Wednesday, 11 January 2023

The Americans are coming !

I have started the year with the new WW2 Western Desert project. Having ordered some more early tanks, mainly Honey’s and Valentines there was a slight delay in delivery. In the gap I pushed on to get the Sherman’s from the Tobruk box painted up.
Here they are nice little models although they can only be used from 2nd El-Alemein onwards and that would mean I would need to collect Afrika Corps ? The earlier tanks have now arrived but have been a surprising challenge to put together so will take a bit longer to paint up.

So what of the Americans, well some time ago I was gifted some odd American figures, once again following a conversation with Steve he dug out a few more, a dangerous idea came into my head to build a ‘small’ American force with which to play Chain of Command perhaps focussing on Mediterranean operations Sicily and Italy. The Germans I can field although their uniforms are really early war rather than 1943, but I have some in great coats I could mix in. I do have some suitable German armour. One further advantage is I am planning terrain for Peninsular Spain and this easily works across into Sicily and Italy. So a plan is hatched……and I have cracked on with all the figures I could cobble together.
Some command options, paratroopers but I have painted them in lighter Mediterranean type uniforms.
Three junior commanders and BAR teams 
I have cobbled two .30 cal machine guns together
and all the infantry I have at the moment…..
The force so far, added to this is the near future will be a .50 cal HMG, six more infantry a mortar team and thanks to a very generous lend lease arrangement with Phil a M3 tank perfect for the period. I don’t quite have enough yet to field the force but I’m on the look out for bargains on eBay. One thing I have noticed is how easy the Americans are to paint as all their kit is the same colour.

And finally I had some book tokens from Christmas so I was required to order a book…….
Hoping this one will be a good read πŸ™‚

Hopefully the Napoleonic British will finally get finished in the next day or so…and more gaming planned for the weekend , until then thanks for popping by πŸ˜€

Matt
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24 comments:

  1. Steve J.11 January 2023 at 14:43

    Nice tanks and the Americans look pretty damned good too!

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  2. Michal DwarfCrypt11 January 2023 at 14:52

    Yes, great looking minis!

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  3. Jonathan Freitag11 January 2023 at 15:16

    Lend-Lease arrangement with Phil? Now, that is funny.

    Looking great, Matt! It will be fun to see the Americans fighting their way across North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.

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    1. Matt Crump11 January 2023 at 19:13

      Thanks Jon hopefully not to far away for some American games

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  4. Phil Robinson11 January 2023 at 16:46

    Off to a flying start on the latest WWII projects, good news to hear your British Napoleonic force is near to reaching the games table.

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    1. Matt Crump11 January 2023 at 19:14

      Thanks Phil…the British sadly need some more units before they can fight the french but at least they are on the scorecard πŸ‘

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  5. Neil Scott11 January 2023 at 19:19

    Great looking tanks. The beauty of gaming in the mediterranean is your scenery covers multiple theatres

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    1. Matt Crump11 January 2023 at 22:43

      Thanks Neil I am hoping I can flex terrain across the Mediterranean, I already have some ‘Greek’ stuff which I can use

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  6. Lawrence H11 January 2023 at 19:38

    Lovely stuff Matt. How long are you finding it takes to assemble and paint the Flames of War tanks? I have been thinking of putting together a few from my pile and seeing your work is providing inspiration.

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    1. Matt Crump11 January 2023 at 23:02

      Thanks Lawrence. The official flames of war tanks from the Tobruk set are very quick about 15 or 20 mins per tank especially if you are doing several. I am also doing some Plastic Soldier company tanks which have been much more annoying to put together , far more fiddly πŸ™

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  7. David11 January 2023 at 20:35

    A splendid start to the year on several fronts Matt, well done!

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  8. Stew12 January 2023 at 00:43

    Nice job so far. πŸ˜€

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  9. rross12 January 2023 at 05:46

    They look pretty good Matt and for BA or CoC, you only need about this many for a good game!

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    1. Matt Crump12 January 2023 at 09:13

      Thanks Keith…. I need just a few more to bulk out the infantry squads, ideally for BA I would like four squads, and for CoC the infantry need three man BAR Teams. Six are on the painting table at the moment πŸ‘

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  10. MartinC12 January 2023 at 06:52

    lovely work on these figs, chain of command looks like a good game

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    1. MartinC12 January 2023 at 06:54

      I have loads of 28mm US armoured infantry

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    2. Matt Crump12 January 2023 at 09:15

      Thanks Martin….are your Americans WW2 or Vietnam ?

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  11. The Wargames Table12 January 2023 at 10:57

    Very nice looking tanks and yanks mate. Enjoy that book too.
    Cheers
    Matt

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  12. Stuart S12 January 2023 at 20:57

    Wonderful stuff Matt, the Desert War does seem to be all the rage.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  13. Just Jack12 January 2023 at 23:52

    They all look fantastic, and hurray for Steve talking you into GIs in the Med! ;)

    V/R,
    Jack

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