Higgins Boats 28mm

The six new Higgins boats arrived and I made up 2 more from scratch to the same size...so that we could blow them up!

Below: our new 3d prints to be painted and decal'd.

             

Below: This is one of our original boats (see previous Omaha Beach Game) with a whole new set of figures... I had to use the old warlord figures to get some open handed figures. The gun crew and driver are just green stuff and extra arms and heads.

The idea was to show some guys exiting over the side walls...we have lots of wading guys already.

Below: Then I got a bit carried away and made up a scratch built Higgins - an exploding one - from mdf bits and placed inside a flickering (battery opreated) candle into the centre...I cut out the base so that the battery could be replaced.

Then I started adding guys, helmets, weapons, bangalores etc. 

Above: The guys are falling backwards at the front due to the boat due to the shell impact.

Anyone any idea how I can store this ! LOL Its going to be a nightmare.

We can use this as a casualty marker in the game...

Then I did a scratch built half sunken one...to leave on the shoreline. This involved a shallow liquid water pour on the inside. I could've went higher with the pour to cover the guys but the sea level of the mat outside the boat might've looked strange.

Below: Aguy stands on a box to get out - over the side.

So I also used green stuff (knedite) to model gun crews and drivers for the new boats.

Next stop is terrain...

Omaha 28mm

 So we decided to return to Omaha Beach for our next game. We liked the previous version but decided to go larger...maybe it could be 12ft long...? This might be too big - but we will see how it goes.

We already had 125 off of the 29th Infantry 100 of the 1st Infantry and 100 Rangers but... it would be much better looking if we could use clear bases.. (instead of our traditional sand textured bases) which meant buying more...a lot more. I could not face re-basing our metal figures onto clear bases. But we still might need to use our traditional figures as well.

Seven boxes of Warlord Plastic (US Infantry and Rangers) and an additional 6 new 3d printed Higgins boats have been purchased to date.

So here's were we got to...with the 29th infantry and the Rangers

29th Infantry

I have made them up as Higgins boat teams so approx. 4 boats x 30 off (each with mortar, flame thrower, bazooka, bars and Bangalores).

Tip: I used a 15mm  scale arm patch decal on the 29ths helmets (as well as the standard 28mm decals for shoulder patches. I was not sure if this would work ...but I think it looks ok..

                                               

I really like the clear bases...                                

I used the contrast paint on the tunics and trousers..normal acrylic everywhere else. 

You can just make out an engineer on the far right (red helmet "arc")

So these were made up using the new plastics but with some various arms and heads (US Marines, US paratroop and even German heads!) to make them look better/ a more varied force.

Below: Then there is the Rangers 2nd and 5th ...maybe about 45 off approx.

Again these guys are packing heavy... 

I went for brown trousers just to distinguish them on the battlefield.

 

This guy is assembling the bangalore torpedo

I really like the new Warlord Rangers pack you do get a lot of gear....but  I would've  liked a 30 cal or 50 cal option (I used the paratroop ones) in the box. Also for this beach game I used spare heads from the bits box... to get the right look on some of them.

It would also be great if you could get a Warlord set with like "generic arms" (with no weapons -like the old box set - but with the new sculpts) and rows  of heads with no helmets...

We will also need more casualty markers, and more cliffs.... So watch this space.