British Tropical Khaki with Reaper paints

[Wirelizard]

I'd have to divert you to the Edward VIII board at the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour, which although is VBCW based has a lot of info about the real army between the wars too. In essence the basic WW1 organisation remained, but in a reduced form.

For example, an infantry platoon still consisted of four sections (two of which had a Lewis gun), but was quite reduced in manpower, so there might be only be six or eight men in a section. There was also an officer shortage, which led to the creation of the 'Platoon Sergeant-Major' to replace missing subalterns in at least two of the three platoons in a company. Another difference was that the Vickers guns were returned to individual battalions, with a platoon of four weapons (sometimes fewer) to each battalion.

So a platoon was 24-36 men with two Lewis guns and probably a Platoon S-M in charge; the company was three platoons with a Captain (or possibly just an Lt, given that officer shortage?) in charge?

I had a rummage around the GWP site, found the Nafziger OOB link... and there's not a thing in that huge collection from 1919 to about 1938 that isn't from the Spanish Civil War. Huge year-by-year breakdowns of British/Indian/Imperial forces... that all end around 1900! Interwar obviously wasn't one of Mr. Nafziger's areas of interest. Pity! (Much of that is much higher-level stuff than I want, anyway, although I did see a lot of company-level WW2 stuff in the index.)

Thanks for the info, Jim, and the reminder of GWP's existance. I have an account there, but scarcely post.

[Arlequín]

It's a common problem, if there isn't a big juicy war involved, there usually isn't much information around. I get the sense that most people think that the army went to sleep in 1918 and woke up in 1939 to find they'd been reorganised and re-equipped.  

A full strength platoon would be 48 men, plus PSM or Lt. (who would also have been allocated a batman), but anywhere between 24 and that figure would have been about right. I'm pretty sure that overseas units in India were kept up to strength by drafting men from home service units, particularly where another battalion of the same regiment existed. As a rule of thumb, take the organisation of a WW1 Battalion and try and fill it out with the men available to a 1940 BEF Battalion and you won't be far off the mark. There was also some experimentation with infantry tactics and low level organisation being done in some units, so a three section platoon, with the Lewis Guns in one section etc, might be a novelty to try out.

Somewhere on the E8 room there's an article on the mechanisation of the cavalry between the wars. It's well worth a read and quite an eye-opener. While VBCW has its knockers, there has been a fair bit of info unearthed about the British between the wars that would have remained obscure without it.  

If you can get hold of it (I got mine from 'Works' for a couple of quid) 'Against All Odds: The British Army of 1939-40' from the National Army Museum, is well worth it. Although primarily about its subject, there is a fair bit of information about the army before the 1937 reforms that doesn't become apparent at first glance. I appreciate it might be a tad hard to get hold of in Canada, to say the least, but you never know!  

[sepoy1857]

I'd suggest either: M.S. Olive Shadow 09220, M.S. Olive Skin 09221, M.S. Olive Highlight 09222 or M.S. Golden Shadow 9091, M.S. Golden Skin 9092, M.S. Golden Highlight 9093. They are both supposed to be flesh palettes, but they don't look really "fleshy"...much better suited to tans or khaki.

[Wirelizard]

Just as a months-delayed followup, I've done some British tropical uniforms finally, with (I think) excellent results, with the following paints (all Reaper Master Series unless otherwise stated)

Khaki:
Base of Yellow Ivory.
GW Devlan Mud wash, considerably thinned.
Highlight of Creamy Ivory.
2nd highlight of Linen White.

Pugarees (cloth sun helmet wrapping) got a lot more Lenin White.

Grey Shirts:
Straight grey was too dull, so I added a shot of the forbidden, ahistorical (but much more interesting looking) blue.
Snow Shadow & Stone Grey, roughly 1:2 ratio.
Highlight with Stone Grey with a drop of white in it.

Canvas Webbing:
Stained Ivory.
Highlight with Yellow Ivory.

Leather Webbing & Gear:
Blackened Brown
FW Burnt Umber ink wash. (artist's burnt umber ink, lovely stuff. Makes for great leatherwork)

The rankers are all in greyback, as are some of the officers, with the rest in khaki shirts. Webbing is mostly canvas, as I gather from Osprey's books that the British went back to canvas webbing post-WW1.

Photos shortly!

Also, anyone want to buy 14 unpainted Copplestone Tropical Brits? Bought them, they're lovely but freaking massive next to Pulp Figures, Artizan and Brigade, so trying to flip them to buy more of Brigade's WW1 Brits instead! Somebody out there who already has a force of Copplestone Brits can surely find a home for these chaps?