1940 Campaign French - Part 6: Armoured Car Nonsensica
I have been very busy painting more (and yet more) early-1940 French for the magazine campaign and also for the Twelfth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. After my last instalment of eager conscripts, here I present to you a clunky, chunky armoured car and a further two infantry sections…
…because …Well, because their rules in Bolt Action allow them to take a free fourth inexperienced section if they pay for three, so it'd be rude not to! plus I've really been enjoying the challenge of fielding inexperienced troops.
The first section here have black leggings/puttees - partially to suggest that they are Chasseurs à Pied, and partially to aid tabletop differentiation. Ten of these models are Warlord Games' metal French Infantry set; the extra two are from the versatile Wargames Atlantic plastics, as in previous posts:
Two very similar pics, but I had real trouble with the exposure of these in the simpler of my two light boxes - so you are welcome to chose which one you dislike least!
Here's a shot of the different packs that the Warlord minis have. A bit more detailed than their Wargames Atlantic counterparts:
Also made from the Wargames Atlantic plastics is this section of French Officer Cadets (I warn you now, these pics are horribly over-exposed - I promise they look waaaaaay less deathly in real life!):
These vainglorious and enthusiastic young fellows represent those cadets from the French academies who really did drop their studies and march to war in 1940 (and there's maybe a couple of nods to my own time as an O/Cdt in the dim and distant past). They're variously equipped with whatever they could lay their hands on, including an ancient Chauchat as their section LMG and a few of them have their ceremonial swords slung too. Because if not now, then when, eh? 
Like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're doing a great deal of pointing... and like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're also being kept in line by a doubtless exasperated staff NCO. Unlike all my other infantry, whose collar insignia have been covered with green 'security patches', I've taken the liberty of giving him complementary light blue collar tabs, so he fits in with his chinless charges.
I really struggled to find consistent, reliable information on the colours and trim of their uniforms, so I've taken artistic liberty and chosen light blue for their soft kepis, collars and piping on the trousers - again, a self-indulgent nod to my own time:
(NB: That chap on the left, above, really looks unwell in this pic. I assure you he's alright 'in the flesh'.)
Finally, this is the Laffly armoured car. And I’m unashamed to say that I claimed the label "questionable design" for the Painting Challenge Death Star bonus - because - well, just look at it:
This utterly glorious, utterly daft model is by the talented Mad Bob.
I should point out that the patterning of L'Indochine's camouflage is inspired by various contemporary French designs I came across, but reinterpreted... not least because I don't have an airbrush, so I couldn't adequately feather the edges of the patches: this led me to opt for a harder edge. Annoyingly, the roundel decals were not very high quality, so they look a bit 'meh' at the edges.
Points:
My Painting Challenge claim for this entry was for
…because …Well, because their rules in Bolt Action allow them to take a free fourth inexperienced section if they pay for three, so it'd be rude not to! plus I've really been enjoying the challenge of fielding inexperienced troops.
The first section here have black leggings/puttees - partially to suggest that they are Chasseurs à Pied, and partially to aid tabletop differentiation. Ten of these models are Warlord Games' metal French Infantry set; the extra two are from the versatile Wargames Atlantic plastics, as in previous posts:
Two very similar pics, but I had real trouble with the exposure of these in the simpler of my two light boxes - so you are welcome to chose which one you dislike least!
Here's a shot of the different packs that the Warlord minis have. A bit more detailed than their Wargames Atlantic counterparts:
Also made from the Wargames Atlantic plastics is this section of French Officer Cadets (I warn you now, these pics are horribly over-exposed - I promise they look waaaaaay less deathly in real life!):
These vainglorious and enthusiastic young fellows represent those cadets from the French academies who really did drop their studies and march to war in 1940 (and there's maybe a couple of nods to my own time as an O/Cdt in the dim and distant past). They're variously equipped with whatever they could lay their hands on, including an ancient Chauchat as their section LMG and a few of them have their ceremonial swords slung too. Because if not now, then when, eh? 
Like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're doing a great deal of pointing... and like all good officer cadets everywhere, they're also being kept in line by a doubtless exasperated staff NCO. Unlike all my other infantry, whose collar insignia have been covered with green 'security patches', I've taken the liberty of giving him complementary light blue collar tabs, so he fits in with his chinless charges.
I really struggled to find consistent, reliable information on the colours and trim of their uniforms, so I've taken artistic liberty and chosen light blue for their soft kepis, collars and piping on the trousers - again, a self-indulgent nod to my own time:
(NB: That chap on the left, above, really looks unwell in this pic. I assure you he's alright 'in the flesh'.)
Finally, this is the Laffly armoured car. And I’m unashamed to say that I claimed the label "questionable design" for the Painting Challenge Death Star bonus - because - well, just look at it:
This utterly glorious, utterly daft model is by the talented Mad Bob.
I should point out that the patterning of L'Indochine's camouflage is inspired by various contemporary French designs I came across, but reinterpreted... not least because I don't have an airbrush, so I couldn't adequately feather the edges of the patches: this led me to opt for a harder edge. Annoyingly, the roundel decals were not very high quality, so they look a bit 'meh' at the edges.
Points:
My Painting Challenge claim for this entry was for
- twenty-four 28mm figures @5pts each = 120pts;
- one 1/56 vehicle @20pts, and
- a 'Death Star' bonus @20pts, for 160pts total.
