LRDG & SAS Platoon finished

 

Although the second section made for a legitimate Behind Enemy Lines force it was rather small and some support options were needed to fill it out: an MMG team, a sniper team, and a forward air observer join the two sections and armed trucks.

While the British get a free artillery observer it didn't feel right to use one with this list as they're likely miles behind the lines blowing up an airbase or an ammo dump.  I'd picked up the Warlord figure of Flying Officer CFC Lee, and decided to give him the Company B Blitz Buggy as a "counts-as" Jeep for transport. The buggy model had a few problems; the wheels attach directly to the body without axles, which is OK on the rear, but difficult at the front, and the resin had a fair bit of pitting on the surface.  I built a couple of axles out of pipe, and coated the surface in thinned PVA which helped with the worst of the effect.

The machine gun team was interesting as I hadn't built a team weapon before. I'd seen some examples with removable extra crew magnetized to a larger base and wanted to try that out. I attached two of the crew to small round (Perry) bases drilled for magnets and matched these up to the base. Bits of another base were used to lift the gunner to the same height. The coolant pipe is a piece of paperclip wire.

The base was puttied up with some Green Stuff, and I built a bit of stowage for the rear of the buggy, using some foam board to lift some Rubicon bits and pieces.

The figures were painted in the same way as the other SAS and LRDG troops, though I'd refined things a little this time by base coating VMC Dark Sand with the air brush. It's the majority colour on all of the figures - I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. I also stopped fussing around with adding green to khaki for some pieces and just used VMA US Olive Drab.

The Blitz Buggy was painted in a simple single colour of UK Light Stone and weathered like the previous vehicles.

Sniper in a tropal coat, with his spotter.

Vickers Medium Machine Gun team with the extra crew magnetized for removal as casualties.

Forward Air Observer and his assistant with their transport.

Army List

 Built using the excellent EasyArmy.com, a 1000 point Behind Enemy Lines list.

Officer
Second Lieutenant		Veteran	78
1	Second Lieutenant
1	Infantry
Infantry Squads
SAS Infantry Section		Veteran	195
1	NCO with Submachine gun
2	Infantry with Rifle
4	Infantry with Submachine gun
1	Vickers K LMG (requires loader)
	Entire squad equipped with anti-tank grenades
	Who Dares Wins!
	Behind enemy lines
SAS Infantry Section		Veteran	212
1	NCO with Submachine gun
2	Infantry with Light Machine gun (requires loader)
5	Infantry with Submachine gun
	Entire squad equipped with anti-tank grenades
	Who Dares Wins!
	Behind enemy lines
Forward Observer
Forward Observer (Air)		Regular	85
1	Air Force Forward Observer
1	Infantry
Machine Gun
Machine Gun team		Regular	50
1	Medium Machine gun team
Sniper
Sniper team		Veteran	50
1	Sniper team
Armoured Cars
LRDG Armed Truck		Veteran	54
1	LRDG Armed truck
	Forward facing MMG
	Rear facing MMG
LRDG Armed Truck		Veteran	54
1	LRDG Armed truck
	Forward facing MMG
	Rear facing MMG
LRDG Armed Truck with 20mm light autocannon		Veteran	89
1	LRDG Armed Truck
	Forward facing MMG
	20mm light autocannon
	Pintle-mounted HMG
Transports
30 CWT Truck		Regular	35
15 CWT Truck		Regular	31
15 CWT Truck		Regular	31
Jeep (Blitz Buggy)		Regular	21
		Points	1000

And that's that.

So... another platoon, or a new project.  It might be time to pull a few half-finished Ogres out of storage, or there's British Airborne... or 2nd NZ Div in the desert, or in Italy, or the Home Guard, or Plague Marines... oh dear.

LRDG & SAS second section

SAS Section #2 completed, and with them a legitimate Bolt Action Behind Enemy Lines force... albeit a small one.

The troops were painted in very much the same way as the first section, though as I go I'm refining and streamlining the process.

Primed with Stynylrez yellow, basecoated in Sand, English Uniform, Khaki, and the rest - almost all Vallejo Model Colour (VMC) or Model Air (VMA) - and then washed with diluted Army Painter inks.

I thought I'd list the paints and washes used... this way I have a reminder for the next set of figures.

Basecoats and ink washes

Item	Colour	Paint	Wash
SAS Beret	Beige	VMC German Camo Beige 70.821	Light
Cap Comforter	Khaki	VMC Khaki 70.988 + green tint	Soft
Helmet	Sand	VMC Dark Sand 70.847	Light
Keffiyeh/Shemagh	Off-white	Reaper Bone shades	Light
Khaki Drill Uniform	Sand	VMC Dark Sand 70.847	Light
Serge Wool Uniform	Khaki	VMC English Uniform 70.921	Soft
Leather Jerkin	Brown	VMC Flat Brown 70.984	Strong
Webbing and pouches	Beige	VMC German Camo Beige 70.821	Light
Socks	Khaki	VMC English Uniform 70.921	Soft
Anklets / Gaiters	Beige	VMC German Camo Beige 70.821	Light
Boots - Officers	Brown		Soft
Boots - Soldiers	Black	VMA Black Grey 71.056	Dark
Gun stocks and handles	Brown	VMC Flat Brown 70.984	Mid-Brown
Gun Metal	Black/Metal	VMA Black Grey 71.056 dry-brushed with VMC Oily Steel 70.865	Dark / Nuln Oil
Skin	Flesh	Reaper Tanned Flesh	Reaper Flesh Wash

Notes

• I wanted the Cap Comforter a slightly greener Khaki for better contrast, and added a small amount of VMA Russian Green 4BO to the mix.
• For hair and beards a variety of browns to hands were used.
• The post wash highlight on both the KD and webbing was Dark Sand lightened with Reaper Yellowed bone.

Sealed with AK Interactive Ultra Matte, and based simply using Citadel sand.

 

Trooper in Arab shemagh, and section NCO with Sten and original white SAS beret

Trooper with standard beige SAS beret, and one who's retained his Scot's tam o' shanter.

Bren gunner #1 and loader.

Bren gunner #2 and loader. This Bren gunner is the only figure in the group not from Artizan, being the Warlord figure given away with the Duel in the Sun campaign book.

Rear shot of the two. This loader is actually getting traded with the loader from 1st section. I'd noted previously that the 1st section loader was carrying Bren ammo despite his gunner having a Vickers K.  This chap has a bag of ammo and I added a Vickers drum to his belt to sort out the mismatch.

With 1st section, an Officer and assistant, two transport trucks (one each 30cwt and 15cwt), and three LRDG armed trucks the forces comes in around 800 points, so I think they're going to need a little support... probably a Vickers MMG is next.