CRC's Crazy Compendium 2; Eclectic Boogaloo
Paint shortage is a bit of an issue...
So the plan for the next mini was something other than Bolt Action… Primed a Space Marine and everything…then realised that I actually don’t have the paint for his armour because it dried up and I had to chuck it. I was not impressed.
Anyhoo… I do want to get a playable force of Brits for Bolt Action done though at the moment painting batches is not that simple of a task what with trying to move but also not actually having a place to move to yet, so I sort of get stuck with individual minis when time allows, so here is my officer for my platoon.
Technically he is a mini of CSM Stanley Hollis VC from Warlord Games, but I've painted him up as an officer here, though do look up CSM Hollis; he's the only VC from D-Day.There’s a few things here that I’d like to go over in terms of accuracy, so if you’re not as into that sort of thing as I am bare with me for a bit.
First thing to discuss is the boots because I’ve made a little boo-boo with recent minis, but it’s not a big deal so I won’t go back and fix it. Long story short, the regular soldiers were issued with black boot, whereas officers had brown. Imagine Captain Mainwaring telling Sergeant Wilson he’s got the wrong coloured boots on because he’s not an officer. Now I’ve only made this mistake with some of my minis so I’m just going to say that some of the chaps in the platoon have managed to ‘acquire’ some nicer boots from somewhere and put it all down to the ‘use what you can get’ adage that so often occurs in war.
The second ‘inaccuracy’ is the fact that this chap has the full kit; pack and all. Now TYPICALLY officers were not prescribed such things in their uniform which is why many officer minis you see are not wearing packs. That being said, if only one chap isn’t wearing a pack he sort of stands out so it stands to reason that an officer who wants to last needs to blend in with his men a little bit more. In this case, I have two explainations: 1. The Sergeant has taken it upon himself to make sure this Rupert makes it home so has given him spare kit to help him blend in. 2. He’s a soldier been promoted up from the ranks and just kept his old kit because it’s cheaper than buying new.
For anyone who has this mini and wants to more accurately depict him as Hollis, you should use the 3rd Division badges that come in the new British Infantry box from Warlord (the black and red Triforce badge).
Another option is no badges at all to make your chaps more 'free'. The Regimental badge at the top of the sleeve was always there, but you can paint in a little curve of appropriate colour rather than use decals. Technically speaking, soldiers were supposed to not wear all their badges so as to prevent the enemy working out which divisions were where...put not everyone followed such rules.
And the traditional Lloyd shot.On the subject of Regimental badges or unit patches (the curved band above the square division badge) they can be left off easily enough as well for those who aren’t fans of decals or freehand work. If anyone decides to be a FARB (otherwise referred to as a dick) because ‘yOu DoN’T hAvE tHe RiGhT BaDgE’, then just tell them your chaps decided to go the whole hog in preventing unit information getting to the enemy. Remember, if you’re captured it’s name, rank, and number you give.
If you do want to add them, then the simple rules are red for infantry, blue for artillery, green for Rifle regiments, and (I think) yellow for armoured. I’m not sure on that last one, though…
And with that my Platoon Command is all done. A Rupert and his Sergeant along with the Radioman to make sure everyone knows about their adventures together! Or more importantly to get the instructions. Radios are important things, you know.
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