The Staghound: Part One

So, I picked up a Harlequin/Black Tree Design Staghound off ebay. I knew I had seen it listed… somewhere… as part of the arsenel of items the Canadian Army used in World War Two… it was a good deal… so I bid, and won it. It arrived last week some time.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Nice big solid heavy model… Not really sure where all those bits go just yet… and some of the parts look like they don’t quite fit seamlessly together (understatement) and will require a fair bit of modeling experience and expertise to put together. Luckily I have said experience and expertise (what I lack is time!). If I’d pickedup a model like this twenty (or even ten) years ago – it would have looked like crap when it was done. It might still…

I do like that it comes with some stowage. I also have a couple commonwealth turret crew from another ebay purchase which I will be adding.

Maybe I’ll do a bit of a step-by-step assembly and painting series of posts…?

Anyway, looking up the Staghound I found that it was used in Army Corps armoured car regiments. That would be the 1st Armoured Car Regiment (Royal Canadian Dragoons), for the 1st Canadian Army Corps, or the 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons) for the 2nd Canadian Army Corps. As all my other stuff is being modeled as elements of the 2nd Canadian Army Corps, I guess that will make this a Staghound from the 12th Manitoba Dragoons (18th Armoured Car Regiment).

Now my first big question is: What the heck did a CORPS level armoured car reconnaissance unit do!? I take they weren’t out on the sharp end trying to determine the location of the enemy…? I figure that would be the Armoured and Infantry Division’s reconnaissance unit’s job… Were they just for scouting out new locations for the Corps HQs? Providing a little defense and security for the Corps HQ? Seriously, anybody out there have any ideas…?

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to google the Dragoons – they’re probably a militia unit now, and often they have their own websites. Some of the better ones have unit histories and stuff…

Well, what do you know…

12th Manitoba Dragoons

Hmmmm… not much about what they actually DID with their Staghounds…


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably WON’T be updates on the Staghound… but you never know…

Tidied up the painting table again last night. Cleared off all the distractions. I did a bit of stock-taking last night and counted up all my WW2 era stuff (including the “pulp adventure” 20s/30s stuff) and found I have about 1240!? (I was a little shocked too!) Of that about three quarters are painted. I have 455 infantry figures to paint. If I managed to paint them all in the next four months I’d achieve the goal of at least painting more 28mm foot than I purchased… Let’s not talk about the tanks…

The first items I’m finishing up are the Armed Civilians and a handful of Canadians to finish up the first platoon. Watch for those in the next couple days.

I might get started on this Staghound. It’s probably not going to be particularly useful… but…

Um... some more tanks arrived today (late war German - 2x PzkwIVH, 2x Panther, 1x Tiger). I heard a rumor that West Wind Productions might be doing the same sale again next week... and I may just have to pick up a couple T-34s...