Tuesday 12 March 2019

From TamsinP - 28mm Early WW2 Aussies (Again!) (205 points)



The trouble with big projects is that they inevitably end up with several posts. This is the third post taken up by my early WW2 Aussies project (the fourth if you include the M3 Stuart). It is also, you will be glad to hear, the last one for this Challenge! I have tried to be kind to you by submitting large batches rather than a steady drip of smaller groups each week over the three months.

This time I have forty Perry plastics which will be used for CDF (Militia) forces. For the Kokoda Track campaign these were the heroic 39th Battalion (previously mentioned) and the ill-fated 53rd Battalion.

The 53rd had a lot of problems which led to their performance at the Battle of Isurava-Abuari. Besides their extreme lack of training. For a start, they were drawn from other units who inevitably sent their misfits and trouble makers. Then there was the way their numbers were made up by virtually press-ganging 104 men in the Sydney area. They weren't even allowed leave to see their families (or even to let them know) before they were embarked on ships and sent to New Guinea, where they spent most of their time digging entrenchments and not being trained. Combined with the high levels of illness (malaria and dysentry were rife)

They also suffered from a lack of experienced officers - they did receive a small leavening of 8 officers from the AIF, but none of these were placed in command positions (unlike the 39th who received 16 AIF officers, most being given command of companies and platoons). This was compounded during the battle when almost all of the senior commanders were killed in an ambush. The remnants were amalgamated with the 55th Battalion and did restore their reputation in the fighting at Sanananda and later on Bougainville.

For the Milne Bay campaign, which took place during the same period as the Kokoda Track campaign, several militia battalions played a part - the 9th, 25th and 61st battalions form 7th Infantry Brigade and the 55th Battalion from the 14th Infantry Brigade. they fought alongside the 18th Infantry Brigade (2/9th, 2/10th and 2/12th battalions) of the AIF.

Milne Bay was the first time in the war that Japanese land forces had been decisively beaten. Their opponents were crack troops of the 3rd Kure, 5th Kure, 5th Sasebo and 5th Yokusuka Special Naval Landing Forces who were supported by a number of Type 95 Ha Go light tanks.


But enough of the blather, on with some closer-up pics of the figures!







Lewis Gunners:





As the Militia units were initially equipped with Lewis Guns (they got Bren guns after the Kokoda Track campaign started) I need to convert a couple of figures to have them. Luckily I had previously purchased a pack from Colonel Bill's for my gangsters project (and not used them!) so with a bit of judicious cutting for one figure and selection of appropriate arms for the other, I managed to get this pair knocked up.

Junior and Senior Leaders:




As you can see, some of the plastic figures have been given slouch hats rather than the helmets that come with the Perry plastics. The hats are metal from the Perrys.

For scoring, there are 40 x 28mm foot here, so that's a tidy 200 points.

Before I go, I'd just like to thank Lee for being such a great Tuesday minion (the bonus points he's awarded me for various posts has had no influence whatsoever on my opinion...). How he's coped with the truly massive output from the Tuesday Terrors week in, week out I really do not know. We did some calculations last week (before the Miles nuclear strike on Saturday) and at that point we observed that six of the top 10 were Tuesday Terrors and that they accounted for over a quarter of the points total; add in the rest of the crew and Tuesday accounts for nearly 32% of the total. As you can see, that's a lot of work for poor Lee to have had to deal with.



I for one am never going to get bored seeing your Aussies in the Challenge, fourth post or not. For a start, the figures are excellent and full of character and detail. Then you have done such a top job on the paintwork...well, what's not to like! I have to say I also really enjoy the little potted history you normally put in your posts with your entries. It makes the figures come alive and every post has been a genuine pleasure to read. 

As for minioning the Tuesday Terrors, it has been a privilege and an honour to have you all in my care. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching each entry come in. I have often found myself amazed at the quality (and quantity) of the work on display. And as for bonus points, well, if I can't abuse the system what's the point?! Talking of which, here's an extra five for another quality entry and for seeing what has clearly been a large project through to the end. 
Lee

16 comments:

  1. Great looking Aussies! I enjoy your historical background and the Lewis gun conversion works really well!
    Best Iain

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  2. Excellent looking Aussies Tamsin. I like Lee haven't tired seeing all the figures for this project. More please?

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  3. Those are very nicely done. I got used to your 15mm painting over the years but your 28mm stuff looks great.

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  4. Really nice work Tamsin. I enjoy reading about this campaign, it's little known in our frozen universe.

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  5. Lovely work Tamsin, especially those Lewis gunners.

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  6. Fantastic looking Aussies Tamsin! To my shame I have to admit I know very little about the far eastern theatre in WW2 but I‘v thoroughly enjoyed your short historical background to these lads.

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  7. Those are some great looking Aussies Tamsin!

    Christopher

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  8. The Lewis gunners are really very cool love the way you've nailed that oiled metal look Tamsin!

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  9. Another fantastic batch of Australians. Well done!

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  10. Great work Tamsin. The Lewis Guns always look like such cool weapons...I don't know what its benefits/problems actually were, but it always looks great.

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  11. Fab project Tamsin, you’re making me want to build up my Perry plastic pile. Thanks for the history tooo!

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  12. @ Lee - thanks for the compliments and the extra points, even if they involve abuse of power! ;)
    I think the potted history I've given is helpful as the New Guinea campaigns aren't very widely known outside Australia. I highly recommend the Wikipedia entries as an intro, but there are some good books out there if you want to go deeper.

    @ Iain - cheers! :)

    @ Ray - thanks! No more during this Challenge I'm afraid :)

    @ Fran - cheers, m'dear! :)

    @ John - thanks! I've always painted a mix of the two main scales during the Challenge, but I've done a lot more 28s this time :)

    @ Peter D - cheers! :)

    @ Curt - thanks! :0

    @ Martin C - cheers! :)

    @ Dave D - thanks! :)

    @ Nick - cheers! I knew very little about the theatre until I began my Aussie collection :)

    @ Christopher - thanks! :)

    @ Sander - cheers! That look came about by accident - too much highlighting! ;)

    @ Stuart L - thanks! :)

    @ Greg - cheers! More drawbacks than benefits compared to the Bren. They were heavy, low rate of fire and prone to jamming. But better than rifles :)

    @ Phil - thanks! :)


    OK, a bit of a confession. These figures had even fewer highlights than the first set I posted. They still took almost as long to paint though!

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  13. Lovely work, Tamsin- great to see some Aussie figures.

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