FJR In Normandie: 20mm Rapid Fire Kampfgruppen Part 1

I seem to have really side-tracked myself this year and have spent the last two months working on armies I never thought to. Having recently further developed my 1944 allied forces I thought to see if I couldn't scratch together some opposition so I can host a game unassisted.

Well blow me down if I didn't find 30 odd German paratroopers which I think are from the old FAA range. I managed to make two 8-figure rifle companies, an HQ company and crew for two Pak 40 ATGs.

I went with a Sumpfmuster 44 camouflage jacket and really washed out the brown and green patches by mixing the sand base colour into each. After painting, I 'washed' them using Army Painter strong tone and what a boon it is for 20mm figures I must say. I think it put just the right tone across the set and defined all the creases nicely - like it's supposed to do.

I also cracked out my Flock Box and applied static grass blends for the basing - a first for me in this scale. I'll be matching them in with the vehicle bases to get a unified theme going.

This battle-group approach to a force stems from my resolution to buy no figures this year and it's been very satisfying to erode long held reserves of figures and models. I did buy two more Pak 40 kits (models don't count as figures!) for towed representation but I should have looked at my collection a little harder - yep, found another two later on.

I have resurrected two 8-tonne tractors to tow the Pak 40s and an old Hanomag half-track to transport the HQ company. I bought two fast-build Opel Blitz trucks (fantastic models) for the two rifle companies and these models are next on the list - half way done already.