Monday, May 11, 2020

Brécourt Manor - Part 8 - The Troops


I have managed to paint all the figures for the game. All the minis came from Adler's 6mm WWII range.

 

I was faced with a bit of a challenge as these are 6mm figures and are more frequently based as units on large bases. However because most of the game revolves around the battle in the German trenches I needed to base the figures singly and on bases small enough to fit into the trench. This meant 8mm circular bases.

I reviewed using washers but this was more costly than using MDF although the bases were thinner. Although the MDF was 2mm high this enabled me to paint the edges a variety of colours so I could distinguish one unit or formation from the others. 

Having played a few games with this now, I can confirm the figures are fiddly to move and fall over more than I would like. However because the game uses a small number of figures and the Germans are fairly static its manageable but I wouldn’t recommend it for games much bigger than this.

 


The German forces are a mixture of artillery crew, MMGs and infantry. I decided each gun would be served by 8 figures and used 6 Adler gun crew in various poses and 2 infantry figures. 


The bases were edged with paint based using white, greys and black to distinguish them on the board.

The same figure from 4 different gun crews, distinguishable by the paint on the edge of the base

 For the MMGs I used a mix of Adler’s deployed teams and entrenched figures.

 

I also painted a HQ strip, but am not sure I will end up using it yet.

Finally I painted a range of infantry figures that will make up a squad of reinforcements that arrive towards the end of the game.

 

All included the Germans get to field 50 soldiers.

 

The Americans are mostly paratroopers with a couple of MMGs. The bases were painted in various shades of green to distinguish units.

 

I used rifle armed firing figures for Lipton and Ranney. 

I used vaguely command figures for the 3 lieutenants - Winters, Compton and Speirs. Along with the white stripe on their helmets I painted another on the base.

 


The remaining paratroopers were a variety of non aiming riflemen. 

Finally the MMG teams were painted in both deployed and carried versions. 

The US start with 13 figures and increase to 19. They have a tough job to do!


Next time I’ll talk about the finishing touches and camouflage netting before finally ending with photos and potentially an AAR from a game run over the internet.

 

Keep rolling the dice!

 

Charles the Modeller

6 comments:

  1. This is absolutely brilliant. The table is really beautiful, is it all glued down or some sort of cloth draped over the terrain?

    I like the bases and the high edge, surprisingly cool. Easy to distinguish the Germans (in grey?) from the Americans too. I hadn't considered single-basing 6mm infantry, figured it would be too hard, too much work moving things around etc, but it looks really cool. I had considered buying some 15mm BF miniatures and single-basing them, just because I think it looks awesome with so many tiny guys running around on single bases!

    I put in an order with Adler two days ago (my first), a bunch of Soviets. Curious to see how they compare to Scotia Grendel's which were... really poor to be honest. The cavalry was a nice sculpt, but the Japanese WW2 infantry was just bad. The moulds must be old or the casting poor, because they all looked like ants (interconnected blobs) with missing limbs everywhere. Though now that I have painted them you can at least discern the bodyparts. The lying-down poses are actually good, but a large proportion are soldiers standing at salute (is that the term?), no idea what to do with those.

    From what I can tell, Adler's look amazing. They're also chunkier, priced the same or maybe cheaper, not sure, and the shipping is way more reasonable. I think I paid about $2 (within EU) for a few hundred minis This means I can make many smaller orders without being bothered by shipping. At Scotia I felt like I should save on shipping by making one big order, but the quality is hit-or-miss, so I don't want to do that either!

    Also really hoping Heroics & Ros opens up soon.

    Anyway, awesome table and minis. I'm gonna go check out the rest of your blog.

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    1. Hello Mirrorbird and thank you for commenting!

      The table base is fine turf by woodland scenics layered and glued down onto the board.
      The figures needed a high base because I need to separate and distinguish between different units in the game. They have worked out very well I think. I would think long and hard about basing 6mm individually because it does get very fiddly. In this game there are only a small number of US figures and the Germans are fairly static so it is possible to play the game without getting frustrated.

      I love Adler figures and have a large Russian WW2 army. You will not be disappointed!

      H&R are open as I understand it but they are cycling through the ranges that are available to manage orders better. Keep checking in with them.

      Thanks and enjoy my blog!

      CtM

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  2. How big is that board? Looks impressive but with that much work I would have to be sure it would see lots of games. Great ideas though. I may steal some but apply it to sections of terrain which can be applied to different tables as needed. Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stephen, the board is 900mm by 600mm, or 3ft by 2ft. I intend to use this as for a participation game at UK shows when we’re allowed to do that again so it should see some action. Please steal away! Thanks for the thumbs up and for commenting!

      CtM

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  3. Are the figures for the All Hell Let Loose rules? I thought infantry was based on bases of 4 to 8 figures for those rules. It looks very impressive, great work.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Lord of the Western Keep, thank you for the thumbs up! You are correct, normally with All Hell Let Loose infantry are based with more figures on a base, however there are options in the rules for playing at different troop representations. I have tweaked the rules slightly for this game which highlights the flexibility of the system. It's a small game with a small number of figures so I wouldn't normally recommend this for 6mm! It will however let me take a cool board and game to wargame shows at some point. Thanks!

      CtM

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