15mm Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Raiders and Targets of Opportunity

Here is a LRDG raiding patrol along with some Stukas, supply dumps and fuel depots to serve as appropriate targets.

When I first saw these 15mm models released from Battlefront a few years ago I knew I wanted some to create some sort of airfield raid scenario. 

I don’t know about you but as soon as I look at a Chevy 30 cwt, festooned with all its gear, automatic weapons pointing everywhere, and packed with bearded maniacs it just screams for sh*t to blow up. 

'Yoo Halloo! Lock and load the Twin-Ks lads, we're going to partaaay!'

So, with that in mind I’ve been picking up assorted ammo dumps fuel depots, etc from Battlefront and Baueda for the raiders to mess with.  (Thanks to Nick for the tips on crate/drum colours.) I hope to make up around a dozen of these as targets as targets for the LRDG raiders.

The fabulous desert mat is from Alf over at Barrage Miniatures. It’s roughly 8x5 feet and will serve admirably for our future North Africa raiding game (and I imagine for any post apoc games). 

Alf's (from Barrage Miniatures) desert mat

...sorry for the glare on this image...

The Stukas are 1:100 scale diecast models I picked up cheap-as-couscous on eBay. I’ve dorked around a bit to dirty them up with some sand erosion and exhaust staining but otherwise they are pretty much stock. Again, they exist purely to sit on the airfield and get blown to smithereens. (I'm on the search for a 1:100 scale Ju-52 to serve as another juicy target...)

I’m thinking of either modifying ‘Formula De’ or ‘Chain of Command’ for the core rules (who knows, maybe I’ll mash them together). It will be a quasi-cooperative game where each player will command a single vehicle along with 2-3 LRDG raiders - the 'winner' being the team who amasses the most damage points, while still managing to stay alive and escape.

I need to find some sort of tents or Quonset huts for the aircrews and airfield staff. If anyone has ideas I’m all ears. I’m also working on some Afrika Korps personnel and assorted vehicles and equipment but that will be covered in a later submission.

Next up will probably be some more Russian Civil War stuff.

Entry #3 to the 8th Lead Painters' League: 15mm Late War German Panzergrenadiers & StuG

Here is my third entry to this year's Lead Painters' League, a section of late war Panzergrenadiers, all festooned in winter camo, StG 44s and riding a hastily whitewashed StuG III.

For some reason I've always been impressed when seeing photos of infantry riding tanks. It always looks so incredibly hardcore seeing infantry precariously perched upon multi-ton armoured fighting vehicles, heading off into battle. (Cripes, I get skittish when city road equipment rumbles by my yard when I'm mowing the lawn...)

These 15mm figures and the assault gun are from Battlefront. Very nice models all around. The StuG was a breeze to put together and I quite liked grenadiers as well. They were cleverly posed so that you could easily place them in a variety of positions so no two groups would look alike.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that these guys got the nod from League voters, especially as they were fairly monochromatic and in a relatively small scale. I was delighted by the positive response.

I should have my 4th entry posted here soon as that round is concluding in the next day. It's a bit different but members of the 'Wild Bunch' will see my homage to our recent Painting Challenge.

Thanks for dropping in for a visit!

From KevinS: 15mm WWII American Armour & Challenge Desperado (44 points)

From Kevin:

Just finishing off some more projects.  Here are some Battlefront 15mm US tanks.  From left to right: M18 Hellcat, two M4 Shermans, and one M4A1 Sherman.  They were all painted in Vallejo colors with an airbrush.  Then I washed the tanks with AK Interactive's Nato weathering set.  These were a breeze to paint up in comparison to the earlier 28mm submissions.

This is my competition "entry fee", soon to depart San Diego for the frozen wastes of Canada.  I have no idea who manufactured this figure, but I acquired it some years ago when my local gaming friends were into Legends of the Old West.  I never got around to painting it up until this week.

Nice work on the tanks Kevin and thanks so much for the great figure (he has an excellent Sam Elliot moustache).

The Yank armour and Challenge Desperado will give Kevin 44 points. Good job and thank you!

From AlanD: 15mm WWII Scottish Infantry & German Ferdinand Tank Destroyer (80 points)

From Alan:

Yes! Here's yet another project!

