Crouchie’s Workbench

En route to Dover model shop  the other day I pooped in to see Uncle Crouchie to deliver some resin cats to him and got the chance to see what everyone’s gaming Uncle had on his workbench, well his dining table.

First off this delightful light tank whose name I’ve forgotten. He did tell me but my knowledge isn’t as broad as his especially when it comes to the obscure which he builds a lot of to our delight.

Hopefully this is due for production, but we’ll have to wait and see.

This charmer is an early WW2 Belgian motor trike. Crouchie tracked down a couple of photos during an exhaustive search and from those he started this. The motorcycle is an adaption of his combination for the Belgians.

The bad news is how this isn’t for production, it’s just for his own use. A shame not least beacuse I imagine the VBCW crowd would snap this up.

Flem Cell Technology

We were lucky enough to get hold of these WW2 Belgians by BEF Miniatures prior to their release at the Crisis show in Antwerp and they jumped the painting queue quite breathtakingly given how we still have bare figures from last Christmas.  So in just over thirty days Slug has painted up half of them for a forthcoming, wait for it… VBCW game.

I can’t help feeling a little sorry for Uncle Crouchie, the man behind BEF, who started this range in a period which he adores in the hope we’d all start playing it once we had the relevent pieces. After a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears he offer plenty of pre-Dunkirk goodies and sells plenty of them, but we the fickle public are typically using them for a big “What-if?”.

Launching this range in Antwerp (which lies in Belgium for those of you who are geographically challenged or seppo) was an excellent idea. Plenty of Belgians left the show very happy at seeing an ignored area which obviously means a lot to them both historically and nostalgically, as well as a little stunned in finding them.

Slug reports the usual joy to paint which we enjoy with well-crafted miniatures, but also extra pleasure because they were so different from what he usually paints. He knows by heart the epaulette colour of WW2 Wehrmacht troops, the correct camo for a Para, and even what the BUF liked to strut around in. These however were an unknown, and meant research had to be done to get them right – all part of the fun!

Unfortunately my photos have let these down a bit again! For this I can only apologise. These kerels will be on a table near us soon as the anti-fascist Arkell Brigade who, allied with the Anglican League, will see off the fascists as they advance through Kent. Hurrah!