Home Front: Civilians and Secret Agents.

I have recently been rebasing and touching up a few figures for use with my WW2 Operation Sealion collection. Most of these figures I painted for VBCW or Pulp gaming, but are generic enough in style to be of use for the 1940/41 home front. These will be civilians (the unarmed ones) , spies, secret agents, fifth columnists and other dodgy types. I have got an idea to run a game of Black Ops for Operation Sealion, for which these figures shall come in jolly handy. 

Home Guard Field Gun

This is my WW1 era 18pdr Field Gun pressed into service for my Home Guard as an anti-tank gun. I put it together ages ago but finally got round to painting it last week ahead of the VBCW game. it did feature in a couple of photos in that battle report but here you can see it more clearly. 

And here are some clearer shots of my AHBV (Armored Hedgerow Breaching Vehicle) I made for eh VBCW game. It is effectively an open-topped heavy tank with no weapons and a troop carrying capacity of three (My three man engineer team). It is based on the hull of a Matilda 2. it was supposed to have two Vickers K guns mounted on the sides but I forgot. In the end I quite like the idea of a heavy tank that is complete unarmed. It all very VBCW.

Home Front: A Few More Home Guard

 Here are some shots of three more Home Guard  swelling the ranks of the Defenders of the Realm. They are all from Warlord Games. The one at the bottom has roller-skates on, but I thought this idea was a bit silly (try firing a Tommy Gun while on skates!) so I banked the basing material up over the wheels.
 My favorite one is the old guy having a tea break. I just hope Jerry doesn't invade while he is brewing up!

Home Front: Civilians and Volunteers

Apologies for the dodgy photos but the light has been very poor this week in the UK.  Here are a few more additions to my Home Front collection. First up...and old man, This one is made by Foundry and is a Perry Sculpt. Just a nice useful civilian figure...also useful for VBCW.

Next, Mr Churchill...or perhaps an actor impersonating the Prime Minister? Not a great sculpt, I forgot where and when I got it, but I think it might be from Westwind. Useful as an objective in some scenarios. 

And finally two of the cast of Dad's Army in their civvies. Sargent Wilson and Lance Corporal Jones from Warlord. Lovely Sculpts, full of character, by Mr Hicks. 

Home Front: Dad's Army Cast.

 For my Dad's Army/Sealion collection I have painted these two...One is verger Maurice Yeatsman (made by Foundry and sculpted by the Perrys) and the other is Private Godfery, in his civvies (from Warlord Games, and sculpted by Paul Hicks). Both look amazingly like the cast member they are based on. 
Nice additions to my growing collection. 

Home Front: German Agents Disguised as Nuns?

Recently I have been continuing my interest in Operation Sealion as an alternative World War Two setting. Sumner 20017 saw a flurry of releases from Warlord Games to support their Bolt Action Operation Sealion supplement and these complement the original Wargames Foundry Home Guard figures quite nicely. 

Some of the figures are certainly more tongue in cheek, but I love that. I am a massive fan of Dad's Army and don't mind if my Sealion collection veers into the slightly silly or even has a shade or two of Pulp. 

The idea of German agents disguised as nuns seems to have originated in the the "Fifth Column" scares in the British media at the beginning of the period in 1941-42 when the threat of invasion looked real. As far as I am aware it was just hysteria/media hype, and no German agents ever dressed as nuns...never the less the idea fits in well with the slightly silly Dad's Army vibe. 

These figures are by Warlord and Foundry. 

Home Front 1941: Fallschirmjager Medic

Here is the figure I converted to be my medic for my Fallschirmjager platoon. I used an Artizan Designs FJ and cut off the rifle he was carrying over his shoulder and added a sling bag and bib with Green Stuff. It wasn't very complicated as the figure leant itself to conversion quite nicely, but I am rather pleased with the result. 

Home Front 1941: Fallschirmjager Complete

Just to prove, to myself more than anyone else, that I can actually finish a project, here are my Fallschirmjager. This is a full platoon for Chain of Command (I haven't checked yet but it would probable be right for Bolt Action too, as the forces are about the same for both games). In addition to the three squads of FJs I have a medic, a mortar, and extra panzerschreck team and an infantry support gun. This should be enough to get me gaming when the Earlswood Wargamers get together after our summer hiatus. 

