Adventures on the Wargames Table

The QF 6lb AT gun did not enter service in North Africa until around April 1942, so up to that point the Allied forces had to rely on the 2lber (plus 25lb howitzers in a direct AT role) to knock out enemy armour. In order to game these early desert war battles (e.g. Compass, Brevity, Battleaxe, etc) I’d need a 2lb AT gun.  This is a Warlord Games kit.  The extra crew are actually from the mortar set… but shhh! Thanks for looking.

A change is as good as a rest, or so they say.  So here’s a few more troops for my North African WW2 collection. All Perry metals; a Vickers with a couple of extra figures, a 2” mortar team and a spotter with binoculars to accompany my radio operator and make a FOO team. Here’s a couple of closer pics. Made a nice change from all the ACW and SP2 stuff I’ve been working on recently.  Also, on the painting table at the moment is a 2lb AT gun.  Painting recipes can be found on the Painting tab above.

This first piece is a 28mm scale ruined building from Battlescale.  I bought an extra pack of the rubble as I wanted a more extensive ruin.  The kit was very cleanly cast and great fun to paint in my usual desert colours for scenery. I followed the same recipe as for my temple ruins , although I did wash the first base coat with Agrax Earthshade to help bring out the texture of the brick work. I think the model is really aimed at a Northern European setting but seems to paint up well in a desert theme I reckon. Next, a home made rocky outcrop.  Base from Charlie Foxtrot, stones from nearby countryside.  My new hot glue gun was great for sticking the stones on to the mdf. Approximately enough to comfortably fill another painting challenge cube, so 20 more points bringing the total up to 370.

More British desert war troops join the ranks!  Some support options for the main platoon this time.  An ad-hoc sniper team and a Universal Carrier. After doing a bit of research I decided to try a caunter style camo pattern on the Universal Carrier.  The colours are Foundry Night Sky and Foundry Rawhide. The dismounted Bren team and Officer/NCO with Thompson SMG.  The latter figure was painted previously so has already been included in the painting challenge total. I had a couple of figures spare from the Perry's plastic box set so I made a Sniper team.  I tried to find something suitable to represent the telescopic sight but in the end it was too fiddly.  So perhaps in this scene he's asking his assistant to pop back to base and pick it up? That’s another 45 points bringing the painting challenge total to 350 points.  Thanks for looking!

A wargames table always looks better with some scenic “clutter” to make it look a bit more lived in.  What could be more appropriate for North Africa than a pair of camels?  These iconic beasts are from North Star miniatures.  The chap looking after them is a Perry figure. Some work in progress pics.  Base colours then washed. For the highlights on the bales of cloth I used the original colours plus one or two highlights most of which were Foundry colours. Another 25 points for the challenge.  Total now standing at 305 points.

The British began the desert war with the QF 2 pounder AT gun but by April 1942 these were being superseded by the QF 6 pounder which was much better able to defeat advances in German armour.  Naturally my chaps needed one too.  This is a Warlord kit. Another 25 points for the painting challenge.  So that’s 280 points.

I’ve had a few requests to show the British Desert War collection so far.  So, “meet the gang, coz the boys are here , the boys to entertain you ...” 🎶😉 ( Okay, I know that was Burma, not North Africa! ) Plenty more to paint though.  Thanks for looking!

With all three sections ready it was time to turn my attention to the HQ group and then start on some support weapons.  So here is the Lieutenant, the Platoon Sergeant, a Boys Anti-tank Rifle team and a 3” mortar. The AT rifle team are Perry plastic whilst the rest are Warlord metal figures. Here’s the Lieutenant enjoying a cuppa and a good pipe!  I really like this figure and it was great fun to paint. A very dynamic figure for the Sergeant, rushing forward Thompson SMG at the ready!  Sergeant Jack Tanner perhaps? 🤔 A closer view of the 3” mortar.  This can be used as is for BA, whereas in CoC mortars are off table so the crew will be used to help man either a 6lb or 2lb AT gun. The platoon HQ includes an AT rifle team, so here they are.  The earlier phase of the desert war has quite a lot of lightly armoured tanks and scout cars so these weapons can prove very effective. That’s another 40 points (counting the mortar itself as an ordina...

