Patience and Puppet Strings - The State of the Mugabia-Uwanda War

After Mugabia's advances beyond Pettu tribal territory were smashed by Uwandan forces, a brief period of quiet was enjoyed by all parties.  Uwanda reinforced it's positions along the border, as did Mugabia.  The ULF began receiving more weapons and training from Mugabia, and after a brief time, began attacking Uwandan interests. 

Attacks on Uwandan convoys initially saw great success, but tactics quickly evolved, putting the ULF attackers at much greater risk.  Several would be attacks met with no effect on the (now) fast moving convoys, and frequent air patrols greatly burdened ULF movement.  And, somewhat to the surprise of the ULF, popular support was not so great as expected.

In the air, a handful of intercepts took place, with a couple of aircraft lost and a few damaged, but the encounters were rare.  Still stinging from earlier losses, both sides were hesitant to risk air assets.

Uwandan leadership appealed on the world stage for support from the UN or a big brother, but world interest in this conflict was simply lacking, and all parties encouraged finding a non-military solution.  The conflict was a burden on the economy, and popular unrest at the overall lack of activity was growing.  Uwanda's President Danganyu decided that the time had come for Uwanda to take action,   But just what action to take, he was not yet so sure of...
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On the other side of the border, Mugabia's President Upepomfuko, touting Pettu tribal unification and even liberation, was content to spend ULF lives to further his cause.  The border was well defended, and  Uwanda's international puppet masters were all spouting "peaceful solution" in the wake of the conflict.

Despite recent setbacks, potential internal enemies and the general population were under firm control.  New weapons were sought to replace losses, and in time new troops and weapons would be brought to bear.  For now, the puppets would be kept busy, their strings being pulled by the ULF.

Mugabian Border Post (Modern 15mm Imagi-Nation)

I finally managed to build the rest of the stuff needed for my 15mm Mugabian border crossing.  In addition to the watch tower that I build previously, I completed two customs buildings, some signs and fences. The buildings and other odds and ends are based on or inspired by various border crossings between Kenya and its neighbors.

The building walls are made of blue foam, the roofs are textured styrene from Evergreen and Plastruct. 

The fence is HO scale Hairpin Fence from Atlas.

 

The signs were made with Photoshop, printed and sealed and glued onto styrene  and brass sign posts.

With this stuff done, I can finally get some battles on the table top.

15mm Odds and Ends, Modern/Post War Vehicles and Infantry

I've been trying to get stuff off of my painting table, and this weekend, I finally addressed some 15mm problem children that have been hanging around.

First off are some QRF BRDM1 AT3s.  I had actually ordered the later version on the BRDM chassis, but received the earlier version.  As these are for Mugabia, that wasn't really a problem, but when I opened the bags, I discovered that each was missing the rear super-structure/upper hull.  After waiting a bit for the missing parts to show up, I got impatient and just decided to scratch-built the missing portion.  I built up the rear hull missile compartment, and made a new roof and missile launcher out of styrene.  I probably should have taken the time to add a little more detail, but they will pass.

Another snafu were two Ferrets that I ordered.   The problem is that I actually wanted the turreted Ferret Mk2, but ordered the Ferret Mk1/2 per the incorrect photo for the model on the QRF website, and actually got the Ferret Mk1/2 model, not the model shown in the photo.  So, I made some turrets to convert them to Ferret Mk2s.

And compared to the proper QRF Ferret Mk2 on the right below.

Next up were some  AT4 Spigot anti-tank missile teams that I bought sometime back.  These are rather nice and came proper and complete, but the QRF figure base doesn't fit my infantry basing system.  So, I created a new figure base with AT-4 tripod type launcher built into it, with the result being a little more compact and fitting into my normal infantry basing format a bit better.

Combine these with the Peter Pig armor crewmen that I painted, and it was a pretty productive weekend.  Now if I can just get that Mugabian border crossing done, I can get some games in next weekend.

Slow Progress with African Imagi-nations

Back in November, with much enthusiasm, I rolled up the next batch of scenarios in the Uwanda-Mugabia war between my African Imagi-nations.  I worked out a list of new miniatures  that I needed to play out the scenarios.  My wife offered to order many of the figs as a Christmas gift, and I figured that I'd paint and play shortly after Christmas during the time off that I would be taking.

As I rolled through December, I realized that I was simply going to lose a week of that time off, as work was just  too busy. Christmas came, but the my wife's order didn't.  So I waited on Imagi-Africa, and made some progress on old sci-fi projects. 

