Prepping for a Guards Division, Normandy 1944 - Part 2 Updated

Guards Division build part 2 is about what forces and vehicles I am going to use based on the Beyond The Beaches lists by Battle Group Kursk.
And Yay my transfers arrived!!!

My Armoured Teeth of the Division is going to consist an HQ, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, Elements of the 1st Motor Battalion Grenadier Guards, A/T Regiment RA, A/A Regiment RA, Field Regiments RA, Elements of an Armoured car Regiment, and Elements of the 2nd RECCE Battalion the Welsh Guards, along with Engineering, Supply, REME, and Medical Assets.

 First up is the Divisional HQ:

There is no actual Divisional HQ as such just a Forward HQ. We have the choice of multiple vehicles such as a Jeep, M5 Halftrack, White Scout Car, Dingo Scout Car, Humber Scout Car, M4 Sherman and Cromwell, with the last two having an HQ version option. I have Tentively decided to use the Humber for the Senior Officers mode of transport, I can also use one of the tanks from the HQ Squadrons of either the Coldstream Guards or Welsh Guards.


Humber Scout Car, and Forward Signals Unit

The Forward Signals unit which in reality is the Artillery rear radio link can use a Radio truck, M5 Half-track or a Dorchester ACV (Hmmmm). Their markings was the same as the HQ they were allocated to but in this case my Radio truck has the signals Tac marking with the number 40 on. The Dorchester ACV looks appealing and I have the ability to add one to the army which may give a more unique feel to the over all HQ troops.

UPDATE: The HQ gets its Armoured Command Vehicle an AEC 6x6 ACV

3D Printed ACV

Next HQ unit to add will be the Forward Air Controller who can have either a Jeep, Radio Truck, M5 Half-track, Bren Carrier, Dingo Scout car or a Humber LRC Mk1. At the moment I will be using a Jeep but toying with the idea of the Humber LRC Mk1. The markings for this vehicle are a little different in that it used the Division marking and a small RAF roundel as the Tac Markings.

The Motor Rifle elements from the Grenadier Guards will be mounted in M5 Half-tracks, with The supports being in Bren (Universal)
 and Loyd Carriers. These will all carry the Red 54 and Green Squadron Markings on the side of the Half-tracks.

Now for the Teeth of the Division the Tanks. I am going to mark mine up as the 1st Battalion Cold stream Guards, as I had in part 1 purchased a tank squadron marked up as this battalion but it was pointed out the wrong type of Sherman's. This has been rectified by raiding my Italy Sherman's and quick ebay purchases which will provide enough Sherman's for the missing Troops and HQ vehicles. These have duly arrived and have turned out to be Battlefronts new plastics which I must say do not fit together well and are not a patch on the older resin models.
In addition the HQ Squadron will have Crusader AA Tanks and a Light Recce troop of 3 "Honey" Stuart 3's which by late '44 were replaced by Stuart V's.



HQ Squadron vehicles, Sherman IV, Crusader AA, and M3 Light Tanks.

UPDATE:  The 3 M3A1 Stuarts have now been replaced by M3A3's Stuart V's which are more inkeeping with the Guards Division. The M3A1's are going to my BattleAxe Division for Tunisia.

HQ Squadron 3D printed Stuart V as to cut down on costs although detail is not as good on these, they will do.Awaiting Squadron Markings.

Instead of marking them up as one Squadron, each  troop will represent a Squadron. The HQ Squadron will consist of AA and light Recce tanks. Whilst the normal Troops will be 3 Sherman IV/A4 and 1 Sherman VC. The Squadron markings will also have black centres


Late '44 Squadron markings without the Black centre.



First of 3 Troops ready for Squadron markings

Troop markings now applied.

The other armoured option are Cromwell's, which under the lists can not be used in conjunction with the Sherman's (Oh Pooh, said Piglet), another reason for doing the Guards Division. Along comes the Recce Squadrons of the Welsh Guards. In the list each Cromwell Troop can have 2 Cromwell's and 1 Sherman VC, with one troop allowed an Challenger.
They can also supply Individual Cromwell's as RECCE Tanks. At the moment I have enough Cromwell's to make up 2 Troops.

UPDATE: The Welsh Guards did not get Firefly's so will not be used in a Teeth role but consigned to the role for which they were used for; Reconnaissance . At the moment I have 4 Cromwell's and re-enforced them with a Challenger and 3 Stuart V's. This means that if I wanted to field as Teeth Troops, one can have the Challenger, and the other Troop will get support from a firefly from one of the Cold stream Troops. Under BGK tanks can run around independently to the rest of the troop.

Again 3D printed to save costs, a Challenger and another 3 Stuart V's. Although as time goes by they may be updated with newer models.

