Maschinengewehr 34

 From Crusader Miniatures, here are the MG34 teams for my 1940 German Wehrmacht.  There are three squad-level LMG teams of three men each, plus a tripod-mounted MMG with a five-man team.

Following my standard base marking scheme, I've added one, two or three dots on each base to show which squad each of the LMG team members is in.  As an added differentiation, LMG teams are on larger, 25 mm round bases (compared to the 20 mm bases for other schutzen in each squad), and the MMG team members are on square bases.  Hopefully that will make it easier to tell the teams apart when these troops finally deploy onto the tabletop!

I apologize for the quality of the photos.  It was a wet, miserable day and I couldn't get the lighting the way I'd like.

Here is the MMG team, with three extra crewmen to soak up casualties!

First squad LMG team advancing. The helmet decals are from Company B.

Second squad kneeling LMG team.

Third squad LMG team, with the 'over the shoulder' firing position.  I can't see this being practical or safe in a real-world setting, but there are plenty of staged photos from WWII showing this stance, so it's appropriate enough to include one example in the set, I guess.

And a final group shot!

Movember!

 Greetings, all!  I've decided to grow a mo' again this year.  And to celebrate, I finished up one of the Bob Much/Pulp Figures Movember figures that I picked up during last year's Movember campaign.  Here is Marshall Grin Duster, the 2019 Movember figure.

Please check out my Movember Mo Space and make a donation for a good cause!  Or just in case you want to see me clean shaven, which doesn't happen very often :^)

Some French characters for 1940

 As I've been painting my figures for 1940, I've been playing appropriate DVDs for background ambience.  A favourite is the carefully researched and historically-accurate drama 'Allo, 'allo, which has helped me consider the ambiance and flavour of this place and time.  In addition, the Chain of Command Blitzkrieg handbook even provides options to include some interesting options on the wargaming table!

First up, here are some French police (or gendarmes) who can show up as allies to the BEF, or as fifth columnists pulling off a shabby Nazi trick!  Five of them are from Brigade Games, and they are commanded by a Captain from Artizan Designs.

I also found in my collection this fellow, who can either be a franc-tireur or an infiltrated Nazi.  Either way, he is likely to be in a world of trouble if the other side gets their hands on him!  I'm not quite certain of his origin, probably a Warlord Games Bolt Action figure.  

RN armed sailors and a sniper

 My Pulp Figures Highlanders for 1940 are built on the 'short' 1939 regulation platoon, which has 9 fewer riflemen than the 1940 regulation platoon, in accordance with the Chain of Command Blitzkreig handbook.  I was not terribly fussed about this, until I picked up the 'Capturing Caesar's Camp' Pint Sized Campaign, which features platoons of the 51st (Highland) Division using the (you guessed it!) 1940 regulation strength.  Rather than rush out to purchase and paint 9 more riflemen, however, I decided to be a little bit clever.  (or cheap, or lazy, depending on your interpretation).

I have a number of Pulp Figures' rifle-armed RN sailors.  They are missing, however, a light machine gun and a leader.  So I decided to arm a couple of the deck crew figures.  The Jolly Jack Tar on the left has been promoted to Leading Seaman (based on the red blob on his left arm, representing an anchor), and he has been provided with a Tommy gun from my bits box.  His companion on the right has a Bren gun, as well as some ammo pouches and a pistol that were also sourced from my bits box.

I now have a section of RN armed sailors who can join with the Jocks to form a full platoon of BEF to resist Gerry's advance into France and/or Belgium (and/or England, should it come to that!).  

As you can see, since the sailors were painted in two different batches, their basing is completely inconsistent.  Oh, well...

As a bonus, I found this figure in my Great War collection.  He is from Great War Miniatures, and has been in my collection for some time.  He'll fit in quite nicely as a sniper for the 1940 campaign.

