Will McNally's Rules - AWI and the battle of Brandywine 1777 in 20mm (part 31) - Cavalry for both sides

A flank attack by the British 16th Light Dragoons catches off guard two regiments of American cavalry, the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons and the South Carolina State Light Dragoons. 
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All figures are Italeri from their generous cavalry set with 16 figures plus one Airfix conversion and a ACTA figure. The only addition to the Italeri figures was some short cavalry rifles that were missing.

                            

The figures are beautifully sculpted and reasonably accurate but as usual with Italeri most of them are looking sidewards which is not the better position for wargames figures.

The British 16th Light Dragoons. Some sources say that the Tarleton helmet would be more accurate for these units and that includes the 16th LD reconstitution group.

Next: Scottish for France 1940 or more Hungarians for Mohacs 1526.

Will McNally's Rules - AWI and the battle of Brandywine 1777 in 20mm (part 30) - More artillery and a few more bits

While looking for something else in my basement I found a box of primed and based stands for AWI. I made them some 2 or 3 years ago and this time of less work is an opportunity to reduce the stash. When I left Brandywine I only have to make for the British the Vaughn and Leslie's Brigades, two regiments of Hessians, the  three squadrons of cavalry and six artillery pieces (batteries). For the American side the situation was worse with  seven brigades missing and six batteries. Also a number of command stands are still missing for both sides. With this post at least the American artillery for Brandywine 1777 is finished. 

As usual the figures will be mostly Revell and Airfix with converted Airfix limbers.

                 

All the American artillery stands have pre-1179 uniforms so no blue and red for Continental Artillery but green, black and brown with various and made up facings. Figures are from three sets, two from Revell and one from Airfix. The limber is the body of the Airfix Napoleonic French gun stretched, burned and bent to look like a 3pdr AWI limber.

                 

Two more Brigade commanders for the American made from the Revell Austrian Train Drivers. 

                       

Same story for this 3lbr British stand.

                        

Finally a Horse Holder stand for the Hessian Jaegers. The figure is Revell Austrian Artillery and the horses are from the Revell British Napoleonic infantry set. 

Next: I don´t know but it won't take long.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs1526, part 6 - The Ottoman Janissaries

The Janissaries from Zvezda are one of the most detailed sets around and the figures are of high quality both due to detail and plastic quality.

Another issue is painting them.

There shouldn´t two Janissaries dressed alike and I tried to do so with the exception of jackets to keep some uniformity as these guys were one of the first standing large unit in the world. Blue was the most usual colour but many other were used. For not to drive (even more) crazy I used the same 6 or 7 colours along the stands, dividing the lot in two groups, one based on blue and another in yellow.

This command stand contain the three figures designed for that; the Sancak Bashi (standard bearer), the Çorbadji (which in fact means Chief soup-maker) and a musician. 

The entire Orta (regiment) but there is no such thing as units in Impetus. In the future I will try to make some rules for my own, with Impetus Baroque as base, but in which I can include Orders of Battle. Then one of these stands will be an Orta and all six will be the probable number of Janissaries Ortas at Mohacs 1526.

The yellow Orta looks better than it is. The Yellow colour was a nightmare to paint. I even checked some sites on how to paint this damn colour. I ended by aplying only one layer of thick yellow being careful for not to pass two times the brush on the same spot. 

From the back you can clearly see from were came the inspiration for the future Spanish and Austrian Grenadiers of 7YW and Napoleonic fame.

Next; a return to Brandywine 1777.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The figures of the 2nd KRRC Motor Battalion

With all transport done for the 30th Brigade, the 2nd KRRC figures were made in the last few days. The main issue here was the obvious temptation to use the figures you already have for the 1944-45 period maybe with a few extra Boys ATR's. The problem is that the equipment of 1944, based on the 1937 Pattern Web Equipment, was the same as the one of the BEF infantry in 1940 with a big difference; the gas mask bag which makes the British soldier of 1940 quite different from the one of 1944 (besides new Helmets and new SMG`s, PIAT's and other pieces of equipment introduced after 1940).

So, what figures to use for these conversions? 

- I have stocks of  classic Airfix and Matchbox, detailed figures, plain helmets but a bit too small (around 1/76th ) to go with the HAT figures I used for its transport Carriers and CS8's. 

- Also a stock of big Valiant boxes could be used but by far not enough plain helmets as these figures were made with  Normandy in mind.

-I ended up by using the Esci British infantry with a few Airfix figures; WW1 Emhar British; Australian Revell and a few Matchbox for certain positions. All of them got a two component paste gas mask bag and a back pack were they didn't exist. Some of the Revell's Australians have the old Service Dress instead of the newer Battle Dress, which is correct as there was resistance to this change in the British army, one Guards officer saying it looked like a "third rate chauffeur" dress.

