Home Guard - Officer & Second Section

"Mr Brown goes off to town on the 8:21,
But he comes home each evening and he’s ready with his gun."

Well, this has taken rather longer than anticipated as life intruded and painting took a back seat for a while.

I have however finally got the boys who will make Mr. Hitler think again finished and off the painting table. The plan this time was to do the second section along with an officer and his assistant and a Home Guard medic to make a playable (albeit small) force. The officer, assistant, and medic are Warlord figures, the rest are Foundry.

The paints used were the same as for the first section, with a bit more time spent on shading faces and some attempt at darkening up around eyes. I'm still not very confident about painting faces (certainly not to the amazing quality I've seen elsewhere) but am trying to improve a little.

All figures primed with Vallejo Leather Brown surface primers.

Then base-coated with a 50:50 mix of VMC English Uniform and Brown Violet. After the base-coat all of the flesh, hair, wood, and leather areas were repainted with the brown primer.

The rest of the blocking was done as for first section with the exception of the officer.

I haven't been able to find a figure I'm completely happy with for use as a Home Guard officer so the platoon have a regular officer on loan in BEF gear.

His outfit is English Uniform serge rather than the greener Home Guard denim and his webbing is Green Ochre rather then German Camo Beige.

His assistant is Home Guard and is having a cup of char while he waits for the Rupert to decide where they're gong.

The second section is also joined by a fairly mature Home Guard medic, who is probably a local GP, a reserved (or scheduled) occupation. (Though if they're less luck he might be a Veterinary surgeon.)

The section NCO has a Thompson SMG (with what appears to be a muzzle brake), the rest of the section have rifles (a mix of 303 and red banded 30-06).

Finally the section gets some fire support in the form of a Browning Automatic Rifle.

And the Corporal's (unofficial) loader.

BAR don't have loaders as such in Bolt Action, but this rifleman is carrying a spare magazine for the Corporal.

So, they're finally off the bench.  I still have an MMG team, a Northover projector, and some "old soldiers" (BEF figures) to do, but I think I'll switch to something else for a bit and see if I can rekindle some enthusiasm and get a bit more done.

11-11-1918

Home Guard - First Section

 "So who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler..."

I've been planning to build small Bolt Action forces of various sorts, mostly associated in some loose fashion with the 2nd NZ Division in WWII.

The NZ 5th Infantry Brigade, the second of the three echelons of the Division, was diverted to England in June 1940 instead of joining the first echelon outside of Cairo. The final third of the Division also ended up in Egypt in September, but the 5th Brigade remained in England as part of the anti-invasion forces until January 1941.

When Warlord released their Operation Sea Lion book I picked it up thinking that I might build an NZ 5th Brigade force, perhaps in conjunction with a Home Guard platoon.Growing up in the '70s Dad's Army still conjures considerable nostalgia and the theme tune evokes childhood memories.

I initially picked up some of Warlord's Sea Lion offerings, along with a BEF section, but after a bit of to and fro purchased some Home Guard figures from Foundry. A packet each with helmet and field caps, along with their heavy weapons provided sufficient figures for two sections with some left over to accompany officers.

Using Vallejo paints I primed the figures with a Leather Brown, and then base-coated them all over with a 50:50 mix of English Uniform and Brown Violet, which despite its name is greenish. The Home Guard denim uniforms were rather more green than British wool serge, and the mix of English Uniform and Brown Violet provided a greener colour that contrasts with the serge field service caps

After the green-brown base-coat all of the flesh, wood, and leather areas were over-painted with the brown primer.

Field caps were painted with unmixed English Uniform, and the webbing and haversacks with German Camo. Beige.

The Brodie helmets were painted UK Bronze Green, and the gaiters either Khaki (for cloth) or a dark brown for leather.

All parts were washed with GW Agrax Earthshade and the highlighted with the base colours. After being sealed with AK Interactive Ultra Matte the bases were decorated with static grass and rubble from Warlord and small Army Painter lowland shrubs.

