Tuesday 20 March 2012

Dead Cows!

Normandy 1944 and the drone of aircraft cannot drown the noise of 15 inch shells ripping across the sky towards targets inland. The Overlord invasion fleet is supported by 17 cruisers and battleships whose massive guns are now trained on land based targets. The thunderous noise of their bombardment rolls up and down the coast cloaking the land in dust and smoke. The shells detonate large minefields, knock out defensive positions and flip 40 ton tanks in the air like toys. The shock waves also wipe out whole herds of cattle in their fields leaving little or no evidence of what killed them.

The image of dead and bloated cattle in the fields of Normandy is one that crops up time and again in old photographs. Its also been used several times in war films such as Saving Private Ryan and the HBO series Band of Brothers. They have no in-game significance or special rules (at least not in FOW) but I decided to buy some as 'set-dressing' for my Normandy tabletop. These models are made by Peter Pig from their scenery range and cost just £2.60 for six deceased bovine's.


The traditional Norman cow is reddish brown and white, although there can be enormous variation in patterning from one cow to another. There is an excellent guide to painting these very models on the Model Dads Blog here.

The breed has its origin in cattle that were brought to Normandy by the Viking conquerors in the 9th and 10th centuries. They are dual-purpose cattle and provide rich milk for the French cheese industry while their large stocky frames mean they are also valued for their meat.

The Normande cow was decimated by the Allied invasion and almost died out as competing breeds were brought into the area after the war. However the breed has made a comeback and it is estimated there are now 3 million in Northern France.

23 comments:

  1. Poor moo cows, milk will never be the same again......... Great painting!!!

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  2. Those are so well painted but I smell roast beef!

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  3. Cows are a infantrymans friend. Any field with cows in won't have mines in. Even dead cows... unless they mined it after the cows died, in which case again no cows if there is a field kitchen within 20 miles. Also nice bases.

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    1. And loads of fresh beef if rations are low - and you're quick.

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  4. Wow.. both great painting AND informative!

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  5. Somehow crazy to me...
    But nevertheless a great paintjob!

    Cheers
    Monty

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  6. Brilliant! Hats off to you Lee, I would never have thought to have checked the colour of Normandy cows and now I know. Nicely done by the way!

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  7. A bit gory thematic but quite effective painting, great looking beef steaks...

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  8. A great idea. I will be mostly stealing that!

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  9. I have no evidence to back this up, but it is quite likely the Allies killed more Cows than Germans on D-Day. Aside from direct casualties from shellfire many animals were abandoned as large parts of the civilian population fled the fighting. Many farmers stayed of course so not all herds were left unattended, but with two massive armies in the region its easy to see how pretty much all produce would have been directed towards the war effort of one side or another.

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  10. LOL, I never thought about adding dead cows to my battle field, but after seeing yours I'm convinced that I need some. Nice work!

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  11. Those will add alot to your table.

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  12. Great post. Very informative, and the pic of the soldier taking cover behind the dead cow is really evocative of what that time must have been like. Very good job on your cows, and great attention to detail to research their appearance.

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  13. this is a good way to enhance your gaming tables. Good job, though poor cows, no more camembert...

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  14. A nice blog post, covers so many angles. The paint job is very good as well. I have cows to paint but 1. their alive and 2. their English!

    Ian

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  15. I like to call them MEAT SHIELDS

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  16. Nice one, lovely paint job!

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  17. A family legend says that my one uncle hid inside a dead cow while avoiding German patrols.

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    1. Ugh! That is one hell of a cringe-worthy anecdote. Having said that, better smelling of rotting cow than becoming a POW or worse!

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  18. Stick a bunch on a large base as an objective perhaps. "get over to that bunch of dead cows soldiers!" are you serious sarge?
    Great post.
    Cheers

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  19. Great work on the cows Lee. Cool info too.

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  20. I never knew that the guys of the catering were there before the landing troops.

    Very nice painted cows. Nice basings to!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

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