JUST CLEARING MY SPARES

Last weekend I was able to clear another batch of figures out of my spares box. This has reduced their number to less than 85 toy soldiers still needing restoration and/or paintwork. Its certainly nice to see boxes condensed and more room space! To be honest, my resolve to paint figures has really slowed down now, mainly due to most of my spare time being spent on the garden, or painting skirting boards and ceilings. At least my home is getting a fresh look!

MGB

WW2 BRITISH PARAS. Here is a small unit of Airfix figures painted up. Will want to do some more detail work on their bases at a later date.

THE POLICE. Picked up this rather rough casting of a British policeman c.1900. To be fair, it cleaned up rather well, and I drilled steel pins into the soles to fix to a suitable base. Got it for £5.25 delivered.

As a follow-on to the above. I cleared two spare figures. The first is a plastic and metal police conversion c.1940. The second a a Merseyside mounted policeman with their distinctive lance..... not sure the British police ever used lances?

ROYAL ARTILLERY. Paul Watson kindly sent me three Guardsmen in watch cloaks. No plans to raise a contingent but I did see a potential of joining a figure in my collection and forming a company of RA Gunners on sentry duty. I suspect these will be quite useful.

PARTISAN. Found another Airfix commando figure. Might as well draft him into my partisans.

FRENCH MARIN FUSILIER. This was useful, a spare RN rating converted into a French naval figure. It had very poor castings of the arms so replacing them with something better was on the cards. With this figure complete I now have a three figure firing section, vital.

Finally, not quite 54mm, more like 45mm, my Insurgent army gained a new figure. One of those cheap plastic figures converted.

WW2 & MODERN, latest additions

Some nice additions, and not too expensive either. First up is a WW2 model of a M3 infantry carrier. I picked it up for £13.50 including delivery. I haven't actually got a United States Army but I do have British, and they also used them. It doesn't stop there, the Soviets and Germans had small numbers too. And variations continued to be in service with a load of countries through the 1970s, including Israel. Its a well made mainly plastic model, but quite heavy.  Will find a method to cover inappropriate emblems, or might just remove them all.

I found a handful of Airfix US Marines. Decided to convert them into Israeli Military Police as I'm prone to raise unusual army formations.

Three more odd/broken figures have furnished a gun crew, could serve as 1970s Israeli or WW2 United States.

Finally, this is a project I enjoyed working on. Last year I picked up five Britains guns for £13.60, and all were listed as broken. Actually, a PAK 38 only had paint scratches, while a second one was just missing its two shafts/legs. Have just constructed some acceptable replacements. As it had lost much of its paintwork, decided to also give it some exotic camouflage.

MGB

INSURGENT WARGAME using cheap plastic toy soldiers

In this wargame dice are thrown each move to determine which side fires first, and this was an important feature to the game.

SCENARIO East African Forces have secured a small town, and also an outpost to the NW. They are expecting an attack but are not aware from which direction(s). All deployments must remain in their positions until the sixth move, but supporting fire is allowed. However, no fire may take place until the insurgent forces fire first, or come into view (12"). For the Insurgent forces, they are obliged to dice their unit deployments.

THE BATTLE

MOVE ONE The attack commenced from the NW when one insurgent group, supported by a technical and HMG, approached the fortified outpost/property. An insurgent artillery piece to the North was also able to give valuable support. The exchange of fire saw the technical driver taken out but casualties were fairly even. In MOVE TWO a well positioned tank, between the town and outpost, opened fire. A direct hit on the technical, gone! However, those in the outpost suffered several casualties and decided to retire. From then on the tank and Insurgent gun exchanged fire. The outpost was occupied in MOVE FIVE. In MOVE SIX the tank took out the artillery piece, and some military police arrived to support those forced out of their position.

MOVE SEVEN saw the general attack on the town by four insurgent groups, mainly coming from the SE. But they were in for a shock. The East African Forces opened up with a field gun, mortar, HMG, LMG, and small arms fire. Six casualties, before they had fired a shot. However, It was now the Insurgent's turn to return fire, and RPGs began to have an impact. One taking out the field gun. 

SHOCKING!

In MOVE EIGHT a RPG fired from the outpost roof scored a six (hit), followed by another six (magazine) which took out the tank between the town and outpost. But it didn't stop there, another RPG (the insurgents had five) hit the other tank with a six, followed by another six....... my mouth opened! Their small arms fire had also been quite effective. Now under attack from three directions, in MOVE NINE a general retreat was ordered in the direction of the SW........ and it wasn't quite orderly. Losses EAF 18, Insurgents 17.

                                           Insurgent groups on the SE slowly approach the town. 

Insurgents take the outpost.

The main attack on the town.

Moving out to engage the main force of insurgents was probably a mistake.

We are pulling out!

SOME THOUGHTS 

They should have been able to hold the town and outpost, but its still a game involving dice. Perhaps the restrictions on the garrison were too limiting for the tanks, unable to utilise their advantages in range? It was also interesting to see the EAF small arms become quite ineffective while withdrawing, the buildings and rushed withdrawal impeded 3-man firing sections finding viable targets. Although still obeying orders, the garrison had to retire as quickly as possible or their losses would have risen sharply.

MGB

INSURGENT ARMY (Contemporary)

As a follow-on to my previous post, here is the opposition for my contemporary Ugandan army. I've used the same cheap plastic Chinese figures, in 42mm scale, but have applied milliput to produce distinct headscarves. The insurgent army is divided into five groups (6-8 figs.). Each group includes a light MG, and a RPG. The latter were WW2 bazookas converted with bits from my spares box, I think they look the part. 

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5

This toy truck was picked up in a charity shop for £1.50. The heavy MG was made of plasticard and metal bits.

Insurgent artillery piece. Constructed from a broken W. Britains battalion gun, picked up very cheaply. 

A handful more of these figures arrived in the French toy soldier box recently uploaded, they furnished the crew for the technical, and the artillery piece seen above.

MGB