Basecoat Colours

Item	Colour	Paint
Field Service Cap	Khaki	VMC English Uniform 70.921
Brodie Helmet	Green	Vallejo Surface Primer UK Bronze Green 70.607
Denim Uniform	Khaki-Green	50:50 mix of VMC English Uniform 70.921 + VMC Brown Violet 70.887
Webbing, pouches, and haversacks	Beige	VMC German Camo Beige 70.821
Leather Belt	Brown	Vallejo Surface Primer Leather Brown 70.626
Cloth Gaiters	Khaki	VMC Khaki 70.988
Leather Gaiters	Brown	VMC Flat Earth 70.983
Boots - Officers	Brown	VMA US Flat Brown 71.026
Boots - Soldiers	Black	VMA Black Grey 71.056
Gun stocks and handles	Brown	Various browns
Gun Metal	Black/Metal	VMA Black Grey 71.056 lightly dry-brushed with VMC Oily Steel 70.865
Bayonet scabard	Brown	Vallejo Surface Primer Leather Brown 70.626
Skin	Flesh	Reaper Tanned Flesh + Reaper Flesh Wash
Hair	Bown / Grey	Various browns and Reaper Stone Grey

Finished miniatures

 

The section sargent with Tommy gun and private having a sneaky smoke.

Lewis gunner and ammo carrier.

Rifleman showing rear detail and older chap with a Molotov.

More rear detail, helmets, and a red banded 30-06 rifle.

Still to go: second section, old soldier section (using BEF figures), officers and assistants, an MMG team, and a Northover projector... along with some special Dad's Army guest stars.

Cadian 287th - Veterans

The lads and their Taurox

 Motivation for painting is still somewhat elusive, and pesky actual work is leaving me tired and rather unenthusiastic by the time I get home.

All I've managed so far this month is to get this one small unit completed.

Back in May...

I decided to start with this squad as four were mostly done as part of an earlier test-run, and the group's equipment and colours were already sorted out.

I had to make a few changes for 8th edition - dropping out Sgt. Harker with his Heavy Bolter as his "Catachan" keyword wasn't going to fit with the Cadians.  The new Sergeant started out as an attendant for an officer - a "look out Sir" figure - with his arm in a sling to suggest he'd already taken a hit for his boss previously. With these bodyguards going away the figure was freed up and the only conversion was replacing his Laspistol with a plasma pistol to give him a bit more punch. At the same time a test figure I didn't like much was replaced with a Forge World figure armed with a meltagun for the squad's third special weapon.

Trooper with shotgun, Veteran Sgt. with plasma pistol, and vox-caster.

The paint scheme isn't far off my SAS/LRDG troops for Bolt Action, other than the uniforms being base-coated in Iraqi Sand. The flak armour has been treated as though it were a WWII leather jerkin, and the anklets painted to match.

Troopers with shotgun, meltagun, and heavy flamer.

To help emphasize the veteran status of this squad there is a range of heads: a few bare, a few helmeted, and some in Arabian style Keffiyeh.

Troopers with shotgun and meltagun

 The shotgun torsos and some of the heads are from a Forge World upgrade pack of Cadian Hardened Veterans and add quite a bit of character and individuality, while this meltagun trooper is from the Cadian Command HQ squad pack.

Troopers with shotgun and meltagun, both in Keffiyeh

The Keffiyeh were formed from green stuff, and moulded over bearded heads kindly donated by some Warhammer Imperial soldiers.

Detail of weathering

After painting the figures were given a coat of varnish and then weathered with an AMMO of Mig Jimenez ochre filter and AK Interactive dust effects.

Veteran Sand Scorpions

So, that's one squad done.  I'm planning to alter the colour scheme a little for the regular troops to again help distinguish these as hardened veterans. It won't be anything dramatic, perhaps just a little less of the Flat Brown and more Khaki or Camo Beige - less "leather" and more "cloth" in effect.

Now to try and find some more enthusiasm for painting...

Cadian 287th - Work in progress

May hasn't been a good month for getting any painting done, but I still wanted to make one post this month.

I picked up a copy of the 8th edition Imperial Guard codex and made various alterations to my rather neglected in-progress 8th Army-inspired "Cadian 287th Heavy Armoured" force.

It's been in-progress for rather a long time - I'd previously designed it as legitimate back in 5th or 6th edition - so some changes were needed to fit with the new 8th edition organization (in order that the force be battle-forged).

This was always intended as an armoured force so infantry had been kept to a minimum and the first change was scratching together a second infantry squad, now that veterans are Elite.

Core infantry plus Officer and Command Squad

Fortunately a couple of lads came free (officers no longer have bodyguards), and adding these to a spare heavy weapons team and a box of five easy-build Cadians it wasn't too hard to get the basics: one officer, one command squad, and two infantry squads.

The heavy weapon teams have GW weapons and crew, but the gun carriages are from elsewhere, part of a Kickstarter I backed several years ago for steampunk SF artillery. The guns didn't fit well with the Cadians (though they'd probably look great with Praetorians).

