Unit Reveal - Group Picture!

It's D-Day, and here is a picture of the full force in all its glory!

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of everything, including the WIP parts, to give you an impression of what's at stake!

We have the US Army on the bottom left, the finished Airborne on the bottom right, then the vehicles, including the unfinished Deuce and a half and armored cars, then a WIP platoon of Rangers on the top right and the unfinished Airborne on the top right.

So, with us being a bit behind the painting schedule, we thought it would only be fair to extend your deadline, too!

Raffle tickets are available until

Saturday, June 8^th, 8 PM CST (Beijing), 1 PM BST (London), 8 AM EDT (East Coast USA), 5 AM PDT (West Coast USA).

And just as a reminder: You can get raffle tickets by contributing through PayPal (there is a button on the top right of this website, if you can’t see it, switch from mobile to web view at the bottom of the page!). PayPal also allows you to use a credit card if you don’t have an account.

One ticket for the raffle is 2 NZ-$, which I about 1.35 US-$ or 1.20 Euros. Multiples of that give you multiple tickets, e.g. 20 NZ-$ give you 10 tickets.

So, when will we have the army finished? I can't guarantee anything, but I would say we will ship it to our lucky winner on the 17th of June, fully painted and ready to go.

What's next? I hope that we will have pictures of the finished M8 Scott, Deuce and a half and at least a squad of Rangers before the deadline for contributions on Saturday.
Everything else will get its unit reveal, too, but likely after the raffle is done.

Unit Reveal - Airborne Support Weapons I

Here we go again, this time with some heavy fire power for the Airborne troops:

Two men with Bazookas to stalk Panzers in the Bocage, and two men with flamethrowers to take care of those pesky German pillboxes!

Later today, we will have a nice group picture of the whole force (albeit with some WIP models), and then there are only a couple of odds and ends to finish.

Unit Reveal - Airborne Characters

Today we have a real treat for you - Stoessi's Heroes' Airborne characters are ready to fight!

US Airborne Technician Fourth Grade Eugene Gilbert Roe, Sr. and US Airborne Captain Richard „Dick“ Winters.

US Airborne Lieutenant Colonel Robert George Cole and US Airborne Staff Sergeant “Wild Bill” Guarnere

US Airborne Lieutenant Ronald C. Speirs and US Airborne First Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton

Tomorrow the Paratroopers will get some more firepower - and then it will be time for a group picture!

Unit Reveal - Airborne Pathfinders

This time, we have a small, but important, unit of Pathfinders:

Pathfinders were volunteers who received special training to set up and operate navigational helps. Their units also contained bodyguards, whose job it was to defend the pathfinders (and the designated drop zone) during set up.
The night of D-Day marked the first combat jump for the Pathfinder units. Just after midnight on June 6th, 1944, around 200 of them became the first Allied soldiers on the ground. But bad weather and heavy air defense scattered their planes and even when they found their targets, those were often heavily defended and in some cases flooded.
The pathfinders redeemed their value during Operation Market Garden, when they guided the Allied paratroopers to their targets in the Netherlands. After that, two sticks of Pathfinders would parachute into Bastogne during Battle of the Bulge to set up beacons for supply drops.

Unit Reveal - Airborne Troopers I

Hello again, today we reveal the first US Airborne soldiers:

The first US Airborne operation was during Operation Torch in North Africa. 2-509th PIR flew all the way from England to the African coast. But only 10 out of 39 aircraft actually dropped troops, and 28 more landed almost out of fuel on a dried lake. Nevertheless, the 509th successfully occupied their objective.

The famous 82nd Airborne Division (All American) performed their first combat jumps on Sicily in July 1943 and at Salerno in September 1943. One regiment was involved in the Anzio landings, before the unit redeployed for D-Day.

The 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles) saw their first action during the Normandy landings. Their pathfinders were the first to jump over occupied France the night before D-Day. The rest of the division followed soon and was tasked to secure the four exit points from Utah beach.

These are the only first 20 of our total of over 60 Airborne troops!
But next time we will have a look at some transports.

Unit Reveal: US Army HQ

Another unit reveal, this time the US Army HQ miniatures!

