Happy New Year (belated!) and welcome to MarDav’s first release of 2023.
As you may have seen on our Facebook page, we have put together a roughly planned schedule for the rest of the year, but to begin with we are adding some of the models that have been worked on over the Christmas period. There will be another release of infantry and such at the end of the month, but for now, here is some new terrain.
The schedule for the rest of the year looks like –
February – assorted terrain & Italians
March – German Flak tanks
April – Soviet infantry & European rural village terrain
May – Light Vehicles (cars, tows etc)
June – Japanese infantry + artillery & landscaping terrain
July – Medium German + Soviet vehicles
August – Heavy German + Soviet vehicles
September – British armour & and Urban terrain
October – French armour & Winter War Soviets
November – Trucks….lots of trucks for everyone!
As always, here’s a little background on the new stuff
Airfield control tower
Across all theatres during WWII, engineers would clear the way and where necessary, quickly build improvised airfields for bringing supplies, moving fighter support closer to the front for many other reasons. Chief among the necessary buildings is the airfield control tower to allow for the coordination of incoming and outgoing flights whatever their mission.
This is a generic model suitable for use by most nations in most terrain types. It may just as easily be seen on an German improvised airfield in the desert, or an American airfield in the flattened jungles of the pacific. Unlike our other buildings, the control tower is printed as separate walls to be glued together, not as a one piece structure with a roof. This may vary with scale.
Japanese Gun Emplacement
A coastal emplacement with a large calibre gun was a common sight in WWII; from the early war examples in Britain, preparing for Operation Sealion, to massed batteries of the Atlantic Wall, built to repel the Allied invasion of Europe. The Pacific Theatre was no different, and amongst the Japanese defences the attacking US armies had to face were massive concrete gun emplacements.
This example is based on an emplacement 8” gun located on Beito, part of the Tarawa atoll chain.
Down airplane markers
Many different games have scenarios or missions based on crashed aircraft or similar events that occur during the game. These down plane markers are supplied as an improvement on the usual “use a token or similar to mark the spot” suggestions made in rulebooks.
The models are a generic fighter plane and generic light unarmed plane. As a simple marker they can stand in for anything suitable that the mission requires. They also make good terrain pieces on their own, or can represent an unsuccessful strafing attempt or such.
Czech Hedgehogs
Simply lengths of girder welded or bolted together, “Czech hedgehogs” are an incredibly simple static anti-tank defence that are very effective. Similar to an ancient caltrop, these can be tipped, rolled etc by explosions or such and are still functional as the shape means that there is no right way up for them.
These have been used during and since WWII and remain in use today.
They are available either based or loose in groups of 4.
Daihatsu class landing craft
The Daihatsu landing craft is a Japanese motorised boat from the 1930s that was used throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII. 14m long and weighing 21 tons, it was a sturdy vessel capable of transporting 10 tons of cargo including howitzers, infantry, supplies and light vehicles and tanks.
It featured a bow ramp that could be lowered to allow embarkation and disembarkation of cargo, and this was later copied by the US in the design of the LCP(L), LCP(R) and LCVP. However, the construction of the Daihatsu meant it was more seaworthy that the US designs.
This model is supplied with both a folded ramp for travel and an unfolded ramp for loading/unloading.
Horse drawn limber
Despite the rise in mechanisation throughout the 1920s and 1930s, many European countries began WWII without enough trucks, artillery tractors and similar to fulfill all their needs. The horse drawn limber, a common battlefield sight for hundreds of years, made another return, transporting food, ammunition and even towing heavy guns.
This generic limber can be used to represent a horse drawn transport from any nation. It is available as either two or four horse combination.