One of my First completed units is the Anti Tank Battery, Royal Artillery, which will provide additional SP 17pdr A/T support in the form of half Troop of M10 Achilles. These can also aid the Infantry along with some 17pdr towed guns from the same regiment.

M10 Achilles

Now onto the Artillery. The Senior Regiment equipped with Sextons and an Sherman IV AOP. Support from the regiment is going to be two Troops of two Sextons. An optional AOP Tank is the Cromwell which now has been done.

First Sexton Troop



Sherman FO. All Marked up.

Taster of what else is on the bench

I modified a damaged Sherman to an ARV, a little more stowage needs adding.

Scotts Guards M4 Dozer tank  with a 3D printed Dozer blade, and an Scotts Guards Objective 

Royal Artillery, SP Artillery, SP and Towed Anti-tank, OP's and Ambulance Jeep.

HQ Units, along with some lorries for the infantry, The Stuarts are going back to Tunisia, Notice the difference in quality between the old resin Sherman and the New plastic Sherman (Left)

Well that's all for now, watch out for part 3.



WW2 Infantry Basing for multiple rules

Most of my 15mm WW2 armies are based as per FOW, but now I have moved away from FOW and onto Battlegroup Kursk and back to Rapid Fire, I realised that I could not easily convert the infantry with out debasing the already based to FOW infantry which I wanted to keep based that way in case I went back to FOW.
So an Ingenious (Well to me) Plan came about using the small FOW base and 15mm round bases.

Below is a 3 man through to 10 man units. Casualties on the larger bases can be handled either through  Splat markers, Curtain rings, Small Dice or using spare figures based on the smaller bases.

HMG, Mortars, etc.  are based as per FOW with 3 crew each, Light mortars , AT teams on Small bases as they are usually 2 men. The German 3 Man MG team for BGK are in my units based on a Medium FOW base, as well as all my AT Guns up to 76mm which need 3 man crews are all on Medium FOW bases and the 4 man crewed larger Guns on the Large FOW base

Prepping for a Guards Armoured Division - France 1944. Part-1

The other year I purchased on a whim a British Sherman Squadron off E(Vil)Bay. For a very good price. It duly arrived and the company was marked up as a Guards Division. Having got the Battlegroup Kursk WW2 Rules bug, I have decided to do the British lists from the book Beyond the Beaches, which at the time of purchase was included in the hard back Overlord book. As I am interested in the fighting around Caen and operation Bluecoat.

I have also gone OCD on all my 15mm WW2 armies in that I have got the transfer the hell outa them bug which has resulted in me researching markings and in the end remembering I had a book on British markings purchased 30 years ago, with mine being republished 49 Years ago (1971) OMG one year after I was born, how time flies. Also Battlefront and their Gale Force 9 website have some very good info on markings although further research is always needed, This is what they have to say:
"Guards Armoured Division
The Guards Armoured Division was formed on 17 June 1941. The division remained in the United Kingdom training until 26 June 1944, when it landed in Normandy as part of VIII Corps. Its first major engagement was Operation Goodwood. The attack by three armoured divisions towards Bourguebus Ridge was an attempt to break out of the Normandy beachhead and get beyond the city of Caen. That was followed by Operation Bluecoat, the advance east of Caen as the Falaise pocket formed.
The armoured element of the Guards Armoured Division consisted of the 5 Guards Armoured Brigade: 2nd Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 1st Armoured Battalion Coldstream Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 1st Motor Battalion Grenadier Guards, Its Armoured Recce Regiment was the 2nd Armoured Recce Battalion Welsh Guards (Cromwells)."

Guards Division Markings

So having found the basic unit tac markings, I ordered a load of transfers from Skytrex, but as I write this they have not turned up, fingers crossed it will be soon.
The Army that I am building will consist of elements from all the services; HQ, Signals, FAC, FAO, Tank Squadron, Motor rifle platoon, Infantry platoons, A/T, Artillery, Recce, Engineering assets, Logistics, and REME. The Infantry Division side of the lists I was going to do a separate Division but I have decided to make them Guards as well.

Guards Battalion or is it

My Guards Squadron is actually marked up to represent the whole 1st Armoured Battalion Coldstream Guards, with the corresponding squadron markings for Regimental HQ, A,B and C Squadrons

Spot the error

Also thanks to the TMP thread I have discovered I have an transfer issue, as the Squadron markings for the Division should not be on the turrets but on the hull, I have two options, the first is to wet the transfers in the hope that they are not sealed on and move them to the hull. The second is to paint over the transfer and buy new squadron markings and place them on the hull, either depicting the whole battalion as purchased or making it one squadron. I will also consider painting the centre of the Squadron marking black.  I also have an transfer issue with some Recce Stuarts I recently marked up in white squares on the turret sides, time to redo them as they should be in the HQ Yellow diamond, same as the AA tanks.

