Paradogs
I had no idea these animals existed until I read Osprey's Warrior 174 British Paratroopers (1940-45). On page 49 there is a colour illustration of Cpl Aaron Walton and his paradog, Bing, about to leap from an aeroplane over the Rhine.
Paradogs acted as guard dogs, patrolling perimeters and alerting sentries to intruders. These plucky canines leapt out of a plane during wartime. Indeed, Bing had jumped over Normandy on D-Day, get lodged in a tree on descent, was injured by shrapnel and then finally cut down by his handler and carried on with his war! Superb! Dogs and their handlers won medals. A handler and his dog (Pte. Emil Corteil & Glen) are buried together in a cemetery in Ranville. How could I not want to reproduce this on the tabletop?
The soldier is a plastic Warlord figure. The dog is a Warlord Soviet bomb dog, repurposed for less explosive and final service. I clipped off the trigger peg on the top pouch and covered the explosives with a putty 'parachute'. Why it would still not be deployed by now is anyone's guess?
For game purposes, I use the USMC Wardog rules from Empire in Flames. For 18 pts, you have a veteran trooper + dog, which provides Tough Fighters to its handler, and a spotting distance of 24" for Hidden enemies. Perfect! USMC Wardogs can be fielded in teams of up to four- more like an aggressive hunting pack, I feel, but one paradog seems enough and more fitting to their intended role.
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