After a break of more than 20 years I'm returning to one of the chief hobbies of my childhood, wargaming. This blog is about how, starting from scratch and faced with a bewildering array of choices, I'm trying to navigate my way. I hope it might be of some interest or use!
Having just read a text based account of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend in Normandy, this pictorial history from the Allied side of the same Western European theatre was a welcome change of pace.
The US 3rd Armrd Div arrived in Europe about a fortnight after D-Day, and from then onwards was at the sharp end - as befits a unit also named ‘Spearhead’ - from France to Belgium and in into Germany and wars end.
The huge number of black and white photographs gathered together here are a terrifically rich and evocative resource, perfect for the history buff, modeller or wargamer. Split into four chapters, each begins with a short summary of the operations the Div took part in during a given period, and then fleshes this out with loads of captioned photos.
Some of the darker photos could perhaps have been filtered and tweaked a bit for better clarity. And, a pet peeve of mine, it’s deuced hard to relate numerous ‘note such and such’ textual admonitions to the corresponding images, due to them being smaller, cropped, insufficiently clear, or whatever. Hence docking half a star.
Most of the pics depict US troops and materiel, naturally. But there’s also a lot of imagery showing knocked out German stuff. So, all in all a fascinating and useful resource, bringing to life this units crucial part in the post-Normandy Western Front campaign.
If I'm completely honest it's only the German part of this that really interests me. They lead the way, and had the funkiest ideas and gear. But here you also get info and pics on British, French, US and Russian stuff.
Because the Germans were in a too little too late scenario, that's kind of reflected here: after brief mention of prop powered bombers such as the Do-17, He-111 and the rarer He-177, there's just a few pics each and basic info on the Arado 234, the better known Me-262, and the Ju-287.
It's a pity there isn't more on the Ar-234 (which stars on the cover). And some mention of the myriad unrealised German ideas would've been nice, in particular the Ho-229, which was at least being built. These latter projects would feed into postwar jet work for other nations, the US and Russia in particular.
The text is minimal, but clear and informative, the pictures, all black and white, are fairly interesting. A useful reference book depicting the shift from the prop to the jet age in warfare.
Yesterday I managed to spray basecoats of green on to my T-34s, and a bunch of Allied materiel. Can't recall offhand what green I chose for the Russian armour. But I know I used Olive Drab for the Shermans, Jeeps, etc. Sadly the aerosol I was using for the T-34s - brand new, and therefore supposedly full - drained in one go. On bringing them all indoors, after spraying them in the garden, I discovered I'd missed one. Took it out and tried, but there just wasn't enough paint in the can. Think I'll do it with my airbrush, as I don't want to fork out for another full (hah!) can for just one vehicle.
I didn't want all the T-34s a uniform green. So when I airbrushed the unpainted tank, I also resprayed a couple, and with one - front and centre above - tried to get a blend of the two, to give a third shade of green. I also checked th colour of the lighter tanks, and found I'd used Humbrol Light Olive (86). Next up, I'll need to paint all the stowage, and other bits and bobs, before I seal it all under a glosscoat prior to adding decals and weathering, etc.
NB: Sometines I illustrate these reviews with pics from the book under review, and sometimes from imagery found elsewhere. In this instance all the images used here can also be found in the book.
This came rather serendipitously right after I'd finished reading/reviewing the Tank Craft title on the M10. Basically an up-gunning from the M10 which, due to the larger armament (up from 75mm to 90mm) also entailed a new turret design, albeit designed along very similar lines to the M10.
Dennis Oliver's above mentioned book looks at the M10 in British service, which has come to be known as the Achilles, as it served in the latter stages of the war in Western Europe. This Images of War title differs in several ways: a smaller format (closer to A5 than A4), more pages, and slightly broader coverage (inc. post-WWII usage, in Korea and elsewhere).
Cpl. Herbert winter whitewashing his M36, Luxembourg, Jan '45.
In a manner somewhat similar to another recent Images of War title I've just read and reviewed, on the M29 Weasel, this makes much heavier use of images of contemporary surviving examples of these vehicles than I'm used to. But whereas the Weasel book was overly weighted to the latter, on this occasion the balance is much better.
