Show us yer stuff!

[PolishGI]

In love with the Market Garden tables!

Second Redleg... how big or how many tables did that take? That looks awesome!

[ACWBill]

I still have the boards, I think they measured something like 37ft long and approx. 6 ft. wide with a 6 x 12ft T shaped at the end for Arnhem and Oosterbeck.

[Begemot]

Bill - Awesome terrain. How long did it take you build that - boards, buildings, trees?

Begemot

[ACWBill]

About 6 months mostly on figures.

[BurtWolf]

Bill - what a table, I love anything market garden! I’m just painting up some gliders now. That is an inspiring table of terrain. Your tank crews in the Stugs look cool, and love that long ball picture of the vehicles heading to the bridge.

How long was the game?? Tell us more!

[ACWBill]

Hi Burt, table length mentioned above. 37ft or so with a 6x 12 ft T shaped added on the end. PS there are more shots on the “Show us your Games” thread. We played the game over a weekend convention called Rapiercon in Jacksonville, FL. I set up Thursday and played through Saturday evening. We playtested prior but separated the games at three different members homes. The con is the only time I had the whole thing set up in one place. The Allies won the playtest and the Germans won at the con.

[pmskaar]

Hi Bill!

That is an awesome looking layout for Market Garden! It looks like a great game!

Pete

[Mk 1]

Bill:

That table is da bomb! I mean really, that's a wowzer achievement. Beautiful stuff -- a treat for the eye and an inspiration to us all.

-Mark
(aka: Mk1)

[Mk 1]

My latest work is a company of early production M4A1 Sherman tanks.

This is the early production model, with the narrow M34 gun mantlet.They are the right Sherman variant for my US Army forces for Tunisia and Sicily battles -- among my favorite theaters of operation. I bought these very soon after GHQ introduced them. They have been aging in my to-be-painted box in the garage ever since.


Here is an overhead view of the company. There are three platoons of 5 tanks, and a company HQ with 2 tanks (CO and XO). There is also a HQ Support platoon with maintenance/recovery and supply sections.


Here is a side-on view of the company. I put stars on all the turrets, and stars on the hull-sides of the command tanks (both HQ tanks and each platoon CO). The XO's tank, and each platoon sargent's tank, has some extra ammo crates on the rear deck. This allows me to easily keep track of my command vehicles at game time in a way that is non-invasive to the look of the game (and non-obvious to my opponents).


The company CO's tank is identified by Brad Pitt up in the hatch pointing the way (with one hand to the mic).


The TC is a US artillery crew figure, with the helmet reshaped a bit and the arms bent. I drilled out the hatch, and made two half-circle cuts of sheet styrene for the split-hatch in the open position. I resisted the urge to put too many crew figures into this unit, mostly to "get 'er done". These tanks have been aging in the "to be painted" bin for a couple years now.


Here is an overhead of the HQ tanks. I tried to scratch-build some Jerry Cans to supplement the ammo crates. You can see one on the XO's tank. But they didn't come out too well -- maybe not "wrong", but clearly not detailed enough to make it obvious what they are. Oh well.


These GHQ early production M4A1 Sherman models are really (REALLY!) well done. In case you don't know, the Sherman had a smoke-grenade launcher pistol inside the turret, with a port for firing the grenades in the turret roof next to the gunner's seat. You can clearly see the port on the turret in several of these pics. That's a level of detail I quite frankly was not expecting. Most rulesets don't even provide for them, but the models have 'em!


The support platoon is not new to this project. I created this years ago with my M4A3 late-war Sherman company. Fortunately I used an M31 ARV (based on the M3 Medium Tank) at that time, so it is an entirely appropriate support group for my early war Shermans too.

As we know from this year's schedule GHQ is soon to release mid-war production M4A1s (with applique armor and wide M34A1 gun mantlets). I will undoubtedly get a company of those too. Maybe more. It would be appropriate to mix the two (early and mid- production versions) in any Italy or maybe even Dragoon scenarios. So maybe I need to think about building more company support platoons, so I can have multiple companies on the table at once. But then, the support units don't always get on the table anyways, so maybe that last bit can wait.


Here is the company on a paint board being dullcoted, along with some terrain pieces that were on the workbench at the same time. This pic is in full direct sunlight. All the others were taken in indirect sunlight (in the shade on a sunny day). The minor differences in the tank colors in this pic may help you get an accurate impression of color of the tanks.


I really like the way this company turned out.

Well I guess that's it for now. Hope you enjoy.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

[ACWBill]

Ready for Kasserine. Nice looking tanks. The Co. com tank is very nice.

[Brigade Commander]

I was fortunate enough to see one of Bills game tables in Lancaster PA a few years back! Curiously enough it was the American Civil War. They truly are works of art!

*****(Edit) As posted in the AARs thread it was Valley Forge PA in 2011 not Lancaster PA. Was not prepared for something that spectacular so brought no camera. (Sigh...).

[BurtWolf]

Nice, nice work Mark, they came out well! The added crew and crates are cool, I wouldn’t be able to resist doing it to all of the tanks. But great way to denote command pieces in a game! Are those hand painted stars?

So for Sicily and Tunisia do you use the same Italian pieces? I ask because I am wondering whether I need two sets of Italians, one for Africa and one for Italy towards the end of the war for them?

[ACWBill]

@Bde Com ACW is by far my favorite and the terrain is my favorite part of the period.

[Mk 1]

Are those hand painted stars?

Yep. I have not yet taken the dive in to learning how to use decals at this scale. So all of my markings are hand painted.

So for Sicily and Tunisia do you use the same Italian pieces? I ask because I am wondering whether I need two sets of Italians, one for Africa and one for Italy towards the end of the war for them?

I use "the same Italian pieces", but the question is: the same as what? My Italian force is built to do dual service in Tunisia / Sicily, and the Eastern front, with a bit of kit that might work in Greece or Albania. I don't have much stuff for the western desert.

The tanks can do dual service in the Western desert well enough. M13s (and M14s if you got 'em) served in both, and the painting was always in the North African scheme. The uniforms on the infantry are a bit of a challenge, though. You are fully justified in using desert uniforms in Tunisia. But less so in Sicily, and not on the Eastern front. My infantry is in Continental uniforms (green/gray), not desert (tan). They would not be suitable for the western desert, except in rare instances. I have, for example, good source material on one cavalry regiment (motorized, not horse-mounted) that shipped some of their formations to North Africa with Continental uniforms in early 1942. They would have been among the exceptions. By the time of Tunisia probably half of the Italian forces were in Continental uniforms. By Sicily the desert uniforms would have been the exceptions.

My trucks are in continental colors. My recon vehicles and their troopers (Saharianas) are in desert scheme, as they really didn't see service in Russia so I can devote them to North Africa. My M11s and L3s ... well, I should probably re-paint them anyways, but who knows what colors they should be in. I don't have any Brits for the Western desert for them to fight against, so any use other than Greece or Albania is going to be hypothetical (like Lybia/Tunisia in 1940). IDK what colors to use.

My Italian force started as an "adversary" force -- you know, when you want to get a game up and you have to bring both sides. Since I have US and Soviets, this was the one choice (other than Germans, which i don't collect) that could serve as an opponent force for both. But now it's grown into a force I quite like, so a full-fledged army in my collection.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

[chrisswim]

C-5


C-150
Painted another with Olive Drab, and black on top of grey.



Dark Green and Black on top of grey.