  While I say that this project is 'finished' I am sure that any wargamers out there will know that no project is ever actually complete. I do intend to add a few more pieces to this platoon to give me a few more options. A StuG assault gun and a static MG43 on tripod being the obvious choices.

  At Earlswood we are going to be basing our games around the Battle of the Ardennes, AKA the Battle of the Bulge. This was Hitler's last big gamble, when he threw this best reserves into a desperate push through the US held territory in the Ardennes forest, in Belgium. The US were caught flat-footed and fell back in disorder, and for a short time it looked like the tide of the war could be turned back in the Germans favour. Eventually, as history recalls, the US/British forces stalled the Germans attack and eventually drove them back, but at a terrible cost. 

The Fallschirmjager are the German paratroopers. They were part of the Luftwaffe (airforce) not the Heer (army). They fought as airborne infantry in the early war, most notable when they seized the Belgian fortress at Eban-Emael in a surprise raid, and in the Battle of Crete.   Later they were used as an elite light infantry, and played a key role in the defence of Normandy, at the battle of Caratan, where they fought US Airborne troops (see Band of Brothers if you haven't already) and at the Fortress of Brest they delayed the US forces for ninety nine days!

  By the time the Fallschirmjagers got to the Ardennes they were a different force. Many of their veterans had died in Normandy and they had lost many officers too. Their ranks were replenished with ground troops and officers from the Luftwaffe, many of whom had only basic infantry training. Never the less they fought hard and earned a reputation for tenacity (and even fanaticism). One tactic the Fallschirmjager employed was to go to ground , hiding in cellars or the forest, while the US armoured vanguards rumbled past them, only to return to catch the US tanker off guard, wiping out the tank crews before they could get back to their vehicals, and they driving back the disordered US infantrymen. The next morning the Americans would be forced to take the same town they had already captured the day before. 

  My Fallschirmjager will also be used to fight my 'Dad's Army' Home Guard, using the Crete 1941 list in the Bolt Action rules. All I will have to do is reduce the number of machine guns and take out the Panzershrecks. The German plans for the aborted 'Operation Sea-lion' would have certainly featured the Fallschirmjager parashooting in to sieze key naval defences and air defences ahead of the main invasion. 

Homefront 1941: Fallschirmjager Platoon Support Weapons

It is my intentions to complete my Fallschirmjager platoon for Bolt Action/Chain of Command before the end of the month so I can move on to a new project or two (Frostgrave and Freebooters Fate look most likely at this time). to this end I have just completed a Panzershreck Team and a Mortar Team. These figures are from Artizan. 

I just need to paint another MG team, and a medic and I will be able to use them in battle. At some point I plan to add some vehicals, a static MG43, and make some 'jump off point' markers, but apart from that they will be complete

Home Front 1941: More Fallschimjager

My Fallschimjager project continues, with the addition of a few more riflemen. These are from Artizan Designs. 

Home Front 1941: Fallschirmjaeger Command

More fallschirmjaeger for Bolt Action/Chain or Command. This time these are from Artisan Designs and include an officer and his NCOs, radio operator etc. I painted the officer in field Grey, but then I found out his trousers are field grey but his jacket is Luftwaffe Blue (as paratroopers the FJ were part of the air-force not the army). Luftwaffe Blue is very similar to the RAF blue, but I didn't have any. In desperation I mixed some blues and greys together, then watered it down into a wash and painted it over the grey jacket. I couldn't begin to tell you what colours I had used, but by sheer chance when it dried it was exactly the right colour!

We played a game of Chain of Command at the Earlswood Club last week and I was very impressed. The Germans are VERY dangerous compared with the Americans. The GI's get one Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) per rifle section, while the Germans get two MG42 in the period we were gaming. Now the MG42 is a much better gun than the BAR,and the amount of fire-power the German sections could lay down war frightening. Added to that the fact that the Germans managed to secure the best ground, and nearly everything when right for the Germans, than the Americans were doomed from the start. It's a great game that certainly has the feel of the period.  Officers and NCO's have a real effect on the game, and their actions make all the difference. Added to that the fact that there is 'Fog of War' elements, reserves and hidden deployment all built into the core of the game mechanics means taht it is a game that is more 'realistic' than Bolt Action, but just as much fun to play!

