Going through my spares box I found ten plastic Afrika Korps figures, Matchbox toy soldiers. Having no plans to fight the WW2 Desert War I was somewhat at a loss how to use these, and considered passing them on. However, viewing photographs of German troops captured in the Italian campaign showed fair numbers were still using uniform items from the North African campaign, so here was a possible use. But I still didn't want a generic unit in desert colours. I'm no authority on WW2 uniforms but the Hermann Goering unit (it started off as a battalion but ended up as a division) offered some leeway for a distinctly coloured formation on the table. Having been part of the Luftwaffe, an armoured formation, and serving in numerous theatre's, it could be painted up as something quite distinct from my other German units, so no confusion on the wargames table!
MGB
PS. OK, the Luftwaffe blue shirts might be a slight liberty.
Wonderful paint work as always! I find the fact that you pay attention to the soles of the boots a nice touch as we ll. It's a small thing, but it does make more of a difference than I would have guessed.
ReplyDeleteCheers John, I'm not sure I would bother in 28mm but they were quite visible in 54mm so slapped on two brush strokes on each foot. When I was using a darker tone I divided the heal from the sole with a line. I paint by conveyor belt systems, it took less than two minutes to complete the addition. I'm just pleased I've got my third German WW2 infantry unit out of something which was unlikely to be otherwise used.
DeleteMichael
They look great as usual Michael! I think that you are allowed to take liberties when the end product comes out as beautifully as these figures did! And I would say, if they didn't wear blue shirts, maybe they should have!
ReplyDeleteGreat comment Brad, thank you. Yes, I agree, and if you are going to spend time painting toy soldiers, you want them to look colourful. Subject to a local market trader turning up on Saturday, and she still has some cheap Chinese copies of copies, I may have an exiting project. I will disclose more if she still has them, and they only cost a few quid. (It has the potential of being a first, I think.)
DeleteMichael