King Tiger Moving to the Front

Normandy, Summer of '44. The first Tiger II tanks are starting to be deployed in the field. Here we have one of the very first ones moving towards the front to help with the fighting around Caen. The Tiger II was a formidable tank in terms of armor and armament. With its powerful 88mm gun, it could knock out enemy tanks at ranges up to 3km and there are anecdotes of it taking over 24 hits in one action without being destroyed. However its reliability left much to be desired. In some units, more Tiger IIs were lost due to mechanical problems, and subsequently blown up to avoid capture, than were lost in combat. Bombing raids on the factories also prevented it from being deployed in large enough numbers, with less than 500 manufactured, compared to about 1500 Tiger I's and close to 9000 Panzer IV's. Later on, fuel problems caused many of them to be abandoned.

The Tank commander getting directions towards his objective.

The grenadiers marching along will provide some useful infantry cover when they go into action.

Good thing this is a stone bridge.

Weighing in at about 75 tons, not every bridge is able to support this behemoth.

Click here to see some pictures of German Infantry in action.
Click here to see some German Armor in action.

The models in these pictures are:

Forces of Valor King Tiger Tank and 21st Century Toys German Infantry.

Banzai Charge - US Marines and Japanese Infantry in Action

Guadalcanal, Fall of  '42. The American Marine garrison is isolated in this far away island. The Japanese high command wants to quickly eliminate this thorn on its side and severely underestimates the American capabilities which have improved substantially since Wake Island and the Philippines campaign. The Japanese military doctrine, built around the ancient Samurai code of Bushido, believes that fighting spirit alone is enough to overcome their 'softer' adversaries and fails to understand that weaponry, logistics, tactics, and leadership also play a very important role in 20th century warfare. As such, they send thousands of their countrymen to their deaths in full-frontal atacks which are terribly costly relative to the damage that they cause. These attacks became known as Banzai Charges because of the Japanese battle cry 'Banzai!'. Here is how one might have unfolded.
 

American Marines, aware of the Japanese tendency for surprise attacks, watchfully man their perimeter.

Japanese Infantry, experts in infiltration techniques, stealthily approach the American lines.

A few Marines pick up some light sounds and begin to get ready for what might be coming up.

Suddenly the jungle explodes with cries of  'Banzai!!' and bursts of gunfire.

The Japanese officers lead from the front, sables in hand, like their Samurai forefathers.

Their colors follow shortly behind, corageously heading into what might be their last charge ever.

The American men, hearing the sounds of battle, rush to man their positions.

However, it is hard to see the enemy through the dense jungle.

The Marines take some random shots into the jungle.

And throw grenades in the direction of the oncoming cries and enemy fire.

Suddenly, the first Japanese soldiers appear in front of them.

They come charging with fixed bayonets...

Taking shots....

And firing from the hip as they rush forward.

In a few seconds they are on top of the Marine outposts...

...and a savage  life and death struggle ensues.

Luckily, the outposts have managed to call back to the Marine's main line of defense.

But within a few minutes it's all over for the men at the outposts.

Nonetheless, the struggle at the outposts has bought the Marines enough time to shift men from another sector of the line to meet the Japanese attack.

A .30 caliber machine gun is rushed to the threatened sector.

And the men at the line are ready.

The Japanese continue to press forward with the attack, at the height of their battle fever.

Suddenly they come into full view of the defenders.

Where they finally meet their end.

Featured figures: Airfix Japanese Infantry, Atlantic Japanese Infantry, Glencoe Japanese Infantry, Marx Japanese Infantry, MPC Japanese Infantry, Toy Soldiers of San Diego Japanese Infantry, TSSD Japanese Infantry, BMC Marines, Glencoe Marines, Marx Marines, Toy Soldiers of San Diego Marines, TSSD Marines. Not featured: BMC Japanese Infantry and CTS Japanese Infantry.

British Infantry - Part I

Here is a peek into what I am currently working on. It is a painted set of 50 British Infantry figures. As you might recall, I like to keep the poses unique and sometimes not all the poses from a given manufacturer 'make the cut' as far as the quality of the sculpting. You might also notice that I am only painting 50 figures instead of 100 as I did with some of the other sets. This is partly due to time constraints, partly because there aren't that many unique poses for this country/branch of the military, and partly because playing a war-game with 100 figures + vehicles, tends to take quite a bit of time, so 50 seems a good number. Another thing to note is that this is an expansion from about 12 figures that I had originally painted about 10 years back, and therefore you might see some of them at different stages of painting. As far as when they will be done, I am not sure as lately I have been doing a lot more blogging and a lot less painting, but eventually you will be able to see the finished product. Alright, so let's get to it.

