All of these are figures
I modeled and cast myself . Most of these I painted over nine
years ago. I think originally I made 13 figure battalions. Since then,
however, I have changed to 15 figure battalions. So, somewhere along the line,
I painted up a few more to bring them all up to strength.
Both of the German regiments I have done so far opposed the
4th Canadian Division and the north end of Vimy Ridge (Because that’s
where I started with the Vimy Project).
(Remember: click on the pictures
for a bigger version)
The 11th Bavarian
Infantry Regiment was part of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry
Division – which was part of Gruppe Souchez and occupied the very north end of
the Ridge. It’s partner regiment (14th Bavarian Infantry Regiment)
occupied “The Pimple” - a heavily fortified knoll just north of Vimy Ridge –
which the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade attacked a day or two after
the assault of Vimy Ridge.
I/11th Bavarian
Infantry Regiment
II/11th Bavarian Infantry
Regiment
III/11th Bavarian
Infantry Regiment
I know machine-guns were
integral to German infantry battalions, but I’m not sure how to represent them
in the game – when I ran it at Mayday
2007 I just had all the machine-guns in bunkers. I may do the same
this time around, but at some point I should probably pick up some MG teams.
I also have a few Trench
Mortars… but I’m not sure how they fit into the organization. I know there were
a few on Hill 145 – because I read somewhere one of the taskings of the
Canadian Trench Mortar batteries was to drop smoke on hill 145 to keep the
German Trench mortars from being able to observe the advance of the Canadians
on the Ridge. It seems later in 1917 there was a Trench Mortar Company in each
Division and Platoons in each Regiment…? But where did they show up in the
organization earlier? For now I guess I’ll just shoot for one or two per
division.
Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
261st Reserve
Infantry Regiment
What company are those guys from?
ReplyDeleteGreat work btw.
Thanks!
DeleteThese ones are all figures that I made myself. I modelled the masters, made the molds, and cast them.
SERIOULSY!? OMG TIM YOU'RE KILLING ME!
DeleteThis is how my hobby life goes...
"Okay, I got this, 45 Grey Knights to paint."
"Alright, got five done, lets look at some blog posts."
"OH COME ON! He made his own models and painted ten times what I did!"
For what it's worth, I actually painted these alomst ten years ago - I just never posted pictures of them together as a unit. I posted them mostly because I was putting the pictures in the Great War Gallery, so I thought I'd use the pictures in a post as well.
DeleteBeautiful minis, well done!
ReplyDeleteMerci, Phil!
DeleteNice painting, are all the Germans going to be your own cast figures?
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain!
DeleteMOST of the Germans will be my own castings - mostly because now that I've got the molds, it's relatively inexpensive to do so. It takes time, but, I have time. I have picked up a few MG and Mortar and Artillery teams and a few staff officer and other specialist troops, but the bulk of the infantry will be my own.
On close inspection of them, they are not the nicest figures out there - but quantity has a quality of it's own - when there are a few hundred of them scattered across a giant model of the ridge, no one will notice how wonky they are...
Great work Tim...they look outstanding. I literally just read an essay this morning on the German forces at Vimy from the book "Vimy Ridge - A Canadian Reassessment" edited by Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold. In his essay 'The German Army At Vimy Ridge', Andrew Godefroy indicates that by 1917 (and certainly for Vimy Ridge) each infantry battalion were able to form a platoon of 2 light trench mortars. His footnote references "Stormtoop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918" by B.I. Gudmundsson.
ReplyDeleteA long comment, but I hope it helps.
That does help, Stanley. Thank you very much! Perhaps I will look to coming up with 1-2 stands per regiment, rather than 1-2 per division.
DeleteSuperb work. Must be a great feeling to beable to put you own (in every sense of the word) figures on the table.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Nice work on sculpting and casting the Germans. Easter is coming!
ReplyDeleteFYI: This was the regiment in which Heinrich Himmler served as an officer candidate. He was in the reserve battalion.
ReplyDeleteHuh. Crazy. Any idea when he served with the regiment?
Delete