We've all seen SAS movies with guys firing machine guns from jeeps driven at full speed in the desert. How about firing a machine gun from a speeding side-car on narrow European roads? That's what I had in mind when I was painting this week's production, while playing in my head "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf.
Motorcycles in early WW2 were not only used for reconnaissance and liaison, full battalions were equipped with them as it was a cheap alternative to "expensive" trucks. Most European countries, at that time, fielded motorcycle battalions, including armies of Poland, France, Great-Britain, etc. So there were many good reasons for me to paint a whole battalion. There is also a Squad Leader scenario that I always wanted to adapt for miniatures: Assault on a Queen.
I'm showing below the second company (red) of the battalion. First company (blue) was completed before the Challenge as the models were already painted. Since the third company (green) is identical to the first one, I will not bother you with repetitive images. Models are mostly from GHQ with a few Heroics and Ros models sprinkled here and there
In the close-up, below, you can see that I opted to have one non-side-car bike per base, just for variety. Normally, there would be a soldier on the rear seat of the motorcycles, thus 3 bikes could carry 9 soldiers.
Here is a picture of the company HQ, making a quick stop on the side of the road to observe enemy movement and to send an important message to their battalion HQ over the radio.
Below is the weapon company (yellow), with each element carrying an HMG, so one bike for the weapon and another for the ammo. I could not find the organization for the mortars. They were probably carried by trucks, so if mortars are needed, I shall reassign some from my Schützen Battalion. There are only two bikes per stand in this company.
Lastly, a picture of the company HQ for the weapon company with the classic combo: radio operator and officer pointing forward.
6x 6mm foot figurines at 1/2 point each = 3 points
87x 6mm mounted figurines at 1 point each = 87 points
Total = 90 points
Thanks for reading!
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Very nice Sylvain! I do love the Motorcycle troops that typify the early war Blitzkrieg period and you've done a great job with these - 90 points well earned
- Paul
