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| 1940 BEF Rifleman |
With my French forces painted, I wanted another force to face the Germans and of course the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) seemed like a natural choice, especially as I wanted to run the Many Rivers to Cross PSC with them.
I had backed the Studio Historia Kickstarter For King & Country: Britain at War Vol 1 BEF (1939-1941) so I had the models I needed. I recommend these models but printing at 20mm presented its own challenges as some of the modelling is a little over detailed resulting in some very thin parts of the model in 20mm. I replaced the rifles to get rid of the flimsy rifle straps, thicken up the bits I needed to print and spent way too long trying to get the damned Norton motorcycle squad to print (a personal nightmare). I also edited a lot of the STLs to make them standing and more to my liking, all in all these models took a lot of tweaking.
My required list to play the PSC and also permit me to fill out most of the Support List with is:
Basic 1940 Regulation Platoon
- Senior Leader or two and a Platoon Sergeant
- 4 sections each of Junior Leader, 3 man Bren LMG, 7 riflemen (I will probably do extra rifle men as well)
- 2 x 2" mortar team with three crew
- 2 x Boys Anti-Tank rifle teams of 2 men
- Medical Orderly
- Engineer Teams
- Thompson SMG options for Leaders
- Sniper Team
- "1 pounder" 25mm Anti-Tank gun (I can use the French one for this from Colonel Muller)
- Engineer Section (a throw back to the v1 rules, a Junior Leader and two three man engineer teams (no flamethrower in 1940) and can be equipped with Explosive Charges from the Support List.
- Vickers MMG
- 2 pounder Anti-Tank gun
- Forward Observer for fun
Of course any 1940 BEF force had lots of Blanco, in fact Blanco No.97 Khaki Green (Medium) is the Blanco of choice. The standout feature of these early war troops is their green webbing and I wanted to try and get it right if I can.
Painting Guide
Largely based on the excellent Painting Panzer's guide...
with a few tweaks by me:
- Undercoat with 70.601 Vallejo Grey Primer.
- Paint uniform with 70.921 English Uniform.
- Paint the skin using 70.815 Basic Skin Tone and then apply two washes of ArmyPainter Quickshade Flesh Wash to bring it to life.
- Gas mask bag on chest, helmet chin straps and any rifle straps 70.988 Khaki
- Blanco webbing, water bottle straps, backpack, shovel case and gaiters in 70.924 Russian Uniform WWII.
- Water bottle body in 70.880 Khaki Grey
- Rifle woodwork and small bedroll in backpack with 70.875 Beige Brown.
- Bayonet, rifle metalwork and boots with 70.862 Black Grey.
- Helmet and Gas Cape with 70.887 US Olive Drab.
- Officer belts, straps and pouches in 70.846 Mahogany Brown
- Officer "cavalry" trousers in 70.988 Khaki
At this point all the dull stuff is done and you will feel disappointed that it all looks a bit pants - time for the wonder of washes!
Give it a wash of 50% Army Painter Strong Tone all over thinned with of 50% Vallejo 71.361 Airbrush Thinner. I usually do two washes as sometimes just one wash isn't strong enough for my liking but each to their own.
Now to the fun stuff that makes the figure really shine. When highlighting I basically repaint back with the original colour and then a highlight colour diluted down so it isn't too strong , some people mix paints but I am too lazy and just dilute with a dab of thinner.
- Highlight uniform with 70.921 English Uniform and then further highlight with 70.824 German Camo Orange Ochre.
- Highlight the Blanco with 70.924 Russian Uniform WWII, and then 70.891 Intermediate Green and then final touches with 70.885 Pastel Green. I found this really makes the early war webbing pop in a lovely limey green.
- Gas mask bag, helmet chin straps and rifle straps with 70.988 Khaki, then highlight with 70.884 Stone Grey
- Water bottle body with just 70.880 Khaki Grey
- Rifle woodwork and small bedroll in backpack with 70.875 Beige Brown and then further highlight with 70.843 Cork Brown
- Helmet and Gas Cape with 70.887 US Olive Drab and then on the helmet a dry brushing of 70.891 Intermediate Green
- Highlight noses, cheekbones and knuckles using 70.815 Basic Skin Tone.
- Officer belts, straps and pouches retouch in 70.846 Mahogany Brown and then highlight with 70.818 Red Leather
- Officer "cavalry" trousers in 70.988 Khaki and then highlight with 70.884 Stone Grey
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| Cpt. Cholmondley-Warner is judging your painting! |
To help identify figures on the table, I have gone for painting edges of the bases
- Senior Leader in dark red
- Junior Leader in orange
- Bren gun teams in grey
- Riflemen in plain black
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| Section almost finished with just the basing left to do |
I hope you have enjoyed this guide and happy painting the sea of beige and khaki!
I will post some more pictures later of more finished figures.