Great War - British Tanks

Repainted some tanks that have been sitting in a box for over a decade. I had this idea of doing A little campaign of seven to ten battles based on the Last 100 Days of the Great War using Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames. I've had the rules for ages and wanted to try them out. I've had the tanks even longer... I

 figured I'd paint them up as the first battle of the campaign would be Amiens and tanks featured fairly prominently in that battle, if I recall... the 4th Tank Brigade - with its 140+ MkV tanks were in support of the Canadian Corps. 

I have no idea if these are MkV tanks... I can't be bothered to figure out the differences... It's a British tank in the Great War, they all look pretty much alike... 

Two British tanks of the Great War - I don't know the Mk (I do know they are "male" and "female" varieties - a breeding pair!). I don't know the manufacturer of the models. 

Tanks supported by infantry (for scale). 

Yes, if you look close there are parts that are broken or missing. I COULD have tried manufacturing some... but that seemed like too much work for something that's probably going to see action in one game and then go back in a drawer never to be used again... and when I have SO MANY OTHER THINGS I'd also like to be painting that MIGHT get used... potentially could be used... 

Never say "never", I guess, though. If ever I DO think I'll get to using these on a slightly more regular basis... I'll fix them up a bit better! For now, they are DONE! 

Great War British/Canadian Figure Comparison

Now that I have samples painted of (insofar as I know) every manufacturer of Great War British (late war) infantry (which I am of course using as Canadians) I thought I’d post some figure comparison pictures – because many miniature gamers are very concerned about such things. I’m not as concerned as others… )although I did recently pick up some 6mm Sci Fi infantry I thought I might use as proxy Imperial Guardsmen and though they are lovely figures, they are taller than the GW Space Marines that I have… so… I’m not so sure I’ll be using them…).

There is at least one other manufacturer of Great War British that I can think of – but in that particular case they only do early war (the the SD caps) and were of no use to me.

Manufacturers represented here include:

Wargames Foundry

Old Glory

1st Corps

Brigade Games

Irregular Miniatures

Great War Miniatures

Gripping Beast/Woodbine Designs

Renegade Miniatures

I have also included the Great War Canadian figures that I modelled, moulded and cast myself - just for interests sake. 

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

Officers (from left to right): Scarab Miniatures, one of my own, Renegade Miniatures, Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, 1st Corps, Renegade Miniatures, Great War Miniature, Brigade Games, Old Glory, Irregular Miniatures, and Wargames Foundry.

I don't actually have any UNITS of Great War British (or Canadians) by Scarab Miniatures, but I do have the one pack of officers, so I thought I'd include him in the line-up.

Lewis Gunners (from left to right): Renegade Miniatures, one of my own,  Great War Miniatures, 1st Corps, Brigade Games, Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design,  Old Glory, Wargames Foundry, and Irregular Miniatures.



Most manufacturers also make a No.2 or Loader for the Lewis Gun. From left to right-ish we have Great War Miniatures,  1st Corps (slightly behind), Brigade Games (in the middle up front), Renegade Miniatures (in the middle at the back), Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, and Wargames Foundry.



Old Glory doesn't make a loader, but they do make their lewis gunners in standing and prone firing positions. The standing one is meant for using in a trench - with a bipod out front to prop up on the parapet - where the prone one is meant for use on the advance out in no-man's-land. I'm not a HUGE fan of prone firing light machine-guns - or light machine-gun TEAMS - largely because they take up more space than they really need to on the tabletop. They are useless in trenches and buildings - or at least they look SILLY in trenches and buildings. They also don't fit into my uniform storage system very well. At least Old Glory makes some kneeling figures so there is at least some gradation within the unit, which is more than I can say for some other manufacturers...

 

Like, say, Brigade Games... Their packs include one team advancing and one that is prone and firing. I could be a little more forgiving if their other packs included figures that are kneeling... but then don't. They don't even include any other figures that are FIRING!? It's prone firing machine-guns and everyone else is just advancing, like they're on a stroll through the park...  and they ain't cheap. At least with Old Glory, they're (relatively) inexpensive and you get a pack of TEN Lewis Gunners - five prone and firing, five that are standing and firing - enough to have one of each available for each unit, depending on whether they are defending or attacking!?



