Unit discussion moved from unrelated thread

But then after a short time of welcoming and counting heads it's all turned glider troops (sure they're 'infantry' but look and act hell of a lot like Para) and more blummin' Commandos!

To be fair, that's not entirely right, in our initial press release, we said:

Initially we're looking to compose a ten man section of British air landing soldiers, this is a strong easily recognisable WWII 'red devil' image that looks great and will make us appear to be a strong unit!

Further impressions we'll look to do in the future include:

Line Infantry
Commandos
Chindits
SAS

so the glider troops was always going to be the initial unit, the only reason we've gone with commandos second is because the only change you'd need is a different coloured beret and a badge, about the cheapest way to portray a second unit. Plus a belgian dennison is certainly far cheaper than a repro set of battledress.

We found that diving right in specifying units actually seemed to put people off who wanted to play US so for now we're taking a different tack and letting things develop more before we progress on from that.

RE: my design by committee/cooks/broth comment

To be honest Gadge, when you started up PBI, I thought "Great, finally some dedication to bog-standard Brits [as the name Poor Bloody Infantry means - the nameless hords, men uprouted from all over the country to fight - just men], None of this glory-hunter-ish Para/Commando stuff - BD, belts and braces!"
But then after a short time of welcoming and counting heads it's all turned glider troops (sure they're 'infantry' but look and act hell of a lot like Para) and more blummin' Commandos! I'm on a shoe string so a load-out (even just getting a decent Denison) is out of budget. Me in my standard Middlesex infantry gear doesn't look like I'll ever fit in in the near future

The reason for this is that its actually cheaper and easier to do look-a-like Airlanding than it is to do line infantry.

With Line Infantry really there is no choice but to go with proper wool BD. Which puts a lot of people off. With Airlanding its perfectly fine to get a cheap denison (replicaters or a belgian one for instance) a modern maroon beret and some plain brown trousers... Plus we knew plenty of players already had this kit from the Arnhem game.

We decided on commando next as that is really just a change of beret, but can also be a change of other bits of uniform if you like. Its a good mix and match uniform to go for, you can get away with murder!

Hallamshire Battalion was next as its possible to put the shoulder insignia over the top of commando ones... I'd have loved to have this line-infantry unit as the first choice, but it would have put too many people off.

Finally we have Chindit... JGs can be bought from sanjay for about £50 and the hat for £40, plus its the same webbing etc, so sorted!

Moved this over to the PBI forum as I think it will get submerged in the other thread and is probably something you'd wish to continue to debate .

And lastly its still poor bloody INFANTRY, not a para to be seen we do south staffords they are an infantry battalion, they just get there by glider not truck.

PBI was never supposed to be a wear what ever you feel like hotch potch of brit uniforms.

Gadge - Just out of curiosity , I'm guessing the South Staff's main uniform , ie Battle Dress Beret /Lid & boots is the standard infantry kit (ignoring Denisons) ?, in which case a change to fit in with PBI's look is mainly down to insignia , which I'm also guessing is relatively cheap ?

McV -I'm also thinking the units chosen to portray allow a wide range of "possiblities" in terms of historical battles and theatres , rather than be limited to a case of "well the 5th Armoured only fought here ?"

Thats the idea Guy...

However note to get an accurate looking SStafs uniform doesn't really require the BD blouse to be badged up as SStaffs (or even worn at all)... Its completely covered by the denison.

Since a decent BD Blouse (non-Sanjay) can cost at a minimum £80... a lot more than a cheap denison. Its quite a good way to do things.

(I know some "proper" re-enactors who don't wear their BD blouse when they have their denison on... mainly because its too hot to do so in the summer)

Insignia can vary in price... there's basically none for the SStaffs loadout (except beret badge)... a minimal optional amount for commando... but most for the Hallamshires... Probably about £20 ish for that one. The Chindit insignia is cheapest of all... none is needed at all.

As I thought then , so with a the basic BD tunic and trousers (which I'm guessing from his post McV has) , you could protray South Staffs and Commando with a change of insignia and posibly beret badge , and let the Denison come later ? I'm also assuming if you fought in a helmet or wool cap then you wouldn't necessarily need to change the beret either .

Hate to say a bit like German kit on the PBI forum , but essentially the same thing as Feldgrau Tunic and Trousers as basic uniform which gives rise to lots of possibities when mixed in with unit insignia or camo overclothes .

PS I seem to recall that Rangercamp were doing cheap authentic Denisons?

Yep, rangercamps denison is also almost as good as the much celebrated king and country/miitary tours ones, i own both and can see little difference.

And yes, McVickers can easily play in pbi by buying a maroon beret, a cap badge and removing a bit of insignia.

However I can completely understand is someone doesn't want to take on the groups units, its just PBI isnt for them, you dont have to be in PBI just cos you do UK, we'd like it and we feel we can get more done united but if we start being some bizzare mix of units we sort of lose the entire point of getting together in the first place.

'to create a section of british glider inf'

Last thing i want is people feeling obliged to join, if you dont like what were doing no ones going to be offended if you do your own thing, its a hobby after all not national service

I'd rather have five guys 'into it' than a hundred who felt they had to.

edit: i just noticed that our banner has an aiborne guy fighting in BD on the far right... no denison required

Yup... I love the fact that we've got players actually having consistent impressions.

After all in reality it would be rare that members of different units would fight as close together as we do in airsoft.

Two questions please: Firstly, do you have any of those black felt bits for the Commando cap badge to sit on?

Secondly, would a "para helmet" be OK to wear at Operation Varsity, as opposed to a red beret?

Yes and Yes...

I expect a few people will wear their helmets instead of standing out like sore thumbs with a maroon beret. A hint for all those only with berets... If you want camo, invest in a camo scarf/face veil and put it around/over your beret...

Send me a pm with your address and I'll send you a bit of black felt.... or to save P&P I can make sure you get some next time we meet... I have plenty of material left. I just bought about half a metre from John Lewis. There may be need to send you some other stuff before Varsity anyway, so perhaps wait until then?

Thanks Yith. I won't need it before then, so I'm fine to wait.

Andy i have piece cut to exactly the right size in front of me, can happily stick it in the post for you.

Thanks Gadge.