As mentioned a few days back, my 20mm British WW2 forces have been augmented by some reinforcements post our recent game of Iron Cross, I still have one more Achilles SP AT Gun to complete, but felt the need for a quick post, so here are the two Sherman Fireflies plus the first Achilles. They are accompanied by some 20mm Valiant British infantry to give a perspective of scale.
The radio aerial is a a bristle off a plastic broom we have in the garage - don't tell the wife!
I went with the late war Mickey Mouse pattern camouflage, as shown on the box art work of the Achilles models
I will have to get a 20mm tanker to populate this open hatch
I would like to add crewmen to the Achilles too - maybe some AB Models artillerymen would do the trick?
I have info somewhere on tactical signs etc for self propelled anti tank units, so that will be added in due course....probably!
Nicely done
ReplyDeleteThanks Scotty, pretty simple stuff really but I think they look pretty good.
DeleteVery nice work there Keith. British cam can be a bit dull for NWE, but the black disruptive camo does at least help enliven them a bit.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I thought Steve. I have only ever painted my British vehicles straight khaki before so I thought it would make a nice change
DeleteThat is a lot of firepower. And they look very good too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark, the 17 lb guns should help balance out the Panthers and Tigers hopefully!
DeleteNice work, those valiant figures are big for 20mm aren't they?
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain...and yes, I suppose you could call them Heroic 20mm....maybe next time, I will do a comparison of sizes.
DeleteNice tanks- you can never have enough firepower!
ReplyDeleteThanks John, certainly not when you are the Allies taking on late war Germans!
DeleteWell done Kieth on the Armour and I do like your Valiant 20mm Brits. Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kev and yes, they may be a bit big but they are very nice!
DeleteGood work on the armor. You're correct in leaning to 17 pound guns as necessary in late war encounters. Adding crew to open topped vehicles is great eye candy. 7
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe...I always prefer to have figures if at all possible!
DeleteGood looking tanks you have there. 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew - I liked the idea of some camo on the Brits for a change
DeleteGreat work on the Mickey Mouse camouflage Keith. These kits came up very well indeed.
ReplyDeleteCheers Lawrence - I completed the second Achilles yesterday - about 15 parts in 15 minutes and it was all done - thats the kind of kit building I dont mind doing! I found the very simple camo quite easy to do too which is a bonus.
DeleteGreat to see more beautiful stuff sir!
ReplyDeleteWarm regards
Thank you for your gracious comments as always Michal!
DeleteGood stuff Keith! One’d think those were 28mm from these pics.
ReplyDeleteYou could also add the barrel smoke camo on the firefly that some tankers used to disguise its long 17pdr barrel?
Thanks Dai - is that what it is? I think on the Armourfast artwork, one or both vehicles appear to have light grey around the first foot of the gun, at the muzzle end.....might check into that - thanks for the tip!
DeleteYeah, it was an effort to make the huge gun look like a regular 6-pounder from afar, else the Germans would single out that Tiger-buster quicksmart before engaging the regular Shermans. Not sure how effective it was in the field, but it looked cool.
DeleteAhhhhh.....interesting - thanks Dai!
DeleteThey have come up really nicely. I have the Achilles and it is a lost opportunity that they didn't include something on the sprue that would help fill the turret void. I picked up the Armourfast Pz IVD the other day and that looks a great little vehicle, a very practical way to quickly build up some forces.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm...yes, given they do a few figures, they obviously had the sculpting ability available, so it would have been a simple thing to do...a tank commander for each vehicle would not have gone amiss either....oh well, I will just have to obtain a few elsewhere!
DeleteI have spare 1/72 British crew figures.....
DeleteOk sweet I will get in touch Andrew
DeleteVery nice late war British armour Keith…
ReplyDeletePersonally I prefer the British tanks to the German…
When I used to have a WW2 collection I definitely spent more time on my Brits…
The troop markings always add a nice spot of colour.
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly...on the whole, I think I prefer the look of mid to late war Germans, with the variety of different camo schemes, but I will add the brigade and divisional signage to these at some point. I had painted them onto my FoW 15mm collection, so I should be able to do something in 29mm!
DeleteOt even 20mm....!
DeleteHave you seen these?
Deletehttps://skytrex.com/collections/20mm-1-76th-scale-decals
No - but thanks - I try to avoid transfers as I am shit at using them....might have a go though!
DeleteNicely done you can never have too much armour, always nice to be able to pull together different forces. Did you mention what rules you play ? For this period
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt....we have played a couple of different rulesets over the years for WWII, but the current set is Iron Cross, as per my AAR two or three posts back. Hopefully it won't be too long till we get another game in!
DeleteKeith, this post snuck by me! Nice job on the armor!
ReplyDeleteWELL.....you have been EXTREMELY busy Jon, with all those games plus new figures rolling off the painting desk - somethings got to give!
DeleteGreat looking 20mm British force, Keith. I like the mixture of armor used by the British in WW2 - both their own and US mods.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean - to be fair, I think anything half decent in the British armoury was American, bar some of the AT guns! British tanks prior to the arrival of the Lee/Grant were always under gunned versus the equivalent German version. Adding the 17 lb AT gun to the Sherman definitely was a good stop gap to deal with Panthers and Tigers, and the very late war tanks like the Comet and even vey first Chieftains were great vehicles - they juts took too long to develop and get onto the battlefield! Compare it with the Russians - they had the JS II with a 122mm gun in late 1943!
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