From PaulJ: 28mm WWII British Paratroopers (296 points)

Evidently Paul has not been idle these past few weeks...

From Paul: 

Presenting my 28mm WW2 British Airborne force.  In fact, this project was the main reason for my acceptance Alan's dare to get into this painting challenge in the first place, so that I could start and actually finish a new army.  I must admit that I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with these guys, but it has been very satisfying to build and get a new army onto the table in  a short period of time.  Initially this force was planned for Bolt Action, but what you see here has been re-tweaked to comply with the historically correct orbats used in Chain of Command rules (which I very much like).

The force as shown comprises 54 figures - 3 x 9 man Airborne infantry sections, a Platoon HQ which includes snipers, a PIAT team and a 2inch mortar (proxied by the prone Bren gun team until I get the figures).  The support elements available are a 5 man Vickers MMG team, a 5 man Light Howitzer detachment, a 3 man Sapper team with a Flamethrower, a medic (already submitted for the Hero bonus round) and a Forward Observer team.   I still have another infantry section and a two man PIAT team to come as reinforcements...plus a big chunky Churchill Mk VII Heavy Tank!

I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions on tackling the signature camo denizen smocks, which I found somewhat daunting.  I really appreciated the advice and quite like the end result, though they came out darker than I had originally intended.  I spent quite a bit of time on the basing too, and have tried something a bit different.  All Officers and Senior NCOs have yellow flowers on their bases to help indentify them.  Similarly, anyone not armed with a trusty Lee Enfield .303 rifle has a small white rock on the base.  That should make it easier to pick out out the stens, brens and other special weapons on the table.  Models are a combination of Bolt Action and Crusader - the latter are a bit chunkier but not overly so and I think it adds nice variety in the force.

And so my Red Devils are ready for their first outing on the table - watch out Jerry!

Yes, its Para Monday! This is really awesome work Paul. The denison camo looks very good though I'm sure many of us would like to see some close-ups in an upcoming submission. I particularly like the howitzer team and the mix of berets and helmets. A classic force.

These paras will give Paul a very impressive 296 points, enough for him to meet and exceed his Challenge target of 500 points. An amazing effort Paul, congratulations! 

I look forward to the future additions to this collection including the promised Churchill.