What's even worse is that even though they make highlanders - they don't make highlanders with Lewis Guns (or at least didn't at the time, I haven't bothered to go back and check) so I had to convert one out of one of the prone teams!? 

Bombers (from left to right): one of my own, Renegade Miniatures, Great War Miniatures, Brigade Games, 1st Corps,  Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, Irregular Miniatures, Old Glory, and two from Wargames Foundry.

Firing (from left to right): one of my own, Renegade Miniatures, Great War Miniatures, 1st Corps,  Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, Old Glory, Irregular Miniatures, and Wargames Foundry.

Brigade Games doesn't seem to have any firing miniatures - well, other than their Lewis Gun team. All of their other miniatures are upright and advancing. Which further makes me wonder WHY they had to include a prone Lewis Gun team!? 

Advancing (from left to right): one of my own, Renegade Miniatures, Great War Miniatures, 1st Corps, Brigade Games,  Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, Old Glory, Irregular Miniatures, and Wargames Foundry.

Two advancing figures from Great War Miniatures. People often ask me: "which is your favourite?" I find it hard to pick, I like all of them... well... most of them. I like some things about some, other things about others. This picture above illustrates one of the reasons I think overall I like Great War Miniatures the best - beyond the clean, easy-to-paint details - it's the little extra things like shovels and picks - that you see being carried in pictures of assaulting troops - that give the guys just a little bit of character. 

Kneeling (from left to right): Renegade Miniatures, two from Old Glory, Wargames Foundry, Irregular Miniatures, fur from Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design

I don't seem to have any kneeling figures from 1st Corps, Brigade Games, or Great War Miniatures - and I never did make any myself. Generally, for modern-ish wars, I don't mind kneeling figures at all - In fact if there are prone and standing miniatures in the same unit I'd really rather there also be a few kneeling guys - so there is some gradation within the unit. Though for the Great War, if you're using trenches, guys that are kneeling and firing in trenches look a bit odd... or course prone guys inside trenches are even worse... 

I included two from Old Glory because they had one thing that I don't think anyone else had - a rifle grenadier. I also included four from Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design because... well... because they HAD a lot of different poses - all of which I though were great. 

Casualties
First row, prone, left to right: Old Glory, Gripping Beast/WoodbineDesigns, Great War Miniatures
Second row, standing, from left to right: Wargames Foundry, Great War Miniatures

I did take a separate picture of the different highlanders I have from some of the manufacturers, but then realized I didn't have examples of all the ones I own - Brigade Games was missing - and I don't even have highlanders from some of the manufacturers that produce them, so I decided to not include it at this time.

I do also have figures from Tiger Miniatures for the CSEF (Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force), but I haven’t painted any of them yet and they would never really be mixed in with these I’m using for the western front anyway, so…

Earlier I did a comparison of Great War Vickers Teams. 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The rest of 6th Brigade. 

Another Odd Assortment

I just can’t seem to get focused on any one project and go with it. Here’s what I’ve managed to finish up over the last few weeks…

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

Our  first Mutants and Death Ray Guns game got me briefly motivated to paint up a few old Grenadier post-apocalyptic figures…

I need more “survivors” that AREN’T armed with guns!

I also finished reading Fear and Faith and started reading Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters which briefly motivated me to finish up this Hasslefree Miniatures knock off of Willow.

(I haven’t finished reading Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters as I was distracted by the arrival of Ted Rall’s new book…)

I am thinking I would like to run a few horror games for Halloween.

On that spooky Halloween theme… a Reaper Bones cheap and easy bat swarm.

More Reaper Bones – FIRE!

A few Black Tree Design Ancient Greeks (because that’s what the kids and I are reading about in our survey of world history… Hopefully there will be more of these over the next two months or so…).

Battle Honors Great War British infantryman because… y’know… 100^th anniversary and all that.... (and the Lead Adventure Great War Painting Club) 

Brigade Games Great War Indian Infantryman. Ditto.

Great War Miniatures Great War French cavalry officer.

I have at least been getting in some boardgaming lately – a LOT of boardgaming!