The third section of my platoon is complete! Bren team. Corporal and Rifle team.  To make the leader easier to spot on the table I’ve added a dark red clump of foliage.  Only the section leaders, platoon sergeant and CO will have these So that's another 50 points for the AHPC bringing the total to 215 points.  Next up, the rest of the HQ and some support weapons or teams.

More scenery!  As the war ebbed and flowed across North Africa, both sides regularly stopped to build new defensive lines as their opponent’s supply lines became longer.  Here are some (resin) barricades by Javis, from Model Scenery Supplies again. A long while back I picked up a pack of Pegasus Hobbies sandbags.  However, I always felt that the finish whilst okay, could be better.  So, to get them to match in with my existing scenery, I sprayed them and applied the usual recipe with the addition of a very dilute wash of Agrax between the Tan and Dark Sand layers. Here's the rest. Finally, I have some Javis stone wall sections painted up in the same style.  These might be slightly better suited to other Mediterranean theatres such as Sicily or Italy but they'll be fine I'm sure. All of these pack nicely in to a 6 inch cube so that's another 20 points for the painting challenge. Total now stands at 165 points.  Back to the figures next.

I’ve had a few queries about how I’m storing my (mainly plastic) DAK and 8th army, so here it is. The figures are based on 1p coins - the magnetic ones 😉 Box liners:  https://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/collections/miscellaneous-tokens-templates?page=10 Magnetic sheets:  https://magneticdisplays.co.uk/magnetic-displays/lightweight-range/mag-sheets-200-150 The box liner is designed to hold the figures in place using 4mm rare earth magnets.  They are quite powerful and that’s great for metal figures as they’re heavier and more robust.  But the plastic figures are obviously a bit more delicate and I could see the rifles, bayonets, etc getting broken as they’re removed.  So I ordered some lightweight magnetic sheets.  These hold figures well but not too well if you see what I mean. The larger based figures are stored like this. The compartments are made with little strips of sticky backed foam.  The bases have some thin “steel paper” on the ...

I fancied a change from painting the 8th army figures so I turned my attention to some rocky outcrops for jazzing up the battlefield - not to mention giving the chaps somewhere to take cover! These (the five pieces in the foreground) are resin items from Model Scenery Supplies , under the category War Terrain, thank you to George for the tip.  They're made by Javis and I'm very pleased with them.  Painted as per my usual desert basing style - see 'Painting' page link under the blog banner if you're interested. Tip - a couple of these were slightly warped when they arrived so, to fix this, I soaked them in very warm water for about 10 mins then used either some small G clamps to hold them flat to a bookshelf, or simply put a book on top.  An hour later they were cool and, most importantly, flat and level. These just about fill a 6 inch cube as per the Painting Challenge guidelines so that's another 20 points bringing the total to 145 points.

I thought I'd posted this a while back, but clearly not, lol! Anyway, minefields were a popular feature of the desert war so I've chopped up a piece of MDF, probably from an old chest of drawers!  I should point out that Charlie Foxtrot does a lovely minefield set too. I began by chamfering the edges of the MDF squares (6" x 6") then glued on some posts to which I would later be attaching some barbed wire. The posts are simply bits of matchstick.  For variety I've modelled some in a collapsed state.  Also, I've used a counter-sink to make the holes for a couple of craters.  The edges will be raised using some putty or filler. However, I forgot to pre-stress the MDF to avoid 'curling' when the sand is applied... So I raided my bookcase!  Each piece has a matchstick under the middle to help bend the edges.  Leave for 48 hours. I added some rocks along with a few items from my bits box. The discs (to represent the actual mines) were m...