Edit: An additional spanner in the works cropped up when a fellow player pointed out that the Guards did not use the Sherman II or IIC... Uh OH... Think fast... plan Delta Six... Logs onto E(Vil)bay.

Sexton troops

Above are two Sexton troops and Armoured spotter awaiting transfers. I do have another two Troops but I think they will go into the surplus box for disposal.

In Part 2, I will be going through the make up of my Division along with the  units and vehicles I will be intending to use.


References:
[1] Vehicle markings: Division Markings
[2] Guards Division Article: Gale Force 9 article
[3]Army build: opmktgdn.blogspot.com
[4] TMP thread: theminiaturespage.com
[5] British Military Markings, 1939 - 1945 ISBN 085524298 (Hardback) or 085524296 (Paperback)

3D Printing and the Slow Death of Battlefront Games - updated

3D Printing and the Slow Death of Battlefront Games

I thought that would get your attention. So what has been happening I hear you say? Well I know it has been a very very long time since I last posted something, in fact the Necromunda post was drafted in May.   Mental tiredness and fatigue due to some medication I am/was on had an undesired numerous side effects that was put down to several other disorders until I did a bit of internet research (although I always say never Google ones illnesses as you will regret it, this time it was spot on).  Good news is that I am getting the better of it, so on with the post.

3D printing and the slow death of Battlefront; what's all this about? Well the first thing is I purchased a 3D printer... a Anycubic I3 Mega S for those wishing to know.

This baby is a result of a friend carrying out some trial Printing for me and I decided to buy one, the biggest factor that came into play was Battlefronts Marketing strategy. Hmm... what's he on about I hear some say? How does a 3D printer come into play due to BF? Well more on this later on..

Printing is not that straight forward as it is with paper. Some hit and misses will occur but over time you will sort these out. If you can not make your own models to print there is a plethora on a site called Thingiverse and a site called Yegi (although the latter steals heavily from the Former). Most files are Free to download but you need to have the correct software to interpretate  the files, and once again luckily this was free.

Suffice to say if you can put up with the low quality of the printed models which all, as some may say  pass the 3 foot rule, then you are on to a winner. Good quality models take twice as long to print and if you want fast bulk printing you will have to sacrifice the quality option and some degree of supervision may be required.

What do they look like? Quick Answer, no worse than models from the 1980s. I will do some pictures later on as my WW2 15mm collection has increased somewhat and needs some time to catch up on the painting as I have basically missed out the whole summer. Oh look I managed to do some painting.

Some of the stuff I have 3D printed, looks like the paint need matting down more, rushed them a bit but I am really happy how they came out.

 

Onto the next subject, The Slow Death of Battle Front miniatures.
Over the years Battlefront miniatures that first appeared in the mid 1990's has slowly built it self up to the monster it is today, with the introduction of Flames of War, 15mm WW2 took to mainstream  gaming and  to many introduced a new period and scale.

Over the years BF expanded their miniature range into one of the most comprehensive ranges in the whole gaming world, no GW don't count as they are gits and not historical. You could buy virtually any thing you need for your multitude of available army lists, then v4 FOW reared its ugly head, (I am a child of v2 FOW) and a new marketing strategy that seemed at the time good news for independent stockists. 
Boxed sets, selling not individual models but a platoon in plastic. Sounds good until you realise what's happening to the rest of the range. BF seem to be following in the footsteps of Plastic Soldier Company where they offer plastic models by the platoon. Down side is the assembly time, the upside was the cost compared to BF resin and metal models.

From what I have seen the new models are of a good quality (Desert Infantry aside) but the cost has not reduced either, still making them slightly more costly then PSC. Now I buy from various companied the models I need, Skytrex, Peterpig, Defunct SDD, PSC, and BF. Most of my armies are resin and metal miniatures, with a sprinkling of plastic.
Battlefront have taken the decision to discontinue a lot of their range as they introduce the boxed sets, and slowly the models you need are disappearing.

I am slow to build armies and as most of us older players have numerous periods and collections which we suddenly get an urge to tinker with and expand over a random period of time.
I found that the models that was required to expand and finish my v2/3 armies are now defunct. For me this is bad news, for BF this is bad news also, as a 3D printer has sorted the supply problems and opened up further possibilities for my collections.

The simple resin and metal models which took novices a few minutes to assemble, that also includes unsticking their fingers due to the superglue exploding to making them make Airfix style models although in some cases a lot simpler to put together, but time consuming non the less.