The HQ of the battalion has two Emhar officer figures (the service dress of WW1 is virtually the same in both wars and specially in this scale) and an Airfix radio man Commando with a new Brodie helmet; Esci PIAT firer and Matchbox figures in the ATR stand and Esci and and Matchbox figures in the 2"mortar stand (this one converted from the Matchbox mortar). 

The HQ figures painted and ready to fight the Jerry's. The Boys ATR are extras sent to me by 3d Minigeneral boss, Pedro Pato.

All 2nd KRRC figures got the green and red shoulder title they used in WWII. The SMG's are a later Thompson model but I left it as it was as any change in such a small  weapon would be too complicated.

The company's Boys ATR got an inverted T as support, and an Airfix lying figure next to it. They are ready to defend Calais up to the last man! Or better, to go along the Southern counter-attack of the tank brigades even if not historical...

Next: wether more Brandywine 1777 or Mohacs 1526.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Additions to the BEF motor park (part 2)

The Morris CS8 15cwt trucks of the 2nd King´s Royal Rifle Corps Motor Battalion and the 1st Rifles Motor Battalion, 30th Brigade, pass on the crossroads of the French village of Platini (from now on all my villages in France will have famous French footballers names- Belgian villages will have Cyclist's names, of course) in order to join 1st Armoured Division (and not Calais, as I will not deprive my tanks of infantry!!) 

All models are MiniGeneral 3d prints. The models have only 5 quite detailed parts. These were a bit hard to clean but Pedro Pato told me that he is cleaning and improving the files and that this problem will be solved in many of its models.

I placed the white square without being sure of its usage by these two battalions. These two units were the organic Motor battalions of the 1st AD and not part of original BEF so I`m not sure if the white squares were painted as they were also not used by its parent tank brigades.

Each CS8 has four figures and, like the figures in the Carriers from the same units I showed you a few post ago, they are conversions from the Hat box of US WWI artillery. I used these figures because of its plain helmets and gas mask bags to which I only needed to add a two component paste backpack. Some figures in the box are seated while others are standing. The seated figures went to the back of the truck with new legs of two component paste or bent with fire and the ones standing were melted by the legs and stuck in the cabin. 

Soft plastic rifles, Bren LMG of Boys AT rifles were glued to the figure's hands. 

The printing lines on the front of the vehicle are quite visible. I mixed an almost  drying green acrylic paint with PVA glue and covered those parts. This tick apparently works in hiding those lines.

Here are they after the Paint+PVA trick. As you can see here many of the figures were just bent with fire. Even if you apply some heat in the legs they become softer and you can model it with some clamps or even using your fingers. 

The yellow paint blobs are the gas detector device used by the British. It would change colour and was applied by hand in different shapes. Some roundels of plastic card were also cut and used for Bridge Rating symbols at the front of the vehicles. 

All these six seated figures had their legs changed into a seated position by the usage of fire from a lighter and the putees were turned into short webbing ankles.

One of the CS8  was transformed into one of the many wireless versions. There are some doubts about the year in which the metal doors were used on these radio versions so I made a late MK2 body with metal doors. They can be painted as canvas doors if one day I find more information. The black arm of service with the number 11 is from the Divisional Signals of an infantry division. Maybe a red square with the number 12 or green with 16 would be better for the HQ of the Infantry brigades? I got stuck here as these battalions had brown squares for Motor battalions and were no foot infantry units...

The main task here is to build a wooden body, stairs at the back, the aerials and its protection and supports at the roof top. 

The body was built in Rooftop Styrofoam and card. 

The windows are also card as well as the folded table, later changed to the other side as you can see in the finished vehicle. 

The aerials are made of burned sprue. In the end a few more details were added before painting and this one here, together with a staff car are ready to be the 30th Brigade HQ as Masters Colin and Richard ordered. 

Next: the figures for the 2KRRC Motor Battalion.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526 in 20mm, part 5 - More Hungarian heavy cavalry in 20mm

Led by Archbisop Pál Tomori another wing of Hungarian Heavy cavalry charges the Ottoman lines at Mohacs. The figures are Zvezda and  MiniArt.

There are some problems with the horses: The MiniArt are too thin and the Zvezda too short. But for the Hungarian Cavalry there aren´t many choices apart from the difficult to get Dark Dream Studios.

The figures from Zvezda are some of the French for the 110YW that suited the beggining of the XVI century. Some of the original weapons were replaced by new lances made of broom sticks. The Miniart figures come from the French Cavalry and the Burgundian cavalry sets. 

The flags are photocopies of my own designs of flags used in the battle (at least they are shown on the Mohacs 1526 Internet movie).

