So ... here is the first post in the series on my Burma game. All the infantry miniatures that I'll be using are made by
Peter Pig, while the tanks are from
Skytrex. I've painted most of the figures I have, the excpetions being the figures I picked up from Warfare at Reading in November.
The first pic is a group shot of all the British that I have, including the unpainted and some pennies that represent the gaps in the 2 platoons that I'm planning to represent. I've based my units on the very, very, useful organisation details that can be found at the Bayonet Strength website (link on the right of this page), specifically the
British Infantry Battalion 1943 to 45. That said, I have made the platoons understrength as they probably would have been in the field, having 8 instead of 10 men in each of the sections and only 2 instead of 3 in the light mortar team. Here they are:
To fill in the gaps, I'll probably get another pack of '14th Army Rifles Advancing', the contents of which feature in the next photo. For those unfamiliar with Peter Pig, they sell their figures in packs of 8, which each contain (normally) 3 different poses - the pack having 3 of 2 poses and 2 of the third. I really like Peter Pig mini's - the sculpts are full of life and character IMO.
In the following pic's I've grouped the miniatures by the packs that you get them in and included front and back or side and side shots of each pose, and each photo is captioned with the pack name - which can then be found on
this Peter Pig page in the 14th Army table.
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| 14th Army Rifles Advancing |
One thing I like about these 14th Army figures is the mix of steel hats and soft hats on the figures; it gives a good feel of variation. I'll probably get another pack of the advancing rifles to fill the gaps in my sections as I currently have 2 packs of firing figures and one of advancing.
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| 14th Army Rifles Firing |
The photo after this text is the Bren gun pack. Unlike some of the ranges they do - like the Japanese that will be in the next post - there is no specific LMG assistant figure in the Bren pack. This meant that I have 8 Bren gunners, but only need 6 - one per section. So I intend to have a go at hacking the guns of the 2 'spares' to look like rifles so they can fill 2 of the gaps seen in the first picture.
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| 14th Army Brens |
Next up is the command pack. This had 3 of the radio operator and the guy pointing wearing a steel hat and 2 of the guy in the soft hat; I'm using 'soft-hat' as Platoon officers (Lieutenants [Lef-tenants]) as they are carrying thompson SMGs, while the 'steelhats' will be platoon sergeants - well 2 of them; the third will command the mule section I think.
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| 14th Army Command |
This being a Burma game I decided that it would be good to try and show the privations that the men of 14th Army endured to beat their Japanese enemy, so I got a pack of mules and men as the platoons' supply carriers. This pack has 3 mules and three men to lead them; the mules are posed identically - as are the men - but their loads are all different. I like them, they are very nice figures and I might even get some more at some point for supply train ambush scenarios
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| 14th Army 3 Mules+3 men |
Next up are the 2" mortat teams pack. As a variation to the normal 3 poses in a pack, in this one you get 4 poses each with 2 figures. This gives you 2 moving teams and 2 firing teams, which is useful for rules where mortar teams have to set up - you are able to substitute the firing team for the moving one, which is how I will use them. Again, great figures
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| 14th Army 2” Mortars |
Next up is a pack of casualties. I've splurged them liberally with Tamiya Clear Red as blood, but I don't think it's come out very well in the photo. Again this is a 3 pose pack.
Finally for the infantry are the sten gunners that I'm going to use as corporals - i.e. section leaders. Unfortunately I haven't painted these as yet, but I've included them for completeness, and I intend to repalce the photo when I have painted them.
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| 14th Sten SMGs |
And finally for the Brits, I have 2 of
Skytrex's Command Decision range's Grant tanks, which again are unpainted as yet. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced the barrel of the hull gun for this one :( Peter Pig don't make a Grant, so I looked around and found the Skytrex one and
QRF make one as well. I decided to go with Skytrex as some other tanks I've had from QRF were very 'flashy'
(i.e. mould lines, etc, not covered in bling!). Having them now in the metal so to sepak, I'm glad I did as they are really nice models
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| CD114 Grant Tank |
So that's the British force and next time it'll be the Japanese, a much shorter post as I'll explain when it appears.