There are some fabulous series of archival images here, such as the Massey Harris production-line photos, and a series showing the aftermath of a towed M36 tank that's overturned on an icy road. The first 100 or so pages cover the M36, with just a short section at the end looking at the M36B1.
Lt. Boutillier inspects recently arrived M36, France, 1944.
I won't go into great detail about the vehicle, that's what these books do so well. Personally I love these books, and find them both very inspiring and very useful in relation to my modelmaking and wargaming hobbies. Definitely recommended.
Crew rest beside their disabled M36B1, Germany, '45.
After reading and reviewing the inaugural Land Craft book on the Jeep, I fancied making another, having already built one from the Allied & Axis light vehicles set by Academy, many moons ago. In an excess of zeal I bought the Academy set again anyway, so I can rebuild that one as well. You can't have too many Jeeps can you? I think in excess of 90,000 were built during WWII.
I had hoped to build both Jeeps today. Indeed, I almost set myself the challenge of building and painting them both in this one day. But what with a lazy Sunday lay in and the World Championship snooker as a distraction, that was a forlorn hope!
Prepping all the parts, laying them out ready to assemble.
Jeep assembled, trailer ready to go.
I decided to do the Heller Jeep sans hood, so it'll make a nice companion for the Academy ones. This meant fabricating the frame, from wire and plastic card, as the only supplied frame elements in the kit were for the hood up scenario.* The hardest part of doing that was keeping the frame components separate. A very fiddly process!
I also broke one of the hood attachments on the windscreen, whilst masking it. The masking is made trickier by the fact that aheller have included windscreen wiper detail in the windscreen part. I fabricated a new one from plastic card. It's a bit chunky. But I hope I'll be able to pare it down a bit. I also had to repair the MG-mounting post, in a very minor way. As it happens I think I'll leave that off the model anyway.
Heller Jeep alongside the already built Academy Jeep.
* This is a bit odd, 'cause if you build this with the MG deployed, then the hood needs to be down, yet they don't supply suitable parts for that iteration.
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Day 2...
Academy Jeep #2
I've already built one of these Jeeps, but fancied making another. It's a nice clean moulding, and goes together nicely, but lacks one or two of the nice details the Heller kit has, such as the clear plastic headlights, or the wrap-around handles on the rear corners of the bodywork.
Parts prepped for assembly.
I've opted to leave the machine out again, so that's two for the spares box now.
Chassis first...
Body pan next...
And before you know it, done.
Loading with stowage...
I think I'll load this Jeep to the gunnels: just added two tarps and a box so far. But a load of jerry cans, and perhaps some scratch-built bits... maybe a toolbox? Hmmm... time for a break. Keep tabs on Trump vs. Higgins, in the Snooker final.
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Yay, the Judd-ernaut won! I had hoped the final would be Gary Wilson vs. either Trump or Dave Gilbert. But as it was Trump vs. Higgins, I wanted Trump to get his first World Championship title. And what a game he played!
My next batch ready for undercoats and base-coats.
Anyway, back in Styrene-land, my two latest Jeeps are built, and a certain amount of clobber has been added. I thought I'd add some finishing touches and stowage to a couple of PSC Sherman's that had kind of stalled, so I could undercoat and base-coat a decent batch of models in one go tomorrow.
Another vehicle that's new to me, this time the M29 Weasel. Prolific veteran author on such subjects David Doyle (who's published a book on this vehicle before) gives a good account of the development of this interesting little vehicle, copiously illustrated with, in the main, contemporary images of surviving examples.
US communications troops laying telephone wires on Okinawa, 1945.
These images are a superb resource for vehicle buffs, modellers, wargamers, etc. But I must confess, as great and as useful as they are, they tip the balance rather too far from the usual archival content these Images of War titles are named for. That's the chief reason I give this otherwise excellent book just fours stars.
A Weasel serving as a stretcher bearer, Belgium, '45.
Originally intended as a 'special' for use in a one-off raid in Norway, after the mission was cancelled the Weasel gradually evolved into a very versatile vehicle that would be used in almost all theatres, working in heavy snow, thick mud, tropical conditions, in the water, dropped in planes or gliders, and serving on into postwar times, such as the Korean War.
