20mm WW2 British Infantry

Slight diversion from my normal fantasy and SF fare this week, with a trip to World War 2 in 20mm.

I painted up a platoon each of British infantry and British paratroopers a few years back. My brother-in-law has 20mm Germans, so it seemed a good idea to give us something to game with. Needless to say, the gaming part still hasn't happened.

I had a look around at the various ranges, and decided the SHQ figures were the nicest. The paintjob was fairly simple, and I decided not to paint the eyes. I think this was just as age was starting to catch up with my eyesight, but I wasn't yet using the Optivisor regularly for painting. These were the last figures that I painted using enamels for at least part of the paint job.

Regular late war infantry

The pictures below show the section, and its rifle and light machine gun groups. I did do corporal and lance-corporal stripes on the figures, although I'm not sure they show up too well.

As I painted up a full platoon, I decided I needed some way to identify each section. I added a small stone to each base, but in a different position each time. The section below has it to their front, while other sections have it behind or to the left/right.

Paratroopers

I have had limited success with camouflage patterns over the years, as I always find the base colour dominates. With these figures I decided not to do a base colour, but rather to do the splodges directly over the undercoat, filling in the gaps as I went. I think it worked out okay, although I don't think I've used the technique again.

There are some mortars for the paras

I have painted up the crews for some Vickers machine guns, but still haven't got around to doing the guns or basing the teams. One of these days...

I have a large number of vehicles waiting to be painted. I've done a few, but my weathering skills leave a huge amount to be desired, so I haven't risked any more. I may try and at least basecoat a few more the next time I'm using the airbrush.

I did pick up a platoon of Germans to play against them solo, but they're still sitting uncleaned in the lead mountain. I may actually try and paint some up this year, although there's already quite a lot in the painting queue.

I was never tempted by the 15mm WW2 stuff that's out there, but I must admit that I find the 28mm stuff much more difficult to resist - especially now they're making some of my favourite tanks. I've even considered buying some and putting them straight into the loft as a retirement project, but I am, at least for time being, resisting.