EmbraCraig's Americans in the Desert (1942)

Ok, I’m gonna keep this bit brief because it really just comes down to ‘Hey, I bought stuff!’ with some added detail.

So last time out, I got my list sorted. Knowing what I needed to get up to a fairly historically accurate 1,250 pt list, I got my shopping list together. Most was really easy, there were only a couple of bits that needed research.

As mentioned earlier, I already had some stuff from Warlord:

• 30 US plastic infantry (old style ones)
• 3 plastic M4 Shermans

My shopping list to add to that went something like this:

• 30 more infantry (the new ones)
• 2 MMG teams
• 1 60mm Mortar team
• 1 37mm antitank gun
• 4 M3 half tracks
• 1 M2 half track

For pretty much everything there, I was happy to pick up the Warlord kits with only 3 exceptions – I wanted a different option for the 2nd MMG team (I wanted both in firing pose, not one advancing), For the M3 half tracks, I’ve gone with Rubicon, and there isn’t an easily available 1:56/28mm M2 half track kit available.

For the MMG team, I had a look around for another one I liked and I’ve picked up the 30cal team from Artizan. Nice and easy, should fit in well with the style of the Warlord minis.

I’ve gone with Rubicon over Warlord for the M3s for a few reasons – first, it’s buildable as an M3 rather than an M3A1, so it’s more period appropriate for my project. Second, it comes with a one piece hull, which should cut out a fiddly stage of assembly. Lastly, it comes with a bunch of extra accessories and options for putting around (ok, so does the Warlord one… really it just comes with different options).

Looking around for the M2, I found one kit available from a seller in the states (Gaddis gaming, available here). The cost of the kit + postage made it a bit prohibitively expensive to get just that sent over on its own. Since I couldn’t find someone in the UK selling one, I’ve ordered an extra M3 to convert. The base cab and drivetrain parts were much the same between the M2 and M3, the differences were things like a slightly shorter loadbay (will work out at about 4.5mm shorter in 1:56), storage boxes taking up some of the bench space for storing ammo etc for the gun it’s meant to be towing (it was originally designed to be a prime mover rather than troop transport), those boxes had external access doors, and that it didn’t have a rear access door. I’m anticipating some time with a razor saw and some plasticard to do my best to make that all happen convincingly. I’ve found some decent internal and external photos, so I’m hoping it should be pretty doable.

So that’s all ordered now, and everything except the half track has come in… so here’s an obligatory shopping haul/backlog photo (please excuse the mess in the background…)