Road to the Mid War GT Last year we followed some of the Battlefront staff and what they were taking and building for the NZ late war Grand Tournament. This year we thought we’d do the same with the New Zealand Mid War Grand Tournament in June. So far Mike Haught, Chris Townley, Kyran Henry, and myself (Wayne Turner) are organising new forces to take. I hope to prod a few more into action over the next few weeks. So to get the ball rolling I thought I’d throw myself under the truck of public opinion first.

Wayne’s New Mid War Tournament force Some time ago, about the time For King & Country came out, I started painting a New Zealand Rifle Company for Tunisia and Italy. I managed to paint two Rifle Platoons and the Company HQ before I was sidetracked on to other projects. With the NZ Mid War GT coming up in June I see this as a great opportunity to get 1500 points of this force finished.

I decided to theme it on Tunisia, therefore shelving my plans to paint some NZ Sherman III for later as they only served in Italy. For supporting armour I went for the Royal Scots Greys from the 4th Armoured Brigade who were attached to the New Zealand Division during the fighting in Tunisia.

Throw in some mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft and that is pretty much it. So my current plan for the force has:

New Zealand Rifle Company (Tunisia)   Company HQ Carrier 30 points +5 points Combat Platoons   Rifle Platoon 3 Rifle Squads New Zealand Platoon Add Anti-tank Rifle team Add Light Mortar team 150 points +20 points +20 points +10 points Rifle Platoon 3 Rifle Squads New Zealand Platoon Add Anti-tank Rifle team Add Light Mortar team 150 points +20 points +20 points +10 points Rifle Platoon 3 Rifle Squads New Zealand Platoon Add Anti-tank Rifle team Add Light Mortar team 150 points +20 points +20 points +10 points Weapons Platoon   Mortar Platoon 2 Mortar Sections New Zealand Platoon 135 points +20 points Anti-tank Platoon 2 Anti-tank Sections New Zealand Platoon Replace with 6pdr gun 135 points +20 points +60 points Support Platoon   Anti-aircraft Platoon 1 Section (3 Bofors guns) New Zealand Platoon 110 points +20 points Armoured Platoon (Scots Greys) 3 Sherman II Add three 0.5” AA MG 345 points +15 points Total: 1495 points

So far I have painted two of my three Rifle Platoon and the HQ. I’ve also got two painted Bofors guns, but I need to repaint the bases to match the infantry and paint one more. I have one Sherman II painted, but I’m not sure if I’m happy with it to paint two more like it. The rest I’ll have to paint from scratch. I’m leaving the third Rifle Platoon to last as I have an Australian Platoon I can proxy in if I run out of time. I’ll take some progress photographs as I work through the force. Wayne