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A fleeting visit to Col's (and Sharon) this week saw me leave with new toys.

Due to an administrative error Col had x3 boxes of US Marines, Col doesn't do 1/72 :) I've always thought this figure set has almost two slightly different scales, and try to divide them when making units. These combined with the Revell set, plus what I already have, will give me a regiment for each year 1942-45 - nine battalions 

Except, now I'm thinking I should wait, get other sets  (Waterloo 1815) and combine them for a better mixed appearance.

Last Matilda I

These are great little models by SHQ x6 parts total

It's a bit more common to find these in mixed Matilda I & II companies rather than full sized stand-alone units

Here it is grouped with my other Matilda Is, eventually I'd like to get two more of these, giving me two companies worth

Grumman F9F Panther

Another addition to my Korean War aircraft collection

Undercoated on sprue. I used my last remaining pilot figure, which was among a few that were sent to me from Portugal a few years ago

Holes drilled out to accommodate the ordinance. As with all my aircraft kits, modeled undercarriage down   

The colours are Vallejo, French Horizon Blue with several coats of a dark blue wash gradually added

The kit comes with a choice of decals, both from carrier aircraft dating from 1951. It also had a choice of bombs, rockets or a mixture of both, I went with bombs which research suggested was more common, this being primarily a fighter bomber

Even taking my time and using luke-warm water I still had problems with the decals, and tried to touch them up with paint where I could

This was an excellent kit to build, well engineered and zero flash; highly recommended.

1941-42 German Infantry

Finally finished what has turned out to be a very long term project. I started these a couple of years ago, packed them to move here, and then found them recently and decided to finish the unit. Painted in Vallejo colours, I think they are in keeping with the generally tidy early war appearance of German infantry

The whole regiment is a mixture of Revell and Airfix figures, except for the mortar platoons which are Pegasus

1st Battalion

2nd

3rd

Company command platoons

A few of the machinegun platoons. The only difference between these and 1939-40 units are that the machinegun platoons were removed from the battalion support and added to the rifle companies

Rifle platoons

Mortar platoons

Command sections.

Staghound Revamp

I think this is a MkIII? My friend Gerard Davey made this for me from scratch back in 2011, and I've finally gotten around to adding a little more paint work and some decals

Apart from a Humber MkII (also in line for a revamp), this is the only later war British armoured car I have in my collection

The last shows the model as it originally arrived. 

Game: Russia, mid 1942

A game played between me and Mark. He played the Germans (x2 under-strength infantry battalions), I the Russians, x2 of para x2 of naval infantry. A combined parachaute/river crossing assault - casualties were expected to be high...

The naval infantry ready to attack the village across the bridges and via boats. This was timed with the parachaute landings to create maximum problems for the defenders

German positions covering the collective farm area closest to the river

Rear of the collective farm area

1st battalion landing area, as Experienced the Russians would drop from a height of 18"

2nd Battalion landing area

3rd

Multiple Russian stands are eliminated outright, either landing in the river or missing the table completely 

The naval infantry begin their attack

Some support, I think this is a Unimodel or Ace model

Both armoured cars are destroyed by antitank and small arms fire, seriously disrupting the assault on this flank

Eliminated Russians from the first few turns

The first of the, now organised, para attack the rear of the village in an attempt to meet up with the naval infantry

Para that missed the drop zones by a long, long way now begin to arrive in the rear of the German position. Figures are a mixture of Zvezda and Esci

German company moving rearward to eascape being cut off from their forces on the other side of the river. The para here couldn't really stop them as they were still Pinned from their poor landing positions and thus their fire was ineffectual 

German positions on the left start to wobble a bit when they lose their machinegun platoon, and the close assault on the armoured car by engineers fails

A couple of German platoons forced to regroup 

The Russians were taking heavy casualties but had the men to afford them, this is the support company from the 1st naval infantry battalion being forced from the fight

About turn 6. Still the German left holds on

More para arriving unscathed

Heavy fighting towards the rear of the village, German figures here are by Pegasus

The river assault on the Russian right is wiped out to a man

Russian para taking out German support troops around the collective farm buildings

Most of the German platoons were now cut off from any retreat option

Played 7 out of 8 turns, a really good game.