Siggy the big ol' Infantry Gun

 I originally picked up this gun to support my Germans on Sicily, but those guys are well set already with an 88 mm Flak gun and not one but TWO Tiger tanks.  Instead, Siggy the SIG33 will support the Blitzkrieg Germans.  I figure that they'll need the big door knocker to get up close and personal with any Dutch, Belgians, French or Brits who are hiding in fortified locations!  Even if they don't choose to take it as an on-table asset, it can still fulfill a role as a marker for an off-table bunker buster.

This gun is a 15 cm sIG 33 aka the schweres Infanterie Geschütz 33.  The model and 4 of the gunners are from Die Waffenkammer, the remaining two gunners are from the Perry Miniatures DAK box.  

The gunners are wearing smocks.  I'm a bit uncertain when Wehrmacht soldiers started wearing smocks, but since these are the models available, I am using them with my approximation of Splittermuster pattern.  

Overall, a nice model, and I'm looking forward to it making a big bang once it gets on the table.  Of course, with my gaming history, it's more likely to miss its first shot and the get completely wiped out the following turn!

Blitzkrieg Germans - Opel Blitz and Sd Kfz 221

 Over the past months, I've lost my painting and blogging mojo.  I've been looking at my mountain of unpainted miniatures, and not finding the inspiration to pick up a brush.  So in my typical way, I've decided to start a completely new project ;^)

This new project is to build an opposing force for my Pulp Figures Highlanders.  Their obvious enemy is the German Wehrmacht for the 1940 invasion of France.  As a bonus, these Germans historically didn't get along with anyone, so I can use the same force to invade Poland in 1939, Denmark and Norway in April 1940, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium in May 1940, Yugoslavia in April 1941 or the USSR in June 1941.  Beyond this they can be used for imaginary campaigns like Operation Seelowe/Sealion (German invasion of England after the Battle of Britain).  After late 1941, they will start to get a bit out date.

The force starts with a Leichter Panzerspähwagen (M.G.), aka the Sonderkraftfahrzeug 221 (more commonly Sd Kfz 221). This is a resin model is from Company B, with a machine gunner built from the Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps set.

I am not adding weathering, mostly from laziness, but my excuse is that these are brand new vehicles, going into action for the first time, in the best condition that they will ever be.

Next up is a Warlord Games' Opel Blitz.  I previously painted one of these up for my German defenders of Sicily, and I liked it so much I decided that my new Germans need one.  Maybe the new force will be motorized infantry.

Markings are decals that come in the Warlord Games kit, which says these are for the 18th Infantry Division (18. Infanterie-Division).  I'll take their word for it :)

Hopefully I'll be posting more frequently over the next little while.  

Nazgul on Fell Beast

 Hi, all!  For the past few months, Real Life (TM) has taken over, so hobby has been pushed to the back burner.  I recently made an impulse purchase of an actual Games Workshop plastic model, and decided it was time to get my painting mojo back on!

This figure is a Lord of the Rings' Nazgûl on a Fell Beast, flying possibly in search of the One Ring, or maybe ready to mix things up with the forces of the West at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields or in front of the Morannon.  Paint job is very basic: black base coat, then a few progressively lighter shades of grey, and a black ink wash for the fell beast, and similar but darker process for the Ringwraith.

GW made a curious choice to include this sculpted base.  It's quite nice to have a sculpted base, don't get me wrong, much more interesting than a plain one.  However, (NERD ALERT) the selection of the weapons scattered on the base don't fit with the figure!  The rocks are fine, but there is an Elvish sword and shield from the Battle of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age of Middle-earth, but the ringwraiths didn't show up on fell beasts until the end of the Third Age!  Obviously, this doesn't bother me too much, or else I would have changed it.

The model is plastic, went together in a jiffy.  There was an option to build it as the Witch King with his fancy helmet and burning sword, but I preferred to build one of the anonymous ringrwaiths instead.  I chose not to glue down the fell beast onto the clear plastic post, so it can be tilted if I wish into a sort of diving configuration.

Hopefully I'll make time here and there to slap some paint onto more figures in the upcoming months!