Captain Price and his Boys- British SAS

Captain Price is an experienced SAS officer who has served in many theatres of war during his carrier. His special area of expertise is covert and clandestine operations. His was a natural choice to head up the Special Forces operation in Zugando- code named Charlie Bravo. His team has been operating behind the lines in Zugando for twelve months, moving on foot, and supplied by air, they have succeeding in destroying a number of Zugando PRA bases and killing some of the PRA’s higher ranking officials.

Captain Price is a natural warrior, and inspires his men to feats of valour. He has an astute mind that can quickly assess the flow of a battle, and allow him to use his small force to maximum effect.

Captain Price (in the middle) with a SAS fire support team

These figures are by The Assault Group. I have painted the in desert DPM fatigues, although in all probability they should be in Multi Cam or Green DPM, but what the heck. Captain Price is a character I have borrowed from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which is that game that inspired this collection in the first place, so that only seems fair.

Even more PRA Militia for my Shanty Town!

And now, even more militiamen for the Zugando People’ Resistance Army. I am now very close to finishing the first stage of the project. I guess something like this is never really finished, but I find it easier to break it up into stage. I am –partially pleased with the one in the middle in the top photo- it’s not that clear in the picture but he is wearing a Manchester united top- When my wife went to Nairobi she said that all the people ever talk about in ManU, so I thought it seemed appropriate.

Again I used a mix of The Assault Group African Militia and Somali militia. I have been careful with the paints to disguise the fact that some of the figures are the same as the ones I painted for the ‘Elite’ PRA soldiers. 

Delta Force Fire Team- Behind the Lines in Zugando

  US Special Forces have been operating in Zugando ad part of the allies’ attempts to neutralise the People’s Resistance Army. Although the current UN charter does not mandate their actions, they have been operating in the country for twelve months, in conjunction with UK Special Forces, to try to eliminate the leadership and supply chains of the PRA. USSF specialist expertise in CQB and the use of unmanned Predator drones have proved invaluable in the campaign so far. 

These are a mixture of Empress Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures- to be honest, now they are based and painted I have a hard time telling the different manufacturers apart- Empress tend to be a little taller, but there is not much in it. Both ranges are really well sculpted and cast, with tons of details. Finding reference pictures of USSF in their uniforms isn't easy. I opted to try to paint them in MultiCam- with a reasonable degree of success, I think. 

Captain Bagwana of the PRA

Captain John Bagwana is a regional commander in the neo-communist Zugando People’s Resistance army. He claims to have been an officer in the British paratroopers, and always sports a red beret. Journalist Rex Sadler managed to uncover that a Zugandan soldier named Johan Bagwana did serve as a private in the paratroopers regiment, but as yet the British Government has refused to confirm if it the same individual.

The UK Special Forces units operating in the area have been given a property kill-capture order on dealing with Bagwana after troops under his command ambushed an SAS patrol and killed two men. Commanders on the ground have vowed not to underestimate Bagwana again. 

Again these figures are by The Assault Group. I have painted these in a fairly random mixture of green army fatigues to suggest the irregular nature of the PRA, compared to the Zugandan army. Bagwana's beret and wicked looking machete will make him stand our from the rank and file on the battlefield (and no doubt make him a priory target for the UK Special Forces player!)

African Militias

 The Zugandan People’s Resistance Army is the neo-communist rebel army opposed to the dictatorship of President Madanawanga. The vast majority of the PRA forces tend to be child soldiers or militias forcefully conscripted into the PRA. Their training is minimal, and they are typically poorly equipped, but they have been systematically brutalised, and many are addicted to strong narcotics and amphetamines. I-COZ forces have reported these militiamen remaining in the field longer than world be expected for troops of their quality.

 The PRA have been accused of conducting a campaign of systematic genocidal attacks against the minority ethnic Metandi population.

The above ‘fluff’ is part of the background I have written for my Force on Force campaign. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable about the whole area of ‘modern’ era wargaming; i.e. war gaming conflicts that are on going or have happened in resent memory, I decide to create a fictitious war-torn West African country called the Democratic Republic of Zugando.

The figures are, for the most part, by The Assault Group. A few Britannia miniatures managed to sneak in too.  

I wanted the militiamen to look quite different from the uniformed regular army, despite in many cased being based on the same figure. Having looked at a lot of google-images of African militias and Somali pirates I opted for bright colours, and a lot of sportswear, as this seems to be what all well dressed militiamen have opted for. 

KKBB Boiler Suited Henchmen

 Every aspiring world dominating villain needs legions of faithful henchmen to carry out his nefarious plans, build secret lairs, feed the killer sharks, tie heroes to ‘Death Ray Traps’ etc. The attire of choice for the loyal thugs is obviously the brightly coloured boiler suit.