The stand of Pál Tomori uses a Zvezda figure as the Archbishop. To make it distinguishable painted the character with a beard he shows in its statue at Kalocsa. 

Next: BEF 1940 of Russo-Georgian war 2008.

Rapid Fire! Normandy 1944 in 20mm - The British Motor Battalion for the 7th AD

The British Motor Battalion of the 7th AD disembarks from its M5 Halftracks under the protection of the organic 6 pdr. The five Carriers are far ahead in a reconnaissance mission … well, they are not I confess. They are still in Alentejo inside the printers of Pedro Pato,  the Minigeneral big boss. 

This organisation is from the RF! 2nd rules book, a bit different from the one proposed by the Normandy Battlegroups book (the later proposes less figures in the infantry companies and one extra 6 pdr AT gun). 

One of the Loyd Carriers will go to the Motor battalion of the Sherman equipped division and its just here to show off. 

The HQ White Scout Car is Italeri (ex.Esci). I just added the crew (Airfix and Matchbox), an antenna and the usual stowage. You may recognize the second figure with bonoculars from the Airfix Bofors gun. Originally the figure is looking to the sky but after some seconds very close to a lighter assumed a more 'infantry' look.

The HQ group, all big and beautiful Valiant. 

The company Halftracks are, left to right, an Hasegawa M3A1 with Valiant crew, an Italeri M3 with Valiant, Britannia and Hasegawa US conversion crew and an Airfix M5 with Matchbox crew. 

                           

All three companies are Valiant and the first row of this one has several conversions. The most distinctive figure is the running Bren as the original is in a too relaxed pose that wouldn't harm anyone if he had to. 

Two FO stands from Valiant for the artillery were also added.

The Support Company. More Valiant minis. 

Both Loyd Carriers are PSC but I scratch built this 6 pdr AT gun in EverGreen plastic card and tubing a long time ago and I'm using it finally together with a Valiant converted crew. The two 6pdr from PSC will go to the US Paratroopers that are still  inside the boxes for a project I have of building the 101st.   

This Valiant figures are not the new 20mm figures. Even if they are a bit big they are detailed beauties, excelent material for conversions and they paint extremely well.

Next: Impetus CP Hungarians for Mohacs 1526.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526 in 20mm, part 4 - Azab infantry

 I had these StreletsR figures based and painted for months still without an idea about what to do with them. They would become part of Suleiman's army for sure so I chose to depict Azab close combat infantry, armed with lances, axes and swords.

Well there is no such thing as Azab close combat infantry in Extra Impetus No 3 so if they (ever) fight they will have the status of FP Levantine Infantry. I used plenty broom sticks lances instead of the separate swords provided in the set. 

This set is the Arab Infantry set of StreletsR aimed at the Crusades, 200/300 years before Mohacs battle. The teardrop shields are anachronistic but I like to think that they could still be used mainly by the many Arab forces that integrated the Ottoman army. 

The standards are my own and you can track them in previous Impetus posts. 

Next: Wether more Hungarian CP for Mohacs or the second British Motor Battalion for 1944/45. 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Additions to the BEF motor park (part 1)

Elements of the Motor Battalions of the British 1st Armoured Division depart from Route Longue (not far from Bois Perdu and other stupid names I made up) in order to join the tank brigades for another push against the Germans.

 The first four Scout Carriers are from 2nd KRRC Motor Battalion while the one to the right is the missing Carrier of the 1st Rifles Motor Battalion. Here a big thank you to John Pews and Andre Foulkes for sorting out the correct markings for these units. 

The Carriers are MiniGeneral 3d models with Hat torsos from the WWI US Artillery. I think these figures go very well for the BEF as they have clean helmets and the gas mask bag properly sculpted in the figure besides giving you 8 different poses. I burned the figure's legs and stucked them in place using a bit of two paste component for details. 

The Scout Carriers are detailed minis, a bit difficult to clean but with patience you get a nice result. Only a small mast was added to place the Bren LMG. The Boys ATR is also provided.

More MiniGeneral models this time a trio of Austin Tilly radio vans for the artillery batteries. The figures are torsos of Hat WWI US artillery again with Esci legs from the kneeling Enfield firer. The radios are Evergreen bits. 

Two more Bren Carriers for the regular infantry Division again MiniGeneral with the same kind of conversions as crew. 

One last MiniGeneral model with this Austin 10 staff car. 

Finally four Airfix Morris Quad to tow the 4.5'' Howitzers from Hat I built months ago. The two to the right are very old 1964  soft plastic models with bigger resin wheels and scratchbuilt trailers as they dont exist in the original. The trick of the wheels makes them the same size as the hard plastic brothers and very acceptable models. The holes of the windshields and all glasses were all covered with hot glue.

Next: Ottoman/Levantine infantry for Impetus and the battle of Mohacs 1526.