Hinchliffe Brunswick Line Infantry

 The latest unit to be updated are these Hinchliffe early 25mm Brunswick line infantry.  Like the Light Infantry in an earlier post these figures are from the true 25mm skinny age of Hinchliffe production.  The standard bearer is a conversion of one of the officer figures.

I am slowly assembling a number of units and I should be able to paint a British line infantry battalion soon:

British Napoleonic Light Infantry

 Some of these figures have been hanging around since the 70s and a few weeks ago I acquired a few more to make up a full unit.  They are the original Hinchliffe, true 25mm castings that I have a real soft spot for.  I like the fact that they are in skirmish order with no back packs and I also think that the shako looks right too.

I am on the hunt for a few more early Hinchliffe items and hope to assemble some more units.

WW2 British Anti-Tank Teams 20mm & Airfix Arabs

 Continuing my way through my ancient WW2 Hinchliffe figures, I decided to paint some anti-tank elements. The first figures man a 2pdr anti-tank gun, which I think was originally a Hinchliffe casting, but this one was released under the Caldercraft label.  The crew are early Hincliffe gunners:

The second team is made up of the infamous PIAT gunner, who has to drag part of a brick wall around with him that is moulded into the base.  The number 2 on the weapon is actually a mortar loader, but I thought that the team needed two figures:

For a bit of fun I painted a pile of Airfix Bedouin Arabs.  These should make a useful enemy for the French Foreign Legion or even in a Northwest frontier action:

Hinchliffe 20mm German Infantry

 In the catelogue, Hinchliffe list G2 as a figure advancing with SMG.  This early Hinchliffe figure, I suspect, is meant to represent an NCO wearing a field cap.  In my opinion this is the worst figure brought out by Hinchliffe.  The casting is crude, the pose is strange, with limbs out of proportion and the sub-machine gun is very crude to say the least.  However, the figure is part of the 20mm WW2 range and part of the history of this company.

I decided to paint this figure (and his colleagues) and an officer and ammunition carrier, in tropical uniform as I could not see him fitting in alongside my other figures:

 

 

Hinchliffe 20mm WW2 US Infantry

I have been slowly collecting these figures for years and recently I acquired the last piece to make up, what I believe. is a full set of the vintage 20mm WW2 US Infantry.  There are five in the series, numbered A1 - A5.  Here is the set:

They are charming little figures with that 70s naivity.  Here is my complete collection - all eight of them:

Unlike the German and British sets Hinchliffe do not appear to have made any support weapons or gun crews, but I may be wrong - I usually am!

B Company's Grand Day Out

 

B Company (B Coy) has been tasked to provide infantry support to British armour planning to move along the road through quite close country.  B Coy has four platoons and a headquarters and has a mortar section and medium machine gun section attached.  The tanks are represented by four Shermans. The ground is as follows; beyond a low ridge there is a village on the right by the road junction, a patchwork of fields and a small wood on the left:

On the left, 1 and 2 Platoons (Pl) are to advance and clear the wood, with two tanks in support, while on the right, again with two tanks 4 Pl will move up to the village.

In this game there are no enemy on the table, which consists of elements of a panzer grenadier battlegroup, just a series of square markers.  Once troops are within 2 hexes they can dice to see if they spot what is there (if anything).  If something is spotted, 2 D6 are rolled to determine what it is. This provided quite an exciting game.

1 and 2 Pls begin their advance on the wood:

Once on the other side of the ridge they spot movement behind the hedge near the wood.  To their horror this turns out to be a Panzer IV, which begins firing at them:

1 Pl in the direct line of fire runs into the wood for cover, while one of the Shermans advances to take on the German tank:

Both tanks exchange fire to no effect, and the arrival of the second Shermans sees the Panzer IV pull back out of view. 1 Pl consolidates its position in the wood, with 2Pl on its flank.  A second suspected German position to the right of 2Pl turns out to be a false alarm.

The action now switches to the right flank and a Sherman moves onto the ridge to cover the advance of 4 Pl.  There is a marker in the village, which turns out to be a Pak 40 75mm anti-tank gun:

The gun opens fire and the Sherman is destroyed:

The supporting infantry of 4Pl make short work of the anti-tank gun and they enter the village:

As 4 Pl move into the village they spot a panzer grenadier platoon at the other end:

A brisk firefight ensues in the street:

4 Pl win the firefight killing several of the Germans, but also take a couple of casualties themselves. The remaining Germans withdraw when the second Sherman begins to edge around the village, leaving 4Pl to lick its wounds and consolidate in the village and church.

Back over on the left, 1 and 2Pls begin their advance towards their secondary objective, White Farm, which, after testing, turns out to be occupied by a German tank hunting platoon:

 1 and 2 Pls begin their attack, while one of the Shermans moves around the side of the farm:

2Pl comes under heavy fire in the field, while 1Pl advances behind the Sherman. Unfortunately the Sherman strays too close to the farm and is taken out by a Panzerschreck:

 The second Sherman arrives and quickly deals with the Panzerschreck team, but 2 PL has to withdraw due to heavy casualties. To make matters worse, as 1Pl begins its assault, the Germans put down a mortar stonk, which slows things up even more:

However, the weight of fire from the tank and the infantry overwhelms the German defenders, who break and run.  1 and 2Pls combined set up a defence around the farm, with the remaining Sherman:

With the vallage and the farm secured the remainder of B Coy moves up:

B Coy commander is a little shocked by the level of resistance and determines that with half of the tanks knocked out and only one complete platoon remaining his best course of action would be to hold what he has gained and await reinforcements.  This will make an interesting second game.

All the figures are Hinchliffe 20mm castings and the Tanks are by Armorfast.  I really enjyed this small action, which provided a fairly unpredicatable enemy.

Renovating Ancients - 2nd Batch

A few more Persians and some Romans received a scrub up.

Persian ally medium infantry by Minifigs:

These Hinchliffe Persian archers were in a right state. Most of the paint had worn away and all the bows were broken off. These were replaced with wire and they were given a new paint job:

Finally, three Minifigs S Range Roman heavy infantry take to the field:

Renovating Ancients

For some time now I have been toying with the idea of renovating my collection of ancient figures. This coincided with a few acquistions to build up sufficient figures to have a go at Command and Colors Ancients.  Most of the figures are basically painted, although a number have broken parts that need to be repaired.  They are a mix of Minifigs, Garrison and a few Hinchliffe and are Greeks and Persians.  Here is part of the collection:

Those in the glass bowls are being soaked to remove old bases and flock.

The Garrison figures are the most challenging, having suffered lots of breakages:

I have made a start on some figures and will publish some pictures of the results.

Hichliffe WW2 British Infantry 20mm

The refurbishment of the first lot of my Hinchliffe 20mm British is now complete.  I am also replacing some of the plastic figures with Hinchliffe originals too:

Basic Memoir '44 units:

A Vickers MG unit:

Command figures, forward observer team, flame thrower etc:

Hinchliffe WW2 Russians

The second very kind gift was of a quantity of Hinchliffe 20mm Russian infantry and gunners.  There are sufficient figures to make up a useful force with support weapons.

The infantry come in three basic poses - an officer, an infantry man with a sub-machine gun and a rifleman:

Here is the whole infantry force:

In addition the batch of figures contained enough crews to man four support weapons. First off, I used three to man a mortar:

Two further crews were used to man a couple of 76mm guns by Irregular Miniatures:

The last crew were used to man a seriously large anti-tank gun, again by Irregular Miniatures:

Finally, I also finished this German Pak 40 by Hinchliffe, with a crew: