More Jungle Terrain

I have been working on some more of my jungle scenery. I made a large piece with a swamp in the middle. this ads a nice bit of variety as it is more open and allows figures to be laced on the base easily, but still maintaining the over grown jungle feel. It is the biggest base I have made so far. I was concerned about warping as it was so big. It warped a little bit, but not enough to be disastrous. 

I also made another piece of more fantasy/pulp/scifi terrain in the form of another giant mushroom. These mushrooms were resin ones I bought AGES ago (maybe as long ago as 1991) but are still available from Scotia Grendel (link).

Jungle Terrain Work In Progress

 I have not been idle the last few weeks. I have been making lots and lots of jungle terrain. Much of this is bits and pieces of old terrain re-based, and the rest is bits and bobs I bought from the pet shop or cheap home-wear houses like B+M and Poundland. This terrain will be very useful, as it can be used for Burma (Bolt Action), Africa (Congo or Force on Force) or even the Caribbean (Pirates or Freebooters Fate).  It could even be used for Scifi or fantasy too. 

There is lots more to follow. I plan to make more, including center pieces and more unusual pieces. 

New Terrain Board

Here is a neat little gaming table I have been working on, principally for my peninsular war campaign, but it should also be useful for small games of Force on Force or wild west games (or in fact any game involving a dry dusty landscape).

The idea for this came form a tread on Lead Adventure Forum, and it is basically a decorating table (normally a long thin table used for applying wallpaper paste to wallpaper). This was £12.99 in B&Q. By removing the legs, then taking of the hinges and repositioning them on the sides, I was able to turn it from a long thin table into a roughly 4 foot by 3 foot table- ideal for small skirmish games. The hollow inside was then filled with foam card, cut to the contours of the land, then covered in sand. I had some problems with warping, especially on the biggest piece of foam card, but generally it went well. I painted it with an emulation paint that was similar in colour to the way I paint my desert bases. The river was painted with acrylics and then given a coat of clear gloss varnish. 

  I then used woodland scenic scatter to add a bit of colour to some of the areas, and GW grass tufts for add vegetation.

the whole thing is very light weight and conveniently folds up into a 3 foot by 2 foot case with a carrying handle!

I would consider this a success, and a cost effective way of making a small board. I intend to do the same for Across the Dead Earth and possible a pirate board too... at some point in the future. The use of foam card might have been cheep but blue foam might be better as it is less prone to warping (although it is more expensive).

Winter Survivors

This was my latest Lead Painters League entry. They are  some survivors from a post-apocalypses zombie filled winter. Initially they will be used for fighting zeds, but eventually I can see they might be useful in my Force on Force games set in Finland. I might need some armed civilians for something? 

Other, more off the wall ideas I have had include a 'The Thing' type scenario, or as a explorers in a Cthulhu-modern game. Perhaps they could even be armed civvies for AE Bounty? Lots of possibilities. 

They are, from left to right, Mojo, Mojo, Hasslfree, Fenris Games and Mojo. 
Mojo Miniatures is a new small company with a nice range of winter survivors  Fenris mostly do resin bases and so on, but they have a small number of investigators for a Cthulhu-modern setting, and Hasslfree are...well Hasslfree is just the place to go for zombie-apocalypse survivors. 

Hotel Zugando is Launched!

Today marks the launch of something of a divergence for Four Colour Super Minis as I have decide to start another blog dedicated to my Zugando Force on Force campaign. Hotel Zugando will contain all my African stuff along with lots of fluff and background for the campaign, links to useful websites and similar blogs, while Four Colour Super Minis will continue to offer Super Heroes and Villains mixed with a good dose of anything else that catches my eye, like zombies, spies and VBCW.

There’s a long-winded explanation of the blog over on Hotel Zugando, so I wont go into it too much here. Basically it is a chance for me to collate everything I have done for my Zugando campaign in once place. I hope it will appeal to you, and possibly attract new followers too. Fear not though, Four Colour Super Minis will continued to be updated just as frequently.

