Dutch Early War -Battlegroup Blitzkrieg

I'm a member/poster on the 'Guild'. A really interesting site that hosts itself to lots of painters and modelers, as well as wargamers, and amongst others things they have motivational drives called builds. The Dutch are a result of one of the builds over the New Year. It started with Anti-tank guns.

 

I then finished a pair of MMG's - of WW1 vintage.

As well as half a platoon of infantry. They were armed with rifles and Lewis Guns!!

As a saying goes, Generals always fight the last war, and the Dutch were no exception. When I got the figures and models a long while ago, I also got 3 tanks that were listed by SHQ as Dutch but I thought were Belgian.

 Anyway when I eventually found out - yesterday  - after I had painted them, I found a really cool site on Dutch armour in the East and West Indies. It is just amazing, as well as being so hidden on the searches that you have to be directed to it.
http://www.overvalwagen.com
In fact, when you read the site, the Dutch East Indies were more peculiarly able to organise and prepare than the homeland Dutch.

The KNIL Vickers Light Tank, based on the Vickers production variant of the Belgian T15 tankettes. Only 10 of the production run were delivered to the KNIL. Anyway, all the Dutch have been painted, and I shall endeavour to get some action shots.

Stinson Sentinel - finished

Having got into the swing of painting again, in between some painting, I finished off the Stinson.

Really looking forward to get this out on the table, and the stand that I have made is transferable for other aircraft. It will be used at PAW 2014 for the ultra large Modern demo game that I will be helping with, this february.

Happy New 2014 - plans, schemes and projects

Happy New Year, and with the start of the year, it is a time to plan ahead with various projects that I'd like to commit/do this year.

The very first which happened on New Years Eve, was the Guild Speedbuild - Anti-tank. I have had a platoon of Early War Dutch and some guns, sitting in a box doing nothing for over a year and a half. Feeling the urge, I painted 2 47mm A/T guns and crew, and entered them into the build.

Here is one, with what I refer to as my 'cabbage leaf' flock, it was a rush job to finish with the time I had available, and my normal flock mix was not available. It was somewhere in the garage, but I needed to photograph and upload the figures that evening. I will be redoing the bases.

The standard of some of the entries was outstanding, especially compared to my minor league effort. The Guild site is available from the links section of the blog. The end result though, is that my platoon of Dutch is nearly complete, and a great start to the year.

The next project is to finish off 3 PSC PzrIV's that are sitting in the shed waiting, finish off the detailing of my L4 sentinel, paint the game mat for my WW1 aircraft. With regard to purchases, I'd like to get a platoon of Goumiers - WW2 French colonial troops, which I have never seen anyone use on a table, after action reports etc. I have watched Paths of Glory, and have an interest in the French and North Africa, and would really like to push them into the spotlight.

Another purchase is a platoon of WW2 Fall of the Reich desperadoes, Volksgrenadiers etc. This is another interest in the end of the war, specifically XMAS, 10th MAS, an Italian unit. They will be able to double up as German.

A completely different project is to get a cold war skirmish game set up, SW Africa and around, with the mercenary interventions and SADF vs revolutionary/liberation forces. One of the reasons for this is that it is primarily an infantry affair. Also, there are figures available from Irregular Miniatures, and lots of vehicles in plastic or resin.

Lastly, I want to arrange a Battlegroup weekend/day at the club in Ilchester, but need to build up terrain etc and interest for this. I will post on the guild to see how this flies.

Cheers and thanks for your support in 2013