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All,
For anyone that’s followed my blog, you’ve seen I have a very strange relationship with 15mm WWII miniatures. I began wargaming in 2009, at which time I spend around $400 on Old Glory US and German forces for Northwest Europe. I painted them up, played a few games, then gave them to my nephews. A couple years later I did it again; I bought about $400 worth of toys from Plastic Soldier Company for US and German forces, painted some of it up, then gave it to Kyote. A couple of years later I switched up slightly; I bought about $400 worth of Plastic Soldier Company minis for British and German forces in NW Europe. I painted up some vehicles and most of the infantry, then sold it off.
But here I am again. I bought fully painted US and German forces for NW Europe (featured in a recent battle report using Battlegroup Normandy, which you can find here: https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2020/05/somewhere-in-normandy-with-battlegroup.html), and then I spent A BUNCH of money on 15mm forces for… North Africa! Well, I bought it, I prepped it, I painted it, I based it, I washed it, and I sealed it, so it’s ready to be played with and ready for me to show it off. It’s not the prettiest set of forces, and it’s certainly not perfect, but it’s definitely the largest collection I’ve ever completed, so at the very least I’m proud of the accomplishment.
The whole mess, with Commonwealth forces on the left and Axis on the right. It consists of 72 tanks, 23 armored cars, 19 transports, 6 aircraft, 19 guns of various calibers, and 64 stands of infantry (command, rifle, MGs, and mortars).
Crusaders on the move.
A British Bofors.
Tommies in the sand.
British air support.
Panzer Mk IIIs with short and long 50mm guns.
Some armored cars.
The dreaded ’88s.’
Italian M14/41s.
Some AB40s.
Italian artillery.
Italian Platoon Commanders.To see a bunch more pics, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/06/thank-you-coronovirus-or-how-western.htmlSo, there it is, my massive North Africa collection, warts and all. That was a tremendous amount of work, and it’s very cool to sit back and stare at it, having finished off such a large project. My plan is to play out the war in the Western Desert from the first clashes at the frontier in 1940, up through the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to do it, but Peter (https://gridbasedwargaming.blogspot.com/search/label/WW2%20North%20Africa) and Jon (https://grymauch.blogspot.com/search/label/WW2%20N.Africa) have given me plenty to think on. In any case, with a little fudging, we’ve go enough gear to get through the various phases of the war with the appropriate vehicles, or at least reasonable proxies, I think.
In a perfect world I would go buy some more early war tanks for Brits and Italians, get some German arty, and get the Italian command and ATGs squared away, but the fact is that I’m exhausted, and I don’t need any of that stuff to play some games. My boys, of course, absolutely love them, and can’t wait to get their little mitts on them.
V/R,
Jack
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