Last French 1940 figures

To finish off my French 1940 project (for the time being anyway) here are some shots of the last French figures I needed to paint.

The final French Officer

Medium Mortar Team

Medic!

Proper 47mm AT gun crew

So that's it for the French for now - until my next game (whenever that will be) and I decide to change the force or to add some more stuff.

Thanks

Richard

1940 French - other vehicles

Continuing the French theme - here are some other vehicles that I will be using:

First up - a Laffly W-15 TCC - by ACE Models with a Battlefield Miniatures crewman:

 

Next - a couple of S-Model Renault UE Chenillette that I use as my AT gun tows

Next - a Cromwell Models (well I'm pretty sure it's a Cromwell) Laffly V15T with an AB Figures crewman

And finally my slightly dodgy use of a Hobbyden Citreon van (post war) as an early war Radio Truck!  Well it looks that part to me anyway...

I guess one day if I ever get the correct vehicle I'll sway this out... one day....

Thanks

Richard

 

1940 French Armour

Once again it's been a while, but I have a few thiungs "completed" now - so time to start showing mor stuff!

Today it's some French Armour.  Everything today is from the S-Model Hotchkiss H-38/39 kit - which makes a lovely little tank.  So here they are:

This is the platoon commander's tank (hence it being crewed).  The commander is from AB Figures French set.

These are the other two tanks in the platoon.

And here the whole platoon is together.  I understand that the colours I used, along with the trench kit, show these tanks are fairly late production models.

In my one and only game with these guys, I needed a single additional H39 so I painted one up in a more "typical" French style.  I have about 3 more of these to paint.

Thanks

Richard

1940 French Infantry

Long time between posts - but here are some photos of my French Infantry.  The majority of the figures are from Pegasus with some Battlefield Miniatures thrown in.

First up - my Infantry Platoon Command Section

1st Section

2nd Section

3rd Section

And that completes the Infantry Platoon.  Of course the miniatures can be reconfigured to make a variety of French Infantry units - as they all seem to have a range of variations, so you need to make sure you paint enough to take care of any option.

Thanks

Richard

French Anti-tank Gun Crew

Next up is the 3 Anti-tank gun crew by Blitz Figures.  I have two anti-tank guns - both by ACE Models.  This first is a Hotchkiss 25mm Anti-tank gun S.A. Mle 1934:

While the second is a APX 47mm Anti-tank gun mod.1937 :

Right now I only have one gun crew set (the second is on the way) so all the subsequent photos are with just the 1 crew - which look like this:

Here they are with the 25mm gun (I wasn't happy with the front on photos so I'll not show them):

And the 47mm gun:

Pretty happy with how they turned out.  The ACE 47mm gun comes with 5 or 6 shells, so I'll be doing some very small conversions to give the crew the larger shells.

Thanks

Richard

French Forward Signals Unit

I can see myself trying to use a lot of off table artillery for my 1940 French - so a Forward Signals Unit is a must.  They allow you to re-roll your communications check, when you're attempting to contact an artillery unit.

They are meant to have a transport vehicle - which will come later.

Again these are lovely figures from Blitz Figures 1940 range.

Thanks

Richard

A new project - France 1940

Over the next little while I'll be adding a new project to this blog - a French 1940 force for Battlegroup Blitzkreig.

BG Blitzkreig gives the French player 3 different options for army choice - a Cavalry Division Force, an Armoured Division Force and an Infantry Division Force.  Within those 3 choices there are a variety of infantry platoon options but all (apart from a cavalry platoon on horse back) variants on a theme.  Paint enough figures and you can play almost any type of platoon - just swap the figures around to match the configuration you are after.

To help paint them I needed a few references.  I used the painting guide in the BG Blitzkreig book along with this one from Battlefront.  I also bought this book to help:

Anyway - each French battlegroup gives you the option of having a Forward Headquarters.  Here is mine:

These are all Blitz Miniatures from the BFI 12 Staff Officer set.  The one on the left is painted to look like a Cavalry (tank) officer in a leather jacket and scarf.  His Kepi colour represents the cavalry as well.  The one in the middle and the one on the right are meant to look like infantry officers, witht he one on the right having a flasher looking jacket.  It was hard to find colour pictures of senior officers, but from what I could see there was a variety in colours in the uniforms of the officers - so that is all I was really trying to represent.

Thanks

Richard