WE finished up reading about ancient Mesopotamia for the time being with a chapeter on NebuchadnezzarII and the hanging gardens he built for his Persian wife Amytis, so we busted out Hanging Gardens.

I also read Shadow Over Innsmouth with the kids – so we busted out Innsmouth Escape - which I’ve had for a few years but was waiting for the stars to be right to play…. (I asked Amanda and the kids to do their best Deep One impression for the photo – Amanda kind of really nailed the Innsmouth look there… almost worries me a little…).

I also recently picked up Cthuhu: Hastur La Vista Baby. The game is set in Kingsport, so I’m trying to think of which Lovecraft tales were set there that I could read with the kids before we crack this one… Any ideas?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Ugh… who knows… at the rate I’m painitng it will be a couple weeks before I post any freshly painted figures… perhaps there will be a game report in the meantime. 

Argonauts and Colonel Lawrence

Wow… I can’t believe I haven’t posted any new figures all month!?

I’ve been working on these a while. Nice to finally have them done and to be able to post them all in one big group.

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

The Argonauts from Wargames Foundry

Jason, Zetes and a couple other Argonauts. (They make a Zetes, but no Calais... I'll have to find another winged fellow for his brother Boread)

More Argonauts

Still more Argonauts

Even MORE Argonauts.

I started making a ship for them a while back… perhaps I should dig that out now and finish it up.

A few dead Argonauts – a few Greek casualties from Warlord Games that I painted up in the same manner as my Argonauts.

Two other random Greeks I happened to finish up at the same time (both from Black Tree Design).

And finally… Colonel T. E. Lawrence from Artizan Designs.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Market Stands and a Despatch Rider

Finished up a few more things last night…

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

Market Stands and a Despatch Rider

These Market Stands came from Mega Miniatures – I’m not sure they’re available anymore. They came in a pack with the Carpet Stall I painted back in July.

I finished these up as I thought they’d make some fun background props/terrain for Song of Shadows and Dust - though these look a little more Medieval/Fantasy than Ancient… but… whatever…

Another entry for the Lead Adventure Forum Great War Painting Club - a British Despatch Rider from Great War Miniatures.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I seem to have loaded up the painting table with Ancient Greeks. There’ll probably be a game report before you see those as I’d told the kids we’d play A Song of Blades and Heroes yesterday, but then didn’t get to that… so hopefully we’ll play this afternoon. 

40mm Masters Progress

I got a bit more work done on the 1914 Great War 40mm masters...

I'm working on a British Officer (left), and Highlander (centre),  and a British infantryman (right). 

What Have I Been Up To!?

Speaking of daft ideas... Look what I started this week.

Hands up! Who can guess what these are...?

Let's make a game of it - I will send one painted sample of each (whenever I happen to finish them) to the first three that can guess the a) Scale, b) Conflict, c) Nationality, and d) What the heck am I planning on using them for!? 

This may or may not be tricky - depending on how close you follow the blog. (You might find a hint in a recent post!) 

Guessing is open until I post the next progress picture... which might be tomorrow, because I'm really kind of having fun with this!

Great War British Officers and Staff

Not French. I’ll get to more of those shortly – these have been haunting the workbench for some time and I finally finished them up last night! Huzzah!

These figures are from the “British Captains, Generals and Characters” pack from Scarab Miniatures (which I picked up from North Star Figures). They just happen to be very good stand-ins for characters from a certain British comedy TV show set in the Great War… I’m sure it’s just coincidence…

 They also have Red Baron and Rommel and Staff  packs I’d be keen to pick up at some point… and are one of a very few companies that make Great War Italians!? (I think Old Glory also makes a few Italians).

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

From left to right we have; Pte. S. Baldric, Capt. E. Blackadder, and Lt. G. Colthurst St. Barleigh.

From left to right we have; Capt. K. Darling, Gen. Melchectt, and Driver “Bob” Parkhurst.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More of the French? 

