Desert War - 'N' Gauge - Part One

Once again, the wargame's butterfly in me has taken me off on a tangent.

This time it was the lure of a particular era of armoured fighting vehicles - the war in North Africa.

Both armies so far, surrounded by suitable terrain pieces

I started off thinking I'd print off a few 'N' gauge vehicles to play some What a Tanker, but I liked what I'd produced so much this project quickly grew.

The DAK force - spare turrets for the MkIVs armed with short 75mm are to the left.

So far I've printed and painted around 50 vehicles and associated terrain pieces.

Mostly aimed for the latter stages of the North African conflict (late 1942-early 1943) British and DAK.

Brit Force. A mix of Crusaders, Grants, Valentines and "Honeys"

I will add the Italians and maybe some earlier vehicles as I go as well as buy some metal infantry + associated anti-tank guns to complete the set.

As these armies grew I thought I might try out Iron Cross with them as I've had these on the shelf for a very long time. But then I started looking through my library and re-discovered my old favourite rules - BKC - Blitzkrieg Commander (version II).

The bulk of the DAK force is made up of Mk IIIs

I may well get back into these as they are eminently suited to desert warfare.

The British Recce Troops - Humber and Dingos

To buy this little lot in metal would probably have set me back £150 + with the terrain on top. To print out used one kg of PLA filament costing just £16 delivered from Amazon.

It did however take a lot of printing time! Each vehicle/terrain item taking on average 1.25 hours to print.

The teeth of the DAK - Marder III, Stug III and Tiger 1

The terrain items range from a ruined ancient temple, through flat topped houses to an oasis and various sand dunes and rock formations. All downloaded free from Thingiverse.

Halftracks ready to transport DAK infantry

I'm really pleased with the results so far as this is a period I've always wanted to try out, but never got around to. It is of particular interest to me as my late father served in Egypt during the latter stages of WW2 and his older brother is buried there following his death at the battle of el Alamien.

It all started with a solitary Grant Tank. I was so pleased with it I couldn't stop printing!

Better get that order for figures in....the sooner I do the sooner I'm ready to go!

Part 2 is here - http://timstanks.blogspot.com/2020/06/desert-war-n-gauge-part-two.html