So no more quick army assemblies for kids but hours of annoying assembly that could have spent better playing on the Xbox. Now that BF has destroyed its most comprehensive range that people purchased not only for FOW but other reasons (Hey I just thought maybe that's the plan, you cant buy your models to play other rules, you have to buy our platoons for our rules, one step closer to their beloved GW marketing plan), but you take a look and see what I mean, make your mind up, but why sell Loose Artillery guns but not the crews?

Personally I may be a bit cynical about this, but instead of discontinuing the most comprehensive range in the world, why could they not just offer the now old range as direct sales only, to allow us oldies to carry on expanding our armies. So has BF signed their death warrant only time will tell....

Some rubbing down is required and I missed  one by looks of it, but that's the worse one I have done.  I like the 3D printing aspect as it gives you access to models that are not normally produced like the Radio truck.

What has a £200 printer done? so far:
1 MkViB
1 Dorchester ACV
2 CMP Radio trucks
1 Char B
1 SDKFZ 253
4 5.5" Howitzers (Crews from Peterpig)
4 CMP 20mm SPAA
4 2pdr Portees
3 Marmon Herington AC
4 M3 Scout Cars
1 articulated slug
and
1 articulated Octopus

Close up you can see some flaws of printing but from normal distance the flaws are not that noticeable.

The MkVI suffers from print lines but that may be more down to the angle I printed it at, But I am happy, as this was a tester for a larger planned desert army and will be used as part of my desert raiding force heavy section. Also seen is the stepping at the back of the MH armoured cars, but again I can live with that.

24 vehicles (And counting) at £8, the printer has almost paid for its self, and as these are what I call second line units I can live with the lower quality.

Sorry BF your loss is in many ways my gain, I was quite willing to buy from you. Overall I am happy with the 3D prints and it has given me access to new army possibilities, I will still be buying infantry although not the new plastic types , I prefer metal in 15mm. And to be honest I will still be buying some BF stuff in the future as not all the vehicles are available for printing.

Battlefront UK visit

Whilst I was staying in Long Eaton, I decided to  kill some time by going to visit Battlefront UK. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was in Beeston and not near GW in Nottingham, making a lot more closer then I thought.

As I arrived I was unsure whether I was at the right place as there was very little signage. I pressed the bell to gain entrance and tentively asked if I was at the right place for the Gaming centre and shop, and was reassured that I was indeed at the right place. I was shown upstairs into the Gaming centre to the cries of we have a customer and received a very warm welcome.

View of the Gaming area and shop. If you are thinking that you will find the blisters of old, you will be disappointed as they are now long gone, although I did notice that the on line shop still does them.

I was shown the products on display and talked at length about NAM and FOAN, whist they were rooting out some blisters I needed for my NAM ANZAC project.  I found the staff to be helpful and happy to listen to what you had to say. Unfortunately the new Team Yankee products that I had read would be on display were not, these had been delayed by a few weeks and had not long arrived, not even giving the staff enough time to look at them themselves.


A few of the old books on display, they are still setting up the shop so expect a few changes.
 
 

The goodies on display are what you would expect to see in your local game stockist, so don't expect anything out of the ordinary. They also had a smattering of Gale force products from the various ranges. Battle field in a Box products were thin on the ground, a smattering of D&D, some Star trek and a little bit of Firefly.  They did have some great looking armies on display and the D&D stuff in the cabinet were beautifully painted. Although I do think that they should also stock the blisters for the older ranges as a direct buy only.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Within the gaming centre as you would expect their are several gaming tables set out for you to use, but mainly on a Thursday evening when they run a gaming club. I am not too sure that you could just turn up on spec to play a game, so suggest you speak to them first. There is also a room set aside with  a table where you can play  board games in peace from us more noisier table top gamers. 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Along one wall near the window was a work bench where the staff were assembling armies which were also dotted around the shop on window shelves, book shelves and the odd table hidden in the corner.
 

FOAN what I suspect are Egyptian T55's hiding on the window sill.

 

More Egyptian FOAN T55's.

 

FOAN Syrian T55's with an Israeli force hiding behind it.

 

FOAN Israeli M60's and Centurions lurking on the window sill.

 

This FOW Russian army was so nice I took two pictures, I also just realised I did not take a picture of the German Panzer force (sorry) hiding on the book shelf, although he hadn't finished painting the sole tank commander that was just painted in RAL 7016 so did not deserve to be photographed in any case (Cheeky Smirk) LOL..

All in all, it was a enjoyable trip, short but sweet. Having got what I needed for my ANZAC force, which will be written about later, and hope at some point to join in on the Gaming night.  One thing I did get wind off, is that they will be redoing the FOW WW1 lists into a compendium in line with NAM and FOAN, So I will be looking out for that in the near future.
Thanks
Jon