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| TKS Tankette. No, there is NOT a bicycle in there. Source: http://www.wp.mil.pl |
“Fathers, our only job is to keep our daughters off the pole.” - Chris Rock
If you may remember, I had two early articles on starting an Early War Polish army here and here for Flames of War. For various reasons, this project never came together, and my initial purchase of several Dismounted Cavalry platoons ended up un-assembled in my basement.
This Christmas, I decided it was time to revive things. So I splurged on more platoons, and began assembling. Back to Early War!
More Dismounted Cavalry
I purchased another blister of Dismounted Cavalry. This enables me to assemble three full Companies of 15 stands each. I usually do not put all five figures onto a base like Battlefront recommends -- so I bought the last blister largely to get the final AT rifle I would need.
Machine-guns
Two blisters of three Machineguns will allow me to field the two integral MG teams for each company. The helmets and boots for the MG teams are normal Polish uniforms, not cavalry ones, but hopefully, this will be indistinguishable from a distance.
Anti-Tank Guns
Two blisters of AT guns will provide some nice, cheap support.
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| Toot! Toot! |
The Warstore still had the Polish Armored Train box in stock. A lot of the Blitzkreig! stuff is going out of print, and I am not confident it will be restocked any time before the Apocalypse, so I snapped it up. I got some tracks too.
Tanks
I tried to get five 7TP tanks, but only two arrived. I may have to look to other sources to finish out my forces.
What's Next?
Well, first, I have to paint all this stuff. I expect that will take me a few months. I will post pictures as I finish.
I want eventually to be able to represent three different armies: The Warsaw Brigade, the 10th "Black" Motorized Brigade, and a "generic" cavalry regiment.
My existing figures can (I think) represent the Warsaw Brigade easily enough. I will eventually need some trucks, I guess, but trucks are not actually that useful in Flames of War. I won't be too upset if I never have
To field the Black Brigade even semi-plausibly, however, I will need to mix in some stands with the iconic leather greatcoats. As Anatoli notes, it is actually somewhat difficult to know precisely how this brigade appeared, but likely had a mix of equipment. I will take that as license to use my existing BF figures for most of the army. Perhaps I will try painting and converting a few of my leftover stands to look like the Black Brigade. The coats will be too long and the helmet the wrong shape, but if I paint the coats black, trim the helmets, and paint them khaki, they might serve. If that doesn't satisfy, I may splurge for models from Forged in Battle or True North.
The Black Brigade did fight alongside an armored train, so that will be cool.
The "generic" cavalry requires at least one Company on horseback. I could always elect to start it dismounted, but that would be boring. It would also waste about a hundred points. So I want to get a few blisters, probably from Forged in Battle. (Battlefront made a set, but they went out of print so fast, I don't think I ever even saw one for sale!)
I also need to fill out my tanks. Maybe some more TKS (Ed: which was totally bicycle powered!), or maybe the Vickers E.
Tom DeMayo's crotch can regularly be seen in battle reports across the WWPD network. He is also the lead author at our sister blog "Building a Better Boardgame"
