With the recent release of the Red Devils by Battlefront, I decided to go through my British elite troop collection and get it up to date with version four. I had been waiting for this book, as it would fill in the blanks on any remaining questions I had about how to organize the forces. BF released the late war airborne lists earlier this year and I wanted to make sure that I could field these units on the tabletop to represent fights anytime during the war. Fortunately, the formations are basically the same, so that made life a little easier. The mid war listings five Boys ATR options, but are mostly the same otherwise.
So, sitting down with my new unit cards, I pulled out my painted and mostly painted British airborne troops and got to work. A little remounting was necessary (V4 has far few small command stands and no artillery staff teams), but it was mostly just a case of putting the platoons together in the right sizes and ensuring the support weapons were organized correctly. With that figured out, I finished painting the remainder of my paras and completed the basing to match the original figures I did some years ago.
With everything matched up, the army is ready for the tabletop! Well, almost…. I managed to misplace the howitzers for the two artillery batteries (this was one battery in V3). So the search continues for those guns (forgive the open bases). I am sure I will find them, just as soon as I order replacements…. Until then, the force is ready to go, at least until I decide to add more dudes….
- Manteuffel