"1/144 British Desert Squadron, HQ - The Queen's Bays" Topic
18 Posts
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FlyXwire | 14 Aug 2020 10:01 a.m. PST |
Here's a little scene, modeled on a squadron HQ troop from the 2nd Armoured Brigade, painted up for around the time of the El Alamein battles in North Africa, late 1942. My latest project was to "defrock" one of my Stuarts to make a recce version out of the model, for mounting a RHA forward observer team into, for having a mobile FO vehicle to direct supporting artillery strikes in-game.
Below is how I'll be using the minis during our games – on magnetically-attached movement stands – which help protect the models, and also apply some spacing requirement between stands.
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Frederick | 14 Aug 2020 10:12 a.m. PST |
Very nice! Clever idea about the stands – real tanks don't fight with touching treads |
FlyXwire | 15 Aug 2020 6:29 a.m. PST |
Thanks Frederick! (it's amazing how heavy the N. Africa carrying cases are now, with these desert bases included) Well, 2nd Armoured Brigade did suffer losses as 8th Army pressed Panzerarmee Afrika westward out of Libya towards Tunisia, and with inevitable casualties – many from mine marshes planted in their way.
Twist-epoxy putty is useful for making small scenics and mounting models into, and if your WW2 rules allow for AFV immobilizations, little groups of shell holes can be sculpted up, and placed underneath the tracks of an inflicted model to [thematically] track the damage.
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deadhead | 15 Aug 2020 1:59 p.m. PST |
How clever is that. The Crusader modelled on a shell hole in your posting today. It has made one hell of a mess of the right sponson of the tank and I suspect the crew might have done badly. But heck, they are on our side, give us at least one hatch opened to suggest someone got out, got home and lived into their 90s. What an inspired idea for a model though. I was just about to think of that myself…eventually |
FlyXwire | 16 Aug 2020 6:52 a.m. PST |
Yes, but the lads did not pass in vain, as they inflicted far greater losses on the enemy for their sacrifice, and in no 'small way' made a Final Victory possible!
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deadhead | 16 Aug 2020 8:56 a.m. PST |
There is a real art to showing a wrecked AFV like this. The turret off is obvious, but the track played out looks great. I can even see a MkIII where the bad guys did get out. Great detailing work and highlighting. I spent the day working on an M4 105 Howitzer tank for 2eme DB, but that is in 1/72 and not sure it looks half as good as these. |
FlyXwire | 16 Aug 2020 9:04 a.m. PST |
:))) Deadhead, you never see my modelling mistakes…. Oh wait, yep, there they are above (a good way not to waste a chassis…..just turn it into a wreck). ;) |
Legion 4 | 16 Aug 2020 2:41 p.m. PST |
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rob polymathsw | 17 Aug 2020 2:22 a.m. PST |
Amazing work and great photos! |
FlyXwire | 17 Aug 2020 10:42 a.m. PST |
Gents, thanks for the compliments! :) I'm hoping to pick up a new desert mat from my friend Tim of Footsore Miniatures-USA tomorrow, and so maybe will have a new platform for the North Africa kit here. If the mat looks good, I'll post some mock battle pics with it, based on the Rahman Track clash of Nov. 1942. This action led to the near-destruction of the Ariete Armored Division, and set in motion what Rommel called the "Great Retreat" back through Cyrenaica and to Tunisia (the Rahman battle defeat being the launch point for an idea I have for a mini-campaign to play, when our group gets the chance to meet up again – sometime in the future). |
FlyXwire | 19 Aug 2020 3:55 p.m. PST |
I didn't care that much for the "El Alamein" mat mentioned above, to use as a desert mat, but bought it for 19th cen. Colonial gaming instead (it'll be perfect for Anglo-Zulu War games). In the meantime, continued progress, with this Arrowhead Miniatures Humber Mk. II section completed, that'll be needed for British recon missions and screening duties. Here on movement bases.
And here, taking up a totally baseless position. ;)
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Just Jack | 22 Aug 2020 7:22 a.m. PST |
Man, what a great looking collection, I'm really looking forward to your mini-campaign. V/R, Jack |
FlyXwire | 22 Aug 2020 9:34 a.m. PST |
I'm fleshing out some Italian builds as we speak, and have an idea for the first two scenarios now, thanks to actions related in the book Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts, by Ian W. Walker. The first action will involve a combined-arms force from the Centauro armored division encountering advanced elements of the 7th Armoured Division along an escarpment near Antelat, SE of Beda Fomm (involving those Humbers above). This "intro scenario" will help get the British players blooded, after the long downtime these past months (I'm sure we're all a bit rusty on the tactics). |
Just Jack | 23 Aug 2020 8:09 a.m. PST |
Sounds great. I just bought some North Africa books myself, hopefully will provide scenario fodder. V/R, Jack |
FlyXwire | 26 Aug 2020 1:45 p.m. PST |
Jack, and others interested in Western Desert battle gaming – there's two scenario books written for the Fireball Forward rules (game scale for individual vehicles and hvy. weapons operating under section, platoon, and company structures), that I think are good resources. One on Operation Crusader by Tom Garnett, is available from Wargame Vault as a PDF (found under the "Fireball Forward" products listing). The second scenario book, on Rommel's 1st offensive in N. Africa called Sonnenblume, by Mark Fasto, is available from Brigade Games as a print book, or as a PDF download purchase. Although written for the Fireball Forward rules, they'll work for games using individual vehicles, hvy. weapons, and with squad & HQ stands (I'd characterize the scenarios as company+ to battalion level….not skirmish). On the 1/144 -12mm scale Front, I've been slowed by the need to get some Italian Dovunuque trucks completed (WIP below w/o weathering yet). The models came without canvas tops, so I've made some tops, and have them cast now and ready for completion (got to have these trucks and a few extras for the 1st encounter of The Great Retreat campaign).
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FlyXwire | 27 Aug 2020 6:10 a.m. PST |
Gents in the thread here, thank you for your conversation. Maybe it's the profusion of blogs today, and the need to be relevant by having your own that's reduced conversations here on TMP? No doubt the pandemic has whacked the gaming buzz to a minimum, and the picture show is all we can enjoy these days (that's all I can offer). Maybe using TMP is just becoming old fashioned (I must consider that). |
deadhead | 27 Aug 2020 9:28 a.m. PST |
That is a very interesting point and might well be worth starting as a new topic. It would explain something that has always baffled me. Tango gets much grief from folk whose blogs he has highlighted, when he posts a picture or two and gives a link. The result is often someone like me seeing something they had no possible prospect of encountering. But the owners can be really upset. Old fashioned? I can live with that. That resin casting looks clever! |
FlyXwire | 27 Aug 2020 2:03 p.m. PST |
Deadhead, I probably should start a new thread on this, but I probably wouldn't be able to find it after it's been buried by Tango's daily allotment. Since I don't blog – TMP is, and has always been my megaphone, and that's how I support the website too, and with my membership contribution (like you). So what I post here is a one-off – it's for this membership, and by being on here, I'm supporting this website's relevance (I think?). If someone operates their own blog, that's their dime, but I'd rather see TMP get that content directly (but that's likely not motivation enough). I suspect lots of this blog linking is an internal method of plumping up for advertisers, and having that daily count on the boards to show the site is still vibrant. Well, I can find most of this content on other websites already. Maybe if I pay a membership fee, then that would grant me resident image-hosting privileges, or game content/doc storage to use here, something which might encourage more users to post their content directly on-site. |
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