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| The Portable Air Force |
Opportunities for real gaming or planning have been a bit scarce recently - 'time and space, time and space..' but I have managed to spend a bit of time on a couple of upgrades to the capabilities of my forces. First of all, I always thought the 'D-Day Dodgers' would need an aviation element, as surely no re-creation of 1939-45 battles could ignore the effects of air power. Bob Cordery's 'Developed Portable Wargame' rules include a typically simple and practical 'bolt-on' set of rules for the use of aircraft, and I am interested to try those out. So I just needed some aircraft. Step forward the famous middle aisle of our local branch of supermarket Aldi, from where a few months ago I picked up two 1:72 Airfix kits, which came complete with poly cement, paints and brushes, all for £4.99 each, I think.
In another 'haven't done this in many, many years' moment, I settled down to build and paint, and was quite pleasd with the results - Colonel Badger of the West Suffolks can now call up an airstrike in the form of an RAF P-40 Tomahawk , while Oberst von Kleist has air cover courtesy of an Fw 190A.
Both went together fairly well even with my butter-fingers, though the engine cowling of the Focke-Wulf looks like the fitters must have bent it quite badly and then cross-threaded a lot of the bolts, and both cockpit canopies are somewhat obscured in places by excess poly cement, as is entirely traditional! It was all rather pleasantly nostalgic - in fact I think that the Airfix P-40 ( possibly an earlier version of the kit ) was the first plastic model kit I ever built, probably about 1971 or '72 !
( Back then, it probably cost about 15p, I think. )
They seem appropriate enough, as I'm sure the P-40 would have still been around at least in the ground-attack role in Italy in 1943 and 44, and the Fw 190 was a Luftwaffe work-horse. The kit is actually an 'A8' model, a later-war 'bomber destroyer'with extra cannon - so I just left them off, not that they are exactly prominent, and I can imagineer it to an earlier version. Maybe Me 109s would have been more common in the Mediterranean, but let's not count buttons here - anyway, there weren't any 109s in Aldi. The paints were fine, just 4 small pots in each kit but no actual need for any other colours, and easily sufficient quantities. The paintbrushes were petty terrible, though. I used my own, I am a bad enough painter without scrubby brushes making me worse. And decals! ( 'Transfers' in the old days, surely? ) . Cutting around each one, floating it in a saucer of water and waiting for them to float free - positively Proustian. Those shark's teeth on the P40 nose were hard work, though, and will be kept away from the camera where possible.
They should see action in the next 'D-Day Dodgers' encounter, probably 'flying' on upturned plastic wine-glasses, and it will be interesting to see how the rules work with them ( aircraft are generic 'fighter' or 'ground-attack' , which I think is fine ).
Meanwhile, back in the 18th Century: I have been making slow progress, rather hesitantly painting a few of the Austrian infantry that I acquired from the collection of the late Eric Knowles. As per the painting notes found in Eric's boxes, these are going to represent the regiment 'Botta' fusiliers, and I have started with just 16 figures, making two battalions in Bob's brigade-level rules.
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| Botta Regiment 'on the bottletops' |
As you can see, for a bit more help I am glad to have Osprey's 'Men at Arms' no. 276, 'The Austrian Army 1740-1780 (2) Infantry' by Philip Haythornthwaite and Bill Younghusband, which has answered a few questions and given me some confidence. It's going to be a very simple paint job, pure 'block painting', and no button counting here - even with a magnifying lamp, which has been a real godsend, I won't be painting the buttons! I just about managed the lace trim on the hats without it being too ragged.. I hope Eric isn't spinning in his grave, but I'm doing my best, actually enjoying doing so, and will be happy with a basic look, for viewing strictly at 'wargame distance'. Mostly it's the brass, gold and flesh parts still to do, and some nice simple green old-school bases - fingers crossed for finishing quite soon. And then we'll see how they fight..
Keep well, everyone.
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