Bunkers on a budget

If you ever feel like setting up your own Siegfried or Maginot Line or an Atlantic Wall to storm from the Normandy beaches, or simply find yourself in need of bunkers, one solution which I have come across which is both cost-effective and produces structures of acceptable realism is to use the styrofoam that comes as protection with TVs, computers, printers, etc. It often comes with round corners and colum-looking shapes which resemble a concrete structure. With a little bit of spray paint and cutting a couple of firing slots you can have a fairly decent-looking bunker in very little time and for almost no cost (other than the new TV!). Here are a few examples that I built a few years back.

Sometimes the challenge is finding something to cover the openings in the front that looks acceptable and provides protection to the defending troops.

Some of them also have pits on top which make great observation posts.

This one has some nice lines and shapes.

They are also fairly sturdy. This one shows quite a few marble impact marks from all the attempts in past battles to knock out the guys inside.

This one is not the prettiest, but one day I found myselft with eight of these and well, they got pressed into service.

This one had a hole on top which got filled with an observation tower, or perhaps it's a chimney stack? This building has also played the part of a factory at Stalingrad. Note that a small piece of cardboard acts as a platform for the firing slots on the second level. 

Click here to see shots of Waffen SS troops defending some bunkers.

Making a stand at the Siegfried Line - German Waffen-SS in Action

As the pressure on the Western front builds up, the German Army falls back to the pepared positions at the Siegfried Line or Westwall, as the Germans used to call it, where its unbreachability will be put to the test. These are the gates to the Fatherland, so the defenders will be putting up a stiff fight.

The setup is a primarily a combination of Conte Collectibles bunkers & dragon's teeth with Forces of Valor accessories. The defenders are a mix of Conte and Toy Soldiers of San Diego.  

Firing from behind whatever cover is available.

A man with a panzerfaust waiting for the right moment to spring the trap.

A Forces of Valor elephant providing some anti-tank support at this roadblock. The real roadblock gates at the Siegfried line looked like this.

Urging the men forward.

MG 42 team pinning down the supporting infantry.

Scanning the battlefield for his next target or just being cautions moving up? The heavy caliber guns loom menacing inside the bunkers in the background. Those will be a tougher nut to crack.

It will require some combat engineers to blow up these obstacles to allow any wide vehicles through.

This Airfix tower is not the place where you would want to have to fight from, but it provides a better vantage point, and it might force the opponent to take it out early, revealing that the attack is coming.   

A slightly wider view of the action.  

Click here to see close ups of the Waffen SS troops.

Here are some shots of Waffen SS troops in action against the British.

Featured figures: Conte Collectibles Waffen SS, Conte Collectibles German Infantry, Toy Soldiers of San Diego Waffen SS, TSSD Waffen SS, TSSD Elite Troops. Featured Vehicle: Forces of Valor Elephant.

US Armor: The Priest

The Priest, also known as the 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7, was a self propelled artillery piece manufactured by the US and put into service on the allied side. The Priest saw action starting in North Africa with the British, and later on with the Americans in Italy and the Normandy campaigns. It was the British that apparently gave it its nickname because of the machine gunner's 'pulpit'. Eventually the British developed their own self-propelled artillery which was compatible with their ammunition and they transformed their Priests into gunless Armored Personnel Carriers, which they referred to as Kangaroos. A Kangaroo could fit 20 men plus a two-man crew. Somehow I don't think 20 of my guys would fit in there, even if I were to remove the gun. One thing I wonder about self propelled artillery is how hard it is to aim and make adjustments, since to aim left or right, they probably have to drive with one track slightly backwards or forwards. This Priest was made by 21st Century Toys, and even though the box was branded as 'die cast', it is pretty much made out of plastic. Even so, it is a nice vehicle. I've actually seen it in a different paint scheme with slightly smaller stars that have a circle around them, and the name Annamae written on the side. This vehicle comes with two figures: a driver and a gunner.

Click here to check out other US Vehicles

Click here to see pictures of more US Armor.

Click here to see some shots of GIs in action in Normandy.

US Artillery Support

This crew comes to us courtesy of Forces of Valor. They are operating a 105mm howitzer. This is the same gun that was mounted on the M7 'Priest', which was the self propelled version of this gun. There are not many artillery pieces and even fewer crews in the WWII plastic world, and Forces of Valor certainly did a nice job with this set.

Click here to see some pictures of GIs in action in Normandy.

Here are some shots of GIs in action in Italy.

Here you can see a description of 'The Priest'.

Here you can see pictures of US Armor.

Hand-Painted vs Factory-Painted

The attractive thing about adding some factory-painted figures to your ranks is that well, they are already painted so it can save you many hours of work. The downside is of course that not all paint jobs are created equal. There is likely to be a big difference in colors and level of detail across manufacturers, and also with your own painting standards. Then again, perhaps the time savings outweigh those differences, or perhaps you can actually buy enough factory-painted guys to create a fighting unit sufficiently large that does not need to include figures with another paint scheme so you avoid the issue altogether.
To illustrate the differences in paint colors and level of detail I have prepared a few shots of factory and hand-painted figures. Take a look and be the judge.

GIs (left to right): 21st Century mortar crewman, 21st Century infantryman, Forces of Valor, Toy Soldiers of San Diego (hand-painted), First Gear (Recent Britains Deetail Recasts), Original Britains Deetail. A wide range of colors. Quality-wise, the thing that I least like are the eyes on the First Gear figure. It is very easy to do a bad job on the eyes, and that's why I don't even try. Plus, at the distance that you usually look at them you don't really get to see much of the eyes anyhow.

Soviet: 21st Century Toys, Supreme Playsets (Italeri Recasts), Marx (hand-painted), 21st Century Toys, Supreme Playsets. The paint job on the Supreme Playset guys is really poor, except for the eyes, which are surprisingly well done. They probably did this to compensate for the sloppy job on the rest of the figure.

Japanese: First Gear, 21st Century Toys, Britains Deetail, Airfix (hand-painted). I have to admit that I like the paint job on the 21st Century figure much more than my own.

German Infantry: 21st Century Toys (initial series), Forces of Valor, 21st Century Toys (late series), Britains Deetail, First Gear. I don't know what they were thinking when they chose light blue for the Britains Deetail guys. Once I read that Britains Deetail would try to use only six colors on their figures, but in this case I don't even think that can be used as the excuse. On the other hand, the 21st Century guy in the middle is really among the best factory painted jobs and a real improvement over their initial series.

German Paratroops: 21st Century on left and right, Airfix (hand-painted), middle. The one on the left is wearing a cammo jumping smock. The one on the right is probably meant to be wearing the early war colors, but his colors don't really resemble those I found when I researched how to paint my Airfix guys. 

Here you can see pictures of hand-painted GIs.

Here are some shots of hand-painted German Paratroops in action.

Featured figures: 21st Century Toys US Infantry, Forces of Valor US Infantry, TSSD US Infantry, Toy Soldiers of San Diego US Infantry, First Gear US Infantry, Britains Deetail US Infantry,  21st Century Toys Soviet Infantry, Supreme Playsets Soviet Infantry, Italeri Soviet Infantry, Marx Soviet Infantry, 21st Century Toys Japanese Infantry, First Gear Japanese Infantry, Britains Deetail Japanese Infantry, Airfix Japanese Infantry, 21st Century Toys German Infantry, Forces of Valor German Infantry, Britains Deetail German Infantry, First Gear  German Infantry, 21st Century Toys German Paratroops, Airfix German Paratroops