"Another ten International Brigade" Topic

I've added another ten International Brigade to my collection. Lovely figures from the oft-overlooked North Star range of 28mm Spanish Civil War.

As usual, more pictures and close-ups on Scrivsland: link

An eager, motley bunch! Is that a Chauchat and was there an assistant or two?
Were they in squads/sections of 10, or larger?

Yup its a Chauchat, widely distributed to and roundly loathed by the Internationals. There was usually just one assistant from what I've read, mind you as most Chauchats came with only two or three magazines and didn't have a changeable barrel that was usually enough. I think his main job was to add variety to the curses employed when trying to unjam the POS.

Ten to twelve man squads seem to have been pretty common although quickly reduced by losses.

Fatman

Great stuff Scrivs, can't wait to see on the table!

Nice sculpts and wonderful, emotive paint !

PLEASE straighten the barrel of the chauchat !!

Thanks chaps.

It is indeed a Chauchat and I already have a couple of them based as a two man team.

chicklewis
"PLEASE straighten the barrel of the chauchat !!"

Why it still won't hit anything! ;)

Fatman

Not bad for a bunch of Reds…
;-)

All kidding aside, very pretty figures. How do North Star mix with Empress and Force of Arms? More poses and options is a good thing in a genre like this.

re the Chauchat, I'm fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to fire a couple of magazines through one a few years back. I'm comfortable firing automatic weapons but I had trouble hitting anything with it. 8mm Lebel is a pretty hard kicking round even with the weight of the gun, and that combined with the spindly bipod and that very jarring long recoil action makes it hard to control. (long recoil is notorious for enhancing felt recoil. Anyone out there who has fired a Browning auto-5 or Remington Model 11 shotgun knows what I'm talking about) It certainly would not be my first choice as a gun to go into battle with. But anything is better than nothing in a pinch, right?

For what it's worth, the prevailing opinion these days amongst the NFA shooting community and machinegun geeks in general is that the Chauchat's bad reputation is unfair. That line of thought is that much of the negative press surrounding the gun was due to the awful .30-06 conversion that the US troops used rather than actual flaws with the design. I'm not totally convinced and really can't say one way or another with any degree of certainty as my trigger time on the gun is exactly 30 rounds. (we did not load the one I shot fully due to loss of spring tension over the years)