Rapid Fire! in 20mm, Vercors 1944 (part 1) - First few Maquis and FFI cars

Recently, Richard Baber posted his FFI on his great blog Baber on Wargames. These lovely painted figures, together with a nice Citroën sparked an old wish of mine, the Vercors battle of the summer of 1944, which placed 4.000 Maquisards against 10.000 Germans supported by the Luftwaffe. Vercors was one of my first readings while a young teenager a few years after  our 25th of April Carnation Revolution, as these heroic acts of defiance were very common on those days literature. I don´t remember what book it was or even if I still have it but those pages got stuck on my mind.  

This battle came after the Normandy landings when thousands of young Frenchmen came to the Vercors mountains, a triangular shaped plateau close to Grenoble, Southern France. Not being able to join the Normandy or much of the Northern France Maquis, more than 3.000 young resistants prefered to join the Vercors (also avoiding the STO- Service du Travail Obligatoire, in Germany) were a few hundred Maquisards lived there since 1942. The plan was called Projet Montagnard and predicted the arrival of 4000 Allied paratroopers and heavy weapons to the plateau, something that never materialized and eventually doomed the Vercors Maquis when the Germans came in force. 

My planned models are:

For the Maquis- 

- Build 6x battalion sized units of Maquisards including some Senegalese that also took refuge at the Vercors (only 2x battalions - the ones shown here - are done, more on the way mostly from LesArméesOubliés).

- Some "heavy"weapons, 1x M2 Browning, 1 Bazooka, 1x Hotchkiss MMG, 1x 25mm Hotchkiss AA gun (both Hotchkiss guns are the only missing and were used at Saint Nizier).

For the Germans - 

- 30x paratroopers; 4x DFS 230 gliders; 1x battalions of Grenadiers (9.PD) and 2x battalions of infantry (157. Reserve ID); 4x Ost Battalions; 2x Focke Wulf  FW 190 fighter aircraft  (all these are done).

- 1x Gotha Go242 glider; 2x 105mm GebH40; 15x Feldgendarmen; 4x Gebirgsjäger battalions (still to be done). 

The Vercors Plateau is also on my mind or at least a way to raise ground with the Vercors shape, as building it in styrofoam is something very difficult to store. Even so some styrofoam escarpments, together with a raised cloth is the most probable way to show this difficult terrain. 

The figures are a mix of Irregular Miniatures, both from their French Resistance range and SCW (there were Spanish Republicans in the Vercors fleeing from Franco´s terror), Caesar and Esci. The Esci figures here still didn´t get their bonnets and are still wearing their Adrian helmets which will only stay for a few Gendarmes. 

Ladies first. They are all Irregular Miniatures with a sole Caesar figure with added bonnet. 

There were also in the middle of the Maquisards a number of Ex-Vichy Gendarmes and Groupes Mobiles de Reserve (GMR). 

Led by Lt. Vernom Hoppers there were 15 SOF US soldiers within the Vercors Maquis sent there to train the Maquisards and teach them how to operate US weapons like the M2 Browning and the Bazooka. The figures are Revell with GreenStuff soft caps. 

All figures got a French arm band and many got a GreenStuff bonnet. 

The Esci Bazooka stand got new heads with bonnets and the MMG stand is a mix of 3d printed gun, a Caesar, a Irregular Miniatures and a Revell figure. 

The command group came from Irregular Miniatures ranges including a  African/Cuban  officer with crossed arms and added bonnet. 

Finally two FFI cars, one Hotwheels 1932 Ford with new wheels and a Matchbox  1947 (ups!) Morris Minor. 

Next: More Vercors or one more Iraqi video. 

A second (Airfix) Avro Lancaster in 1/72 for Rapid Fire! rules

 

This is the last kit bought at the 2nd hand fair of Tomar to be built. Its also the second Avro Lancaster, after a Revell model. These two are intended for the bombing actions before Operation Goodwood, which is an old desire of mine after making two British Armored Divisions, a British (Churchill) Tank Brigade, the 21.PD, the 16.LFD, and the 503. Tiger Battalion. 

The build up is quite straightforward, with all interior left aside, and used the same style of painting of the Revell kit. The kit is from 1967, so older than me, and the decals and plastic were still perfect which is something more recent kits can´t say. 

