Kudos to Tony & Platoon 20

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I need more 20mm squaddies like a hole in the head, nevertheless I ordered some Platoon 20 Falklands era Paras and Royal Marines from Tony at East Riding Miniatures (ERM) on Sunday evening.

East Riding Miniatures

Platoon 20: P-B7

Tony emailed me on Tuesday to let me know they had been dispatched and the minis popped through my letterbox yesterday morning. This mirrors Maff's experiences with ERM and is the fastest turn round of any order I've made so far for 20mm historical figures. So Tony is ensured of further support from both of us.

I'd been really looking forward to painting them up in DPM as soon as they arrived. But instead of wielding a paintbrush last night, they were such a nostalgic blast for me that I wasted away an hour or so playing with the bare castings, putting them in different squad formations, examining the potential for conversion, headswops etc.

The figures are on a par sizewise with both Britannia Miniatures and Combat Miniatures (ex-Hotspur) from Stonewall, though a little bulker - shows up if placed side by side when they are unpainted but not at all if the miniatures are spread out or opposing forces and I think a liberal DPM paintjob will mask any major differences.

Ordering a Scimitar from Britannia plus a couple of FV432's today. May go for a Chieftain too. Principally because I want to have a crack at the Berlin Brigade urban paint scheme. It's a sure fire way of stamping an identity on an opposing force.

Cheers

Mark

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Walls, And I don't mean ice cream!

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Stopped in by Hobbycraft on Thursday evening and picked up a box of Italeri  IT6127 1/72 Stone Walls for six pounds something. Note that price varies by up to £1 depending on retailer.

 Manufacturers promo shot of the 1/72 walls.

The box has 24 parts on two identical grey plastic sprues (12 pieces each), which include two gated sections. There are two complete and two damaged wall lengths each 8" long, plus a heap of shorter sections and end caps that can be put together in a variety of combinations. See the pic above.  Looks good in the immediate vicinty of farms and run down buildings.

 'Pig-wire' fencing

The fields around where we live tend not to be enclosed in a homogeneous way but instead have a mixture of stonewalls, hedgerow and wooden/wire fencing or even open ditches/watercourses. Sometimes where there's a break in the hedgerow, there's a wall or section of fencing. Great opportunity to reduce overall cost (assuming you are making your own hedgerow) but at the same time add some character and welcome hard cover for your miniatures!

A countryside full of walling provides some unique small scale tactical challenges, but also a challenge to your pocket. Luckily, Jarvis sell 'flexi' granite walling strips in OO scale  - £1.25 for a bag of 4 feet. I'm going to buy a couple of packets to try out.

 Drystane dyke

It seems a cheap price to pay for some alternative terrain. Add a ruined building or two for a run down croft or abandoned village and hey presto. Of course, we don't HAVE to represent every inch of walling/hedgerow etc on the tabletop, but just enough to give a feeling for it and provide specific areas of cover.

Started cutting up my Britannia HLI. Ouch! They are hard work and it turned out the Glengarry heads are larger than those of Britannia's Cold War BAOR squaddies. The Gelngarries will fit the BAOR torso's OK, but I've decided to try them with Platoon 20's P-B6 Falklands era Royal Marines.

Just an excuse to buy some Platoon 20 when I really don't need any more figures for this project. I particularly like the bootneck fiigures that are 'pepper-potting' with SLR and firing a Stirling SMG from the hip. Maff's had a very positive experience buying Platoon 20 stuff from East Riding Miniatures, which is a good enough reason to send an order their way.

If you wanted to try out your own Winter of '79 on the cheap, use Platoon 20's Falklands' Paras (in helmets) as Government troops, Royal Marines (berets) as Rebels and armed civilians as sundry rebels, militia, SF operators etc. 

Cheers

Mark

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