Nice view of a Weasel' interior with weapons and ammunition.
Water is no obstacle to Weasels.
I'd like to have a few for my Allied WWII forces, but have only seen 1/35 and 1/48 kits. Can anyone tell me if there are any 1/72 models out there? Anyway, another highly informative and very interesting book in this very useful series.
Armourfast themselves sell these kits for £7.50 per box; I recently acquired four of their several differentSherman variants at Euro Miniature Expo, for £6.75 each. Considering you get two tanks per box I think that's pretty good value, in terms of cost per tank.
However, these are most definitely wargaming models; Dragon or Trumpeter they ain't. If you're buying tanks for a wargaming army, as indeed I am, the fact they're cheap, simple to build, and - due to their simplicity and lack of fine detail - robust enough to withstand frequent handling, are all potential pluses.
Simple kits = easy/quick build.
Assembly line in production!
'Finescale' modellers, looking for display-case suitable single vehicles should look elsewhere. For myself, I don't mind - in fact I quite enjoy - the detailing and/or conversion of my models. Fabricating my own detailing for these Armourfast Shermans has been a fun project. I started by adding all the 'eyelet' type rings; I think these are for lifting the tanks during transportation, but possibly also they're for mounting cables/stowage, etc. After that I made the 'wire-frame' style doodads that I suppose are for covering/protecting the headlamps. This was harder, and more time consuming. I'm currently pondering how I might add track-tread detail, to the visible fore and aft portions of the tracks.
Wire eyelets added.
At the rear of the turrets I opted to use styrene for the final eyelets.
The models not only lack detail, but come without decals. Armourfast sell some suitable stuff by Black Lion via their website. They also stock/sell numerous add-ons, such as stowage and the like, for detailing their tanks. The extra costs in these areas, plus the time you might choose to spend working on these very basic kits to enhance them, make them more costly in real terms than the box price might suggest. But they'll still come in cheaper per tank than the more high end models.
Headlamp protection, attempts #1 and #2: left, too big/thick; right, too fiddly to mass-produce.
Left, nigh on invisible, right, too big!
Attempt #3, using plastic-card. Much better.
I also recently purchased a box of Plastic Soldier Co. Shermans. These come three to the box (this said, my box - bought at local charity shop for £5 - only had two!), and are slightly more detailed, with more pieces to assemble: of particular note, the Armourfast running gear (wheels and tracks) are one piece castings, lacking tread detail (which can be a nice aspect of the various Sherman types), whereas PSC are three piece, with much better detailed track. But, in the end, the PSC kits end up costing the same per tank, roughly, as Armourfast models.
Tow-cable eyelets added to all six U.S. Shermans [1].
Scrtach-building a pair of sirens.
The sirens in situ.
Rear lamps were also added.
The M4A2 75mm variants got several tools added at rear.
The M4A3 105mm (centre) have less rear detail; M4A3 75mm (right) sport large stowage bins.
So, if you're looking to build quick/cheap larger forces, Armourfast are, economically, a wise choice. If you find the fun of kit building resides in off-the-shelf hyper detail, buy a different brand. If you like detailing stuff yourself, as I do, then the limitations of these models present an interesting challenge. All told, balancing the lack of detail against value per model, I'd rate these at four stars/balkankreuz.
Halfords matt grey undercoat.
Viewed from the rear.
Humbrol acrylic olive Drab aerosol sprayed on.
And from behind...
So, that's how they look at present. The losing of my Images of War reference - I bought a book dedicated to pictures of Shermans in WWII at the recent Expo, specifically to help me detail these kits - is very galling. I'll return to these at some point soon, to add more stowage, populate them with some figures, add decals, and then, finally, weather them, etc.
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NOTES:
[1] I've built the Armourfast Sherman Firefly variant, a British type, but they're not covered in this post.
Made in 1945, this is a slightly odd movie, set in the Italian theatre of WWII, replete with baritone ballads [1], and lots of soliloquys, ranging from the dumb and banal to the quasi-philosophical.
