Matchbox British and ANZAC infantry

 

1944 British Infantry Battalion

 As I continue the refurbishment project, I decided to see if I could use the same techniques to bring some units I had gotten off Steve H. back up and running. Steve very generously gave me his WW2 CD armies as he had decided he just wasn't interested in 20mm WW2 any more. Steve's head having been turned by the nice shiney  15mm stuff produced by Battlefront. (N.B. see this link to urban Dictionary, definition three, for my use of shiney)

These figures all had flock similar to that on the left.  I, for one, am glad of the vast range of flocks and tellus we enjoy today.

These armies included some that Steve had based up for CD 1! So this is why their base sizes are somewhat lacking in depth - CD 1 used a stand size  that wasn't as deep and was 1/8 of an inch wider. I am not sure that I will rebase them up to current CD standards - but I may yet do so! These earlier forces are also flocked with a very green flock. When I put the wash on these figures I was hoping it would tone the flock down somewhat.

The Battalion commander is the officer figure from the ANZAC  Infantry set.

The figures used are a combination of the Matchbox British Infantry (PSR link here), and the Matchbox Anzac Infantry (PSR link here) sets. They have been organised as a 1944 British Infantry Battalion, sans the mortar stand and all the vehicles, as per the TOE given in CD 1.

The stand with the two rifle men is the battalion's engineers, while the two  kneeling stands are meant to be the gun crews for the 6pdrs.  I shall probably treat them as an attached infantry company as none of them really look right for their stated role.

The CD 1 TOE gives an additional 6pdr antitank battery, and gives each rifle company a heavy truck to transport the unit. The AotSWW TOE strips the second 6pdr battery and organic company transport, and separates the CD 1 HQ company into a Headquarters company and a Support Company.

A Company - the command infantry stand is the one with the kneeling riflemen.

Fortunately, the organization of the rifle companies stayed the same, with each one consisting of one command infantry stand and two infantry stands.

B Company - the command infantry stand is the one with the Sten and the Bren.

C Company - the command infantry stand is the one with the two  Thompson Gunners. neither is named Roland.

The two sets work quite well together, although to my mind the Lee Enfields of the British infantry set seem to have a little more heft to them, however this is more than made up for by the sword bayonets of the ANZAC set.

D Company - the command Infantry stand is the one on the  right side of the picture.

Right, back to the workbench to do some more work on my shineys before the school holidays come to a close and I have to do some work again.

Airfix Australian Infantry.

Since the AWI figures I refurbished turned out so well, I decided that I could do the same with some of the other figures that I acquired from the same source. As I hunted through my collection of figures, I discovered a number of figures that had been painted by the same painter that I could turn into CD3 units. I also found a number of painted figures from other sources - such as a huge number of  CD units and loose figures that I had been given by Steve H. - to name one such deposit of figures.

The complete batch of refurbished Airfix Australians

So I decided that in order to rapidly expand my pool of available wargaming forces,I would begin the process of refurnishing these figures. First up are some Airfix Australian Infantry (link to PSR here). All I did with these figures was to touch up the paint work, give them a brown wash and then base them up as an under strength CD3 Infantry battalion with some attached elements.

Machete waving Battalion Command stand and two stands suitable for use as attached staff radio, FO, or even FAC stands.Given the brigade only has one staff radio stand - and it's a radio truck - these stands probably won't remain at the battalion level for long. 

No battalion mortar stands - but here are a couple of porter stands with a nice  stand of marching infantry.

 The paint scheme used by the original painter is similar to that on used on the box art. It's quite a nice scheme and the brown wash tones the green down nicely. Fortunately my camera's flash brightens it right back up!

No recon carrier either! How about a recon stand and two patrol stands instead? 

 I've always liked the prone Bren gunner in this set, but like most prone figures not the easiest to use with CD's basing system. I try and use the fact they require a bigger base to my advantage, so that it will symbolise  a special stand like a patrol - as in this case!

Two infantry stands - this could be an understrength infantry company.

The figures that been painted quite some time ago with enamel paint, and had been stored in a draw with a pile of other figures. as this was a rather suboptimal way of storing the figures,  there was surprisingly little paint flaking. Given that they had been stored badly by me since 1996, this is pretty amazing!

The kneeling Bren gunner is also a great pose - it got used in the 1/32 set and has been widely knocked off. 

Interestingly enough the original painter chose not to paint up the full set of figures, or some had been lost before coming into my hands (or even after coming into my hands!) as only 33 of the 48 figures in the packet were available for me to refurbish.

The rifle swinging pose is not quite as useful . Another two infantry stands. I have been considering using the stands  that have the figure that is throwing the grenade as command infantry stands. Doing this would allow me to field four weak companies (per the 1943 TOE)

Two more infantry stands, giving a total of  nine. stands, or three full strength rifle companies.  Useful as the 1941/42 TOE has only three Rifle companies to the battalion. 

I did add two figures that I had first painted back in 1991 into this batch of refurbishment, as I wanted to create a stand of wounded troops. The figures used were one of the sitting wounded figures from the Airfix Australians, and the standing wounded figure from the Matchbox ANZAC set. (PSR link here)  Rather than try and reproduce the paint scheme of the original painter, I opted to just try and produce a stand that work work with the others.

Wounded figures. I have more of the sitting Airfix wounded figure to paint up.

Once I have refurnished all of the suitable figures, I will start painting up stuff needed to fill in the TOE gaps of the recycled and refurbished units. Work will also continue on the Pucaras and the 1/1800 scale navy. Plus I might even do some gaming!

ANZAC DAY.

Unknown Kiwi Soldiers sightseeing in Egypt during WW1.

The photograph was found during restoration work on photographs in the University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA) archive during the late 1990s. It had been used as a backing board for another, much later, photograph. This was evidently quite a common practice during the early 1930s. Regardless of the reasons, this photograph was lost from view, and was absent any information when it was rediscovered.  I have always imagined them to have had a connection to the UCSA, an organisation I had spent much time involved with, and thus feel a connection to these unknown soldiers, unknown but not forgotten.

My thoughts often turn to this photo on ANZAC day, for so many reasons, reasons that I have tried so many times to put into words, but none seem to be satisfactory. Today is is day we remember those who serve, those who have served, and those who have fallen, in order to defend our country and our way of life. to them all I say thank you, and that we will remember them.