Thursday 1 February 2018

From GregB: Cold War Canadian Infantry - and Bonus Leopard C1 (64 points)

More Cold War Canadian troops in 15mm!

Hello to all of the Thursday viewers of the AHPC! I'm actually on vacation this week, and while the weather in my locale is fortunately stunning, it is a little bit unsettling to not have picked up a paint brush in just about a week...seems wrong.  To help me cope, I managed to finished a few more Cold War 15mm figures last Friday, so I would at least have something to share this week! And so here is an infantry platoon of Cold War-era Canadian troops in 15mm, with a bonus additional Leopard C1 tank.
Platoon command stand - officer pointing, radio operator beside him

Tanks are a tonne of fun, of course - in the case of the Leopard C1, about 40 tonnes or so of fun! But it is the hard-slogging, ground-pounding, digging in-and-assaulting-and-hunkering down infantry that take the ground and hold it at the end of the day.  The Canadian Battlegroups of the 1980s would be counting on their Leopard C1s, but the mechanized infantry were the heart of the effort - troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment and the Vandoos.  So I wanted to add some infantry - plus they paint super-fast so I could finish them before we were out of town...

Here is a bit of a retro item - a .30cal MMG in support of the platoon

The infantry figures are from "Armies Army" (now part of the excellent Plastic Soldier Company).  And they are a treat! Just wonderful castings, made from metal, as all proper wargames figures should be.  They are sporting Canadian infantry weapons from the 1980s cold-war era - FN rifles, Carl Gustav anti-tank weapons, and support from a .30 cal MMG and a 60mm.  The latter two elements are sort of retro-classic weapons, but it seems the Canadian Forces tended to make use of older weapons for quite a while longer than some other NATO armies.

Three sections of infantry - and the 60mm mortar is on the right at the front - poor chap, has to carry it by himself it appears :)

As appropriate for Canadians, the infantry are sporting colder-weather jackets - an excellent touch, in my opinion! I can't say enough good things about these castings.  I purchased an entire companies' worth of the troops, and look forward to painting them all up.  Huge kudos to Keith at Army's Army for making these a reality - for a nerd like me, it is exciting to have the chance to collect these lads and game with them.

View showing some of the webbing - note the Carl Gustav AT weapon on the one base in the foreground

Of course, these chaps will need some M113s to ride around in - those will hopefully appear later in the Challenge.

Another Leopard C1 - this one from the Plastic Soldier Company

The tank model is a 1/100 plastic Leopard C1 from Plastic Soldier Company, with an FN MAG from Peter Pig swapped into the cupola MG.   This gives me 10 Leopard C1s...on my way to having a whole squadron for the gaming table. These fellows have already seen action on the gaming table (with many of the recently-painted tanks suffering the fate of all newly-painted models - it was a rough "win" for the Royal Canadian Dragoons)

More Canucks ready to chip in for NATO
Points-wise this is...well, that's what a minion is for!!! There are 29 different 15mm infantry and one 15mm tank, so that should get me maybe 64 points? Jamie will sort it out...

I'll leave you with a photo from Palm Desert, California, USA - we did a six-mile hike in Joshua Tree National Park yesterday! The landscape was beautiful and surreal...so glad to have a chance to visit...

The Palm Oasis in Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA

Next week will be rough painting-wise (why won't work just pay me to paint figures?) but hopefully will have something new to share next Thursday - even just one figure...Cheers for now!

Not painting for a week and you still have something to show us?  I'll just be over here in the corner with my shame if anyone needs me...!

Cracking submission, I'm also a big fan of infantry and I do like them at 15mm scale as you can really get a feeling of volume without them being too small to see.  I most enjoyed FoW when there were sizeable infantry contingents on the table and these are just the ticket.  Lovely job on the camo, the helmets are especially striking.  I'll take your word for it on the weaponry as without a bolt gun in sight I'll admit to being a bit lost when it comes to small arms!

My semi-magical-semi-mystical Calcutronalator tells me that 64 points is absolutely spot on so I'll put you down for that.

16 comments:

  1. Nice work!

    I grew up not all that far from Joshua Tree NM. I love the desert!

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  2. Those Canadian troops look ace Greg - well done!

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    1. Thanks dude - maybe we can put them into action when you visit in February!

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  3. Great work Greg! And any Leopard is always a bonus!

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    1. Thanks Nick! And I agree - the more Leopards, the better! You only need a few of them for a “realistic” game, but I am slightly additcted to painting the things...

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  4. Great work Greg! You paint 15mm camo because it's fast?!? Any love the infantry and the big cat. I believe that the Canadian forces would prefer to be thought of as being judicious in acquiring new assets when there were perfectly adequate weapons in the armoury.

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    1. “Judicious acquisition” - well put Peter, and thanks!

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  5. Nice stuff and nothing like an Arid zone or desert. Looks like a great spot. Cheers

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  6. Lovely, liking the bases very much.

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  7. Always nice to see another leopard and the infantry are a treat!
    Best Iain

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  8. More cracking work Greg! Your Canadians certainly look like a tough buunch. I‘m sure they‘ll stand their ground in the face of the onrushing soviet steamroller.

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  9. More great stuff Greg.

    Happy to hear the weather in the southwest is good, we are leaving in 12 days. Maybe not getting as far as Joshua Tree, but hoping to get to the Zion National Park ad the Mojave National Preserve and maybe the Grand Canyon finally!

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  10. Fantastic work, Greg. These really look the business. I really like the camouflage, and the cold weather jackets look perfect on the Canadians. Top marks for the Leopard as well, especially that subtle maple leaf insignia. (I never realized it would be in black, not red, but that makes sense in the field and looks brilliant)

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  11. Wonderful work, Greg! The ground pounders look mighty fine and the the base work is great too. Very fine detail on these models and with your brush as I can make out what the troops have! Boy do you have a lot of leopards! ;)

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