 

As any visitor to my blog know, I'm a huge fan of the Battlegroup series of rules. I've been loving playing Battlegroup: Kursk over the past year or so, and am also very keen on building up some forces for Overlord and (especially) Fall of the Reich.

 

To this end, I present my first platoon of 1944-5 Tommies. This is made up of a HQ base with PIAT, a 2" mortar and three rifle sections. In Battlegroup British rifle sections can choose to detach their Bren groups, so I've put them on separate bases. The platoon is from the 15th (Scottish) Division, with shoulder flashes supposed to suggest the red lion rampant in yellow circle of the Division.  

Figures are from SHQ and Peter Pig.

Here's an intimidating hunk of resin to strike fear into the hearts of Soviets in Battlegroup Kursk.

I was at my local vaguely friendly model shop when I spotted this Ferdinand from Battlefront and decided to add it to my German troops for Kursk. Despite the characteristic Battlefront price causing me to wince slightly($18 AUD), this was quite a satisfying beast to whack together and paint. 

However, given that these objects aren't cheap, I really think Battlefront could make a bit more effort to make the pieces fit better, and in the case of the Ferdinand supply hatch covers (round) that actually fit the hatches (square, in the case of the commander)

. 

Anyway, grumpiness aside I'm quite looking forward to seeing this get pinned by Soviet artillery or run over a mine the first time I try to use it. 

'Vaguely friendly model shop', heh-heh, that made me smile. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big booster of my local hobby shops, but I have to admit that in my travels I have left some establishments wondering under what dank bridge did they manage to recruit the troglodytes 'working' the front desk. This being said it IS nice to see the product in the flesh, as it were.

Both the figures and the Ferdinand are excellent Alan. I'm quite intrigued by the basing of the infantry. Is that something recommended by the rules or a something of your own design?  It reminds me of the countless photos showing troops moving cautiously down the flanks of roadways.  Very evocative stuff. The camo on the Ferdinand is also well done. Shame about the hatch mixup - the beast must have rolled out of an Alsatian factory supplied with Schindler quality parts...

These jocks from the 15th Scottish and the Ferdinand will give Alan 80 points, enough for him to reach his second points target. Great job Alan!

From DallasE: 15mm Egyptian PT-76 (6 points)

From Dallas:

The model is a Battlefront PT-76 from their Vietnam/Arab-Israeli line. 

It's painted in mostly GW colours with some Vallejo. I used a "chipping" weathering method - using a bit of old sponge from a blister pack to dab on GW Mechanicus Standard Grey around wear areas. I might have overdone it a bit but I like the effect.

Nice work Dallas! The camo looks great and I really like the weathering as well. As I know both you are Greg are quite keen on your Six Day War project I'm sure we'll see more United Arab Republic stuff from you in the coming weeks.

This PT-76 will give Dallas 6 points.

From KentG: 28mm Modern Taliban Tribesmen & 15mm WWII German Panzerknacker Teams (110 points)

From Kent:

First up 28mm Taliban insurgents. Seventeen of these. This finishes off a commission. They are Empress Miniatures figures. Lots of fine detail and easy to paint.

Next up are twelve 15mm Battlefront miniatures they are panzershreck teams for an up and coming competition. I used the Bolt Action how-to paint SS for the paint scheme - seems to have worked alright.

Great work Kent. The Taliban figures are very well done - I particularly like how your choice of colours reinforces their irregular nature. I also think you've done a great job on the dot-pattern camo on the SS troopers.

These figures will provide 110 point to Kent's mounting points tally. Well done!

From BenD: 15mm WWII 'Soviet' Armour and Infantry (138 points)

From Ben:

Hello All

While I was painting the US from my last post, I finished off a load of half painted soviet bits and pieces I had meant to get around to to help brake up the Brown Violet. These were a couple of Captured Panthers, a Spetsnaz Unit in Captured German Half Tracks and the Infantry for a Rota Infantry platoon (need to start the Transports...).

I will be honest I was dreading the Soviet infantry, base after base of guys to paint.... this and I much prefer painting tanks (I think because it's a lot quicker for me to do). But with all that I must say these guys were fun! I used a few quick methods I have been  messing around with since I did my US winter Infantry and the end results while not stunning are up to a very good table top standard (really my goal with 15mm).

