I'm delighted to announce the completion of my first Flames platoon. In this case, I'm putting together a force to represent the infantry of 11th Armoured Division as they fought their way up through Normandy and the Low Countries during Operation MARKET GARDEN.
Specifically, I've decided to go with a rifle company from 4th Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, supported by heavy mortar and heavy machine gun elements from 2nd MG Company, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, a handful of Shermans and Fireflies, probably from 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and some divisional support from (of course) the Sextons of 13th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (HAC).
If you're unfamiliar with the oddness that is the Honourable Artillery Company, look them up. They're the oldest surviving regiment of the British Army, with records back to 1087(!) and a charter from 1537. Now they survive as a Territorial (reservist) unit.
Anyways - here they are. As usual, apologies for the quality of the pics, and no points for noticing that I've absentmindedly painted their rifles wrong: I've painted a metal barrel all the way along the top, whereas in actual fact they have a fully wooden stock. Oh well - I won't tell them if you dont!
Cheers, all!
- D.
PS: You may notice some spray varnish frosting damage on the test bases (top-right). Luckily my patented cure for frosting took away most of the damage. Phew! Mind you, I forgot the to fix the grass!
Nice start.. and liking the foliage bases.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done - like the bases in particular, very realistic-looking. In my experience of the HAC most of them look ole enough to be part of the 1087 intake.
ReplyDeleteThe HAC "Regiment" (they separately have the "Band" and the "Company") are definitely a very odd unit. No commissioned officers of their own, NCOs elected by the men, able to tell the MOD what combat role they want to have....I know a fair bit about them because a friend at uni was a Sergeant in the Regiment and a Corporal in the Band.
ReplyDeleteNice painting
This is one game I'd love to get into if it weren't for the price of their miniatures!
ReplyDeleteThose look rather fine indeed sir!
Thanks All,
ReplyDelete> M R Lee: Cheers! It's a big brave step for me, as my Guardsmen are all lazily based on rubble (the first ones predate the fashion for static grass and 'good' basing, and I hated the old-style flock) so I appreciate the comment.
> Tamsin: Why thanks! ...Although after a quick peep at your blog I really can't hold a candle to your brushwork. And yeah, the HAC are an odd bunch. A mate of mine is a TA captain, cap-badged HAC, but I think his dad was in it before him. Funny, that...
> Dai: Funnily enough that's exactly why I did get into Flames. Pull up a sandbag and I'll outline why:
1) I saw it in a demo game and liked the look and apparent ease of play
2) I love the mechanics of rules, so I bought a dirt cheap (4 quid?) copy of the A5 rules during the previous edition and...oh, boy.
I.
Just.
Drank.
Them.
Up.
- Sure, they're not perfect, but after playing something as clunky and endearingly/frustratingly out-of-kilter as 40K they were an absolute breath of fresh air.
3) I've reached more-or-less saturation point with my Guard and I knew I couldn't afford a new GW army...
*thinks*
...Actually, I think I'll do a post about this. I feel the urge to prosthelytise a little. Essentially it boils down to this:
i) Dirt cheap A5 rules (even new edition)
ii) FREE army list ('codex') to download
iii) finite amount of models: once I've got my small 1944 force finished...it's finished. Unlike 40K, even if the rules change the models won't...or there are other companies' rules. They're not going to suddenly invent new units, and I'm faithful to an army, so I'm not going to start whoring myself out to other forces.
iv) if you want to , you can do this very cheap. For example, my free army list enables me to field a small force of just 10 Shermans (or 'Firefly' variants). I can buy 10 beautifully designed Sherman/Firefly sprues from the Plastic Soldier Company for £30 (£15 for 5 models) and I'm good to go (other than official FoW tournaments).
Hmmm...here endeth the first lesson...
Cheers again guys - apologies for the rant!
Ha! Well that told me then, didn't it!? :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm just going by the army boxes I've seen at my LGS. Just seemed to be pretty darn pricey to me. But then I've not read the rules, or seen an army list and what they entail.
I look forward to read your post on this sir, it'll hopefully broaden my horizons as I actually have a mate here who plays - late war era Germans I believe.
These look bloody superb!
ReplyDeleteThanks, mate! Glad you like them. I suspect they wouldn't stand much closer scrutiny!
ReplyDeleteTOh, and that's reminded me to write my 'Why Flames?' post...