1940 BEF - Matilda II

Yet again another entry in the Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. At the moment I'm experiencing a rather uncommon quiet time at work meaning I find myself with more time at my hands to pursue the hobby.

British Paras, BEF JoP's and a building

Today an a little diverse diverse mix as I'm trying to tie up some loose ends before the 10th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts in a matter of days.
Work-life balance is a little difficult at the moment as I've only just started a new job and thus am constantly away from home for the foreseeable future. So there's precious little hobby time to be had.
Be that as it may, I've actually managed to paint up a few things.

Let's start with a demi-squad of British Paras:

1940 BEF - 25mm Hotchkiss anti-Tank gun

To counter the threat posed by German Panzers I wanted another anti-tank gun to support my BEF. As I already have a QF 2-pounder anti-tank gun my attention turned to another piece fielded by the British at the beginning of World War II: The French made 25mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun.

1940 BEF - 2nd 2" mortar, additional riflemen & Platoon Sergeant

One thing I came to recognize in our last games was the effectiveness of the British 2" mortar when deploying smoke. So I swiftly decided to paint me up another one as a support option. I also needed another two riflemen to bring up all of my four sections to the 11 men required for a 1940 Regulation BEF Platoon. And last but not least, as I'm rather a stickler for WYSIWYG,  a Platoon Sergeant armed with a rifle. All models are Warlord Games.

1940 BEF - Bofors 40mm gun

Despite their use in France in 1940 for some inexplicable reason there's no entry for the famous Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft autocannon in the Blitzkrieg 1940 handbook for Chain of Command. Still I rather fancied to get me a model of this iconic gun for quite a while already. And even if it's just as an off-board marker for having purchased an AA-asset. Now having recently ordered some reinforcements for my BEF from Warlord Games I included their version of the Bofors gun as it was in use in 1940. Well, the kit has some issues, especially where historical accuracy is concerned, for example the NCO is carrying the later P-37 entrenching tool, but still is rather nice all round.

1940 BEF

Having just added to my Early War Germans I felt it was about time to add a little to their opponents. Some of you might remember earlier efforts of mine (has it really been 4 years again?)  on much the same figures. Believe it or not it took me the best part of a month to get these fellas done and dusted. I blame a rather busy schedule with me being away from home for the most part of that time.

WW2 Winter Germans - A 'not' project

For some reason I've recently felt inspired to try my hands on some winter themed figures. Probably this has something to do with Pats (of Wargaming with Silver Whistle fame) recent 'Setting the Scene' series of posts. Highly inspirational work and I strongly urge you to have a look.

1940 BEF finished...

... for now at least.

BEF Vickers Mark VIc light tank

To give at least some armoured support to my fledgling BEF force here's the Vickers Mark VIc light tank.

3rd BEF Section

Oh well, it has been a few days since my last post but real life... I think you know where this would end?
So I'll spare you (and me) the monologue and come straight to the reason for this post.

16th submission to the challenge: 28mm 2nd BEF Section & Captain Campbell (55 Points)

With this years Challenge slowly coming to a close I'm rather proud to have reached my personal target. With this submission I've surpassed the goal of 80 painted miniatures I set for myself by 6. This means I've already painted 25 miniatures more than last year (61 + 1 AFV) and still there are two weeks to go.
But don't expect me to do much more for the last few days. I'm trying to avoid the 'painters burn out' I suffered from last year and therefore will be reducing my output drastically.

10th submission to the challenge: 28mm BEF Support Weapons (30 Points)

A less productive week this time but progress nonetheless:

9th submission to the challenge: 28mm WWII Pak 36 & BEF Infantry Section with Command (90 Points)

Somehow I totally forgot to post my latest submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge:

Not really a points bomb the scale of some of you guys are capable of but for me it comes pretty close. This week I was lucky to have had some spare time and so I got some figures done.

First is a 28mm PaK 36 for my early WWII Germans.