6DW: Second UAR/Egyptian Platoon

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I'm gradually getting to the end of that section of the lead mountain devoted to the UAR or Egyptian forces for the Six Day War. Here's the second infantry platoon, leaving only one more infantry platoon, the Company HQ, finishing the recon tanks, and then what odd bits of support I decide that I need.

The only real pain is the transport for the infantry company. Getting enough of the right sort of truck is going to be expensive: so I shall have to wait until the next Battlefront 40%-off sale!

Anyway, here's another twenty-six infantrymen, painted as before:

6DW: UAR (Egyptian) Infantry Platoon

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Now that I had broken the back of the vehicles needed for my UAR (Egyptian) force for the 6DW, it was time to start on the infantry. Platoons of twenty-six figures: three squads of eight plus a two-man Blindicide team.

These were standard Battlefront 15s, and painted up very nicely. Undercoat in Army Painter Skeleton Bone, then wash with GW Agrax Earthshade, then highlight with Foundry Raw Cotton (helmets); Vallejo Sand Yellow (Uniforms); with webbing in two shades of grey from GW. 

Only another two platoons and the Company HQ to go!

You can see the rest of my Six Day War Egyptians by clicking here.

6DW: Egyptian Army SP Tank Destroyer Platoon

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Those of you who follow this blog regularly will know that when I bought Battlefront 15mm plastic SU-100s for my WW2 Soviet army, I also bought another box to use for the Six Day War Egyptians.

The WW2 models turned out pretty well, so I was looking forward to a similar result with the Soviet-cast-offs-now-in-Egyptian-service versions.

Building them was easy: just the same as before but with the additional of an extra storage bin on the right front wing. An undercoat in sprayed on desert yellow was followed by a dark brown wash followed by two highlights: desert yellow again then what I would call a Bleached Bone colour. Tracks painted black with a light dry brush of dark grey, a few other details done, and Bob's your uncle.

Well, that's what I thought.

One thing about metal-and-resin tanks is that you rarely get a totally smooth finish on the model. The very nature of the stuff that they are made of makes them a bit rough: a roughness that comes up during the wash and dry brush process and makes them look a bit less like a toy.

Plastic, on the other hand, has a very smooth finish:  the 'finished' tank destroyers looked way, way too clean, even for me, who likes a car-wash finish to his vehicles. These, however, were supposed to represent old vehicles: old vehicles that had spent plenty of time in the desert as well...and with an army not known, even today, for its high standards of maintenance.

They needed weathering in a big way, so it was off down to GW to see whether I could find anything there to help. The very helpful store manager not only sold me a pot of what they call Typhus Corrosion, but even showed me how to use it.

This stuff, TP we'll call it, is like a dark brown wash, but has a sediment in it that sticks to the model as well, nicely roughening it up. It's a bit like the stuff I'm now using on the bases - from the GW Technical range - which is like paint with little mini, mini ball bearings in it.

I painted the TP on just like any other wash, and practically had a heart attack. My lovely, pristine tank destroyers now looked like horrible, crusty brown blobs!

This was only the first stage, however, so once they had dried, I dry brushed in Bleached Bone again, and suddenly the detail came back up again...and came back up again very nicely. I particularly like the effect on the roadwheels.

So, here they are: Soviet cast-off WW2 tank destroyers in Egyptian service: looking every inch of how old they must have been. They'll be a nice contrast to the Israelis (when I get around to painting them) who I'm aiming to do in a showroom finish!

6DW: Egyptian Tanks

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Some of you will remember that I got all excited by the Six Day War sale from Battlefront, and bought a whole load of figures and wrote army lists etc (army lists available here).

Now some six months later, the first of the figures have rolled off the painting table: a company of ten Egyptian T-55 tanks.

I've tried a few new things with these tanks. Firstly, I have used the new Texture basing system from Games Workshop. This is a fancy way of saying a pot of sand-coloured paint with lots of tiny silicon balls in it so that you paint it on and have an immediately, well, textured base. This is obviously a lot faster than my usual 'dipping into ballast' system, and has actually turned out quite well. I'll definitely use it for the rest of my 6DW armies.

The second thing was to use pre-made clumps of desert plants to dress the bases. These are also new from Games Workshop (called Mordenheim Turf or something!) and have also worked out quite well. Ditto as regards using them for the other figures I'll be painting.

Being GW, of course, they are a lot more expensive than you can get this material elsewhere: but then it is so convenient just to be able to pop in and buy what you need. You takes your choice...

Incidentally, I also had to learn how to count in Arabic in order to get the numbering right on the ten tanks. For those who might need to know, here's one to ten:

Fate of a Nation: The Cold Shower

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Regular readers will remember that I had sorted what armour I needed to buy in order to take advantage of the Battlefront Six Day War 40% off sale. It was therefore now time to look at the infantry contingent.

My intention was not to go too crazy here: probably only looking at a single company of Arab troops and a single company of Israeli troops. So I thought I'd start with the Egyptians.

The Egyptian Infantry Contingent

The immediate problem here is matching the Battlefront boxes with the standard TOE for a UAR infantry platoon.

Battlefront’s breakdown, if you follow the way the box sets are put together is as follows:

Lovely figures, but where are all the LMGs? (Both pics from the Battlefront website)

  • a company headquarters (CHQ) that includes a command element of three, two three-man LMG teams and two three-man recoilless rifle (RCL) teams
  • plus three platoons each of three squads of eight and a bazooka team of two

That’s 93 men in all.

However, as far as I can tell from my reading, the UAR were organised on Soviet lines i.e. squads of ten, each with an LMG. That makes three platoons of thirty-one strong plus the CHQ of eight or 101 in all.

Looking at the TOE for a 1973 Yom Kippur war platoon, for example, they had squads of ten comprising NCO, eight men with AK-47s, one with an RPG and one with an LMG. The CHQ would also add an HQ/Weapons squad of eight men.

Now, if we follow the logic, and assume a Soviet breakdown, that means the Battlefront TOE assumes the heavier weapons have been moved to the CHQ (very reasonable) but is still very, very short on LMGs. Weird!

What I would like to model is:

  • a CHQ of Big Man and two four-man RCL teams
  • three platoons, each of a Big Man, three squads of six AK-47-ers (some models might feature RPG-2s, but I understand they weren’t used in this campaign) and a two-man LMG team, and a two-man bazooka team.

That gives me a company of four Big Men, nine 8-man LMG squads in three platoons, three 2-man bazooka teams, and two 4-man RCL teams: a total of 90 men.

The problem is, of course, that although the numbers are just about the same, the distribution and weapons doesn’t match the BF offering: I’m short loads of LMGs.

Loads.

It must be something to do with modelling game mechanics, in the same way that IABSM doesn't necessarily represent every man in a squad.

missing!

missing!

Well this has sort of put a kibosh on the whole affair. If I want to model the company effectively, then I'd have to buy so many sets of the Company HQ that the 40% off is negated.

Unless anyone can come up with a solution, it's going to be an armour only purchase, leaving the infantry to another time...particularly as I've now started to look at Khurasan's Yom Kippur range!  Maybe  it's time to turn the clock forward a few years...