Transport for the US Armored Rifle Platoon

Two things inspired this particular project. I liked the way the new rules for assault deployment in Chain of Command v2 have streamlined the way in which a unit can disembark from an armoured personnel carrier after it has moved. It makes it far more likely that players will employ this tactic in the way it was used historically. Second, I've been playing the Bazooka Town campaign from one of the Lard Magazines and it features an American force composed of armoured infantry. I have the men, but I didn't have enough transport for them.

I had made a token gesture a few years ago using an M5 halftrack that was left over from a project for my British. Generally, the M5 was made available to allies through lend lease, but it was the M3 variant in most use with the Americans. Technically, mine was the incorrect variant, but at least it allowed me to field a halftrack if I needed one. Although to be honest in overall appearance there is very little to distinguish between the two. To draw the eye away I filled it with a lovely set of figures from AB Figures.

 

Recently, by pure chance, I acquired a set of three Plastic Soldier Company M3 halftracks with US crew figures. Dave, my regular opponent was moving house and as part of a clear out he offered me several 20mm Second World War items at a price that was hard to refuse. At the time I hadn't begun the Bazooka Town campaign and so wasn't sure I would find much use for the half track set, but the price was right and you never know when something might come in handy. It turns out it was much sooner than I imagined.  

It wasn't until we started the Bazooka Town campaign and my opponent wanted to mount a section in a half track did it occur to me that I might end up needing enough vehicles to convey not one section, but an entire platoon. That's more likely to happen now that the v2 edition of the rules makes the tactic more appealing. 

The PSC set allows you to build either the M3 or M3A1 version. The latter featured an armoured pulpit mount for a machine gun. By the later stages of the war all new halftracks were the M3A1 variant and most of the original M3s were upgraded to match. 

While the PSC figures are a little over scale they do the job. I haven't glued these in place for a couple of reasons. One is so I can remove them during a game to indicate when the passengers deploy out of the vehicle. Secondly, I may well replace them one day with the rather nice sets from AB. 

Meantime, they will do. They don't look too bad when compared to the AB figures in my original M5 variant.

The Bazooka Town campaign also alerted me to the fact that I didn't have an M4A3E8 with the HVSS suspension in my collection. That was remedied at the same time I was painting the half tracks with a plastic kit of the 'easy eight' from Trumpeter. 

I like the way the campaigns have helped me grow my collections, slowly filling gaps as I go. It satisfies the completist in me no end. Tragic, I know.

The crew figure is from one of the Plastic Soldier Company tank sets and the stowage is from Value Gear.

With these new additions I now have all the key American tanks represented in the collection for a late war armoured division with suitable transport for their mechanised infantry. More importantly, I have all the halftracks I need for when we resume the Bazooka Town campaign in a couple of weeks.

On a different note it's interesting how the colour capture of the iPhone camera has changed since I photographed the M3 half track.

I haven't repainted it to match the new ones, but the more recent pictures taken using an iPhone 15 simply replicate the true colour more accurately.

Jetlag? Oh yes, but the workbench beckons

Nothing more soothing for jet lag than a few leisurely sessions at the workbench. Nothing better for that than a few quick wins to feel as though progress is being made. First up, an engineers' cart with oxen for the Romans.

It seems suitably appropriate given we spent a few hours at Herculaneum when we were staying in Naples. It's like a pocket size Pompeii, but with a few extra special additions. 

Fortunately, Mrs Tactical Painter enjoys a bit of history, so she was more than happy to explore the ruins with me.

What I hadn't realised, was that due to the different way in which Herculaneum was impacted by the eruption, a large amount of organic material was preserved, something that didn't happen with Pompeii. While this is fascinating, some of it is rather ghoulish. The skeletal remains of three hundred people who were sheltering in buildings at the waterfront were found. Those actual remains are not on display, but plaster casts of them are and it's quite moving. A poignant reminder of the disaster that occurred here. 

As for my engineer figures, they are conversions of various Victrix plastics, using arms from the scorpion bolt thrower set. 

The cart is laser cut MDF from Warbases, who also supply the equipment load in resin and the ox in metal. I'd ordered this to be delivered to my sister in Cornwall before we left Sydney, so it returned as part of my holiday booty.

A quick stop in the very well stocked Entoyment near Poole saw a few unplanned purchases. That included another MDF cart and load, this time for my American War of Independence games. It's a combination of a Warbases cart with a resin load from Depot Battalion.

That adds to the range of carts I have for the period, these are from various manufacturers including Perry Miniatures and Warbases.

The ammunition and water carts have been used as supports in Sharp Practice games, where they tend to function more as a game marker (to show you've supplied your units with either extra water or ammo). However, I'd like to make them more versatile, so at some stage I plan to add a horse/pony to the base and make the carts detachable. That way they can serve a number of different purposes.

Anyway, nothing like a few quick wins to get me back into the groove. Onwards.