British Artillery Battery - Finished!!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well!

Last weekend I managed to complete (from A to Z) my British Artillery Battery unit.

 It’s been a long journey for me, in terms of time, effort, budget (you all know how things are in Greece for us employees of the private sector…),and plenty of other things, like normal life, that were getting in the way constantly.

From a FOO and his companion radio operator, to the units’ Officers and their maps, many other models have played their part to a certain (big or small) degree. Since this post was meant to be a BIG one (you don’t have – I – everyday the chance to complete a whole unit, even in 20mm scale), I took a lot of photos, I played (in photoshop) with them- don’t worry I haven’t ‘touched’ the models, I only ‘unified’ the terrain pieces onto the table (erased the black lines to be exact), and in order to give a historic flavor in these I made them ‘black-and white’. A tedious task, may I say, but it was well worth the effort. If you come to think that while taking the photos, my kitchens’ sink flooded, for no apparent reason (s…t happens let me say) so I had to play the role of ‘Bob the builder’, then you will acknowledge the effort I put on for this post. If not, at least please pretend doing so…. :-)

On with the photos then:

The Normandy battlefield, dipped in serenity and calmness. Hedgerows and trees all around. A nice farm on the west, abandoned by its inhabitants.  The Brits haven’t woke up yet, I guess it was too early for them. :-)

Hidden in the bushes, up in the hill, two men, two brave men observe the battlefield, looking for Germans. Taking notes, looking for their enemies and confirming coordinates with their fellow soldiers back in the HQ.

Back in the HQ, safe behind their sandbags, the radio operators write down the coordinates and hand them in the Officers Tent for further analysis and interpretation.

The Officers process the numbers, mark their map and issue orders. The symphony is about to begin…

Back in the reserve, the Matadors after carrying upfront the guns are being parked behind the trees. Some soldiers guard them with a worried eye (they had too much of whiskey the night before – a spoil from their US allies). Things could have been worse for them, they all agree… :-)

The guns in full array, ready to unleash some fat missiles. At least they will get a decent breakfast….

In the meantime, their crews are beginning their preparations by unloading the materiel from the trucks, piling the ammo crates, on their pallets. They will soon receive their orders.

A view from up above:

I must confess I feel very lucky, that I had the chance to share my work with you during all these months. You were able to see this thing starting from scratch. I got many ideas from the web and from your work as well. Your help and support, helped me to carry on and complete this project. For that, I’d like to thank you (and if you all were around, I’d buy you a beer..). :-)

In case you are interested, I already have started my new project – German Field Artillery Battery. I now have plenty things to make, but, based on my experience from this project, I reckon that I’ll manage to sort it out as well. That doesn’t mean that I’ll abandon my plucky Brits in the meantime, so no need to worry. Things will go as planned.

Stay tuned boys and girls! :-)

T.