After 145 days of waiting, we cancelled the Christmas order.  Meanwhile, I had altered my scenarios and list of figs to permit me to order some different stuff  from another company in February, a company that has always given me great service.  As fate would have it, after two weeks, nothing arrived.  Trying to be patient, I waited another two weeks before contacting them, and after about six weeks the order showed up, mis-marked by the post office for surface shipment only.  By the time it arrived, I was back to working crazy hours, and it took a few more days for me to inspect the package.   As it turned out, a part was missing from each of the key vehicles in the order.  I'm still waiting for the missing parts.

In addition to the new miniatures, I needed to build some new terrain for the upcoming battles; a Mugabian border checkpoint, bunkers, and 10-12 new town buildings.  About a week's worth of evenings work.  Started on this back in November too.

So here we are seven months later, and my only accomplishment is to have started on some of the bits for the border checkpoint.  Here are a few photos:

That's it, seven months work, not including the armored car and the little dude.  Here is a close-up of the watch tower.

And one of the obstacles.

The border check point still needs an immigration office, a couple of gun emplacements, some  other defensive positions, and some clutter such as "Welcome to Mugabia" signs and whatnot.  I'm thinking that I'm just going to scratch-build the missing parts of the vehicles, and once this is all done, at least I can get to playing the first battle of the next phase of the war.

The way my own personal little cloud of doom has been, I'm guessing this may take me into next Christmas.   I will do my best to post again soon with more photos and less whining.

A Little Progress on my Rides (28mm Sc-fi Recce Cars)

Haven't had much free time lately, so I haven't been able to do much, but did manage to work on the second turret for my 28mm sci-fi recce cars.

 

 

As I suggested previously, they will simply be Mk1 and Mk2 versions of the car with different turret configuration and a couple of slight differences in the hull. Unfortunately, that is all I have to share for now.

Rides Update: 28mm Sci-fi Recce Cars and Other Progress

The second vehicle type for my old imperial guard figs is the Recce car.  I went back and forth during the design between something more similar to the French VBL and something  closer to a WWII armored car.  I ended up opting for the  more WWIIish  design.

The vehicle has a three man crew with seating for 5-6 in a pinch.  The small turret carries a light auto cannon and  a drone for detecting the bad guys is carried on the rear deck.  Here are a couple of pics of the current progress:

 

I've also made some progress on the wheeled APC, particularly on the hull front and sides, and a little on the smaller turret:

 

And the last photo with all three of my sci-fi vehicle types, including the larger tracked APC from awhile back, to give a size comparison. 

I think the second recce car may get a different turret.  The first one is mostly done and came out okay, but I liked the look of it better on the drawing.  The other version that I sketched out looks a bit more like the turret of the BTR-80A.  I figure the cars can be a Mk I and a Mk II.  We'll see.

Rides for my Old Imperial Guard Figs (WIPs of a 28mm Sci-fi APC)

Been working a bunch again, but squeezing in a little hobby time, whenever I can.  High on the to-do list are rides for old Imperial Guard figs. 

In order to be mobile, my Guard company need a bunch of vehicles, including APCs, a command vehicle, and scout cars.  I've had a number of designs setting about for a long time, so in recent days have reworked a couple of the old ideas a little.

The regular squads will get a six wheeled APC/MICV with a light auto-cannon in a low profile turret.  The platoon HQs will get a version of the same vehicle with a larger turret with a heavier gun.  The command vehicle will be a boxier version of the APC with raised superstructure and no turret, and the scouts will get two copies of a completely different four wheeled recce car with turret and light cannon, and will also carry a drone.

Here are a few WIPs of the APC and the two turrets, the first two photos show the PHQ turret as it was being shaped:
 

The PAC with the roughed out PHQ variant turret.

 

With PHQ turret close to final shape.

 

With low profile turret for regular APC

 

And better view of the hull.

 

I need 13-14 of these things, so am going to make a master and cast it in resin.  Tires, gun barrels, and hatches will be separate pieces.  There may be other separate detail parts as well.

The weapon mount on the small turret will be behind and to the left of the hatch opening.  The larger turret has a big weapons pod on the left side, with the entire pod moving to elevate or depress the gun. 

The big turret still needs some shaping to soften the lines, but I'm not sure that I'm going to go with it.  The rounded cast shape sort of clashes with the angular shape of the hull and small turret and I'm not altogether sold on the split turret idea either.  After I get more done, I'll see how the hull and turret look together and decide then.