17 pdr Envy

I've finally finished a commission for my friend, the Mad Padre. It's only taken me since March, but fortunately he's a patient man.

He sent me a section of Battlefront 17 pounder anti-tank guns,

a Battlefront Late War British infantry platoon

and the "Sergeant Tom Stanley 6 pounder platoon" boxed set.

I have no idea who Sgt. Stanley is. I tried Googling his name and only got the colour text on the Battlefront website. But the guns come with broken bits of wall so rather than my usual flock I had to use sand to give the bases an urban rubble feel. The command group around the light post has an odd Narnia feel to it, I think.
The models are nice, if a bit crowded on the Flames of War bases. For my own 6 pounders I used the large bases and like it better. I had to really squish the crew in on these ones. Especially the gun with Sgt. Stanley directing the aim with his foot up on the wheel. To fit the gunner in between him and the breech I had to trim some bases down.

I liked the infantry platoon. They're wearing the Mk III 'turtle shell' helmet issued to the assault divisions for D-Day. The sculpts got a lot of flak on the internet for having big heads and weapons.

I didn't think the heads looked all that large. Especially when compared with this picture of real troops in Normandy.

The SMLE rifles seemed OK, a bit robust to withstand casting and gaming but not too bad. The sten guns are a bit extreme though as you can see from the close up, but easily ignored.

The 17 pounders were a bit of trouble to assemble and required patience. But they're nice big-ass guns attached from the Divisional Anti-tank Regiment, and I wish I had a pair now too.

Now I just need to get them packed and mailed off and hopefully the Mad Padre will post a nice battle report featuring these fellows sometime soon.