Next: a Video on the Iraqi 5th Mechanized Division

RF! in 20mm - A little known armoured encounter somewhere in nowadays Pakistan, the battle of Al-Lie

 

A little known armoured battle of WW2 happened in Pakistan (some sources say it was Afghanistan) at a place called Al-Lie, between several units of armoured vehicles of Japan, Germany, Slovakia on one side and USA and USSR on the other:

- The Japanese got lost in the jungle looking for the body of Yamamoto and ended up a bit to the west;

- The Slovaks found the Eastern Front too dangerous and a task force derived a bit more to the south east looking for more peaceful areas;

-The Germans had to be in control of everything Axis;

- The Soviets, without radios on their tanks, got lost and now were too scared to return because of NKVD thinking they were deserters;

- The US simply had to be everywhere even if it was not their damn business!!

Two conclusions are known about Al-Lie battle, no one survived to tell the story and it didn´t happen. 

After this BS story what really made me making this bunch was the fact of having these models sitting for too long on the cue and all were WW2 bits for continuing a number of armies. 

The one waiting for longer, maybe 10 years, and already built (given by JF or JMM) was this Esci late KV-1 that will go the winterized Soviets. 

This Mig T-28 is one of the oldest model kits of this tank, dating from the mid 90s. I found it in one of the last model shops in Lisbon, the Casa Antunes. 

The model is a piece of hell to be built as it is made in resin and lots of photo-etched parts and thus made for standing in a shelf and not wargaming. But as I´m a shelf wargamer everything will be OK. 

Two more T-35 monster by S-Models. Only four to reach the 10 mark as ordered by Master Colin and Richard in its supplement for Russian units 41-42. In fact the 8th Mechanized Corps used them at Dubno, which is my target for Barbarossa. The last four will not have the aerials as they only existed in the command tank of the company. 

This "Long Tom" and HST is a second one to be built and is the consequence of an exchange made years ago between a full Altaya collection and some miniature racing cars. A Matchbox figure and a base was added, a quick glass paint and sand color drybrush and its ready to go. 

Some 10 days ago or so I received a nice parcel from a Spanish wargamer friend, JZ, which had plenty of very helpful bits and pieces. Among them there was this Horch 830 radio car of the early war period, probably by the extict BUM and copied from the Wespe model. The aerials were added and a few more details also. 

Not sure about this aerial arrangement but it looks nice to me. 

Also from JZ came all these that went for the Japanese. The Sumida Type 92 armored car is resin a copy of the Skytrex one I already have. I painted it with the same SNLF colors. The truck to the left pretends to be a Nissan 80 but it started as...

... a firemen truck. Here it already got some plastic side pannels to look more like a cargo truck...

...and here it got new wheels and a tarpaulin. 

These diecast pickups started like this but here you can already see the final arrangement with hot glue on the windshields, new wheels and cargo to disguise the strange stuff on the back.

Three more Praga trucks from FtF going to the Slovak Fast brigade. 

And three more Slovac LT-35 to conclude the armour of the same brigade.

Next: another video on the Iraqi 1991 army

The USAAF and the RAF in mid/late WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20mm ...

This one shows the Allied aircraft for both the Pacific and European fronts. Its another collection that mixes decades old models with an Avro Lancaster finished last night. The usual plastic brands are acompanied by Luppa and Altaya die-casts. This post concludes the WW2 aircraft from the major participants as smaller countries like Poland and Slovakia have their aircraft shown while showing the rest of the army.

Resurrected Revell Avro Lancaster in 1/72 for Rapid Fire! rules

 

Many years ago I got a very old Revell Avro Lancaster. The way I got it can´t be remembered, as it was a friend´s gift or it came in a lot of 2nd hand kits bought somewhere in a fair. Its state was appalling as someone had built it using all purpose glue (as we did with our first models) and plenty of parts were missing something I only found out last week. Searching in the web I found this Revell kit as the one from 1982, so over 40 years old, in the mean time retooled in 1994 and again in the 2000s.

The interest of this model for me lies in some heavy bomber support for operations like Goodwood, something I´m around for decades and largely done in terms of models. 

One of the rear tail rudders was gone it was copied in 2mm card dipped in super glue for strenght. The same for the rear wheel which is an Altaya one from an unknown aircraft. 

Several of the Brownings 1919 were missing and replaced by pieces of plastic broomstick.

Two of the propellers were also missing and were replaced by some slightly smaller Matchbox Heinkel He 111 rotors and plastic card blades. 

But the biggest problem was the absence of the big bomb bay. A piece of hard styrofoam was used to fill the hole. A bit of plaster was used in the end to give it a smoother look. 

Next: more Vietnam or a video on the Allied aircraft from mid to late war. 

The British 1st/6th Airborne Division in 20mm size for Rapid Fire! rules

Another big unit made along many years. The figures are mostly Esci, Revell and Airfix, the last ones particularly useful for support weapons. The gliders are scratchbuilt or Italeri. The many jeeps are Airfix, Matchbox, Fujimi or Hasegawa. Artillery is Matchbox for the 17pdr guns and SHQ for the M1 75mm howitzers. The 6pdr are all scratchbuilt. The cute little Tetrarchs are Assymetrical Wargaming in 3d printed resin. As usual there are plenty of conversions specially in the mortar and MMG crews.

Next: More Slovaks.

Rapid Fire! 20mm - The 6th and last paratrooper battalion of the British Airborne Division

 

This post concludes the two Paratrooper brigades of a British Airborne Division. Now I still have to make the larger Airlanding Brigade as each has three battalions of four companies instead of three. Most probably I´ll only make one one of its battalions as the biggest British paratrooper gathering was the action of the 1st Division at Oosterbeek/Arnhem were the division was already depleted of maybe some 10% to 15% of its strenght. So you can discard two of its battalions from the original 6 paratrooper´s battalions, 3 airlanding battalions, 1 engineer and 1 of glider pilots and R.A.S.C.

As usual I used the Airfix, Esci and Revell figures with a few leftovers from SHQ. The Airfix figures were useful for conversions for the support weapons (Vickers MMG and 3" mortar) and some Esci were also used (2" mortar and 6pdr AT guns). 

The 6 pdr guns were scratchbuilt and only the barrels and wheels are original PSC. All other pieces were made from several types of plastic all superglued at the end. The figures are SHQ, and Esci and Airfix conversions. 

This is an example of a scratchbuilt stand. None of the three mentioned British paratroopers plastic brands (nor any of the newer in the market) has the Vickers MMG and this one was made by heating the arms of those strange Airfix figure with open arms looking like Jesus Christ at the cross and the Airfix 8th Army Vickers with added water cooling system and ammo box made from Evergreen plastic card. 

Next: a British Glider battalion 

Rapid Fire! 20mm - The British Airborne Division Hamilcar and Tetrarchs

Both an Hamilcar glider and a company of Tetrarchs were still missing in my British Airborne division. I looked for an Hamilcar and found three producers: a 3d printed version; the one from Planet Models in resin and a Vacuum formed kit from Contrail with metal parts also. The problem was the price as they range from 90 to 140 euros not counting P&P and the usual excruciating time of wait and customs procedures and pay if coming from the UK. There is also the Britannia model now by Grubby tanks and that one is much cheaper at around 20/25 euros. The problem with Britannia (besides nowadays time and customs) is  that this one would have to go along with my Horsas from Italeri making the Hamilcar much smaller as Britannia gliders are reduced versions of the real things. So I decided making my own as I only intend to have one. The Tetrarchs were easier as they are resin 3d prints coming from Italy but this same file can be printed in other places. 

The Tetrarchs came from Assymetrical Wargaming (Italy) a place were you can also get the excellent Simon Soldiers 20mm figures in continental Europe together with many other fine brands. They only needed a few stowage, antennas and a figure for the command tank. 

 The Command tank got a sliding hatch and an Airfix figure with headphones made from heated sprue. 

The tank colors and symbols were challenging as I knew nothing about it. After reading many internet articles it can be concluded that green+black was the most probable choice as it was used in mid 44 by most of British vehicles. For the symbols I opted in true recce style for the 41 in a blue over green square instead of the red 85.  

The Hamilcar was great fun to carve from a large block of BlueBoard but it  became too tall, maybe by 1cm which is noticeable in this scale. My problem is that I scratchbuild my stuff without much of a proper planning. This way generally works for houses and other structures but its not that good for machinery. I looked for the size of the Hamilcar (only around 1 meter longer than the Horsa, also a big glider) and went for it straight away trusting in pictures for the other measurements. 

The wings are one of the most difficult parts to make as they are going in an oblique way into the fuselage and stick to the cockpit support. So some extra sheets of card with resin were placed to try to give that effect. 

The way the Hamilcar landed  allowed for the wheels to be at belly level. 

The big front door became open as these big planes would be stranded in the battlefield in this form for a long period of time before being retrieved. 