Airfix British Infantry

Except for the guy who is standing firing, these poses are very dynamic. One of my favorite sets. They are also among the original squad that I had painted a few years back. That was before I learned how to give them their protective coats, so over the years they got chipped and needed a touch-up. You might also notice a glossy finish which I don't really like. By the time I am done, it will be gone. The other thing that will change is that originally all the webbing for their equipment was beige, but I later noticed that British Infantry also had green webbing, so I decided to switch to that color.

Airfix British Infantry Heavy Weapons Set

As you can see, only a subset of the figures are represented here.

Click here to see the rest of the guys who did not make the 'paint cut'

Atlantic British Infantry

There are 10 figures in the original set, but some of them are a bit stiff, and some of them, like the guy carrying his wounded buddy shown in a post a couple of weeks back, are not really action poses that lend themselves to a table-top war-game. Click here to see the rest of the Atlantic figures.

BMC British Infantry

To be more precise, these guys are British 8th Army Infantry, but they round up the 50 figures well. Their sculpting seems nicer than that of the other figures from the other sets that did not make the cut.

Click here to see the rest of the British BMC figures.

Britains Herald British Infantry - Part I

Based on the weapons they are carrying these guys seem to be post-WWII figures, but their poses are nice enough that I couldn't resist being a purist and I drafted them into the WWII Army. 

Britains Herald British Infantry - Part II

Britain's Herald figures were produced from the 1950's to the 1980's, some of the later ones made in Hong Kong. You can tell some of the newer ones from the base which is not part of the figure but attached to it.

Click here to see a couple more figures from Britians Herald.

Marx British Infantry

A classic set. A bit slim for my taste, but nonetheless a nice addition to the unit.

Matchbox British Infantry - Part I

The Bren gunner is one of my favorite ones. For some reason the flamethrower guy tends to be harder to find than the rest.

Matchbox British Infantry - Part II

The officer with the sheepskin coat is turning out nicely.

Weston British Infantry

New production by Steve Weston. Overall a nicely sculpted set. The only thing to criticize is how wide the helmets are. Some of them remind me of the helmets used by the Star Wars men protecting the Emperor.

Finished British Infantry

This is how the whole unit looks after I finished painting them and gave them their protective coats.

Click here to see the British Infantry in action against the Waffen SS.

Click here to see other unpainted or factory painted British Infantry figures.



River Mission Part III - British Commandos

In this third installment of our River Mission series we have a team made up by a Matchbox British Commando (rower) and an Airfix British Commando. As you can see, the two figures complement each other well and it is not immediately obvious that they were made by different manufacturers. As typical for these highly trained and skilled, all-volunteer special forces troops, they have embarked on a daring and challenging mission, where stealth and suprise will play a key role. Hopefully they'll be able to keep that Bren gun quiet as they move downstream towards their mission's rendezvous point.

Struggle at the farmhouse - 21st Century GIs in Action

Italy, spring of '44. The allied invasion of of the italian mainland is underway. The going up the boot is getting tougher and tougher as the allied forces come up against the Gustav Line. Here a squad of 21st Century Toys GIs find themselves defending an American outpost setup on an abandoned farmhouse. Isolated from their main body, they must hang on until help arrives.

For this squad of GI's, it's all coming down to fighting for this piece of real estate.

The men are at the ready.

The deploy an all-around defense as the enemy can come from any direction.

The wait is long and the surroundings feel eerily quiet.

All of a sudden, all hell breaks loose.

The enemy is attacking in company-size strength.

First the attack seems to focus on the left front.

Is it just me or are there too many guys pointing out targets, and not enough laying down fire?

A hail of semi-automatic fire greets the attackers on the left.

On the right a few well-placed grenades are keeping the enemy at bay. 

All of a sudden the back is also under attack. Men rush to reinforce that wall.

A fearsome flamethrower is already there doing its best to deter the enemy.

A few rocks is all that stands between these GIs and the enemy that surrounds them. Help is underway but it will take at least a couple hours of climbing through arduous terrain.

Will they be able to hold until then?

Click here to see more pictures of painted GIs.

Click here to see some more GIs.

Here are some pictures of GIs in action in Normandy.