Friday 29 January 2016

Late war German recce battalion complete

Late war Aufklaerung Abteilung



Armoured car platoons

1st Fusilier Kompanie (gepanzert)


2nd Fusilier Kompanie (mot)




Heavy Kompanie
 Sd250/2, Sd11 mitt 20mm, Sd250/7
 Pioneer Platoon

Battalion HQ
Include a tank-hunter section







German recce command

Last few pieces for my late-war German recce battalion

Command radio track
An ancient (again must be 35yrs old at least) Esci 250/1

 Commander`s car
Britannia Kubelwagon with a couple of HQ personnel - Underfire Miniatures early Germans altered to look more late-war  

Command staff w/track
FAA SS command group (not my work, bought off Ebay over ten yrs ago), the Underfire guys and an AB sniper
 Elheim Figures Panzer Lehr command group
 Finished group

Thursday 28 January 2016

German recce armoured cars

Armoured Car element for my German recce battalion

Minimi Sd250/9 with a plastic commander (Esci I think?)

Britannia Sd231 (8-rad) with a Lammercraft commander
There are photos of these older cars soldiering on in Normandy and Italy, so i thought I`d use one rather than a 234/1


Britannia Sd233 and crew
This is quite a rare beast, only used in Africa I think, but it looks pretty much like a 234/3, so i thought why not.

 Closer look at the crew and camouflage



Sunday 24 January 2016

Spanish Church

Now terrain is a major (among others) weakness of my wargaming, frankly I`m not very good at it and most of the time can`t be bothered anyway.


But I do know people who are good at making stuff, so on a whim I commissioned a small Spanish church off Stuart Hitchinson of Captain Jack`s Locker. 

Based on one not far from our Spanish home, I think you`ll agree he did a splendid job - thanks Stuart.


Stuarts model (figure and vehicle for scale)





German Recce Anti-tank defence

Anti-tank platoon from the hvy company

Now late war, this could be SP (a Marder maybe?) I`ve gone for a towed Pak40

Matchbox gun (missing lower splinter shield), plastic crew (Esci and Airfix), Britannia Sdkfz11 with PSC driver and added stowage




AT section for the battalion HQ

Very old Hasewaga Kubel as transport

L-R SHQ ammo guy, FAA w/stg44, Battlefield Shrek team



Thursday 21 January 2016

January book sale

Richard`s January Book Sale

With my bookshelves groaning under the strain, plus a desperate need to unload ahead of our potential move to Spain I find I need to sell off a variety of titles, there are some huge bargains here compared with the publisher prices.
All book prices include UK postage (overseas buyers pay actual postage), I`ve been pretty generous over this too.
I`ll accept Paypal (friends and family) all books are good or excellent condition.

Tanks in Hell - Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa by Oscar E. Gilbert and Romain Cansiere (164 pages hardback) £8.00 SOLD

The Fires of Babylon - Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting (Gulf War 1990) by Mike Guardia £8.00

SS-Hitlerjurgend by Rupert Butler (192 pages, paperback) £8.00

SS-Leibstandarte by Rupert Butler (192 pages paperback) £8.00

Thunderbird in bomber Command (the story of Lionel Anderson) 169 pages, hardback £6.00

Armoured Champion - Top tanks of WW2 by Steven Zaloga (325 pages hardback) £8.00

Stalin`s Favorite - Combat history of 2nd guards Tank Army by Igor Nebolsin (447 pages, hardback) £12.00

Rikugun - Guide to Japanese ground forces 1937-45 by Leland Ness (340 pages, paperback) £10.00

SS: Hell on the Western Front by Chris Bishop (192 pages paperback) £8.00

U-Boat War by Lothar Gunther Bucheim (Large hardback) £10

Steel Fist – tank warfare 1939-45 by Nigel Cawthorne (240 pages, paperback) £1.50

US Army Insignia 1941-45 by Pierre Besnard (80 pages, paperback) £4.00

J’ai Survecu dans mon Panzer (12 Squadron, 24 panzer regiment, 24 PD) [French text] by Armin Bottger (168 pages, large hardback) £8.00

PK Cameraman (no1) – Panzerjager Abteilung 19(L) (94 pages, large hardback) £10.00

Battles That Changed Warfare 1457 – 1991 (various authors) 224 pages hardback (£6.00)

Generalissimo Stalin by Boris Gorbachevsky (349 pages paperback) £8.00

US Marine Vs Japanese Infantryman (Osprey Combat 8) £4.00 SOLD

World War II US Navy Special Forces Units (Osprey Elite 203) £3.00

The Devils General – life of Hyazinth von Strachwitz by Raymond Bagdonas (357 pages, hardback) £8.00

Moment of Battle – Twenty clashes that changed the World by James Lacey (478 pages, hardback) £6.00

Second Front – Allied Invasion of France 1942-43 (alternate history) by Alexander M. Grace (274 pages, hardback) £6.00

Assault from the Sky – US Marine helicopter operations in Vietnam by Dick Camp (264 pages, hardback) £6.00

A Magnificent Disaster (Arnhem 1944) by David Bennett (286 pages, paperback) £8.00

D-Day with the Screaming Eagles by George Koskimaki (366 pages paperback) £8.00

Hitler’s Pre-Emptive War (Norway 1940) by Henrik O. Lunde (590 pages paperback) £6.00 (used condition)

The Battered Bastards of Bastogne by George Koskimaki (£519 pages, paperback) £8.00

At Leningrad`s Gates by William Lubbeck (258 pages, paperback) £6.00

Hells Highway by George Koskimaki (493 pages paperback) £8.00

Fighting Fox Company (the battling flank of the band of brothers) by Terry Poyser & Bill Brown (308 pages hardback) £8.00

Battle of the Bulge (Vol3 – 3rd Fallschirmjager) by Hans Wijers (193 pages paperback) £6.00

Ghosts of the ETO (US Tactical Deception Units in Europe 1944-45) by Jonathan Gawne (342 pages paperback) £8.00

The Battle of the Bulge – Hitler’s Final Gamble by Patrick Delaforce (360 pages hardback) £10.00

Or go Down in Flames (a navigators death over Schweinfurt) by W. Raymind Wood (230 pages hardback) £7.00

Fabled Fifteen (the saga of Pacific Carrier Group 15) by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver (240 pages hardback) £7.00

Tuesday 19 January 2016

More German recce

2nd platoon, 1st Fusilier Kompanie

2nd platoon have had to suffer with whatever vehicles were left lying about 

Laffly W15 converted by German field workshops
I built this ages ago - The lower chassis is from an Early War Miniatures W15, the upper hull (much modified) from an ancient Esci 251 
Finally finished her off, stowed up and crewed (a couple of Esci plastics and an FAA grenadier with Stg44)


Resurrected Esci 250 (this kit must be at least 30yrs old)
The gunner is Esci, the rifleman is SHQ


L-R SHQ, Battlefield, SHQ

L-R Unknown, Blitz LMG team, SHQ

L-R Battlefield, SHQ, Battlefield

1st squad

2nd squad

The full unit

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Late war German recce

I continue where I left off last year.

1st platoon, 1st Fusilier Kompanie (gepanzert)

Minimi 250/1
Rifleman is SHQ, MG gunner Esci hard plastic, loads of mixed stowage 


3 x Underfire Miniatures early SS
Altered to look late war by lengthening the trousers and  covering the marching boots
 SHQ moving LMG team
 A Battlefield NCO with panzerfaust and a FAA grenadier with STG44

The whole unit, the second track is S&S seen in an earlier post
The rest of the infantry are Elheim