New army project

Hi Guys, Mat here (Blackwolf), to talk about my new army project.

Well, it's been a while since I last posted something on this blog. Sometimes life gets in the way and the hobby takes a back seat. I'm happy to say my love for FoW never left, and I have been able to keep up with the hobby, buying Battlefronts books when they have hit the shelves and pouring over their website each week, as well as a lot of the fan blogs out there. Finding time for the hobby again has come at a great time, coinciding with the release of the new D-Day compilation books. How excited am I! As well as the 9.SS-Panzer Division now officially in the books (See earlier posts about my SS army), there are now lists for British Independent Armoured Brigades!

For some unknown reason I've always preferred the independent armoured brigades over the armoured divisions. It probably comes down to the fact they used different versions of the Sherman than the armoured divisions, using either the Sherman I, II, or III, rather than the Sherman V used by the divisions. So, now that there are lists for the independent armoured brigades, I decided that I really needed to start and build a new army.

I chose the 4th Armoured  Brigade as my brigade of choice. Why? I really like the look of the Sherman II (M4A1 in American terms). The rounded cast hull looks.... cute (Can a tank look cute? Sure, why not), and in Normandy the 4th Armoured Brigade was the only brigade equipped with the Sherman II.

If you've not seen it, Battlefront have produced an excellent guide to British tank markings in Normandy that also gives a good guide to which type of tank each division or brigade was equipped with. Here's the link if you want to have a look see.

So, with the decision made to start an armoured company from the 4th Armoured Brigade I toddled off to my local gaming store (Mind Games in Melbourne's CBD) and bought some tanks to start on. For this project, my model company of choice is the Plastic Soldier Company. They have some pretty excellent kits, and their prices are just top notch. I have initially picked up a box of Sherman II's and a box of Sherman V's. Plastic Soldier Companies Sherman V kit comes with all the necessary bits to make the Sherman Firefly Vc, armed with the awesome 17pdr tank gun, this thing can knock out Panthers and Tiger I's from distance pretty easily.

Probably the biggest downside regarding the PSC kits is that they don't come with decals. Not a big deal to me, but it may be for some. So my next purchase was some decals from Doms Decals. I've posted a review of Doms Decals previously, here. I've ordered enough decals to cover the brigade symbol, battalion symbol, unit serial number, and allied stars for air recognition. I've elected to go with the 3rd County of London Yeomanry as my battalion of choice.

Well, so far I have built, under-coated, base-coated, washed, and lightly dry-brushed 5 Sherman II's and 3 Sherman Firefly Vc's. To finish these 8 tanks off I just need to pick out details and tracks, and apply the decals when they arrive. I'll leave you with a quick WIP shot taken on my phone.

Thanks for reading, and it's good to be back hobbying and blogging Flames of War again.

Cheers!

Mat.