Early War Polish Reinforcements from Crusader Miniatures

The Polish Army in 1939 needs all the help it can get to repel the German Blitzkrieg. Here we've added another Polish Infantry Section from Crusader Miniatures for our Bolt Action battles.

The twelve man rifle squad has extra punch with the addition of a BAR Automatic (LMG) squad in it. Backup also provided by an Ursus armored car

Packs are loaded out with everything an infantryman would need.

Crusader Miniatures came up with nice poses for the riflemen.Including the BAR squad

And the advancing sculpts are also very interesting. The detail for metal miniatures is pretty substantial.

If you need to get squads on the table fast, metal figures don't need assembly so are usually faster to complete.

Have A Great Battle!
The Old Crow

Warlord Games Gurkas

Gurkas, like these models from Warlord Games, served in the Second World War recruited from the sovereign state of Nepal. These tough allies to the British royal crown can really pack a punch.

They fought in Syria, North Africa, Italy, Greece, as well as in Burma against the Japanese.

Each Gurka carries a traditional Nepalese knife known as a Khukuri or Kukri. 

This heavy, curved blade is a fearsome close-combat weapon, as well as being useful for more mundane tasks such as clearing a path through dense jungle terrain.

Metal box set contains a 10 man rifle section, 3 man command group and 8 man charging section.

These guys are the completed charging section with NCO.

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

Black Bull Armor Addition from Warlord Games

Well finally we have some additional armor for the Black Bull, British 11th Armoured Division. Here we have the completed A34 Comet Heavy Tank, a Cromwell MK IV and a Daimler MK 1 armored car.

The Comet, advancing toward the main road through the low stone wall....

and Cromwell making use of its bocage cutter, are patterned after the 29th Armoured Brigade's 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Regiment.

The Daimler is part of the supporting Recce Regiment, the 2nd Northhamptonshire Yeomanry.

The Daimler was a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a 2 pounder canon.

In Bolt Action it has the Recce rule to get out of sticky situations.

The Cromwell is a great all around medium tank in Bolt Action and still my favorite from World of Tanks!

Here you can see added stowage and the crew left their bucket hooked on the rear of the vehicle.

Now for some punch, the A34 Heavy Comet tank!!

This guy can pack a punch and has serious armor comparable to a Panther.

The A34 Comet was the last British tank type to enter the war. The 11th Armoured Division received the Comet in January of 1945.

Have a Great Battle!!!
The Old Crow

Reader Built Trebuchet, Siege Tower and Battering Ram!

At Battleground Hobbies we enjoy sharing our love of designing, building and collecting scale models for table top war games. Sometimes we even get great feedback. Among our top posts are "How to Build a Siege Tower" and "Battering Ram" We recently received a comment on one of these. 

A reader from Moscow left this: "Thank you. It's great! My son used your ideas for historical school project. Something was difficult and I helped him. He did this nice siege tower and trebuchet".

We thanked her and asked for some finished photos to share with everyone. We received this reply along with some photos: "I've sent you some photos of our siege engines. We also did a battering ram. There are plastic knights from my childhood on the photos. They were made in the mid 1970s."  

Here they are!!

Her son shows perseverance and determination!!

And he built a very nice trebuchet!!

Here's our post they refer too: "How To Build A Trebuchet"

and his Ram!! Keep modelling mate!!

If you have completed a project inspired by one of our posts, please share it with us!!

Have A Great Battle!!

The Old Crow

Artizan Designs WW2 US Infantry Miniatures for Memorial Day

US Infantry supported by an M18 Hellcat approaching a hamlet

In honor of Memorial Day here in the US, we are focusing this post on the foot slogger and backbone of the army, the infantry! There are many companies who make miniatures of US Infantry, the one we are going to focus on for now is Artizan Deigns. We'll also share some great images of the infantry from World War 2 with you.

US Infantry in Greatcoats advancing down a lane in Normandy

Artizan Designs specializes in producing 28mm metal figures, designed to the highest possible standards. Their figures are of Historical subjects, and some of the ranges include:The Renaissance, Vikings, Arthurian Dark Ages, World War One and for today's focus, World War Two

US Infantry move cautiously through a French village

The World War 2 range includes American Forces, British and Commonwealth Forces, French Forces, German Forces, Soviet Union Forces, Italian Forces and Resistance & Partisans. The miniatures are perfect for use in table-top wargames like Bolt Action and Rate of Fire

All the figures come from the talented hand of sculptor Mike Owen. Their WW2 US Infantry is broken down into three groups, U.S in Greatcoats, U.S. Airborne and  U.S. Infantry You can also find The Devils Brigade, First Special Service Force figures. Here are three figures all in greatcoats, one with Sub Machine Gun, one with Rifle and one with a BAR

The BAR was given one to a section of GI’s where possible and was a partial counter to the feared light machine guns the Germans carried. Although heavy they were well liked by their users and often others in the section carried spare ammo for the BAR gunner.

