Friday 29 March 2013

Force on Force: Transport for AU Peace-Keepers

The Nigerian Peace Keepers operating in Zugando have received some re-enforcements to improve their mobility and effectiveness.
First off is a Saracen APC. While without doubt the Saracen is out dated by the standards of a modern army they still have a role to play in peace keeping operations. They were used very successfully by the British Army for peace keeping operations in  Northern Ireland until the 1990's and are still used by the Nigerian Army (NA), although they are being gradually phased out. In terms of armour, the Saracen is comparable to a Bradley or a BTR, but it is lightly armed in comparison. Passengers can fire their weapons from portholes in the side and from the top hatch. 



Second up is a Land Rover Defender. This one is not armoured, and is effectively a standard civilian model, designed to transport rear echelon personnel in low risk areas. If a fire fight breaks out it will offer very little protection. 



The Saracen is, I think, by Britannia Miniatures. I bought it of a fellow Lead Adventure Forum member a while ago- I wasn't really sure what I would use it for, but I was delighted to discover the NA still use them. The latest statistic I could find on the net says they still have 10 in service, which isn't many, but enough to justify me including it in my peace keepers force. I Thought about converting the rear gunner, who is using a Bren gun, as the NA definitely don't use the Bren any more, but in the end I decided it would be too much hassle. 
The Discovery is a  Burago 1/47 scale die-cast I bought on Ebay for a few quid. It is the same model as the police Defender in the previous post, although this one was a Fire Department one. I removed the blue lights and filled the hole. It scales very well with the Airfix Snatch Landy, but was cheaper and didn't need assembling. I can also be used by Zugandan army and Rebels, and even PMC, if I ever get round to doing some of them. 
The photos have come out well, thanks to the good quality natural light we are getting in the UK, thanks to all the snow. The jungle scenery is from the latest load I have been busy building. It's very useful for Burma as well as Zugando.

3 comments:

pulpcitizen said...

The vehicles look very cool; great work.

Maybe the only thing I would suggest is working from a much darker base colour for the windows on the 4x4.

Simon Quinton said...

Great work on the Saracen and the Land Rover. The terrain looks good as well.

Smillie said...

That die cast landy looks smart, top paint job sir. The scenery in the background looks good too.