Perry miniatures Desert Rats featured in the Salute Perry North Africa Diorama

More pics retrieved from the old steam powered laptop. Boy was it making some very strange noises!

Here we have the Perry Desert Rats which were painted up for their North African diorama for Salute 2013.

The miniatures were painted by me, the rest of this lovely piece was put together by the dynamic duo. Looking at the brushwork again here I think I would have opted to use Vallejo German Cammo Dark Brown instead of the Vallejo Matt Black undercoat. The black undercoat showing through seem to be too stark a contrast with the light uniforms. I will make a mental note of that! 

Chain of Command Jump Off Markers for North Africa?

I've just seen Matt of The Wargames Table Blog's excellent post on some beautifully subtle Chain of Command Jump Off Markers (Pic below)  and it set me to thinking...... I'm going to be doing my Chain of Command forces for the North African campaign using mainly Perry Miniatures and i wanted something just as subtle for my own Jump Off Points. It's easy to picture a burned out tank or a rusty piece of kit left to rot in the desert but they would in all likely hood be too large for the bases which have to be reasonably small from what I have gathered(?).

Matt's lovely Jump Off Point Markers:

I've been racking my poor brains and I just can't think of anything but sand!! I suppose I could have a discarded 3" Mortar but that seems like an awful waste of the rest of the pack. Would a rusty Universal Carrier fit? I just don't know at present......

I am open to ideas if anyone out there has any?

Bye for now.

Go Forward Together!

A little while ago I asked Michael if he wanted any of the what I was hoping to be 'soon to be released' (and they were) Desert Rats painting up. It turned out that Michael had been planning a diorama for Salute in order to promote the box set, which is now available from Perry Miniatures. As well as the plastic test frames I was to receive a pic or two of the Universal Carrier Mk I that they were to have released in time for Salute. The Desert War in North Africa during WWII has always held a strong fascination for me. Is it because my local regiment the Durham Light Infantry fought there? Was it the fact that my Grandad, whilst in the Navy(!), was caught up in the North African campaign and told me many a tale about it? Was it because I spent many days of my early childhood playing in a Universal Carrier Mk I in the Durham Light Infantry Museum that was actually in combat in North Africa, complete with war damage and no doubt suffering somewhat from 'kiddie playing' damage too? Or was it those old Airfix soft plastic soldiers that I played with for many a moon when a little boy? Probably, the answer is all of the above.

OK, so the miniatures were painted up and on their merry way. I had a feeling that something special was planned but apart from that I knew nothing at all. Boy was I surprised to see the pics that started to filter out onto the net post Salute (we couldn't make it down sadly). I must confess to being a little blown away by the sense of drama and action in the diorama.

The miniatures were all painted by me, the AFV's by Michael Perry, the building is from Grand Manner and the Valentine Tank is from Blitzkrieg Miniatures. The concept and skill in putting together the diorama is all down to Michael Perry.

I hope you enjoy the pics, I'll be adding to them sometime very soon.