1944 US Armoured Infantry platoon - complete

Part of my painting output the last few months is an entirely new platoon for my 28mm WWII collection. This time up, some US Armoured Infantry with some additional support items.

As per Chain of Command, the US Armoured Infantry platoon consists of a headquarters squad, two rifle squads, a mortar squad and MG squad.

I was able last year at Historicon to pick up a few packs of Artizan Designs US infantry in winter gear at a 40% discount. Couldn't pass that up! I completed the remaining necessary purchases online and even added a few items from Warlord Games' new winter American packs. The Artizan figures are a joy to paint, with voluminous folds and lots of detail. The Warlord figures, not so much. I'd rate the Artizan figures as excellent/superb and the Warlord items as average. A disappointing average, in fact. But they seem to mix moderately well with the Artizan figures (though slightly smaller in stature) and do provide a bit of variety. The single exception to these negatives is the medic figure, seen below.

I pondered how to base these figures for a winter setting... baking soda? white flocking? I chose perhaps the lazier route and dry-brushed the bases heavily with white to simulate a dusting of snow on the ground. My thought is to model late autumn (October-ish) or late spring (March/April) when temperatures still require winter gear but not so deep in winter that I need to model piles of snow.

This approach also works well with the vehicles that Captain Dan at RedOverBlue worked up for me. As can be seen below, he applied a worn winter camo effect on the vehicles with his familiar muddied tracks technique...perfect for late spring and muddy, cold weather.

The entire US Armoured Infantry platoon (Artizan Designs & Warlord Games).

Headquarters squad with Warlord Games platoon leader and platoon sergeant. 

Machine Gun squad. 

Support units: 57mm AT gun, 60mm mortar, bazooka team, medic & FOO (Warlord), and 3 x BAR teams (in order to model a bog-standard US infantry platoon).

Medic (Warlord Games) 

 57mm AT gun. 

 M7 Priest (Warlord Games), from the talented hands of Captain Dan (RedOverBlue). 

 M4 Sherman (Warlord or Rubicon... can't remember), again from Captain Dan. 

M3 halftrack to supply the infantry with some HMG support (Warlord Games?) 
EDIT: I just noticed the horribly bent MG barrel... ugh!

Stuart, again by Captain Dan and from Warlord or Rubicon... guess I should find that out. 

The entire US force! Ready for the Hun!