  These henchmen are no exception, having been kitted out with bright yellow boiler suits and nice shiny helmets to maker them even more conspicuous. Be wary enemies of tyrants everywhere- these guys will be ready to die to stop you (and no doubt they will, in droves!)

These figures are part of the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang range jointly produced by Copplestone Castings and Artizan Designs. Mark Copplestone sculpts these ones, and very nice they are too. They will also be useful as hirelings for super villains in my four colour campaign and as hired guns for Pulp City.

From Our Correspondent in Zugando

News from the Chaos of civil war-torn Zugando, in West Africa, can be sparse and unreliable. Outside the UN protected coastal cities law and order has all but broken down.  It takes a brave soul to venture into the hinterlands of the Zugando in search of a story. Rex Sadler and his intrepid cameraman Lance Waverly are just such individuals, chasing the truth and bringing the light of the world’s media to bear onto this small, bloody African country.

Rex Sadler (the one with the microphone) is a freebee model made by ‘The Assault Group’ and is available on request with all orders over £30. He is dressed in a suit and wearing a flack jackets (health and safety, even in a war zone!). I can see him being of use in Pulp City and in my four-colour supers game, which is why I have based his on a 30mm round lipped base. Lance Waverly is by eM4 miniatures. I have painted this figure before, a few years ago, but I know that when I needed a cameraman for my war correspondent, only Lance would do, so I bought another one. Like Rex, Lance is dressed in a flack jacket.

I imagine that this pair could be used as objectives in Force on Force, or might even turn up as the result of a Fog of War card. 

Best Toys ''R' Us trip ever!

I just popped down to Toys ‘R’ Us to get some play sand for the kids so they can make the most of this very un-English weather while it lasts and while I was in there thought I would just take a quick look around to see if there was anything suitable for gaming/conversion. I was glad that I did…

  First off, I found a die cast Apache helicopter (an AH-64) made by Fastlane for Toys ‘R’ Us. It was on special offer, being reduced from £12.99 to £9.99. It is modelled in 1/55 scale, which if you are interested in using die cast for wargaming you will probably know that it is something of a holy grail when it comes to scale.

  

Scale is a very subjective thing, but it is generally considered that for 28mm scale figures, something between 1/50 and 1/56 is about perfect. 1/48 is far more common form die cast and for model kits, but it is generally too big for 28mm scale figures. 1/72 scale is used for a lot of military models, but is too small for 28mm, being better suited for 20mm or 18mm scale. As I say, scale is very subjective, and people choose to use all sorts of scales, and that’s fine. I think the most important thing is to remains consistent.

My second find, in the bargain bucket, was some models form the Disney’s Cars movie range. I have used these before for my African scenery as these are generally approaching 1/56 scale (although there is some inconsistencies across the range as the models are based on the characters in the film and sometimes the sizes are exaggerated for comic effect, so you have to be wary). These models are based on a Range Rover, and were just £2.49 each. They will be converted and used as part of my cavalcade for The President of Zugando, or any other ranking dignitaries.

  

All in all, I would consider that to be a good shopping trip!

Random Musings

 Yesterday was my 12th Wedding Anniversary. I got some very nice DVDs, but after doing a little research I found out that twelve years of marriage is a 'silk' wedding anniversary. I was a little disappointed to learn that there is no pewter or lead wedding anniversary, or even for that matter, a resin wedding anniversary. This seems somewhat remiss of the wedding anniversary organising people.

 In fact when you think about it, it seems a trifle one sided- gold wedding anniversary; diamond wedding anniversary, ruby wedding anniversary.

 There’s not much in there for the blokes. Where is the ‘X-box Wedding Anniversary’? It’s almost as if the people who came up with the lists for what anniversary gifts you should be given were all married women who had a vested interest in getting lots of nice presents of their other halfs.

But surely that’s not very likely?

 Anyway, enough rambling. You’re probably wondering why I haven’t posted anything for a while. Well I guess a bit of painting fatigue has crept in following the Lead Painters League. I painted over sixty figures in ten weeks, and while it was fun it was exhausting. I had a couple of evenings off to play on Skyrim, but now I am back to the business of painting my modern Africans. The first stage is almost complete, and I will be posting a big ‘reveal’ when they are finished, rather than showing them piecemeal.

Also in the pipeline are some more minions for my four colour super villains and some more Kiss Kiss Bang Bang spies. Keep checking in, as there will be pictures as soon as they are ready. 

Dreadfleet: Grimir's Thunder

Yet another ship completed for my Dreadfleet games. This one is Grimnir's Thunder, a Dwarf Grudgebreaker-class battleship captained by Red Brokk, a notoriously bad tempered and greedy Dwarf engineer-pirate. Amongst the crew is hundreds of dwarf engineers, as well as a good number of iron breakers an slayers to board the enemy ships. Rune-enhanced cannons and gromil plated armour make the Thunder a formidable vessel. 

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