28mm South African Armour: Italy 1944

In my opinion, 28mm World War 2 gaming is, by definition, skirmish gaming. If you want to represent encounters with more than a platoon on the table, 20mm, 15mm or even 6mm are more suitable scales. And in the context of a skirmish game, a single armoured vehicle of any description is a big deal. A game changer. And a tank is a very big deal, and is sure to dominate the table.

So it was with some hesitation that I started painting up armour to support my Springbok footsloggers. I began with lightly armoured vehicles (an armoured car, and a universal carrier) thinking that they could open up some scenario options without having too much of a negative impact on the game. Since then I have really enjoyed the modelling aspect of building the armour, and have (very) slowly been adding vehicles to my South African force.

My plan is to build a selection of the vehicles used by the South African 6th Armoured Division in Italy in 1944 and 1945. I dont want to field any coherent or complete unit, but to have representative vehicles to use as scenarios demand.

The SA 6th landed in Taranto, Italy in April 1944 (first entering the line at Monte Cassino) and fought northwards until the end of the war. The "Tunisian" pattern of Light Mud and Blue Black was only used until September in 1944, when the entire division was rested and refitted and all vehicles took on the British Olive Drab equivalent.

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Divisional Artillery HQ: Humber Scout car

These were mostly used as HQ transport pool vehicles, and few of them acquired the clutter and baggage that you see of vehicles "lived in"by their crew. This is a Warlord Games kit built pretty much "out of the box", apart from the addition of limited baggage and aerials. I used Dom's Decals for the AoS and Bridging marks, and for the WD serial numbers.

Universal Carrier: First/City Cape Town Highlanders Carrier Platoon

Pix show that the FC/CTH carrier platoon jeep was named "Prince Charming", and the eight carriers were named after "Snow White" and each of the seven dwarves. This example is "Bashfull". The Warlord kit is of the Mk2 carrier, but the South Africans used Mk1s, so in time I will replace this with a Mk1 from Die Waffenkamer, or the new Perry/Blitzkrieg Miniatures kit. Added the toolbox and stowage rack. Casual crew member having a smoke ("Sarge told Collins to put on his helmet, and damned if he didnt ignore Sarge and cop some Ted shrapnel later that same day...") is a slightly converted Warlord figure.  Decals are a mix of 1/56 from Dom's Decals and the 1/72th set from William Marshall/Starmers Armour. (The jeep pictured below is another Artillery HQ vehicle - from 22 Field regiment who operated Priests and Sextons.)

M3A3 Recce: Natal Mounted Rifles

Pix show that these seemed to be armed with a mix of .30 Brownings, .50 Brownings and 2" mortars. This is the absolutely excellent Company B kit - which includes options to build either the recce or the turreted version. Includes more than enough interior detail for a wargaming kit! Again, I added some stowage. Crew are a mashup of Warlord Brit Infantry plastics, and Warlord British tank crews.

 

 

 

 

Sherman V: OP Tank, 22 Field Regiment

Many iconic images of the Springbok Shermans during the Italian campaign are of the OP tanks: perched precariously on hillsides and ridgelines, directing fire of Priests and Sextons (and M10s firing in the field artillery role). The Appennines were no place for tank warfare, but the South Africans used them to support their infantry as closely as they possibly could. Another superb kit, this time from Warlord. I added the turret bin and stowage (and replaced the light cages with fusewire) but otherwise it is stock standard.