8th Army Heavy Weapons for Bolt Action and the Military Museum of Belgrade (part 1)

    My 8th Army heavy weapons platoon consists of two Vickers medium machine gun teams, two medium mortar teams and an Artillery Officer. I used 60mm bases only for one of each kind of the weapon teams. For the soldiers of the other two teams I used 25mm bases. It is easier this way to remove the casualties during the game.

Medium machine gun teams

   I cut the heads of two gun members and replaced them with Australian heads of British Commonwealth Infantry box to differentiate the two MMG teams.

The Australian MMG

The British MMG

   It was very difficult to cut the heads of the mortar crew because of their poses, so no swap for them.

The first mortar team

The second mortar team and the artillery officer

   A very good friend of mine recently visited the Military Museum of Belgrade and sent me some photographs of the museum's items. The museum was founded in 1878 and is located within the walls of Belgrade Fortress. It is an extensive museum which has more than 3.000 ancient and modern items, such as uniforms, weapons, maps, etc. Below you can see some tanks and guns of WW2.

   At this point I would like to mention that the previous week, on Tuesday 25th of August, my blog became fifteen years old!

   The first post of my blog was just a humble hello!

   Finally, I would like to welcome Jonathan Harker! Jonathan, welcome onboard!

   That's it for today! Stay tuned for more!

8th Army Bren Carriers for Bolt Action

    The ubiquitous Universal Carrier could carry machine guns, anti-tank rifles, mortars, infantrymen, supplies, artillery and observation equiment in every theater during the WW2. By 1945 approximately 57.000 Carriers were produced in UK. 

   Carriers were also produced in allied countries. So, since 1934 to 1960 around 113.000 models were prodused in total. It was the most produced armoured fighting vehicle in history! 

The Bren Carriers

   There are two Bren Carriers in the 8th Army starter army box of Warlord Games. These two Bren Carriers together with my two SAS jeeps are my SAS desert raiders. I added various gear, backpacks, helmets and weapons on the vehicles.

   I added a third passenger to both Carriers in order each vehicle to have a driver and four more infantrymen. The first crew has heads from British Commonwealth Infantry box and the second Scottish heads with Tam O'Shanter hats from 8th Army starter army box.

The Desert Raiders

   Recently we had dinner in the Kebab & Curry Indian restaurant in Pireaus. We ordered vegetable soup, chicken Makhni, chicken Korma, beef curry extra spicy, mushroom rice, prawn Biryani, bread Naan and my favorite chicken Tandoori. Everything was delicious!

Prawn Biryani

Mushroom rice

Chicken Korma

Chicken Makhni and beef curry

Vegetable soup

Naan

Chicken Tandoori

   That's it for today! Stay tuned for more!

The Italian Alpini for Bolt Action

    The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. The name comes from the mountain range Alps. During WW2 Italy fielded six alpine divisions. They fought alongside the Axis forces in the Balkans, France, Africa and on the Eastern Front.

The Alpini

   All the above Alpini are Warlord Games miniatures. The majority of them are wearing an Alpine Hat (Cappello alpino), which is the most distinctive feature of the Alpini troops' uniform. Due to the black raven feather of their hats, the Alpini are known as "Le Penne Nere" (The Black Feathers). The rest of the soldiers have the M33 steel helmet.  

Alpini support group 

   The Italian Alpini support group consists of an HQ (an Officer, a Medic and a Forward Observer), a Breda M37 8mm medium machine gun and a 81/14 model 35 mortar.

The Medic, the FO and the Officer

   One of the Alpine Hat's symbol is the fregio, a coat of arms indicating the wearer's regiment. It is black for soldiers and golden for officers.

The MMG team

The medium mortar team

Alpini weapons teams

   The Alpini weapons teams consists of a Solothurn 20mm anti-tank rifle team, a sniper team and a Brixia model 35 light mortar team.

The anti-tank rifle team

The light mortar team

An Italian Brixia light mortar

The sniper team

   Another Alpine Hat's symbol is the nappina, a small piece of wood covered by a coloured tuft denoting the battalion. The nappinas' colours are green, white, red and blue. The four colours of the flag of the Kingdom of Italy during the WW2.

Flag of the Kingdom of Italy

   Apart from the Alpini support group and the Alpini weapons teams, I have two Alpini Infantry Squads. The soldiers of the first squad have white nappinas while the ones of the second, green. I painted all the miniatures' trousers Dark Sea Blue, the Alpine hats and the majority of tunics Stegadon Scale Green, while the rest of the tunics German Field Grey, the socks Russian Uniform and the steel helmets German Cam Dark Green. All paints are Vallejo apart from Stegadon Scale Green, which is a Citadel Base paint.  

The first Alpini infantry squad

The squad's NCO

The MG-42 light machine gun assistant gunner and gunner

Alpini with a Panzerfaust

The second Alpini infantry squad

The squad's NCO

Alpini with a Panzerfaust

The family photo

   If you'd like to see the post of the Alpini WIP, please click here

   That's it for today! Stay tuned for more!