Whats the objective?

One of the little projects I was working on came about due to an idea I had on seeing what would normally be considered a bit of tat in a charity shop.

The item in question as a miniature replica of a Distinguished Conduct Medal, packaged by a company called WestAir. The medals are part of a range they sell, like those found here.

This medal sat in my 'modelling box' for a few months, until after I had been to the Haugh Battery down in Hartlepool with my gorgeous girlfriend - who very kindly tagged along while her geeked out man fawned over various bits of artillery, tanks and guns. Here's a wee selection of pics.

Bren LMG

5.5 Inch Howitzer, WW2 era British medium artillery gun

Me, in front of a Chieftan (cold war era British tank). 

The ubiquitous British 25 Pdr. Possibly the best bit of field artillery during WW2. Flexible with a rate of fire so high that German prisoners asked to see the 'belt fed' artillery.

40mm and 3.7 Inch AA guns. I believe the vehicle on the right is a Sachren or a Saladin?

5 inch coastal artillery gun.

At the little museum shop, I picked up another two of these medals by the same company. The NWE Star and a Military Medal.

In between painting my last batch of models, I had a think about what I could do with these. I had a vague thought, having seen similar kinds of things sold online, normally resin bases with Divisional or National markings on them.

While doing a bit of research into Operation Totalise (or Totalize/Totaliser depending on the source), I came across a site that had scans of actual WW2 situational maps. I managed to find the one suitable for the day of the operation, and via a little bit of jiggery pockery managed to get something I could print.

Here's a link to the site - they are the daily operational maps of the 12th Army Group - I've linked to August 1944's maps, but there are others. These are at the divisional level.

http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/twelfthalliedarmygroup/1944/August/index.html

So, after all that, I had a think about how I could use these.

I had some of these spare round bases from Warbases (I can't remember the size I'm afraid. I think they were 2mm thick MDF and about 2" in diameter).

The end result was this:

These markers can be used to mark objectives on the table for my army. The look good, although they could do with a drybrush, apparently...

So, again, there you have how a chance thing found somewhere your not expecting can actually be useful to your hobby and your army!