Home Front 1941: Fallschirmjager Light Artillery Piece

  Here is picture of fallschirmjager (German paratrooper) crewing a 7.5cm light howitzer as part of my FJ army for Bolt Action/Chain or Command. It is made by Black Tree Designs and I picked it up last year in the January sales. 

  From a painting point of view I prefer the Artizan Designs sculpting style to the BTD ones, but they are very comparable in terms of size/bulk etc, so work well together and the BTD range does fill in some of the gaps in the Artizan range, like this little cannon. 

  The 7.5 cm Howitzer was a very common gun in the German army and Luftwaffe ground forces. it was used by the FJ as it was light and easy to transport, often being towed with a Kettenkrad, which was a sort of half tracked motorbike light enough to be transported by plane (The Kettenkrad is on my to to list).

Home Front 1941: The Fallschirmjager (German Paratroopers)

Here are my first three finished Fallschirmjager. They will be part of a platoon of paratroopers dropping in to invade England during Operation Sealion (the will also be used in the Ardennes games we are working on at Earlswood- double useful!

I took me a while to get to grips with the Splinter Pattern camouflage the Fallschirmjager used, but I a pretty happy with it now. I used a Youtube video which broke it down into quite simple steps. 

Home Front 1941: Home Guard Big Guns

Well, it's not that big a gun really, but it's better that a Boys anti-tank rifle. This is  is a 2pdr AT gun. It packs enough force to scare a German tank crew, but it's unlikely to do to much damage to the front of a Panzer, and is best deployed in ambush. With the Home Guard crew is a Forward Observer Officer from the Royal Artillery and his radio operator. British armies in Bolt Action get a FOO officer free, to represent the British tenancy to prefer heavy artillery over infantry and armour. This FOO can call down off field artillery to punish the enemy and drive them out of cover onto the waiting guns of the Home Guard!

This ATG is now sold by Warlord Games, although I have had this one in my cupboard for years and back then I think it was sold by a company called BEF.  The FOO and his aide are also from Warlord. 

Home Front 1941: A Rolls Royce Armoured Car

"Now listen here Walker! You can't park that monstrosity there. "

"'Ere, that is Private Walker to you. This 'monstrosity' is Walmington-on-Sea's new Rolls Royce armoured car; And it's staying right where it is."

"But it is blocking the way to the church fete!"

"Now Maurice, I would love to help you, but I can't move the Roller, even if I wanted to. Not for you, and not even for the vicar."

"Why an earth not?"

"It's run out of petrol." 

This Rolls Royce armoured car and the men accompanying it are the latest additions to my Home Front army. The Rolls Royce was a work horse of the army from WW1 to Early WW2, and was found all over the Empire. Shortages of armoured vehicals (well any vehicals really) After the Dunkirk evacuation meant that many of these aged beasts were given to the Home Guard. Captain Mainwaring never got a Roller in the TV series, but that wasn't about to stop me issuing my Home Guard unit one. 
This armoured car is by Copplestone Castings. The figures are by Wargames Foundry. 

Home Front 1941- A Home Guard Section

I painted these for Lead Painters League- they are from Wargames Foundry- and they are the extras from "Dad's Army". The picture's not great- the light was quite poor...I hope you like them. 

Home Front 1941: Oh Matron...More Home Guard!

Just a few more of my Home Guard, along with a QAIMNS(R) nursing officer. In the game she will act as a medic. I already have Godfery, so I don't really need another medic, but she is such a lovely mini I couldn't resist. I picked her up on ebay (I think it was a freebie mini at a gaming show)- I beleive it is menat to be HRH Princess Elizabeth in her ATS uniform, but the QAIMNS (Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service) used the same uniform as the ATS. 

Captain Beth Windsor, QAIMNS(R)

Private Frank Pike 

Private Charles Godfrey

Home Front 1941: Home Guard Officers

I have always been a fan of Dad's Army, and also a fan of these lovely Perry Twins miniatures from Wargames Foundry. When I saw that the Bolt Action British and the Commonwealth army list included Home Guard I knew their was nothing that could stop me getting some. I got these as a present off my wife last year, and have just got round to painting them for the Lead  Painters league. There will be more on their way soon. My plan is to use them for Bolt Action to stage an Operation Sealion campaigns (Which I am going to call Home Front 1941). I am also hoping they might see some action against Brummie's new Germans (see Brummie's Blog)

Captain George Mainwaring

Sargent Arthur Wilson

Lance Corporal Jack Jones