US Infantry figures are suitable for American forces in North Africa, Italy, Sicily, Normandy and North-Western Europe. The Infantry in Greatcoats are good for representing winter battles in the Ardennes or anywhere across Northern Europe. Here is an image of two blister packs contents of US Infantry in Greatcoats with SMG and a FSSF pack with rifles and parkas.

This is an Artizan Designs US Infantry 30cal Machine Gun Squad in Greatcoats situated on a 60mm base ready for painting.

And here it is in action with the runner bringing in a replacement ammo box.

Pfc. Terry Paul Moore of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was number one Browning Automatic Rifleman in 2nd Platoon, Company 'F', 184th Infantry Regiment of the US 7th Infantry Division and is lighting his first cigarette of the day on the island of Okinawa soon after the dawn attack on the town of Yonabaru. In the early morning of the 22nd of May 1945

The veterans of Company I slog through the mud and ruins of Jungersdorf at the end of their tenure in the Hurtgen Forest. There would be no respite for these men. Fresh from the horrors of the Hurtgen campaign, they were thrust into the path of the 6th SS Panzer Army and played a key role in the defense of the Bulge’s North Shoulder during the German Ardennes Offensive which started less than a week after this photo was taken.

US 3AD soldiers, Cpl. James L. Gregory and T/5 Omer G. Taylor of ‘C’ Company, 1st Battalion, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division seek shelter behind a M-4 Sherman tank while under German Artillery bombardment at Geich, near Düren, Germany, on the 11th of December 1944. [Colorized by Jared Enos]

A US 7th Armored Division 3-inch M5 towed antitank gun covers the approach road near the Railroad crossing at Vielsalm, Belgium. 23rd of December 1944. [Colorized by Jared Enos]

U.S. Infantrymen of the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion and a tank of the 22nd Tank Battalion move through the smoke filled street of a small village in Bavaria. Wernberg-Köblitz, Bavaria, Germany. 22 April 1945.

Remember those who served!
The Old Crow

Dr Who Miniature Game from Warlord Games

OK all you Whovians, Warlord Games has secured the licence to produce a miniatures game based on the BBC's Doctor Who

Warlord is extremely pleased to have the chance to bring this iconic series to the tabletop with a game system you all know and love as well as the official range of miniatures to complement it.

The licence covers not just the latest series of Doctor Who but encompasses all of the Doctors, their companions and their foes. So, expect to see Sea Devils as much as Weeping Angels, Leela as much as Martha Jones, and a long, brightly colored scarf as much as a fez.

Keep an eye on the Warlord Games website for further details or sign up to the Doctor Who Miniatures Game newsletter on their site.

We like the detail you get from Warlord Games, but if you can't wait, Black Tree Designs has a current selection of older Dr Who figures including Daleks!

And remember - don't blink. Whatever you do, don't blink...

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow

Warlord Games M4 Sherman Plastic Kit for Bolt Action by Italeri

Here it is, Warlord Games M4 Sherman Tank. The Plastic Kit is produced by Italeri for the Bolt Action line.

It comes with everything you need to assemble and detail this fine model. There are options for open and closed hatches. The turret and main gun will both remain movable if assembled correctly. Decals are also provided for adding those finishing touches.

The kit contains two sprues, the first holds the main body of the tank, the tracks and two upper armor plates

The second sprue contains all the other components.

Italeri produced this kit in 1/56th scale which is scaled to the 28mm miniature market. The parts had very little flashing and fit together very well.

The model is fairly easy to put together. We completed the kit in about 2 hours and were happy with these results.

Here you can see a few additional details sculpted onto the model.

We added some tarps and roll from the "Stowage Pack" accessory kit which can be purchased separately.

Now add a couple US Airborne Pathfinders and we're off to a Bolt Action starter army!

The Sherman Tank was the main stay of the American army. The Break out from the Normandy beaches and the bocage could never been achieved without the armored support.

Although they had their weaknesses and were nicknamed ‘Ronsons’ by the Germans as they lit up every time; their impressive firepower and large production numbers enabled the Allies to over power the Germans.

Alongside the Soviet T-34, the M4 Sherman medium tank was arguably one of the most important Allied tanks of the war.

It was supplied by the industrial might of the USA to Britain and the Soviet armies in great numbers.There were nearly 50,000 of all variantsbuilt by the end of the war

Its 76mm armor and 75mm main gun made it a useful tank for its 5 man crew. It saw action in every theater of operations during the war.

Here is a parting size comparison to a Warhammer 40k Dreadnought.

Have a Great Battle,

The Old Crow