British Airborne Pt. 1- HQ

My latest army is the one that I have looked forward to building the most. As a boy, I read Victor, Commando and Battle comics and generally enjoyed reading war stories. A key memory for me was some Victor stories about British paratroopers in WW2 covering Arnhem and the taking of Pegasus Bridge. It was boy's own stuff, full of 'Forward the Ox and Bucks!' and 'Gott in Himmel!' as Germans met their grizzly end, but it forged itself indelibly in my young mind.

Fast forward several decades. I had completed enough of my Soviet and German Heer armies, and built enough scenery, to start playing Bolt Action regularly enough. My next project would now be the army I had promised myself for a long time- a small, elite force of British paras to take on my Germans. Lockdown has given me the time to focus on painting them up, but I have a few units left to go.

The force is made up of a mixture of Warlord, Artizan, Foundry and a couple of Empress miniatures. Vehicles are a mixture of Warlord and Paint & Glue machines. I hope you enjoy.

HQ

I've got a couple of 1st Lieutenants, each with an extra man. The first is a Warlord figure, accompanied by a radio operator from the Perry's airborne collection from the Foundry. I denote HQ officers with a yellow base edge for ease- some of my other edging colours will make an appearance below...

My second Lieutenant is from eBay, so I have no idea what range he is from. I liked his pose, urging his men forward with a wave of his hand. His beret looks like the fuller examples worn by the Polish, but I shaved it down a bit to be less 'puffy' (technical military term). He's followed by a Warlord para as his '+1'.

Medics get a white base edge. I love this figure and was glad I was able to get one as part of a Warlord offer recently.

Finally, my 'other' HQ officer ranks. These get a blue base edge to denote their non-leadership related abilities. On the left we have an Intelligence Officer, rules for which were included in the Battle of the Bulge Campaign book. He can be attached to an officer or given a section to accompany him. On the right is the free FOO that a British/ Commonwealth force can include. He's jumped in with the main force, so has his Denison smock, but on reflection, he wouldn't have a red beret if he's from the artillery. Might need to change that...

The Intelligence officer is Artizan, and the FOO is Foundry. There's a slight scale difference between these two manufacturers, but nothing glaring.