Warboard: British Re-org continues

Having found a very nice deal for my very tiny budget, I've ordered two more boxes of British Infantry from Revell. I'm hopefull this will allow me to finish out a full British infantry company, which should form the core of my Allied force.

I've put together half of a carrier platoon, a full mortar platoon (minus a few men), and a towed AT section as of two days ago. These should form a nice support group for my British company. If I have figures enough when it's over, I hope to add either an engineer formation or an armored infantry formation in half-tracks perhaps. I may actually end up using only two rifle platoons in the company, with the third assumed to be in action further along the board or detached to guard an objective perhaps, and converting one of the platoons to half-tracks of a different unit instead.

Allied forces will also have available a small formation of American Paratroops, and a few small squads of Partisans.

For the German side, I have about 3 boxes of troops, but from different manufacturers, which I hope to pull together into a reasonable infantry formation, and one platoon of Panzer Grenadiers.

I also have enough for a half company to a company of German Paratroops, an undetermined formation of German Engineers, and a platoon or so of Italian infantry. We'll see how much of them I put together and how much I end up putting up for sale or trade.

When I was just a lad...

I thought I might post these, just for a view of what once was. These are figures I painted in my late teens, using model aircraft enamels, and toothpicks as paintbrushes. Osprey Men-At-Arms books were used as a guide, though not perhaps followed to the letter in each of them. They're battered and worn from time, with paint falling, and these are the best painted of the lot.

But they're an interesting trip down memory lane, and perhaps an encouragement that I *can* actually do this. Even if they're not up to the standards of a lot of the ones I see online, I remind myself that they were my first try, and the product of a somewhat impatient teen. Hopefully, my new ones will be quite a bit better with time and practice, if I can keep patience and perseverance.

Warboard Plans Moving Forward

Well, I finally got a start on my reorganization, in the form of sorting out my first platoon of Revell British Infantry. Had a good bit left over, but not the right combo for another standard platoon. I did, however, find a marvelous deal on two more boxes of the same on Ebay, and decided I could eek out the funds for it. So, I'm hoping with the combination of 4 boxes of them, to have enough to build at least a full company. After that, perhaps I'll apportion the remainder out as drivers and other semi-useful figures. I'm also seriously considering setting up a carrier platoon.

Platoon HQ
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1 man with sten gun - platoon commander, subaltern
1 throwing a grenade, carrying a rifle - platoon sergeant
2 marching with rifle
1 PIAT team (1 man with PIAT, 1 man with ammo and rifle)

3 Rifle Squads, each
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1 man with sten - Corporal

Bren Section
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1 Bren gunner
1 throwing a grenade, carrying a rifle - Lance Cpl, second in command
1 rifleman with shovel

Rifle Section
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2 Riflemen with picks
2 throwing a grenade, carrying a rifle
2 marching with rifle

More Warboard plans

After some debate, I'm seriously planning to reorganize my Operation Warboard forces to use a 1:1 ratio for infantry rather than the semi-1:3 ratio used by the original books. I think this will do two primary things for me:

1) Stop dithering over my platoons ending up with about 2/3 of their manpower being commanders, machine guns, and bazookas. This should bring things back into balance by restoring the actual force ratios inside a platoon.

2) Allow me to utilize a wider assortment of my figures than the regular Operation Warboard ratios do. I'll still dispense with cooks, clerks, etc. But I think even though it means fielding smaller sizes of forces, I'll be happier this way. And I've got enough of my primary combatants to still field nearly a company per side, plus accessory units.

Seven Years War Project

This is probably going to be a slow-moving thing, given the number of other things I have going, but I thought I should link to my new blog for my fictional Seven Years War German principality, Hesse-Engelburg.

http://hesse-engelburg.blogspot.com