Boromir rides again! And so does Richard III Updated 2022-01-10

 Arthur and I have been reading The Hobbit (refer to my recent battle report from Erebor), and we have now progressed on to the Lord of the Rings.  Arthur has been going through my collection of fantasy figures, including the Games Workshop Middle-earth figures that I've had since the Fellowship of the Ring movie was released 20 years ago.  It turns out that while I had multiple copies of most members of the Fellowship, the only painted figure of Boromir in my collection was the one affectionately known as 'Pin-Cushion' Boromir.  Fortunately, we found a pair of unpainted figures, one on foot and one riding a horse.

I followed the paint job from Pin Cushion (or PC) Boromir as close as I could.  So, here then are the now three Boromirs we can use for upcoming games!

The blue is a bit more brilliant, the flock is a different shade, but I daresay that they will do for our purposes.

I also managed to get some paint on Richard III.  He's got a horse, so no need to offer to swap a kingdom for a new one.  I again tried to match the paint job I did on a similar figure that I painted a few years ago: this time of the Perry Miniatures' Commemorative Figure of Richard III emerging from a carpark in Leicester.

This time, I think I was a bit closer in matching the previous paintjob.

Update:  as soon as Boromir was painted, Arthur decided that he needed to face the orc horde!

WWII Canadians on parade

 My Canadian forces for Operation Husky are sufficiently built up for now, so I can move on to work on other forces.  (for example, I need to add some German opposing forces to fight these Canucks!).  My original intent was to have just a single platoon of infantry, but as you can see, miniature megalomania set in and the force has grown.

The force is based around an infantry platoon.  I was inspired by Farley Mowat's memoir, And No Birds Sang as well as his WWII regimental history of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, The Regiment.  While this platoon is inspired by the Hasty Pees, the only insignia that I added is the 1st Canadian Division's red patch, so these soldiers could represent any of the 9 battalions in the 1st Division.  I've added a 4th section to allow me to choose more soldiers as a support option.

I have four different PIAT teams, even though I'm unlikely to ever take more than one.

I have a recce section of the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, consisting of 2 Otter LRC armoured cars and 2 universal carriers (with their dismounted Bren gun teams).  Also, another carrier with a .50 caliber MG!

 Some artillery pieces.  The 25-pounder is unlikely to appear in a CoC game, but could show up if I play a fantasy game like Bolt Action.  The 6-pdr anti-tank gun has seen action on the table, though!

I don't see any game purpose for my Pipes and Drums, but as a piper, I'm just pleased to have them in my collection.

My medical section, with half a dozen nurses and an ambulance jeep.  

From the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade, which became the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade in August 1943, I have tanks from C Squadron of the Three Rivers Regiment, as well as a Dingo from the HQ Squadron.  The motorbikes are available to carry messages around the force as needed.

The army has a much bigger logistics section than most wargames armies.  In most wargames, the action starts after the forces have reached the table, so the details of how they got there are often unimportant.  Nonetheless, I can add a logistics element to my army, including both the lorries used on the roads as well as the mule-carried equipment that was able to carry supplies off road throughout Sicily and the Italian mainland.

And finally, my sappers!  For starters, I have three teams that can be Engineer Teams for CoC.  The teams are a wire cutting team with wire cutters, a demolition team with Bangalore torpedoes and a mine clearing team, with a Polish mine detector and two sappers probing for mines with bayonets, plus an engineer officer to serve as the Engineer Section's leader.

And the pride of my collection, my bridging platoon, with sappers building a Bailey bridge.

Next up, I'll have some photos of my BSC terrain with figures from a few different historical eras.

RCASC Bedford QLD Section

From Die Waffenkamer, here is a section of three Bedford QLD 3-ton lorries.  I've assigned these to the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.  The RCASC had the responsibility of providing transport to the army and for moving supplies from the beachead in Pachino to the troops as they fought their way across Sicily.