Check it out, hopefully it will float your boat. 

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.

East End Apocalypse: Coppers

Here are some photos of some British police. I am not really sure why I wanted to do these. They're one of those projects I sometime start thinking it is a good idea, but not really sure what to do with it. I could use them in a Supers campaign set in the UK, or for for an addition force for my East End Apocalypse, somewhere between zombies and ASBO hoodies. Anyway, what ever I do with them, here are a couple to start with. These figures are by Warm Acre for No-Go-Zone. They are 28mm. 

In fairness, these are not great sculpts: Scale is odd; proportions are quite peculiar;  limbs come in variable length  even on the same model; details are soft and lacking in accuracy.  All in all there is not a lot going for these models, other than the fact they are the only UK police models in 28mm without guns (in case you didn't know UK police do not routinely carry guns). There are a few manufacturers who make SWAT type figures and Hasslefree even make armed police, but if you want unarmed police you have to use these guys. Also, I got them really cheep on eBay.

This is a Burago 1/47 scale Land Rover Defender 110 I got on eBay for a few quid. It scales really well with my police figures, particularly as they have thick urban bases.

Father Christmas brought me a couple of these in my stocking last Christmas- cleaver Father Christmas. Not sure who made them  but they say made in China on the bottom. They are very slightly over scaled, compared with the Land Rover. They are probably something like 1/44 scale i.e. still usable. 

Force on Force: T-55 MBT

Just another quick one because I am rather excited. This is a Russian made T-55 Main Battle Tank, as used by both the Nigerian and Finnish army (Hmm, very useful indeed!). 

This one is a 1/55 scale die-cast model I bought on eBay. It is a James Bond collectable replica from the film Golden Eye (you may remember the scene when Bond drives one through a wall). It wasn't cheep, costing me £15 including the postage, but that is still cheaper than buying a resin tank. I have another one on the way too. 

It obviously comes ready assembled and painted, so I can use it right away. In all probability  I will repaint it at some point, as it looks a bit flay and boring in real life, as it has been painted a flat green with no highlighting or shading, let alone weathering.  

To those who don't know 1/55 scale is just about right for 28mm, and finding military vehicals in that scale is something of a coup.  Here it is in my garden with it's happy owner- a Nigerian Army peace keeper. 

Force on Force: Radio Areial and Cell Phone Mast

Here is a couple of quick WIP shots of a cell phone (mobile phone) mast and a radio aerial I have made as objectives for Force on Force. They are made from Hornby Trains OO gauge pylons I got form the local model shop. I built them and then trimmed off the bits that stick out the side to hold the power cables. Then I rooted through my bits box of Games Workshop tank parts and added some bits and bobs to make them look the part. The cell phone mast also has some plasticard receivers too.

The Radio Free Zugando aerial

The Cell phone mast is to be used in my modern Finland campaign  It will be painted up and given a light dusting of snow flock. The Radio areal will be part of a radio station complex for my Zugandan shanty town. Both will be important objectives, as securing them can effect the oppositions command and control. 

A mobile phone mast in Finland

The Pylons come with three in a box for £15.99. The other one might get made up as a more traditional BBC radio mast without all the satellite dishes etc to be used for Very British Civil War. 

Force on Force: African Union Troops in Zugando

As the international community attempts to stabilise the deteriorating situation in the West African country of Zugando, UN Peace Keepers come under increasing pressure as they try to protect the Urban areas on the coast from the Peoples Resistance Army of Zugando. The Peace keeping force is mostly made up of British and African Union (AU) troops, especially Nigerian Army (NA).

The search for suitable figures to use as AU and NA troops has proved a tricky one. Most AU nations, including he Nigerians, use the AK assault rifles (AK47 and AK74). The Nigerian Army also have ballistic protection and kevlar helmets, known as K-pots of 'fritz'. No one, as far as I am aware, makes anything like that in 28mm. Well, if it doesn't exist, you have to invent it, as someone once said in a guinness advert. 

