Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais.

Going with the early war theme, I recently finished most of a platoon of Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais. These elite troops were formed to act as border guards and a mobile force to defend the border region of Belgium in case of a German invasion. In May 1940, they got the chance to do their job. It was a job they did well. They threw off the German timetable almost everywhere they fought the Panzer divisions coming through the Ardennes. Unfortunately, their gallantry was futile due to lack of higher level support and events outside their control. In face to face battle, they gave the Germans a run for their money throwing up roadblocks, blowing bridges, and otherwise delaying and harassing the Germans everywhere they went. The Chasseurs were lightly equipped and a small force, too small to make a difference to the overall bleak strategic outlook for the Belgians and French in 1940.

These models are all from Warlord Games. They sell the Chasseurs as generic Belgians where you can select different heads to create different units. I was tempted to go with all the models having the distinctive alpine green berets they were known for, but since most troops did not wear them in combat, but donned their trusty Adrian helmet, I went with berets for officers, NCOs and other models I wanted to stand out.

The Chasseurs are backed up by the odd looking T15 tank.

Hopefully Warlord will add a T13, HMGs, and a proper command pack to the range. I need to paint the third squad and the Boys AT rifle team yet.

I forgot to paint on the alpine green collar tabs to these models.

The house in the background is from Sarissa Precision. I did a blog post on this a while back here.

Here they are:

Sergeant

Corporal

Riflemen

FN 30 LMG Team (Belgian copy of the BAR)

Chasseurs Ardennais Squad

T15