The drivers that come with these vehicles come with full beards.  I know some soldiers in the WWII Canadian Army wore beards, but they were not very common, so I took a utility knife to two the of drivers and roughly shaved them.  These two now sport magnificent, 1970s style porn star 'staches!

Vehicle markings include the diagonal green/red of the RCASC, which is the mirror image of the British Army's RASC, according to canadiansoldiers.com.  I hand painted the 1st Canadian Infantry Division markings:  the yellowish blob is intended to be a maple leaf:

But I found decals for the RAF-style air recognition rondels.  Looking at the lorries now, I realise that I forgot to add the bridge classification signs.  These vehicles should each have a yellow disk with a black '7' on the front right. 

I also added a second 2" mortar team for my infantry platoon.  I've enjoyed annoying my Chain of Command opponents with loads of smoke, so I hope it will be handy to add a second team to smoke my foes.  I also painted up a couple of Perry tank crewmen.

Jeep Ambulance

 I came across this image as I was doing other research.  It's a painting from the Canadian War Museum's collection, painted by William Ogilvie at Dittaino, Sicily during Operation Husky.

Further research brought me images like this one, of a jeep ambulance later in the Italian campaign.

So of course I needed one!  I took a jeep from a previous project, and constructed a superstructure from styrene rods and a stretcher from brass rods and green stuff.  Some figures were easily converted into casualties.

A dab of paint, et voilà!  A jeep ambulance, with a couple of nurses from Perry Miniatures' "Lukewarm in Cairo" set:

El Matador, Olé!

 I was going to make a joke about my AEC Matador 4-ton lorry, and tie it to the famous ¡Olé! cheer from Spanish bullfights.  And then a Google search for Olé and Matador took me to Eurovision and France's entry in 2010:

Anyway, silliness aside, here is my new AEC Matador, a 4-ton lorry that seems to be best known as a tractor for the 5.5" BL medium howitzer.  However I've assigned it to my version of the 2nd Canadian Field Park Company RCE, who use it to deliver Bailey Bridge components to where they're needed!

 

I ordered this from Perry Miniatures.  It comes with a pair of benches in the back, which I rather clumsily tried to hack out.  It was pretty ugly, so I am relying on the canopy to hide the damage.

But at least it now has room (almost) for a pallet of Bailey Bridge panels!

Despite the mess during assembly, I am happy with the result.

This sapper is very optimistic if he thinks he can pull that pallet of 9 panels out of the truck.  As they are 600-lbs each, for a total weight of around 5400 lbs or just shy of 3 tons.  He's gonna need some help.

I also picked up some artillery crew, with the idea of repurposing them as sappers.  Several of them fit in nicely, but these two are pretty much gunners.

I recently saw this newsreel, that clearly showed a Black gunner with the RCA in Sicily - that's when I realised I needed to add some diversity to my Canucks.  You can see him starting around 4:19 in this video:

I also picked up the 'Luke Warm in Cairo" set, and here are the three blokes.

Finally, here's the rest of the new additions.

Brigadier Chris Vokes and a Dingo

 I picked up the Perry Miniatures Daimler Dingo, because it's a neat little armoured car and I wanted one.  I decided that the commander figure that comes with the Dingo looks like Chris Vokes, who was the Brigadier commanding 2 Canadian Infantry Brigade (2CIB) during Operation Husky.  I understand that Brigadier Vokes had a jeep during Op Husky, so I re-purposed a Rubicon jeep that I'd done previously and assigned it to the brig.

The jeep should have Brigadier Vokes' pennant, which was a grizzly bear on a blue background.  This pennant was the result of a competition launched by Vokes to inspire the 2CIB's morale, to give the brigade an emblem.

Now here is the Dingo.  The vehicle commander is also a Perry Miniature, brought in to replace Brigadier Vokes.  Hugo was the name of a Dingo serving with the Three Rivers Regiment.  However, I've cheated here, the '172' number is actually assigned to 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade HQ, rather than the TRR.  But I'm banking on the idea that no one will notice ;^) 

Posing for the cameras:  the Dingo crew are reporting to the 2CIB commander.