I began by taking a TAG Russian  chopping off his head and hood with clippers, then used a West Wind WW2 German helmet with canvas cover. The German helmet is similar in shape to a modern K-pot, and with the canvas cover are close enough to pass muster. I used Pro-create epoxy putty to make a back plate to their ballistic protection (which helped cover up where I had carved off the hood).

Hey presto...NA peace keepers!

The conversion was easy enough, and they were great to paint, so I think I might add some more, and perhaps make it up to a platoon strength force. I will also be adding some armour soon too.

Please forgive the dodgy photos. I am working on some new lighting techniques and its a bit trail and error. 

There are some Work In Progress shots here on Lead Adventure Forum. They give you an idea of what was involved. 

AU Troops in action

Winter War 2015: WIP

This model is a bit of a sneak preview of something I have floating around in my head for Force on Force.

He is a soldier from the Finnish Defence Force. This one is a test model, and I am rather pleased with the results.

Basically, although I love developing my African Force on Force campaign setting, set in the fictional country of Zugando, I felt that I would like to explore other areas of the world. Not feeling terrible comfortable with gaming in Afghanistan or similar locations, I began to look further a field for somewhere to set my new campaign.

The  ‘eureka’ moment came when I was researching the 1939 ‘Winter War’ between Soviet Russia and Finland and I thought ‘Aha…I could use this for Force on Force”. All I had to do was let my imagination go a bit wild, and to engineer some sort of conflict between Russia and Finland, set just a year or two in the future.

This has the added advantage of being more appealing to my regular gaming buddy Pulp Citizen. I think its fair to say that the FoF bug has never really gripped Pulp Citizen, and he is decidedly cool on the whole Ultra-modern thing. But as he is by decent part Finnish, and still has relatives over in that frozen Land, I reasoned that he might feel more motivated to play Force on Force if it involved protecting Fins from Russia.

As to the back ground…well I think I have a lot more work to do to iron that out. Rather like VBCW I will do some research, base some things in facts, make some leaps of logic, and then just fabricate a whole lot of stuff, to end up with a semi-plausible background to the conflict. I know Russia isn't really going to invade Finland, and that the two countries are on fairly good terms (diplomatically at least) but it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a reason for the conflict. Just look at Georgia in 2008.

As to the time scale for this project? Well I am still planning to get my Bolt Action Burma stuff finished first, and to wrap up a lot of Modern African stuff I have in the pipelines, so it will be a while before Russian tanks cross the border into Finland, but I am hoping I will be able to get the first few games in before the end of the year.

This figure is from The Assault Group and is a Russian soldier in a wool hat. It’s fair to say there are some similarities between the look of the Finnish Defence Force and the Russian army, and the TAG figures will serve for both, with different paint schemes. Red Star also makes some nice modern Russians. 

New Broom January Part 3: Black Hawk Down!

"Six One: We have a Black Hawk down. Repeat: We have a Black Hawk down."

It looks like the Zugandan rebels have got lucky and managed to bring down of the American's Black Hawk helicopters.   

  The whole point of this months 'theme' New Year, New Broom, was to get something finished that has been hanging around for ages, and otherwise would probably just not get finished. So far I have painted a fire team for my Force on Force Delta Force. I had put off painting them because I hate painting Multi-cam, but for this model thing were a little different: I had bought this model of a crashed Black Hawk last year at the Wolverhampton Show. It is made by Britannia Miniatures, and is simply lovely. The reason why I had not got round to painting it is that I was daunted by how big it was. 

Inspired by Leon (aka Pulp Citizen) and his determination to finish the Giant Hadron figure for Pulp City, I set my mind to the task of painting the Black Hawk crash. In the end, it wasn't as terrible as I had imagined it would be, and I got it finished in just two evenings. I am delighted with the way it came out. Now I need to find a downed black hawk crew to act as hostages for my Delta's to rescue. 

