Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Great War in Greyscale: Early War Highland Infantry & HMG Team (85 points)


Here is another unit of greyscale troops I managed to get done while I was away. This time it's the Jocks.

The battle of Mons is relatively well known in the english histories of the Great War but few realize that there was another fierce engagement fought only a few days later, on the 26 August, near the small town of Le Cateau. The British II Corps, under the irascible Horace Smith-Dorrien, decided to halt its retreat and give battle to the oncoming German tide. 



The British fought tenaciously, and inflicted serious casualties amongst the attacking Germans, but at a fearsome cost. Many of the Corps' artillery pieces were lost and most of its units were badly mauled. The most notable losses were amongst the 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders who, for a variety of tragic reasons, did not begin their withdrawal until very late in the day. They bravely covered the retreat of their brigade but were subsequently overrun, fighting on until it was useless to continue and so were forced to surrender.




These excellent 28mm sculpts are from the Great War Miniatures range. They depict the Highlanders in their early-war uniform which was quite smart, though a little impractical.



Similar to my previous work on this project I've differentiated the NCO by painting his glengarry in colour and mounting him on a hex base. He seems to stand out quite well with his cap's red-and-white dicing and distinctive red toorie.



The HMG team was a lot of fun to work on even though the gun itself was a bit fiddly. I added a couple twigs sourced from our garden to serve as a shattered tree and a fallen timber dragged in front for makeshift cover.




This passel of wee laddies will provide me with 85 points towards the final run-in.

19 comments:

  1. I thought for just a moment tat you'd painted tartan in greyscale....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well check back later as I have yet to paint the piper and he's in full regalia with no kilt cover (shudder). I'll need a shot of scotch to get through that one...

      Delete
  2. Hey Curt

    Great looking unit. I love the cap trim on the leader. I'm looking forward to seeing these laddies on table.

    Cheers
    PD

    ReplyDelete
  3. Really nice. The red and white on the nco is a nice touch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Excellent! Quality work and well thought out basing composition.

    Cheers,
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, thanks for the kind words everyone, the encouragement is much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You guys should see them in action...

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are just beautiful Curt, some of my favourite yet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks very much Ray, Greg and Michael! They fought like heroes and took it on the chin for their first foray which is the best you can expect from 'new' troops.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello, i am from France ! Your project is WONDERFUL !!!!
    nice figures and nice paint ! Original &authentic ;)
    I don't arrive to contact you , do you have an email ?
    This is mine: nebbiu@hotmail.fr
    See you soon fast
    Thanks
    Jérôme

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much Jerome, your comments are very kind. You can contact me at curtcampbell at mac dot com.

      Delete
  10. Marvelous as usual. But I have to say that I like the colour on the NCOs Glengarry best. Even better than the usual eyecatchers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers! To be frank I was a little concerned I would make a muddle of the glengarry but I was pleased how it turned out out in the end.

      Delete

Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)