These Matilda's don't waltz

For the last few years a motley bunch of early World War Two vehicles have been lurking in the deepest dankest depths of the lead pile.  Some were almost complete with others rather less so.  In a fit of unexpected enthusiasm and looking for a break from hordes of Goths I dragged some of them kicking and screaming into the light of the painting queue the other day.  I found three packs of GHQ British armour and some Heroics & Ros Germans part painted and decided that some British Matilda IIs would be a decent place to start.  They had been undercoated (probably a decade ago if I'm honest) and had had the green and black camouflage applied but nothing else.  So off to finishing school they went.

The detail on these little GHQ castings is insane

The GHQ castings are things of beauty and deserve a far better job of painting than I can muster, but as there is only me here to do the job I set to work.  Gun metal for the tracks and a light dry brush of pale sand to pick out details and suggest a layer of summer dust coupled with a thinned wash of Agrax Earthshade later and it was on to mounting them onto some bases.  These are probably only a temporary measure as they really deserve something more robust than a card rectangle but for now I'm calling these done as I'm not going to worry about adding any 6mm transfers to them.  To be honest I don't think they look to bad for a quick paint job.

Something Panzer's don't want to meet at a billabong

I have some Cruiser Mk I A9 and Cruiser Mk II A10 in the pile also from GHQ so will probably finish those off next.

More 6mm World war two - this time the Home Guard.

 Did you know that when first set up the Home Guard was called the LDV - Local Defence Volunteers, although my Grandfather called the organisation "Look, Duck and Vanish"!  He served with the LDV and Home Guard as he was too old for the main forces in 1939 at 43 years old.  He'd done his stint in the latter years of the Great War.  I'm not sure if any of the vehicles below would have been familiar to him or whether they were more likely to be seen on and near the South coast.

Home Guard platoon.  I can see Pike's scarf in there!

First up is the PBI of the Home Guard.  The rifle sections are Irregular Miniatures from their Spanish Civil War range The MG section are also from Irregular but are a Lewis Gun team from their First World War range.  I want to have a look at the 2D6 range for World War two as they have a rather nice deployed Lewis Gun team.

Next are some improvised armoured vehicles from Irregular.  The desperate need for armoured cars and trucks was filled by Spanish Civil War style improvised stuff.  These are actual British designs which were built and placed into service!

A Beaverette.  Slap some steel plate onto a saloon car and call it done!

I'm not sure how effective the Beaverette would have been (or any of the others to be honest) but it's quirky and gives a scout car option.  The next three vehicles were more mobile pill boxes than anything resembling an armoured fighting vehicle.  Firstly the Armadillo with an open topped concrete fighting compartment.

An Armadillo.  Watch out for grenades lads!

Next up two other variants on the pill box on wheels, the Bison.  Apparently the Bison 1 (on the left) was so underpowered it could hardly move for the weight of the concrete box on the back.  The Bison 3 was a bit nippier as it carried a lighter steel fighting compartment.  The roof was a weak point though as it was a (IIRC) steel mesh covered with canvas.  Oh and the white squares on the bonnets are gas detection patches.

A pair of Bisons

Now for something a little more main stream and which could give the invaders a moments pause.  An Infantry Tank mark 2 (A12) 'Matilda 2'.  The 2pdr gun was effective against anything the Germans had although it lacked an HE round.  The only way to be certain of stopping these was with 105mm artillery or Flak 88mm in a direct fire AT role.

Matilda 2 from GHQ Models

Lastly (and sorry for the fuzzy photo) a Cruiser Mk 1 (A9) this is another GHQ model.  

Cruiser Mk1 also GHQ

These are not fully painted and have been sat in the lead pile for a few years so they will need a bit of tarting up.  Although the GHQ models are incredible castings they are only available in packs of five and are expensive compared to Heroics and Ros.  2D6 models are not doing early war stuff yet so any further purchases will be from H & R.  Still I have enough for a small game or two.