Force on Force: Snatch Land Rover

Just a quick post to show off my new Snatch Land Rover. It is the Airfix 1/48 scale one, which I think works pretty well with the scale of figures and other vehicals I am using (Perhaps a trifle large, if I was being picky, but defiantly good enough for me). 

I have to say, that this is the first time I have ever put an Airfix model together and I was very impressed with the kit. The level of detail is amazing! I never added much of te interior details because I always intended to paint the windows so that it matches my other FoF vehicals, but even so I was thrilled buy how cool it was.

I opted to paint it green rather that the more commonly seen Afghan colours because Zugando, the fictional location of my Force on Force campaign is in West Africa, and is dominated by jungles, not deserts. I am rather pleased with the way the colours came out. 

New Broom January Part 2: More Delta Force

New broom January continues with more completing two more Delta force operatives, completing my last fire Team. These are Empress miniatures, and while they are really mince miniatures and beautifully sculpted I don't get much pleasure form painting them. The problem, I think, is that the camouflaged kit makes them a bit samey- everything they are wearing is just a variation of the same dusty colour. The end result is, I spend ages paining them, and they end up looking a bit ... meh.

New Broom January- Part 1: Delta Force

My old mate Leon (AKA Pulp Citizen) , feeling the need for the additional incentive of a deadline, has asked me to do another themed month for January.  It certainly seems to motivate him to get his miniatures finished, as he can be ponderously slow and easily distracted.

 As a result we agreed that  as its a new year, we could paint something that has been hanging around on our painting tables for far too long. 

I have had these miniatures based, and sprayed, for almost a year. I painted their brothers-in-arms, but owing to the fact that I decided I hate painting multicam (the type of camouflage pattern used by US Special Forces) I have been putting off finishing this last fire-team for  my Force on Force army.

I will paint two more for next week, and then finish off with something MASSIVE. 

Zugandan Aid Convoy Ready To Be Ambushed

I wanted to do a UN aid convoy as an objective for a Force on Force game set in my fictional war-torn West African Imagi-nation of Zugando. It wasn't the first time I have converted toy cars, having done them for my VBCW and my Battle Cars games, and it is something I really get a lot of pleasure from.

I began by sourcing a couple of trucks- cheep ones from Tescos and Sainsburys. These ones scale well with my 28mm figures and the other vehicals I have already painted for my Africa Campaign. 

Next I made some cargo- I used resin crates made by Ainsty, Ebob's metal barrels, some crates I had left over from another toy I dismantled and some Tamiya 1/36 scale sand bags, which at 28mm scale make nice sacks. 

I cut a piece of plasticard to fit the flat bed of the truck and glued the cargo to this prior to painting. This was so I could remove the cargo to paint it. It also means I can use the trucks empty, and use  the cargo as a piece of terrain- multi-purpose is the name of the game!

The Orange one- with cargo...

...and without.

With cargo...

...and empty

This truck scales well with my 28mm scale stuff

And the cargo can be removed and used as terrain, should the battle call for it. 

Painting was simple- spray it black and paint it. I painted in the windows to match the other vehicals in my collection  This is because the resin Toyota technicals I bought form Britannia miniatures have solid windows which have to be painted, so it makes sense if all the windows on all the vehicals match- even if it doesn't look 100% realistic. A good coat of weathering adds the final details- after all- it's dusty in Zugando, and the poor conditions of the roads means vehicals get very dirty, very quickly.

IED for Force on Force

The ever present threat of Improvised Explosive Devices, road side bombs and booby traps have been something British and American soldiers have had to get used to in Afghanistan, Iraq and even Northern Ireland. Until recently they were fairly rare in Zugando, and the Peoples Resistance Army lacked the expertise to make anything but the simplest IED.