First, we have a Warlord Games HQ team, with officer, medic and a guy who can be used as batman or FAO:

I used one of the heads with field cap from the plastic set to give some variety.

The other set is a US Communications Team from Black Tree Design:

These guys can also be used as officers, FAO team or even NCOs for the squads.

Unit Reveal: US Army Specialists

Our second unit reveal, this time the US Army specialists!

Of course we have a whole range of miniatures with additional weapons to support our humble riflemen.

First, the ubiquitous BAR gunners. We have 4 of those, and one of them seems to prefer the brown woolen trousers over his HBT pants :)

Next, two soldiers with Thompson SMGs. Perfect to be used as NCOs!

And in case you encounter some pesky German armor, two Bazooka teams:

The sniper team will hunt down any enemy officers on the field:

And then there are these two guys:

Maybe I got a bit carried away... Anyway, as you can see, the Airborne kit mixes perfectly with the US Army!

Next time we will have a look at the first finished armor - Stay tuned!

And in case you wonder how you can get your chance to win, please check out this post!

Unit Reveal: US Army Riflemen

Today we have our first finished troops - the humble GI.

There are 16 of these folks with rifles and carbines in the force. Let's have a look!

Tomorrow we will have a look at the US Army support weapons!

A Basic Question

A question I got a lot was "What style of basing are you going to use?".
Well, the answer is... None!

If you have some experience with building wargaming armies then you'll know that creating good looking, convincing bases is almost as much effort as painting a miniature. Therefore we decided early on in the project that we are going to "cheat" and use clear acrylic bases:

These are 25mm clear acrylic bases from Gamecraft Miniatures. I like them a lot, and they will make sure that our Operation Good Cause army will look good on any kind of battlefield!

They needed a bit of cleaning, but after a quick wash with soapy water they are ready to go. I use two-component adhesive to put the miniatures on, so I guess it will be more likely for the feet to brek off than for the miniature to come off the base!

Tomorrow we will show you the first finished miniatures - here is a tiny teaser:

(The halftrack still needs a layer of dirt...)

Review - JTFM/Die Waffenkammer GMC CCKW 353 "Deuce and a half"

So, here it is, the last unit review for Operation Good Cause! JTFM/Die Waffenkammer did not just give us their Jumbo Sherman, but also another truck, more precisely a GMC CCKW 353 "Deuce and a half". Over half a million of these were built between 1941 and 1945 and they became a very common sight in Western Europe. It is also the base for the famous DUKW.

As always, JTFM kits come very safely packed:

The truck itself comes as a chassis, separate wheels and optional pieces like canvas covers, seating benches and machine gun. This allows a lot of easy customization. The canvas cover for the back can also easily be kept removable.

Although the chassis is one piece the details are top notch as usual for JTFM:

In addition to the amazing truck model you also get a driver, 5 passengers and a good mix of personal items to put on your vehicle.

Again, the quality and details on those miniatures is some of the best you will ever see in resin:

Assembly is very easy due to the limit number of parts and the great quality. Everything fits as it should, and using two-component resin it will stay together forever.

I decided to build the truck as a transport, so I put in the benches in the back. But then again, you just pop on the canvas and it is a supply truck.
I think eventually I'll have to put the driver in the cabin to be able to add the machine gun, but I'll keep the passengers separate so they can be used as crew for the jeeps.

I can just repeat what I always say: JTFM/Die Waffenkammer is my go-to source for high quality resin kits. Highly recommend!

Rounding up Stragglers

Today, I received the last miniatures for the Operation Good Cause army!

These are some Black Tree Design Miniatures sets I bought during one of their regular sales to round out the force.

First, we have a 81mm mortar. I really thought that's something the force is missing:

Next up a communications team, which will make some great Forward Observers:

And last, but very much not least, the big brass:

That's right, Old Blood 'n Guts Patton and Omar Bradley are going to take command. Looking forward to painting them!

Talking about painting, here is a sneak peek at my current work:

I hope that the first units are ready for reveal soon after Easter - stay tuned, we still have a couple of things you haven't even seen yet!