US Rangers

Another piece of work finished for Gauntlet, but perhaps a few years late! A while back I bought some Revell US Marines to create a ranger battalion for the Salerno game in 2009. In the event someone else provided the figures so they remained in the stash. While sorting out for this years game I realised I either had to create a new US unit or rebase an old one. The old are due to be replaced with the PSC figures in due course so working on them would be a waste and also I didn't want to base any new unit for the desert. Then I remembered...



It's a standard Ranger battalion organised for Rapid Fire and is intended for use in the Mediterranean theatre representing one of the battalions from Darby's Rangers so it can be used from Tunisia through Sicily, Salerno to Anzio.

Foreign Legion rebased for Gauntlet

Preparation for the SOTCW game at Gauntlet continues.

I've rebased my old Foreign Legion figures as they will be part of the French garrison for the game


All the terrain is now ready and here's an impression of how the table will look. On the day I will need to add more lines of stones, which define crest line and therefore limits line of sight.


For those who are interested the game is a what-if scenario set during the Tunisian campaign in 1943 with a mixture of forces from all the major combatants. To quote the author Warwick Young

"This fictional battle represents an action that took place instead of the conflagration at Kasserine. Mixed Axis units attacked from the Thelepte area northwards, along a road up a valley, with the aim of capturing Tebessa. They were halted by French defences in the towns of Bordj Oum Ali (to the south) and El Ma el Abiod (to the north), reinforced by British and American mixed units."

It is available as a pdf (link)

Burgundian and Swiss Handgonnes

Last few medieval figure before I fully concentrate on preparation for Gauntlet(*).

A unit of skirmishing hand gunners for both my Burgundians (left) and Swiss (right).


With some friends to provide backup

The majority of the figures are the Redbox continental mercenaries, with a few old Revell ones to add some variety.

* Details of my preparations for Gauntlet can be found on the SOTCW events blog

More topping up (WOTR Archers)

A single unit this time, originally there were only six figures, so I've added another ten. The originals were Revell and the new one are Redbox and they go together very well.

At the back is the cornfield to provide an idea of it's height compared to the figures. It measures 15mm high and is approximately waist high, which is correct for traditional wheat (1.2m high) rather than the modern dwarf varieties.

A few cheap fields

Popping into Wilko for something unrelated I spotted some door mats. Firstly a coir mat for £3.00 with a much thinner backing than my existing pieces, which therefore would avoid the need to cut down the backing before using it on figure bases. To make it more suitable for games I dry-brushed it with yellow. I cut for rectangle for use as fields and kept the rest for basing, etc.

There was also a "inside door mat" in a beige colour at only 88p and it seemed just the job for ploughed fields, this time I dry-brushed it brown. The results:

Fences are the old Airfix ones.

Get them trucks moving

at least off the workbench...

A few US vehicles from the collection I purchased, some repairs/rework were necessary before painting.

Hasegawa GMCs, an Italeri Beep and an Academy Jeep.

Topping up the archers

Part of the work on my medievals involves upsizing units so they can be used with Hail Caesar. For someone coming from WRG 6th/DBx the best frontage is a multiple of 60mm. This allows the use of all the different individual base sizes. I've gone for 120mm as a general rule, although I could upgrade to 180mm for some of my forces. However this leaves some units undersized, for example my HYW English bowmen were organised in units of 12.

So I picked up some cheap 99p Robin Hood figures in Modelzone and attempted to match the figures I painted back in 2008 (link). Here they are as a front rank with the originals behind

For those who like close ups, here's one. I normally don't bother as I can't see them that close anyway. It also demonstrate the tube I have added to these bases so I can add a suitable standard as necessary.