Recently, however there has been a worrying increase in both the numbers of IED used against the coalition and government forces, and in their sophistication. MI6 and CIA agents are investigating the possibility that an Al Qaeda trained bomb maker might be assisting the Peoples Resistance Army. Why AQ would help the neo-communist PRA remains a matter of subjection amongst the intelligence community, but they have placed a high priority on locating and eliminating this bomb maker- whoever he is.

I made these IED markers for Force on Force. They are based on a copper penny, so are quite small. They have various bits and bobs, found in my bits box: The barrels are metal ones from ebob sawn in half, while the mortar is a Games Workshop Imperial Guard one. The bin bag with the wires sticking out is made form green stuff- very simple really.

Force on Force Transports

  Although I haven’t had many chances to play Force on Force, I continue to plod on with gathering models and scenery for my FoF campaign set in the fictional civil war-torn West African country Zugando. The latest additions are a couple transports.

  The first is a civilian Ford Transit van, in dark green. This will be used as a transport for the Zuganda People’s Resistance Army, the militia force opposed by a coalition of UK, USA and African Union. Alternately it can be used as a piece of static scenery, or even in Zombie games. This model is a resin/metal model made by Sloppy Jalopy, and was given to my by my good pal Leon (cheers mate).

  The Second one is a Unimog. These trucks are made by Mercedes-Benz, and are widely used by various armies around the world, including the SAS, who used them during the Iraq war for long range patrolling, in conjunction with snatch land rovers. Their serious rough terrain capabilities makes them suitable work horses for the coalition troops in action in Zugando. This model is die-cast model made by Solido. I picked this one up on eBay, along with a white UN one. It scales nicely with my other stuff. I still need to add some mud and dust to this model, as it looks far too clean for Zugando.

The Fanno Cassa Raid (Force on Force)

My son Charlie and I finally got round to playing our first game of Force on Force some 9 months after I started the project, building an African shanty town. We played the game out of the rules called ‘A Few Blocks of Hell’ but as it was set in my fictional West African country, Zugando, we substituted the US army for SAS and Delta forces, and changed the insurgents to rebel militia and Zugando Peoples Resistance Army.

Charlie took command of the coalition Special Forces, while I played the Africans.

The main mission was for the SF to get into the target buildings (the watch tower and the ruined church) by the end of turn 4, and hold them until the end of turn 6).

SAS forces, under Captain Price, intercepted information that the PRA forces were massing for an offensive. The PRA has been stockpiling weapons and fuel in the village of Fanno Casa. Their intelligence suggests that the stockpile is in either the ruined church mission or in the guard station in the centre of the village. A squad of PRA soldiers were protecting the site from thieves, but intelligence suggest that the village also has a sizable number of militiamen loyal to the PRA who will no doubt come out to fight too.

A combined force of 18 special forces men drawn from SAS and Delta Force were tasked to locate and destroy the supply dump to delay the PRA attack. They were supported by a SAS light mortar crew firing form the jungle. They would approach the village from the south, through the jungle under the cover of darkness, and attack just before dawn. 

PRA soldiers form the 'elite' part of the rebel army

Militiamen congregate in the market place of Fanno Casa

Spud is down!
Early in the battle the Delta Force took a casualty

Captain Price leads his men onto a roof top from where they provide
overwach and he directs deadly accurate mortar fire.  

An overview of the market place of Fanno Cassa. The church and
watchtower are on the left hands side in this photograph.

The local PRA commander directs the battle from the balcony of a  small hotel,
until he is shot and wounded by one of Captain Price's team.

Having fought their way through the market place of Fanno Casa, the Delta  Force fire team
stack up on the ruined church, ready to breach. 

Following a vicious street batle the Special Forces overwhelmed the PRA men, and captured the church and eventually the watch tower. The supply dumps were destroyed and the SF were extracted by helicopter  along with five prisoners, including a PRA officer. Unfortunately two of the Delta Force were KIA and three of the SF were seriously wounded, although by delaying the PRA offensive, their sacrifice saved countless lives.