World War 20mm – A Battlegroup Endless Project

Now I just need to sort out all the figures for vehicle crew and passengers and gun crews…

A new platoon for Normandy, will be DLI troops inspired by my recent visit…

Paint test on an AB US infantryman for the ‘Big Red One’ – 1st Infantry Division.

20mm AB Figures Desert British range.

Started a new platoon of Desert Rats…

…and officer off to the Ost…

Started a few of the new AB Germans in greatcoats to go with my recent SS…

A Plastic Soldier Company kit with AB Figures crew…

An old Volkssturm gun crew man an ex-WW1 7.7cm Feldkanone…

Sorting out a board set up for the first scenario in a Carentan campaign I’m working on…

AB Figures Carrier Crews with PSC Carriers…

Used to represent the armoured staff cars reported some units.

Basic German platoon for use in Mediterranean theatre games… and led by a former Kreigsmarine officer!

Painted for Italy for when we start writing Battlegroup Gothic Line…

Starting on some Japanese as we expand Battlegroup to the far East…

Platoon of Germans underway for the Italian Front using a mix of regular and DAK infantry models…

Some more AB Figures German infantry…

Some of the AB Figures DAK engineers…

Fallschirmjäger 7.5cm Gebirgsjagerkanone 36.

Last piece for my Crete FJ. AB Figures crew with a Shellhole Scenics gun.

Lots more to do but another AB Figures Soviet squad done…

Once more back to speed painting AB Russians…

Stage by stage pics of a quick Normandy table set up for the weekend…

S-Models Püppchen with two AB crew…

Quick test using the AK paint set for pea dot camo on a 20mm AB Figure German infantryman…

While I await Elhiem Miniatures to finish sculpting their Hungarian infantry range, I bashed out a few of the Shellhole Scenics ones along with the embryonic ATGM system the Hungarians used in the war…

Two IBG Models Hungarian Turan tanks ready for painting… but what possessed IBG to release a kit with no locking or fitting mechanism for the turret to the hull! Madness!

So magnets and coins out to rectify that…

Two more vehicles…. and they ain’t tanks!

Selbstfahrlafette auf Fahrgestell VOMAG
7 OR 660 mit 8,8 cm from Flak, 1. Abteilung/Flakregiment 42 (mot.S.) – Budapest, Spring 1945.

All aboard the Flak bus for a bit more work…

MMS Models with an AB driver.

Sometimes its best not to ask why…

Selbstfahrlafette auf Fahrgestell VOMAG 7 mit 8,8 cm Flak

Couple of bits finished off last night…

First was a repainted PSC Panzer IV. I wanted to see how repainting an old model came out as it will be handy to ‘upgrade’ a few old paintjobs…

Next was another PSC model, this time for my Tunisia and Italy projects, a Sd.Kfz. 250/10 leichter Schützenpanzerwagen (3.7 cm PaK) ready to do a bit of recce…

Back from a little holiday and luckily that involved a trip to the model shop and a trip to Bovington!

So after Bovington the model shop provided a little too much… and I may have spent a little too much too…

…also happened to pick up a few books too…

…but to ease the pain of returning home I came back to a parcel from AB Figures with all the new releases!

Lots to get on with now!

Finally finished the last Panzer III for one of the zugs in Panzer-Kompanie Mielke at Arnhem…

The model was made using a PSC Churchill tank kit and marrying it with many of the parts in the Airfix Crocodile kit to get a passable representation of a Croc for wargaming. While not quite exact, its does enough to pass a cursory inspection!

Working on a bunch of vehicles this week for a weekend of gaming next week…

Well despite a minor disaster with one of the paints reacting badly to some enamel filter… I managed to finish off the train station tonight…

Last night I started on the Italeri Italian Train Station for the new boards. After building the kit the model got an undercoat of dark grey, over which the base colours were added with highlights where needed.

Tomorrow night I will start the weathering to make it look a little more lived in…

One of the true big cats done up for fighting in the last few weeks of the war…

Well it’s finally back to vehicle painting and using the new ‘Real Colors’ range from AK Interactive… really superb paints.

Last nights game using Battlegroup Torch was based on 10th Panzer Division during Operation Capri pushing out of the Hallouf valley to capture Metameur.

British forces counter attack to meet the German advance, and as German commander, I managed to do worse than my historical counterpart!

The initial British advance secured three of four objectives, thanks to an LRDG patrol, very early on and then managed to form a defence line of armour and infantry, blunting each German attempt to breakthrough. The Germans had no luck at all and lost five vehicles and lost 16 infantry in two blunted attacks, followed by two Panzer III crews abandoning their vehicles in the subsequent British counter thrust.

The British only took a single casualty in the game, while German losses were nearly 50% of their force. Suffuce tosay the day went to British…

Well it didn’t take too long to get the link & length tracks on…

So the three Crusader kits are built and stowed ready for undercoat.

…and another Revell Panzer III Ausf L under way!

Preparing a few more bits for Tunisia/Italy, first up some German mortar crew and a 50mm Pak38 gun and crew…

Also the next US Infantry platoon and supports are sorted out and prepared for undercoating, with options to allow them to be fielded as either regular line infantry or as an Armoured Infantry platoon…

Decided to order some of the AK Interactive ‘Real Colors’ range of WW2 paints to try out and see how they compare to my usual Mr Hobby paints…

…and finally its not all for Tunisia and Italy! Im also working on stuff for late war, with a focus on Hungary in 1945. So as a little break from all things sunny & sandy, a little Revell King Tiger…

A little repaint job on an old truck.

The SPA Dovunque 35 an Italian light off-road truck vehicle produced in Italy by Fiat SPA and used by the Italian Army. Many examples were used by the German Army and production continued after the Italian armistice with supply going directly to the Wehrmacht.

This one is done up for use in North Africa and Italy…

Some of the recent conversions of AB Figures to give a few models to use as LRDG troops in the North African and Mediterranean theatres of the war…

Decided to see if the boards will work with other things… Looks like they will be fine for 28mm so can be used with my AWI and Crusade games…

Back to building up some armour for Italy and Tunisia.

First up the PSC Marder kit, but as the gun was rather oversized it got swopped out for the Pak 40 barrel from the PSC RSO kit that’s much more the correct scale for the vehicle

After the Marder… Some Hagasawa Crusader MKIIIs for the British in Tunisia.

Not a bad kit despite its old age, but it does lack sandskirts, so in the process of adding the remains of the sand skirts to model them as ones that have had them removed over the winter to cope with the Tunisian mud!

Well the new boards for Italy and Tunisia are finished…