British 6lb AT Gun - Desert War

The British began the desert war with the QF 2 pounder AT gun but by April 1942 these were being superseded by the QF 6 pounder which was much better able to defeat advances in German armour.  Naturally my chaps needed one too.  This is a Warlord kit.

Another 25 points for the painting challenge.  So that’s 280 points.

Desert British So Far

I’ve had a few requests to show the British Desert War collection so far.  So, “meet the gang, coz the boys are here, the boys to entertain you ...” 🎶😉 (Okay, I know that was Burma, not North Africa!)

Plenty more to paint though.  Thanks for looking!

British Command and Support

With all three sections ready it was time to turn my attention to the HQ group and then start on some support weapons.  So here is the Lieutenant, the Platoon Sergeant, a Boys Anti-tank Rifle team and a 3” mortar.

The AT rifle team are Perry plastic whilst the rest are Warlord metal figures.

Here’s the Lieutenant enjoying a cuppa and a good pipe!  I really like this figure and it was great fun to paint.

A very dynamic figure for the Sergeant, rushing forward Thompson SMG at the ready!  Sergeant Jack Tanner perhaps? 🤔

A closer view of the 3” mortar.  This can be used as is for BA, whereas in CoC mortars are off table so the crew will be used to help man either a 6lb or 2lb AT gun.

The platoon HQ includes an AT rifle team, so here they are.  The earlier phase of the desert war has quite a lot of lightly armoured tanks and scout cars so these weapons can prove very effective.

That’s another 40 points (counting the mortar itself as an ordinary figure rather than a crew served weapon) which brings my total to 255 points! ... Hooray!  Really pleased to have reached my target  😎

Lovely Surprise

A chap in the office is a member of a book club and recently received this book instead of one about British Plants & Flowers.  The club said he could keep it and he very kindly thought of me and my interest in history.  Needless to say, I was delighted!

The maps are amazing.

It also has plenty of dramatic photographs too.

Should be some useful information for scenarios.

Third British Section - 8th Army

The third section of my platoon is complete!

Bren team.

Corporal and Rifle team.  To make the leader easier to spot on the table I’ve added a dark red clump of foliage.  Only the section leaders, platoon sergeant and CO will have these

So that's another 50 points for the AHPC bringing the total to 215 points.  Next up, the rest of the HQ and some support weapons or teams.

Desert Scenery - Barricades, Sandbags and Walls

More scenery!  As the war ebbed and flowed across North Africa, both sides regularly stopped to build new defensive lines as their opponent’s supply lines became longer.  Here are some (resin) barricades by Javis, from Model Scenery Supplies again.

A long while back I picked up a pack of Pegasus Hobbies sandbags.  However, I always felt that the finish whilst okay, could be better.  So, to get them to match in with my existing scenery, I sprayed them and applied the usual recipe with the addition of a very dilute wash of Agrax between the Tan and Dark Sand layers.

Here's the rest.

Finally, I have some Javis stone wall sections painted up in the same style.  These might be slightly better suited to other Mediterranean theatres such as Sicily or Italy but they'll be fine I'm sure.

All of these pack nicely in to a 6 inch cube so that's another 20 points for the painting challenge. Total now stands at 165 points.  Back to the figures next.