Grenadier Platoon #2 and HMG Platoon - Finished - And future plans...

Hey folks,

Two updates in a couple of days, but I just wanted to quickly show off these finished platoons.

These guys are 15mm Peter Pig WW2 Germans. For me they will be representing 1055. Grenadier Regiment, 89. Infantrie Division.

The figures were very kindly donated to me by Lee, and due to my clumsyness in getting them off the MDF bases (to have them match the basing style of the rest of my army) I wore a lot of the paint off the figures. I decided I may as well repaint them as I would be repairing them anyway (sorry Lee!).

First up we have some HMG42 teams:

And some Grenadier squads:

And then some 81mm Mortar teams, which will form part of the HQ unit:

I've got another Grenadier platoon to base along with the Company HQ and A/T squad. I'm hoping I will make a good dent in those this weekend!

After that I aim to start prepping some more German units - possibly the Pak40's, Snipers and Mortar Platoon. I think those units will be bigger jobs, so we will see what progress I make.

Outside of painting the Germans, I have also been taking steps towards making the whole project bigger. I spent a bit of time thinking and talking about where I am going with this Totalize obsession of mine. The logical conclusion for me is to be able to fight, with my own forces and terrain, the Operation Totalize battles. The question of which part was answered by me thinking a little bigger. Where do I want to go with my collections, and what is the final aim.

I've decided that given the ease that my German Infantry force came together (when only building to a set points level, rather than my Brits which are a never ending project), it might be interesting to do other Operation Totalize themed forces. A chance encounter has lead me to own almost an army's worth of M4A4 Shermans. With a few small purchases these will go on to be a Polish 1st Armoured Division force, along with (hopefully) a similar sized Cromwell force.

Other ideas currently in my head are to look at doing a German Armoured (12. SS) list, a German AA gun list (to represent III Flakcorps - the list is from Bridge by Bridge, but I don't mind), possibly Canadian lists (although I am focusing initially on the Highland Divisions part of the attack) and a few other things that seem to me to be 'key' interesting points of the battle. Along side these forces, I'll be focusing my terrain acquisitions on the terrain suitable for the theater of operations and which fit with the battlefields of the Operation. Such as a raised bed railway line, sunken roads, hedgerows, etc.

I'm not a big fan of the SS on the table top, but as I am aiming to represent a whole series of battles over several days, there is no point denying or ignoring their involvement.

I am also planning on working on creating a series of scenarios and Operation Totalize specific army lists - with a view to hopefully undertaking a collaboration with Mark over at House of Hengist and having some sort of Mega Game in the future. So a little bit of a change in scope and scale of what I am working on, and a slight re-orientation of the direction my collection will be taking. I am still expecting to continue to expand my Jocks, however!