The opening is presented in an old fashioned storybook style, followed by a quite unrealistically quiet and stable (i.e. no hint of rolling seas, sight or sound wise) amphibious assault scene. Picture quality in the darker opening scenes is pretty poor as well. But actually, I prefer this to those older films where supposed night scenes are clearly shot in daylight.
The basic plot is that a platoon of the Texas Division has been briefed to take possession of a farmhouse held by the Germans. The action comprises of the landing, subsequent air attacks, and the trip inland, with the risks of enemy contact, to reach and take their objective. Within this framework the drama plays out in the form of character development, which makes it quite compelling.
Tyne and Ward have a quick pow-wow, with Archie and Windy listening in.
Dana Andrews is a good solid lead actor, and suits this role.
The recognisable faces are Dana Andrews and a young Lloyd Bridges, but there are plenty of other good characters. Norman Lloyd (who I kind of recognised*) is great as Archimbeau, or Archie, as is John Ireland as 'Windy'. The film is narrated by Burgess Meredith, whom some of us will know better as Penguin, or Rocky Balboa's trainer.
The Penguin (right), in wartime short 'Tail Gunner'.
I felt the film got off to a shaky start, the ballads, poor picture quality, and the lack of realism in the opening scene all hamstringing it somewhat. But it gets better, quite good in fact, once the troops move off the beach; command soon devolves upon Staff Sergeants Tyne and Ward (Andrews and Bridges, respectively), as the soldiers work inland towards their objective, a German held farmhouse.
Windy, the film's poet-philosopher.
Archie, sardonic but likeable.
Like many war films of its kind, it's an ensemble piece, populated by a variety of characters.
There are the wise-cracking Noo Yoik buddies, privates Rivera and Friedman, who continually rib each other, and tease those they perceive to be hayseeds or dumbos. Porter is the Sarge who cracks up after replacement leader Lt. Rand is killed, and command proves too heavy a burden. Pfc. 'Windy' is the voice of philosophy, frequently soliloquising quite eloquently, often in imaginary drafts of letters to his sweetheart back home.
Whilst some of the characterisation is rather formulaic, and there are some annoying catchphrases and period lingo, the banter is actually better than average, with the soldiers mocking each other, sometimes to the point of bullying. It's the kind of macho banter that groups of men really do have recourse to, and feels entirely plausible.
Director Lewis Milestone [2] and star Dana Andrews in step on location.
Once the movie hits it's stride (boom-boom) A Walk In The Sun proves to be a good film, capturing both the ennui of the downtime that comprises so much of wartime, and also the confusion and isolation, with the resultant difficulty of knowing what to do, when combat ensues. It also shows the fears, gripes, stresses and so on, that war naturally brings on.
As is typical of WWII flicks made during and for some time after the war, use is made of stock footage. And elsewhere budgetary constraints are suggested, when action is alluded to but only indirectly shown, such as the Axis air attack on the landing flotilla, early in the film. The use of US materiel mocked up as 'Kraut' armour is also a familiar disappointment of the era, looking as lame and unconvincing to us military history buffs as ever.
A contemporary ad for the film.
Aside from these more minor gripes, I found the only things that really jarred were the 'stirring' ballads, and the often rather strident orchestral soundtrack. But these things also contribute to a certain period charm. [3] Although I do prefer how Beach Red utilises a similar and yet somewhat different approach to the idea of the 'war song'.
The movie Premiers at (?).
A Walk In The Sun was selected, as recently as 2016, for preservation in the national US film archives, as being deemed of sufficient cultural merit. I'd go along with that. Not quite a classic, to my mind. But still well worth watching.
---------- NOTES: [1] The ballads, composed by Millard Lampell and Earl Robinson, are sung by Kenneth Spencer. Interestingly the composers were both left wing, and the singer Afro-American. [2] Amongst Milestone's other directing credits is the original 1930 version of All Quiet On The Western Front. [3] Soundtrack composer, Freddie Rich, was irked that Milestone replaced much of his score with numerous ballads. Test audiences weren't too keen on some of the ballads either, so some were dropped. It seems the music was the difficult issue with this movie!