Charles de Gaulle and British Great War Casualties

Just a couple odd items that don’t really fit with the bigger post I’ve got for you today…

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

Charles de Gaulle from Black Tree Design. I have no idea…. When am I ever going to use a Charles de Gaulle figure!? I guess I do have some WW2 French… both Early war continental and Legionnaires for North Africa… I suppose he could wander onto the table to boost morale of the troops. Or be a target of assassination by some crack SS Kommandos in a pulpy WW2 game…?

Two British (or Canadian) Great War casualties from Old Glory.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have some Great War German Jägers coming up in a separate post right after this…. 

British/Canadian General and a German Dragoon

A couple of odd Great War mounted figures…

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

British or Canadian General on Horseback. 

The figure is from Great War Miniatures (I think).

I put him on a larger base to use as a C-in-C or Staff Officer in my Ever Contemptible Victorious Little Black Powder Armies (of DOOM) mash up rules... 

Spare German Dragoon from Wargames Foundry that I missed painting with the others (now I have a unit of 11… an odd number… ah, well…)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The last of the Légion Étrangère (for now…).

Great War Indian Lancers

Again with the Great War…

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

These are Indian Lancers from Brigade Games. The minis, I think, are part of their Great War in Palestine figures, but I’ve painted them in Khaki Serge in hopes of being able to pass them off as some contingent to the Western Front (or possibly Imperial troops brought to England to defend the Crown in a Very Brtitish Civil War scenario?).

These minis were passed on to me by my friend Will Bailie who was doing a bit of a clean out before one move or another… (Thanks Will!). I hope someday we’ll be able to throw them down on the table together.

On another note, I've been trying to update the pages lately - mostly adding pictures from elsewhere in the blog... check them out over in the left.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… hard to say…

I’ve often had two painting stations set up in the house. One a semi-permanent location upstairs on a card table in the loft where the TV is at – I often sit up there and paint while Amanda and/or the kids are watching a movie – or if everyone’s out, I’ve been know to put on a movie and paint, listening and looking up once in a while to see what’s going on. The other is on the Big Hobby Table in the War Room/Hobby Dungeon in the basement. It’s actually less permanent than the one upstairs (even though the one upstairs COULD be taken down at any time, if the space were needed) as I have to clear it away whenever we play a game.

As previously mentioned, we’re having some major renovations done to the upstairs which has required me to dismantle the upstairs painting station and move a whole bunch of the other stuff from the top floor into the basement War Room/Hobby Dungeon for storage which has pretty much shut down any activity there – gaming or painting….

I have, however since moved a temporary painting station back upstairs as we’ve found out the contractors won’t be able to start until the end of the month – at the earliest… which is a bit of a drag. When we’d talked to them last fall it sounded like they wanted to get going as soon as the snow melted and dried up… Anyway, the new temporary painting station is as cluttered as ever already… Legionnaires, German Dragoons, the last few zombies… all sorts of stuff up there ready for paint. What I will do next? I have no idea. 

Great War British Cavalry

Carrying on with things Great War-ish and Horsie-mounted…

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

These are from Renegade Miniatures. I had a mounted command pack for quite some time – originally thinking I’d use just them as Generals and Staff Officers in Contemptible Little Armies – but then added to this a Regiment pack for a totally of 11. I’ve used the officer from the command pack as a General officer and the rest have become a unit of 10 cavalry.

The same, in column.

The spare officer acting as a mounted General.

I like these – except they have the same issues with not enough of the thin little legs in contact with the base to support the bulk of the great hordie-body and rider as the French Cavalry…

Speaking of those French Cavalry, after further reading I discovered a number of Chasseurs à Cheval were detached from their regiments to Infantry Divisions for scouting/screening/etc duties. So I may just keep what I’ve got and not bother with a second unit and bringing this one up to “full strength”. Not that I have any Great War French infantry to attach them to!? Next time Renegade has a 5 for 4 sale I’ll probably pick up a few… and some Germans… Hopefully next year some time…!?

Dang it… I just got an announcement in my email that the Renegade pack prices are going up – that clever ploy everyone seems to be doing these days to get suckers (like me) to buy a boatload of stuff before the price increase… I must resist… I must resist…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… Might be more Great War stuff… or WW2… or Modern… of Greek… I had cleared off the painting table briefly over the weekend, but a large amount of clutter has since reappeared there…