"15mm Forces for the Western Desert" Topic

All,

For anyone that's followed my blog, you've seen I have a very strange relationship with 15mm WWII miniatures. I began wargaming in 2009, at which time I spend around $400 USD on Old Glory US and German forces for Northwest Europe. I painted them up, played a few games, then gave them to my nephews. A couple years later I did it again; I bought about $400 USD worth of toys from Plastic Soldier Company for US and German forces, painted some of it up, then gave it to Kyote. A couple of years later I switched up slightly; I bought about $400 USD worth of Plastic Soldier Company minis for British and German forces in NW Europe. I painted up some vehicles and most of the infantry, then sold it off.

But here I am again. I bought fully painted US and German forces for NW Europe (featured in a recent battle report using Battlegroup Normandy, which you can find here: link and then I spent A BUNCH of money on 15mm forces for… North Africa! Well, I bought it, I prepped it, I painted it, I based it, I washed it, and I sealed it, so it's ready to be played with and ready for me to show it off. It's not the prettiest set of forces, and it's certainly not perfect, but it's definitely the largest collection I've ever completed, so at the very least I'm proud of the accomplishment.

The whole mess, with Commonwealth forces on the left and Axis on the right. It consists of 72 tanks, 23 armored cars, 19 transports, 6 aircraft, 19 guns of various calibers, and 64 stands of infantry (command, rifle, MGs, and mortars).

Crusaders on the move.

A British Bofors.

Tommies in the sand.

British air support.

Panzer Mk IIIs with short and long 50mm guns.

Some armored cars.

The dreaded '88s.'

Italian M14/41s.

Some AB40s.

Italian artillery.

Italian Platoon Commanders.

To see a bunch more pics, please check the blog at:
link

So, there it is, my massive North Africa collection, warts and all. That was a tremendous amount of work, and it's very cool to sit back and stare at it, having finished off such a large project. My plan is to play out the war in the Western Desert from the first clashes at the frontier in 1940, up through the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do it, but Peter (https://gridbasedwargaming.blogspot.com/search/label/WW2%20North%20Africa) and Jon (https://grymauch.blogspot.com/search/label/WW2%20N.Africa) have given me plenty to think on. In any case, with a little fudging, we've go enough gear to get through the various phases of the war with the appropriate vehicles, or at least reasonable proxies, I think.

In a perfect world I would go buy some more early war tanks for Brits and Italians, get some German arty, and get the Italian command and ATGs squared away, but the fact is that I'm exhausted, and I don't need any of that stuff to play some games. My boys, of course, absolutely love them, and can't wait to get their little mitts on them.

V/R,
Jack

Mine looks somewhat like that…except most of it's still in the original boxes and blisters…

Nice job on these – very effective paint jobs and nicely done overall.

A heck of an accomplishment Jack, and been wondering where you've been lately…..now we know.

Good to see the young officers both in the recent Normandy action too!

Hey Ben, thanks man! Like I said, without the quarantine there's no way I could have gotten these out of their boxes/blisters.

FlyXwire, I appreciate it! Yeah, I've been locked in the painting bunker, though I have gotten out a few times to play with the boys, which has been great. I don't know if you saw, we played two games using "Black Ops," as well, which was even an even bigger hoot!

V/R,
Jack

Labor of love – Well done!

You are too modest, very nicely done!

That's quite a collection Jack. Excellent work.

Very nice.

Just Jack….very inspirational! In a couple years when I'm done with my Normandy setting, North Africa is next.

Thanks guys, you're too kind. We'll look to get them on the table soon, gotta figure out what rules I'm going to go with for the little guys.

V/R,
Jack

An inspiring collection – I will be interested to know which rules you end up choosing and why.

They look good Jack. Hopefully you hang on to these. If not, I can send you my address. ;)

Thank you, gentlemen, and sorry for the late reply, I didn't realize folks were still looking at these.

I got off track with these: never satisfied, I ordered a bunch more troops/vehicles for the Western Desert (mostly very early war, Brits vs Italians, stuff like Vickers Mk VI, Matildas, CV-33s, etc…) and started painting it, but haven't finished and got distracted by other stuff. I'm currently playing some Battle of the Bulge fights with my two sons but I will get back to this, I promise.

And Cap'n, I'll gladly send these your way, but I'll need more than your address. Call it your address and about 2 Gs ;)

V/R,
Jack