From ClintB - More an Air Assualt than a Points Bomb! (315 Points)

Well, I blame Martin Goddard. I know what you are thinking, who the heck is Martin Goddard! Well he's the guy who writes the rules for "Peter Pig" and the latest edition of PBI is now out and to celebrate I have decided to paint another company with a little support.

Therefore kindly let me introduce Captain Brown of Dog Company. Yes I could have done Captain winters of Easy company but I did not. I must admit all the names are made up and I have no idea if these were ever officers in Dog company and neither do I much care as these names were all easy to paint and by adding names it does give them all a little more life than random lumps of metal usually get and that's good enough for me.

The first Platoon is led by Lt. Cole. It consists of the command element, 1 Bazooka stand, 1 smg stand 5 Garand rifle stands and 3 BAR stands. Originally BARs (Browning Automatic Rifles) were considered to big at 48 inches to be a paratroopers weapon so were not originally issued. So during the Mediterranean theatre they were never officially issued but by 1944 and D-Day they were. Yellow clump foliage shows the bases designation for BARs.

The second Platoon is led by Lt. Powell. While it has a similar make up to 1st Platoon I have swapped out the BARs for .30 LMGs hence the red clump foliage. I knew you were paying attention. But other than that the platoon has the same number and type of stands. And with me every platoon gets a Bazooka as I know my usual opponent likes STUG 4s so a bit of Anti-tank tends to keep the game a little more balanced.

Third Platoon sees the return of the BARs, although I do have some more .30 cal LMGs to paint up a little later. 2nd Lt Dixon commands here and if he does well in the games I will paint out the 2. If any of them die I will paint out the names and paint someone-else's in. Yeah I am like that. Again the same unit composition as 1st Platoon. So moving on.

4th Platoon is the MMG platoon. As the MMG platoon and 2nd platoon use the same .30 Cal machineguns I thought it only right to give these guys orange tufts and to lay them down to indicate a more fixed position. In reality they had a different tripod which in the PBI rules changes them from am LMG to a MMG. It also changes the point cost of them. This small Platoon also has a bazooka stand (tell me that was a surprise) and a Garand rifle stand to represent the guys bringing up ammunition. It also has a command stand with Lt Hopkins now in charge.

I also have a stovepipe platoon although you may call them medium mortars if you choose. If you have not noticed it already each figure has the US flag painted on their right sleeve just to show whey are not Germans.  If you haven't noticed feel free to go back and check. These really were quite fiddly to paint on and I sis not manage to get all the strips let alone all the stars on them but they are 15mm figures so what do you expect. So this platoon has a command stand, 3 medium Mortars, a single Garand Rifle stand and as you Know by now a Bazooka stand.

I know you thought this is where it would end but now I have an engineer platoon to finish off. So expect that to follow before the end of the challenge. You may take that as a warning but I had to buy some more troops for it yesterday and did not want to miss the weekly deadline.

 If one lot of antitank was not enough I have also finished 2 57mm anti-tank guns. In the rules these do not need a platoon commander stand to accompany them as they may well be farmed out to different companies within the regiment. As the Typical bases for Peter Pig ere not big enough I have resorted to my bases box and put these on some flames of war bases. 2 Anti tank guns should be enough and if not I will use my next unit.

Yes 4 75mm Pack howitzers. again these were air dropped so totally in keeping with the rest of the unit. As with the Guns above being Peter Pig Models they did not fit on bases so I used up some more flames or war bases. While these may not be all that awesome in the game they could fire a variety of rounds in real life including HE, Smoke and Mustard Gas..... yes they could but there is no way I would want to drop with a glider full of mustard gas! these guns were never towed behind lorries or jeeps for very far as all the pieces were so light doing so would damage them. If they needed to be moved a long distance it was better to dismantle them and load the pieces into a truck!

Just when you thought I had finished one last wafer thin figure. A single sniper. As there was no need to put him on a standard base and as I had 1 spare another FOW base was used. In the game snipers are assets which may or may not be effective or even appear on the battle board but I though best to have one just In case. you never know I might do another as I do have one lurking about.

And Finally a couple of shots showing it all together. Just so you do not think I have just painted 1 unit and a couple of spares and re arranged them in different photos. (Ray, Tamsin you know who I am talking to!)

Just a final note about the bases. Other than sand and filler, clump foliage and static grass, I have also driven myself quite cuckoo doing reed foliage as well. the reeds came from a wall papering brush. I cut the bristles and then in groups superglued them in place, and yes I did get some on my teeth and yes that was not the plan and I do not recommend it to anyone! It really is funny the lengths we go to some times!

I have not done all these in a week I have been working on them since Christmas day and I prefer to think of them as not a bomb but an air assault. All the figures are 15mm and are a mixture of Battlefront (Flames of War) and Peter Pig figures. They are all based for PBI 3rd edition, and yes as mentioned above an engineer platoon to finish as well as various odds and sod to cover ever eventuality!

So How many figures?

Captain Brown. 2 figures.

1st Platoon:

• Command stand 2 figures
• Bazooka stand 2 figures
• SMG stand 2 Figures.
• 5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.
• 3 BAR stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 15mm figures
2nd Platoon

Command stand 2 figures

Bazooka stand 2 figures

SMG stand 2 Figures.

5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.

3 .30 cal LMGs stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 15 mm figure in total

3rd Platoon

Command stand 2 figures

Bazooka stand 2 figures

SMG stand 2 Figures.

5 Garand rifle stands 3 figures a stand, 15 figures total.

3 BAR stands 2 figures a stand, 6 figures in total

31 Figures in total

Machine gun Platoon

• Command stand 2 figures
• Bazooka stand 2 figures
• Garand Rifle stand 3 figures 
• 4 MMG stand each of 2 figures but laying down

16 figure total but 8 are laying down so counts as 11 figures.

Mortar Platoon.

• Command stand 2 figures
• Garand Rifle Stand 3 figures
• Bazooka Stand 2 figures
• 3 mortar stands with mortars so 6 figures and 3 mortars

13 figures and 3 mortars (Not sure if they get any points so let us say not!)

Anti tank and Artillery

• 2 57mm guns with 4 crew each!
• 4 75mm Howitzers with 4 crew each!

24 figures and 6 guns

1 sniper.

Grand total
149 15mm figures. (8 of which are laying down.) 6 guns, and 3 mortars. I think but feel free to count them . I will leave Curt to do all the maths and assign points ! (Let's hope he is generous!!!!)

The Partridge and Pear tree not included in the points but are modelled opps the partridge has flown off! darn there goes another point!

That should be enough points to spring me past my target so once the Engineer platoon is out of the war I can get on with some space ships.  (I hope).


From Curt:

Woo! This is a wonderful (and impressively large) entry Clint - well done! The figures are very nice but I must say I'm particularly taken by the verdant groundwork you've created for them.  It really brings forward images of the airdrops in France and Holland. (See, the reeds superglued to your teeth paid off!)  Beautiful work. 

Finally, congratulations on blowing past your 1250 point target!  Bask in your achievement and enjoy your coast to the finish line!