Normandy British - Armour and Support

Well, as promised here is an update on my 20mm Normandy British. I've been building this up for the last year, using the Guild forum's project build to track my progress. I must say I'm very surprised to say that i have a fully gameable British force, which has been seeing a fair bit of action at the local gaming club. We've been playing with some homebrew fastplay rules, but I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of Rich Clark's latest, I Ain't Been Shot Mum, version 3 while over in the UK.

My force will be based around an infantry platoon - perhaps eventually expanding to a company - from the 6th King's Own Scots Border Regiment, part of the 15th Scottish Division which held off the 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions in its combat debut during Operation Epsom and then went on to fight in Bluecoat and through to the end of the war in Europe.




6th KOSB cap badge and tartan.

Supporting my KOSB platoon i've got battalion assets in the form of a 6pdr AT gun with Lloyd carrier tow, a Bren carrier or two and 3" mortars with some Morris trucks from the motor pool.

From division, i've got a couple of M10 3" self-propelled AT guns, a couple of Vickers heavy MGs, a Sexton self-propelled gun, and artillery FOO, a troop of armoured cars, and a 17pdr AT gun and crew.

I've also added some forces from units which worked alongside the 15th scots. From 31st Tank Brigade, i've got a troop of Churchill IXLT tanks. From 2nd Household cavalry, i've got a troop of armoured cars and a staghound heavy armoured car. I've also added a smattering of 'funnies' from the 79th Armoured division, and an RAF forward air controller.

Finally, i've got bits and pieces from the 11th Armoured division. these take the form of a Sherman V/Firefly VC troop, some halftracks and carriers from 8th Rifle Brigade, and a troop of Cromwells with the option to add a 17pdr armed Challenger tank.

Phew. Took me a while to write out that lot, let alone paint them up! I realise that this is a whole lot for a platoon, but i expect to rarely field much of the support at one time, and the variety gives my little force a load of flexibility.

First up is a Churchill AVRE. This is painted up as a vehicle from 2nd Team, 5th Assault Regiment RE. The 5th landed on Sword Beach on D-Day. This is the Revell Kit, without the SBG (small box girder bridge). I've got another unmade kit which i plan on doing with the bridge and all. The crewman is an AB figure.


Below is a Vickers heavy MG and crew from 1st battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, the support battalion of the 15th Scottish. This is the first of two of the superb AB figures MG teams i've got to paint up.


Below is a Sherman Crab Mk II from A Squadron, 22nd Dragoons. This tank is the superb but very fiddly Milicast, crew is AB. The kit almost drove me insane in the making, especially the chains on the rotating flail drum. After much cursing and glued together fingers, i think it has ended up as a great little addition to the force. The minefields are also new additions, just squares of MDF board with wire from fly-screen and re-sized signs from Google image search. I've made them up with different coloured signs so one can be used as fake and one as real if the need arises. From what i've read, it appears that at least on parts of Gold and Juno beaches there were fake minefields, marked with yellow rather than white signs.


Below is a Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tank i've named Culloden, painted up as a vehicle from 141st RAC, part of the 79th Armoured Division, 'Hobart's Funnies.' Both the tank and the crewman are from Britannia, and as usual were great to paint up. I replaced the white metal barrel with a brass one from ebay.


Next up is a Morris Light Reconnaissance Car which i've painted up to be used as an RAF Forward Air controller, the first half of my 'limejuice' pair, a FAC and air support in the form of a 'Tiffie,' a Typhoon MkIB. I'm not 100% certain that the FACs used Morris' rather than M5 halftracks, but i loke the look of the quirky little Morris, and the RAF regiment used them, which is enough for me. The car is unknown make, but special thanks to wargameroz over on the guild forums for sending it up. The crew are the amazingly sculpted AB.


Finally for this update is a Centaur Mk IV from 5th (Independent) Battery, Royal Marines Armoured Support Group, which landed on Sword Beach in support of the No.4 Commando. The tank is from Cromwell, and as usual the crew are AB.


Well, that'll be it from me for the next week, as i'm off to Noumea tomorrow to parle en francais.
I'll post up some more pics of my force when i get back.