To badge or not to badge.

[fsn]

Gentlemen.

I am faced with a conundrum. It is one that you (fellow necks for the Pendraken boot) may care to opine.

I'm contemplating a 1944 force ... or forces. Take the British for example, I'm quite happy to put tac markings on, but I'm reluctant to add divisional insignia. My 20mm forces are all marked as Guards Armoured, and I always felt a bit iffy playing them in scenarios where the Guards were never near e.g. Italy.

So, is it acceptable to dispense with divisional markings, or should I man up and plump for one formation and stick to it? Doesn't help that I'm seeking to use softskins from my 1940 forces. Buying one set of vehicles for each armoured division is, regrettably not possible. 

Advise me Sages! Advise me!   

[ryman1]

How about.............

painted spectacles?

Let's say you've got two different divisions with their own insignia, you could paint the spectacle lenses with the insignia of one division and stare at said division.
it would appear that the floating insignia are actually on the vehicles, when in fact they're on the lens millimetres from you eyes.
'But what', I hear you ask, 'would I do about the other division?'
Simple, have a change of spectacles in your top pocket with the other divisions insignia painted on the lenses, a quick change of eyewear and job done!

I'm available for such consultation at a premium but you can have this for free.

I'll get my coat.

[fsn]

I like that idea. 

[NTM]

There are plenty of photos of vehicles which either have no markings or they are completely obscured by stowage so perfectly valid.

[fred.]

Badge them up. They look so much better.

But be happy to proxy them as you see fit. After all a Sherman is a Sherman

[Steve J]

Badging is nice, but as NTM says, many replacements had no markings at all. I will badge mine to a unit I like once I've done some research, but I will not be worried if they then become 'another' unit.

[fsn]

My OCD can't stand it!

I suppose I could forgo the Guards Armoured (US citizens please note: "Armoured" is not a spelling mistake here in the UK) in favour (also correct) of say the 7th Armoured, whose insignia graced North Africa, Tunisia, Italy and North-West Europe. Hmmm - but the Churchills! How to badge the Churchills!

To the reference books!   <Insert 1960's Batman music here>

[fred.]

just to "help" your OCD

7th had both white and black backgrounds to the jeraboa - and they used Cromwells in NW Europe, so not much use for Italy.

Churchills seem to show unit markings less often - either because they didn't have them, they got covered in muck as they were on the mud guards, or the mud guards frequently got 'lost'

[Steve J]

Right FSN, time for your OCD to go into overdrive :

Markings for units in Italy
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=325

Markings for Churchills in Normandy
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=404

One thing FoW does do is publish some very useful articles for us wargamers .

[fsn]

Do you think we could get revolving insignia on 10mm vehicles? Like James Bond had in Goldfinger?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Last question first - NO

I'd badge up. I do have duplicates for my Shermans - Desert and NWE/Italy, but only that far. If you want really good div flashes I'd look for decals. Suspect mini-bits have some, and Doms Decals do a 15mm range which will fit, if a bit over scale.

IanS

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Dom does, as does a certain Leon...

[NTM]

- but the Churchills! How to badge the Churchills!

You'll descend in to madness on that one. Just in NWE a number of regiments moved from one brigade to another and the Guards changed their AoS markings both number & colour in 1945. for my 15mm Churchills I've settled on Coldstream Guards names and all as there is good info on them and Dom does all the decals too. Still let with a few conundrums as pictures show quite a variation on where the markings were put and I'm also obsessing about which tank had a 6pdr or 75mm believe it or not.

Then there is the question of the Stuarts. I've decided to probably leave them unbadged so they can be used with different Regiments but they all used different marks. My Shermans are Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry of 8th Armoured who used the Stuart III but Guards Tank used V/VI. Later in the campaign the SRY got some V judging by the pictures in Stuart Hills book so some generic Stuart V are possible. Recently though I've found a picture on IWM of a Stuart VI of the Coldstreamers which I'd love to replicate (but changing the AoS back to the earlier version)

[Hertsblue]

Yeah, give them the badges of your favourite unit and then use them as what you want. All wargaming is compromise, after all.

Mind you, I do like the spectacles idea.