From KenR : 28mm Matilda Tanks (50pts)

My first two entries this year have involved my war on the WW1 Mesopotamia lead pile, today sees the first dig at the WW2 Desert mountain, a mountain made mostly of resin. For those of you who missed it Blitzkrieg Miniatures have had a number of 50% off sales in 2017 and its safe to say I took advantage, the resin pile growing in direct proportion to the reduction in my bank balance !

Presented here are three 28mm Blitzkrieg Miniatures Matilda II tanks painted up for my early war North Africa British. 2 of the tanks have visible Commanders and both these figures are from Perrys.

For those of you who don't know the camouflage scheme they are painted in is known as Caunter, introduced in 1940 it was in use throughout 1940 being gradually phased out by the end of 1941. The camo has been hand painted on with no masking used if you see any mistakes, that's my excuse  !

There has been much debate over the colours of the scheme over the years, too much too go into here, but locally sourced paints and the reaction of the paints to prolonged bright sunlight led to lots of variations.

Each vehicle type had it's own official template for the scheme, most of which can be found on line. The scheme was then applied by the crews or at the service depot leading to many minor variations on a theme.

Each British tank at the time was given a name, some units had naming conventions, names beginning with A for A Company etc or names based on a letter of the alphabet so 7 RTR used named starting with the 7th letter, G.

Those of you with excellent memories might recall I did a Matilda for one of the bonus rounds last year and I described my naming protocol then, it's based on the novel Wind in the Willows (because when I did the first tank I immediately thought of a Fat Badger) so continuing that theme, here we have Mole, Ratty and Hedgehog.

So that's three 28mm vehicles at 15 points a piece with 2 28mm figures at 2.5 pts a piece for the Commanders for a total of 50 pts.

On the paint table at the the moment is my nearly complete Flight entry before I return to WW1 and a full British Battalion, 1st Ox Bucks Lt Infantry. Probably won't get them done before next Thurs so I will see you in a fortnight.

What a spiffing set of tanks!  And handpainted camo without masking tape?  I salute your dedication sir!  I can never get lines to stay straight enough.... I do like the names you've given them too, just the kind of personal touch I can imagine the crews adding to their vehicles.

And an excellent set of information for people like me who don't know the background of these mighty beasts.  I'll probably get into trouble for this, but all the arguing about shades of colour in historical wargaming leaves me a little baffled... I'm not entirely sure how people are supposed to know exact shades given the uneven quality of photography (if it existed), the effect of the elements and the difficulties inherent in mixing the paints/dye in the middle of wartime!  Still, each to their own.  These colours look splendid to me and certainly fit the period.

I've adjusted the points down a touch as each crewman counts as half a figure, but an excellent return at 50 points nonetheless!