the truck became a mystery due to the strange  kind of canvas cover of the "truck of Valchevrière". In the SCW sometimes the trucks had their rear part raised so the infantrymen could shoot from the inside. Is this an influence of the handfull of Republican Spanish in the Maquis ranks? A second possibility is some kind of medic truck. A third one is something completely different that I can´t see! The model looks to me as a Dodge truck. The French army used a number of them and this one may be a left over, or eventually its a civilian one. The grille is different from other French trucks so the Dodge is a good possibility. 

With all this doubts this solution was cranked up: a SHQ Opel Blitz cabin was glued to a number of  wheels and other parts from all over the place in order to have something that looks slightly with the original. 

Pieces of Blueboard, plastic card and cloth were used in the rear part. 

The wheels are from an Airfix Scammel and the wooden back is from a cheap truck toy. 

The wood gas burner is taken from an Atlantic T-34 gasoline tank. 

The figures from Les Armées Oubliés are beautiful figures that capture very well the Vercors attitude. 

Next: a return to Ukraine

The DCRs for the 1940 campaign in 20mm and for Rapid Fire! wargames rules

3e DLM for the 1940 campaign in 20mm for Rapid Fire! wargames rules

5e DLC for the 1940 campaign in 20mm for Rapid Fire! wargames rules

This is the smallest of the French division types for the 1940 campaing. The 5e Division Légère de Cavalerie (5e DLC) tried to stop the Germans in the Ardennes and fougth them at Sedan and Abbeville. Its very interesting due to its old material and number of horses. The figures and vehicles are a mix of Simon Soldiers (pioneers and artillerymen); Hat, Esci,Caesar, EWM, Lancer and LesArméesOubliés (horsemen, Motorcyclists and Dragons Portés); Resin prints from Mário Laranja (AMR33, Unic P107BU and Simca Cinq); MiniGeneral PLA prints (75mm field guns and Lafflys), SHQ (SideCars and motorcyclists), Wespe (Renault ADH), Altaya (Panhard 178), Skytrex (H39) and plenty, plenty of my own conversions.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Dragons Portés for the DLM from LesArméesOubliés and a few other

A group of Dragons Portés leave the woods of Maison Terrifique to take positions by the road...

LesArméesOubliés is a French brand made by Guilhem, an extraordinary talented sculptor who already has plenty of stuff for French 1940 and Foreign Legion 1942. I decided to have a go at them and forget for a while my own conversion talents, undeniable as you well know, but not always enough!

If you buy a set of Dragons Portés from LesArméesOubliés you get a set of 32 beautifully sculpted figures, all different and very well researched. Some have the capote, others the vareuse and a few have goggles. I added a few more goggles mainly as a way to make an even more distinct unit from the regular infantry. This can be easily made with tiny blobs of EverGreen modelled with a toothpick.

These are the command figures. I added radios to two of them.

As you can see the figures are very realistic and well proportioned.

Also from Guilhem came four Hotchkiss MMG's (the other one is on the 2nd picture) that he converted from the Pegasus  set. Not a single figure is the same as another and goggles were well made by Guilhem with the GreenStuff + toothpick technique. 

After finishing the Lafflys S20TL I needed more Dragons Portés. I already have a battalion of Chasseurs Portés (with a different uniform) for a DCR and a regiment of Dragons Portés for a DLC but the organic of the Dragons Portés of the DLM is different.

This was the original DLM regiment, an all plastic unit before the arrival of the miniatures from Les Armées Oubliés.

It ended with half of the figures in metal from LesArméesOubliés, Pegasus conversions and StreletsR plus some Hat miniatures for the heavy weapons with a few other conversions.

The StreletsR are from the WW1 French summer box. They suit well the Dragons Portés of 1940 if you cut slightly the Lebel rifle (and bayonet) for it to look like a MAS1936.

In this company you can see the extra goggles made for half of the figures, the VB grenade launcher (figure to the left, ordering to advance) and in the far right stand the Chauchat turned into the M.29 LMG with some cuts and bits of EverGreen.

Command sections for the battalions, mostly Hat with scratchbuilt radios and two figures with the Bonnet de Police from StreletsR. The one pointing has a pair of Fujimi binoculars hanging from the neck.

The 60mm mortars are scratchbuilt and have Hat figures.

The same for the 81mm mortars. The Hat French artillery box is very useful for other small weapons and even its officer can be used in many ways as shown in the command sections. 

These six Hotchkiss MMG's are scratchbuilt in this way:

- the body and weapon of the firer are BlueStuff copies of the StreletsR Foreign Legion.

- The tube of the gun has a pin inside for extra strenght.

- the head is a copy from EWM.

- the other two crewmen are Hat French artillerymen. 

Next: More Napoleonic for Bussaco 1810.