Again too tall...

The overall appearance is reasonable but a German buff can say its a Me 321... 

The extra pieces of card with resin on the wings got sanded in order to break those strange structures. 

The painting was straight forward with large parts of black which helps hiding the flaws and with a style as close as possible to my Horsas. 

All markings were hand painted and go along with a rustic build :) 

There you go: a cheap and entertaining way for you to have an Hamilcar glider to carry Tetrarchs for D-Day, Bren carriers and 17 pdrs for Arnhem and M22 Locusts for Operation Varsity. 

Next: More British Airborne bits as June is approaching. 

Rapid Fire! Dieppe 1942 in 20mm (part 6) - The Dieppe casino

 

With 14 people in the house in the last week I managed to sneak out in true Commando style for some period of time and build this model. The Dieppe casino was one of the many beach obstacles the Germans had at the main beach of Dieppe in order to hamper any allied landing. During the landings of August 1942 it was used as shelter for some Canadians and was thus destroyed after the failed Jubilee operation for the Germans to have a clear line of fire for an eventual second landing. 

This was another venture I was wanting to make since my teenage days but only when I got my hands on the excellent After the battle- Dieppe through the lens and Channel ports- Operation Jubilee books I really had enough reliable information for all this, from my Calgary tank regiment (already made) up to this one. 

This model became 60cm X 30cm. 

The casino was built in Moorish style, opening its doors in 1886,  and it became an imposing feature of the beach and an attraction for tourists during the French Belle Époque. 

Between 1926 and 1942 it gained this Art Déco style, with added galleries,  favoured by the 1936 first paid holidays in history which attracted even more bathers to its beach.

Then the Germans did this and it was in this conditions that the Canadians faced it. It got plenty of its structures changed and simplified and some AT bunkers in its extremities were added. All three last pictures are taken from the castle grounds, a typical photo shoot place at Dieppe. 

My interpretation of the building is a simplified one. The building was five floors tall and I only made three; the U-shaped galleries at the rear next to the gardens were heavily reduced as well as the overall size of the compound in what I hope to be true RF! style. 

The material used was my trusted BlueBoard 4cm sheets. Card was used for all openings, wood for the pipes on the left side roof and broom sticks for the railings. 

The tips of the casino were strenghtened with a 37mm gun (left) and a 47mm gun (right), both in bunkers. In fact the 37mm guns was placed more to the front and leaning on the sea wall. 

The rear part of the casino got shelled before the landing and had its western gallerie destroyed. I used pieces of BlueBoard and some pebbles to represent it. 

Some wooden beams were used to represent some tubing on the western roof (ventilation? water?). 

Just to break the structure some resin bundles of boxes and barrels were placed on the third floor. Its a bit the Call of Duty style but gives some detail to the model. 

The camouflage painting colors of the casino is not easy to understand and, in desperation and against my true beliefs, I asked Chat GPT what would it be and  green over sand showed up. The Osprey book shows it brown over sand and frankly the contrast looks more green over sand in the period pictures as AI said. 

The building´s front part is the most famous with its two oblique towers. The Germans look to have taken out most of the glass from the windows in order to avoid injuries on the defenders while being attacked. 

Some defensive weapons were made for the casino: the 20mm AA is 3d printed and both the 37mm and 47mm guns were scratchbuilt in EverGreen plastic card with some 3d printed wheels in both of them. The 37mm gun was made from memory and its shield became a bit too large. For not to try play the smart guy again I used a ShellHole scencics 47mm gun as a template and this one became nicer. The crews are Simon´s Soldiers and FtF. 

 An MG34 from FtF and a repainted Altaya Opel Blitz were added. The bases of the guns in particular had to have smaller sizes from the ones I already had due to the bunker openings. Besides the AT guns, there was a 20mm AA gun somewhere in the compound that I imagine to be on the roof and most probably some HMGs also. 

                                       

The guns when in the bunkers can be barely seen but the tips of their barrels add some drama to the action. 

These are the  three buildings for the Dieppe project made up to now. Their size has to do with its relative size with the gates being the smaller of the three and the casino, by far, the larger. 

In this picture you can see all three building and their relative position: the gates in the middle; the castle at the top and the casino galleries at the middle right. 

  

As I was probably a failed croupier in a previous life I like casinos. To the left you can see my approach to the Riva Bella/ Ouistreham casino of Sword fame made years ago.

Next: some YouTube shooting.