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.