Dave: “As soon as I saw how the new Platoon system worked in Bolt Action: Third Edition, I was inspired to recreate an historical unit with a particular personal connection!
Before joining Warlord Games I served in the British Army with J (Sidi Rezegh) Battery of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. I wanted to recreate my old unit at the battle where they earned their name!
J Battery became Sidi Rezegh Battery after the battle of the same name, in which 2nd Lieutenant George Ward Gunn would win a posthumous Victoria Cross for his brave actions. His citation reads:
“On November 21st, 1941, at Sidi Rezegh, 2nd Lieutenant Gunn was in command of a troop anti-tank guns which was part of a battery of 12 guns attached to the Rifle Brigade Column. At 10.00 hrs a covering force of enemy tanks was engaged and driven off, but an hour later the main attack by about 60 enemy tanks developed. 2nd Lieutenant Gunn drove from gun to gun during this period in an unarmoured vehicle encouraging his men and reorganising his dispositions as first one gun and then another were knocked out. Finally, only two guns remained in action and were subjected to very heavy fire. Immediately afterwards one of these guns was destroyed and the portée of the other was set on fire and all the crew killed or wounded except the sergeant, though the gun itself remained undamaged.
The battery commander then arrived and started to fight the flames. When he saw this, 2nd Lieutenant Gunn ran to his aid through the intense fire and immediately got the one remaining anti-tank gun into action on the burning portée, himself sighting it while the sergeant acted as loader. He continued to fight the gun, firing between 40 and 50 rounds regardless alike of the enemy fire which was by then concentrated on this one vehicle, and of the flames which might at any moment have reached the ammunition with which the portée was loaded. In spite of this, 2nd Lieutenant Gunn’s shooting was so accurate at a range of about 800 yards that at least two enemy tanks were hit and set on fire and others were damaged before he fell dead, having been shot through the forehead.
2nd Lieutenant Gunn showed the most conspicuous courage in attacking this large number of enemy tanks with a single unarmoured gun, and his utter disregard of extreme danger was an example which inspired all who saw it. He remained undismayed by intense fire and overwhelming odds, and his gallant resistance only ceased with his death. But for this very gallant action the enemy tanks would undoubtedly have overrun our position.”
To create the Anti-Tank Gun troop of the aforementioned action, I would need to do some kit-bashing as we don’t currently make the 2pdr portee that J Battery used during the north Africa campaign – a great opportunity for me to break out the hobby tools!
I started off by gathering up the right parts. Obviously, the 8th Army 2pdr was the gun in question, but the portee proved a little trickier to locate!
After some research I found out that 3rd RHA used Ford F60L 4×4 3-ton C.M.P. Portee. I scoured our warehouse, and found that the Morris CS8 field tractor was the closest match to the Ford with its sharply angled bonnet.
With all the components in hand, it was time to build!
I started off trimming down the body of the of the Morris. I initially used a powered cutting tool, but this very quickly got messy, so I finished of the rest with a box cutter and steady hands! I also needed to move the axles back on the chassis, which was a fairly simple job.
The next step was to build up the truck bed again, which I did using 1mm and 0.8mm plasticard. I measured out the size of the bed, then cut out the required shape and glued it on.
The next stage was to build was the boxes on the side, again from plasticard. I measured out the card and cut out some rectangles and squares then glued them together and on to the chassis.
I found that I needed to extend the chassis, so using some bits of metal sprue I constructed an extension piece. The last bit to do was to create the wheel arches which once again I used plasticard for. I bent the card into shape, added a small strip to the inside and stuck them directly to the wheels.
After all that coachbuilding, adding the 2pdr was the easiest part! I cut down the trail legs and glued them to the bed. Then I built up the rest of the gun, but didn’t attach it until after I’d finished painting.
The painting itself was nice and simple. Everything was basecoated Army Painter Desert Yellow, then drybrushed with Vallejo English Uniform. I then went through with an old paintbrush and stippled on some Army Painter Gun Metal to represent chipped and damaged paintwork. The gunners’ skin was Army Painter Barbarian Flesh, and their uniforms Skeleton Bone. After everything had had a coat of Vallejo Black Wash and thoroughly dried, I added the gun and transfers, and gave everything a spray of Anti-Shine Matt Varnish to protect it on the tabletop!
Repeat three times, and there’s an Armoured Platoon for my 7th Armoured Division force! This project was a real labour of love, but I’m excited to keep expanding on it and adding more Platoons!”
