Crete Diorama

After experimenting with building some olive trees this weekend for the Crete-themed table (and armies) that I am working on, I thought I would take a few photos to showcase how far I have got.

A full platoon of Fallschirmjagers (with support weapons and a DFS230 glider) are painted; I've made a good start on some Gebirgsjager to reinforce them and just made a start on some Allied forces to oppose the landings. I have also made a start on some of the terrain, including olive trees which are featured in some of these photos.

The FJ fan out from their crashed DFS230 and meet some resistance from the British who are dug in in an olive grove...

Whilst being outnumbered and outgunned at this early stage of the battle, the Brits put up a valiant fight until reinforcements can be brought forward...

Within minutes, the British bring forward a Mk VI to provide some relief and push the Germans back into cover...

Sensing that this is a critical point in the battle, the Fallschirmjager Leutnant leads his troops forward to bypass the Allied light armour.

 

A small unit of Gebirgsjager, alerted by the sound of gunfire, rush down the hillside towards their comrades...

The Fallschirmjager rush towards the battle and get some of their support weapons set up...

The British aim to hold their thin line...

In this sector, the British are outnumbered and fall back, leaving the Germans to consolidate and expand their defensive perimeter...

Adding more to my Crete Scenario

Whilst locked away in isolation, I've started painting up some forces to recreate the battle for Crete. I've already finished off a reinforced platoon of Fallschirmjager and started off painting a few Gebirgsjager models to test out the colour palette that I proposed to use. I was happy with the colour scheme for the Gebs, so have cleaned, primed and based another 14 miniatures ready to be painted.

I have also made a start on making some olive trees. I made about 30 trees, which I was really happy with, about two years ago...then lost them. I think that I left them in their travel case at The Battlefields in Cardiff. It was only after I moved house several months later that I realised they were missing.  I went back to search for the lost trees to no avail.  Can you tell that I'm still cut up about it?

Anyway, I've started to make some more using a different technique. Here's a pic of where I have got to so far. The armatures are from Woodland Scenics, which I have liberally applied wall filler to, to thicken the trunks and also give them the characteristic texture that olive trees have, then given them a couple of layers of paint. I'll write up a step-by-step tutorial once I have perfected my technique and finished off the leaves.

I was also considering the Allied forces that I would need to pit the Germans against, so I popped over to the Great Escape Games web site and purchased a whole bunch of 8th Army miniatures, plus some other models from the Artizan British Army range. Yes, I know they are wearing long trousers and full battle dress, but there are plenty of photos of the Allied forces on Crete wearing all manner of uniform, so I figured that many of the regular British Army models would fit right in when painted up right.

All credit to the guys at Great Escape for despatching my order so quickly. I placed the order on Monday and it arrived this morning (Wednesday). Happy to be spending some money to keep the wargaming companies in business at this tricky time. It's money that I would have spent at (cancelled) Salute 2020 anyway, so they are getting the cash a couple of weeks earlier than they would have. I ordered 13 packs to see how I get on, but will perhaps get a couple more to fill out the army later on.

Right...off to get some painting done.