From NoelW for Thursday: Three more units (123 points)

Hopefully this will make up for the pile of boring Romans in the first of this week’s posts. I’ve three small contributions.

Firstly, I’ve a small squad of six SAS soldiers from the Western Desert in WW2. These were the freebies on the cover of the most recent Wargames Illustrated. Warlord have been putting free plastic frames on the magazine for the last three issues, and I think they’re going to do so for some while. Next month’s is Napoleonic French cavalry, I believe. This frame was from their new WW2 British Commonwealth troops. There’s a great selection of heads on this frame – allowing for Australian, New Zealand or South African versions, but I’ve wanted to venture into an SAS setup for a while, so this was an opportunity for a small experiment.

My Western Desert setup is almost entirely Perry figures. These Warlord figures, which are basically their standard British frame with new heads, are a little cartoon-like, rather chunkier than the Perrys’ which are slighter, having more realistic proportions. Both firms have their charms and, though I prefer the Perrys I’ll probably end up with a box of the Warlord to develop this small squad into a rather larger setup, though I won’t mix the figures from both manufacturers in any unit. Presumably I’m falling exactly for Warlord’s plan – a free frame to whet the interest, leading to the purchase of just a couple of boxes, perhaps.

One attraction of the Western Desert SAS – and, indeed, just about any troops in the same theatre – is campaign dress, varied, ragged, half naked in many photos, with varied head coverings to keep off the sun, so that's what I'm aiming for here. I think the Perrys' set will offer more options, but the Warlord frame is still pretty good.

My second offering consists of 12 sci-fi figures. They’re made by EMP miniatures, a small manufacturer run from my local wargames shop, Wargames Emporium. I’m not sure how they’re catalogued – a sort of futuristic militia type force, suitable perhaps for games such as Necromunda and 40K or indeed any sci-fi skirmish. In fact, thinking about it, they could make a great Kill Team. (And good for a Squirrel, too).

And finally a few more medievals. I enjoy the look of medieval armies, though the battles often seem to be very similar. Here are 7 Perry crossbowmen for the French army at Agincourt.

Hopefully there’ll be more Agincourt figures before the end of the challenge, as I’ve a couple of boxes of the new cavalry to enjoy. Really, I’d like the Perrys to step back to Crecy and Poitiers, when we can justify hordes of beautifully caparisoned French cavalry. But an enduring, if incorrect, image for me is the French cavalry charge in Laurence Olivier’s “Henry V” (here’s a Youtube clip, if you don’t know it). It was one of the first historical scenarios I tried to reproduce, way back in the late sixties, with the Airfix set, and I come back to it periodically. It’s disappointing that the closer you get to history, the further you go from such spectacle.

I’ve painted them in a muted and drab style, which I guess is reasonably accurate, but I think I may also add a few more colourful colleagues for them in the name of spectacle.

That’s 6 + 12 + 7 = 25 figures = 125 points


What a varied entry from the king of squirrel! I like your SAS figures,a nice campaign finish to them and your stand in guardsmen work really well, the French crossbow men are very good. I'm afraid prone figures are only counted as 50% so 2.5 for 28mm but let's round it up to to 123 points!

All the best Iain