Magnetized heavy weapons

The autocannons are magnetized so I can swap to a different weapon, but for now these seem a good fit. The crew are fixed to small round "Perry" bases, also magnetized to the Workshop 60mm team base. As the gunners don't fit comfortably at the rear of the carriage I modified their grips into something like a game controller, suggesting that they can fire the guns remotely.

Officer and Command Squad

A Captain for the necessary command slot, and the reduced 4-man Command Squad, with vox-caster, standard bearer, and two grenade launchers as an Elite choice.

The banner isn't exactly Imperial Guard standard, as it was originally intended for Forge World's "Red Scorpion" Marines. I thought however that the red and white scorpion emblem and decals were an excellent fit for this army - reminiscent of the 8th Army's red and white "desert rat" insignia, and nick-named the 287th the "Sand Scorpions".

Veteran and Taurox

A squad of disreputable looking Veterans with a modified Taurox form the second Elite unit: Veteran Sgt. with plasma pistol, vox-caster, heavy flamer, 3 melta-guns, and veterans with shotguns.

Command and Squad Chimeras

The Command Squad gets a Chimera, as does one of the two infantry squads. I may get a Chimera for the second squad as well, though there will be a Valkyrie available, so no-one will have to walk. (The Valkyrie itself is still in lost of pieces - so that the inside can be painted - and doesn't have a photo.)

Sentinels and Manticore

Three scout sentinels give the force some fast moving units, and the Manticore provides long-range indirect fire. The launcher on the model is magnetized to allow either the Storm Eagle rockets or for the vehicle to mount a single Deathstrike missile.

Tank Commander

A second command slot is filled by a Tank Commander - something that wasn't an option back when I first began preparing this force - a selection that fits very well with the type of armoured force I wanted.  He could potentially end up as "Knight Commander Pask".

Leman Russ squadron

Three Leman Russ should provide a solid core of firepower - all have magnetized turret, hull, and sponson weapons, and two have detachable sponsons as well. The crew are also attached with magnets.

Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!

Most of the crew are sensibly posed, one hand on the cupola, the other gesturing (to whom exactly?) but I couldn't resist re-creating one 40K meme.

Hydra flak-tanks

 Two Hydras round out the Heavy Support selections and should provide air cover (and some extra ground level firepower if required).

Shadowsword Vox Dei

Finally, a Lord of War - the mighty Shadowsword tank "Vox Dei" (Voice of God). The tank commander is a Forge World commissar (though he has no special abilities in this army list). It was just a notion that appealed to me, a commissar taking over the tank when the previous commander suffered a, err.... crisis of faith... and had to be relieved of command.

I've no doubt that knowing the commissar is in the Shadowsword steels the nerves of the Leman Russ crews.

So, that's the army - less the Valkyrie in bits - now to get on and actually paint it.

Pike & Shotte Scots - Painting complete!

Done! Complete! Finished! Well... except for the bases, which are a special order and not yet available.

The plan was for a Scottish pike and shot regiment in the army of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the unit based somewhat on Mackay’s regiment. This was a well established regiment, and although they'd probably have a few raw new recruits the bulk of the regiment could be expected to be in continental dress rather than any Scottish garb.

After an initial experiment to settle on a palette and getting some feedback online I added a soft grey as a third coat and pants shade for their kersey "uniforms", plus a bit more variety in hair colour, but otherwise continued with the initial range.

The first shot sleeve rank up.

The musketeers have a bit more detail on them to deal with in the form of bandoliers, pouches, apostles, and powder horns, but are otherwise similar to the pikemen.

Second sleeve of musketeers.

After completing the first sleeve a command group was added, and once my Flags of War package arrived the Ensign got a brass pole and a nice green and white saltire.

Bases are still a ways off, so I cut some cardboard to the intended sizes to check that the units will look OK when based.  The plan is to use 120mm x 60mm for the double rank musketeers, and twice that depth for the three ranks of pike, leaving quite a bit of space at the front of the pike bases so that lowered pikes don't overhang in an inconvenient (and somewhat dangerous) manner.

The end result should look something like this - but with slightly irregular edged MDF bases with suitable greenery, rocks, etc.

So, one regiment down... two more to go for the center... then cavalry wings, reserves, commanded shot, artillery, commanders...

Perhaps something else for a bit then... what do I have lying around that's shiny?

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ANZAC Day 2018