The Panthers were a lot of fun to paint, I love captured equipment (probably why the Fins are my favourite army as it's almost all captured!) I thought about painting them in German Camo, but thought I'd give them a go in Russian Green first. Part of my wishes I had done German Camo, but I'm still happy with the end result.

And Finally the Spetsnaz, the half tracks are green for the same reasons as the Panthers. I tried to paint the special Soviet camo, but I really struggled with it, so in the end I used the colours from it and used my own pattern. After a quick ink wash I think it works well, if not 100% accurate.

Until next time 

Great work Ben. I'm sure all this captured equipment will provide a rude surprise to their German adversaries. Also, it's nice to see some non-armour entries from you as well - they are every bit as nice as your vehicles. Wonderful stuff.

This collection of Soviet armour and infantry will give Ben 138 points.

From BenD: 15mm WWII American Tanks, SP Guns, Jeeps, Halftracks & Patton(!) (118 points)

From Ben:

Hello All

A little change of pace from my current Soviet Drive (Don't worry I'll be back to that in the next few days). Just before Xmas I sold all my FOW US to fund my Soviet army as I had big plans but small pockets. Well one of the guys who bought my tanks wanted me to round out the army, after a little time to finish my Soviets for Corrivalry I started the US APCs.

First up I did 6 Priest Artillery and 2 OP Shermans, these are all Battlefront models and were great fun to paint. The modeled on Stowage (always a favourite of mine) really adds a lot of character to the unit. Although the crew were a paint to stick in...

Next up was 3 Half Tracks from the Plastic Soldier Company. These guys were a little fiddly to put together but I'm happy with the end result.

And Finally Patton and a Jeep recon unit. Patton is a lovely model with real character and a great model to paint. The jeeps were also fun but having now put together 20 or so of the battlefront jeeps I find them a right pain to do. 

In case your wondering the the .50 cals are missing by request of Mike as he's planning on magnetizing them.

Really beautiful vehicles Ben. The Priests are fabulous, but my favourite has to be Patton's armoured car with its 4-star pennants and the man himself reviewing the troops, making sure 'the other poor dumb bastards die for their country.' Classic.

These fine American vehicles (and their crews) will give Ben 118 points. Well done!

From JohnM: 20mm WWII German Late War Vehicles (126 points)

John has been quite taken by the Chain of Command rules and so has been busy building models and terrain for a future D-Day campaign using the system.

From John

German WWII Late War Vehicles

This will be the first of what I am hoping will be a total of 2-3 WWII German Vehicle submissions, I am putting together a 1944 Normandy campaign for Chain of Command. Several vehicles were needed for the Germans, so I have been busy painting away. They were all primed with with BF Late War German Armour and then airbrushed with brown and red for camouflage. I quite like how this came out, I am not a big fan of the paisley patterned camouflage you often see.

First up is a SdKfz 251/1 from Plastic Soldier Company. I really can say nothing negative about this model. Lots of options, in the box, I had already painted the command version Sd.Kfz 251/10 and just bought a box of the specialized versions with flamethrowers and other nice things. PanzerGrenadiers are tough nuts in CoC and this is my first squad.

Next up is a Sd.Kfz 10/4 with a 2 cm FlaK 30. This model is from SHQ miniatures, as are the rest of the models in this submission. Metal, nice and hefty but a bit of work to assemble.

We then have a MC reconnaissance team with a mounted LMG. I took this from the PSC box, did a bit of drilling a stuck it on. I could not meet the challenge of mounting the vehicle number on the front rim, so they have been placed on the rear of the side car.

Next is a pioneer squad in 2 Kubelwagons, I may stick on some more pioneer type stuff, we will see.

The Tank Hunters are in a captured Universal Carrier, in the German nomenclature a Panzerjager Bren 731e. Pretty cool, I thought.

Last up is Kfz 81, specialized to fire and tow a 2 cm AI Gun. well more to come soon. All the vehicles have vehicle numbers, they were very fiddly to put on.

Very nice work John. I checked out your upcoming Normandy mini-campaign and it looks very interesting. I'm eager to see how it all unfolds.

These German vehicles will give John 126 points. Well done!