#battleofnarvik

[brushmans-guild]

Norwegian infantry, 2nd World War Great Escape Games October/November 2025

I've long had a bit of an obsession with Scandinavia in general, and Norway in particular - a beautiful country, filled with lovely, genuinely happy people, and with some fascinating history. Usually when you think 'Norway' + 'history', the mind automatically fixes on the viking age, but a recent rewatch of 'Narvik' on Netflix (which tells the story of the battle that would come to be known as the Germans' first defeat of the Second World War) had me in a real mood to paint up some of the country's staunch defenders of that period. 

Here we have four riflemen (with NCO) and a three-man forward observation team for the early war period, sculpted and sold by the nice folks at Great Escape Games. As I understand it, fielding Norway on the tabletop is like playing in hard mode, given their lack of heavy armour and minimal anti-tank capabilities, but I don't really care - look at those gorgeous mountain green uniforms!

[admiralnelsoniii]

Type VIIC U-boat, U-363 at the Battle of Narvik in WWII. I watched a documentary on YouTube about this battle and I must say the pitiful story of this U-boat's time there was crazy. The captain tried again and again to attack the British warships (tincans and HMS Warspite) but EVERY torpedo he fired just didn't work! And we are talking quite a few attempts here! In fact, if his torpedoes had functioned correctly he would have inflicted some serious damage upon the British forces. The documentary mentioned the captains radio messages back to fleet HQ basically screaming that someone should pay dearly for issuing worthless torpedos to a ship at war. I don't know exactly what the man said, but for him to make a special trip out away from Narvik and risk a radio transmission during an ongoing operation, I imagine he was completely enraged. Poor fellow. Ended the battle in surrender I understand. U-363 taken by the Royal Navy.