Clearing Off the Paint Table a Little

It has been about eight weeks since I last had a day of hobby time.  So I did a little cleaning in the basement, putting away some of the clutter that had accumulated, and managed to finish up a few odds and ends on the paint table.

First item done is one of ArmiesArmy's ASU 85s, making three thus far for my forces:

This is probably may all-time favorite 15mm modern casting.  They are just so clean and nicely detailed.  Can't wait to get some of their British stuff.

Next was to finish off the bases on some AT3 Sagger teams for my Mugabian forces.  Yes, ATGMs are coming to imagi-Africa:

These are QRF figs that came in a recent order from ScaleCreep which consistently offers some of the best service in the hobby.

Uwanda will get Milans:

These are QRF German Milan teams painted in Uwanda's colors.  Nice figs that have me wanting to build West Germans for the Cold War.  (By the way, QRF is expanding their range of Leopard 1s, if you haven't heard already)

While going through an old model kit box recently, I found a long lost old Imperial Guard figure, so decided to paint him up:

I love these old figs, and will replace one of my plastic IG figs with this one.  It was kind of cool to find him after being lost for about 26 years.

I recently stumbled into my second 1/100 Fouga Magister kit:

An old Starfix kit made in Israel.  It builds up into a nice little model.  Here is a pic of my other one in Uwanda Air Force markings.

Took about two years to find this one, and two more years to locate the second.

Last of my day's accomplishments was to add some detail to a pair of Jeeps with TOW atgm. The original models are metal castings from QRF.  While looking at photos, I realized that there were a bunch of different configurations of this vehicle, so I decided to spruce mine up and make them a little different.

And primed, but not yet painted:

These will be painted to use with my late 1970s/early 1980s US cold war forces.

May not seem like much, but I got 14 models off of my table (and a bunch of clutter), and two piles of pieces ready for paint.  I'm one step closer to space for work on my post-apoc vehicles, and the hospital for an upcoming Uwanda-Mugabia war  scenario.

New Hatch for My Humvees (but not much else)

Well, I finally got round to making a master of the open hatch for the Humvee weapon station, but other than casting, that is the sum total of hobby progress for me this month.

The old, and the new.

Plugged into one of my Humvees.

Sorry, not much to show. I'll have a mold of it by next weekend, and will make it an option soon for my Humvees that previously had the close hatch.

 Tomorrow looks to be a hobby day though, so with any luck, I'll make a little progress on one thing or another.

Selling 15mm Modern Vehicle Miniatures Again

Just wanted to post a quick note saying that I'm selling miniatures again.  I've added the M1115 Humvee w/ Tow and the M60A2 main battle tank to my list. 

 

My site is located at:  Irishserb's Miniatures

I had to make a price increase, but limited it to the larger models, and please note that our friends at USPS increased postage costs last month, so overseas shipping starts at $13.50.  Domestic shipping still isn't too bad as the resin models are pretty light.

Thanks for looking.

Cold War Again (in 6mm)

I grew up on the Cold War.  Eventually finding a sort of comfort in the daily threat of thermonuclear incineration (and fully believing that the world leaders weren't silly enough to toast us all, silly me).  Though I came to gaming by way of colonials and World War II, in little time the Cold War became a major part of my hobby, mostly in 6mm, and to a lesser degree in 20mm.  When the wall came tumbling down, and we all became friends again, the Cold War faded from my hobby, largely leaving the it in my gaming past.

A few years ago, I began to again have that taste for the Cold War, and started planning and rebuilding the Cold War in 15mm.  Unfortunately, my 15mm Cold War adventure has gone more slowly than anticipated, as life has found many new ways to interfere with my hobby.  All the while, my 6mm Cold War armies have mostly collected dust, with only occasional ventures out of storage.

A few months ago, while lamenting my slow progress in 15mm, both in mastering my own models, and in acquiring those from other sources, the little light-bulb went on in my head. Why not simply re-animate my 6mm armies?  While not best suited for many of the infantry oriented games that I'd like to play, micro scale is probably the best choice for the armor heavy battles that still capture my interest.  And, with thousands of miniatures already setting around, I should be able to get there pretty fast.

So, not too long ago, I pulled my micro-armor "cubes" together, and started to take inventory of what I currently have.  I sold a thousand or so models off some years ago, when in a bit of a financial pinch, and had a bunch of stuff (like another 800 models) damaged in a car accident several years back, when a woman decided that her red light didn't really mean "STOP".

Somewhere around 1987, I started building my micro-armor storage cubes, 1 foot square cubes with six drawers, that each store between about 220 and 400 models depending on size and period.  Currently I have three of them full of Cold War vehicles.

One of my more recent cubes, using thicker 1/2" plywood for the box,

originally, they were more like 5/16" ply.

Some years after the Cold War gaming faded, I started playing a lot of Arab-Israeli games, so a lot of my NATO v. WarPac stuff got repainted and re-purposed for the desert.

Egyptian...

 

 

... and Israeli.  There are smaller numbers of Syrian and Jordanian

vehicles in one tray or another, as well.

My NATO and WarPac stuff is in a bit worse shape, having been scalped for the middle east, and generally in a state of disrepair, as I focused on mid-east and WWII.

A small portion of my old Warpac stuff.

 

Some of my US stuff  to the left above and below.

 

For now, I am going through my TO&Es, and see what I can field without new purchases.  I need to update the painting, adding markings and more weathering to a lot of models.  In time, I will fill in the gaps with new models, but should be able to build a lot of company and battalion sized units with my dusty, forgotten legions.

Funny, I just commented on TMP a day or two ago, about not having any armies to paint. Silly me. 

The Uwanda/Mugabia War: A Turn for the Worst

This weekend I spent some time thinking about the war between Uwanda and Mugabia, rolled some dice, and thought a bit about things some more.  I also caught all of the lists and records up to date and began preparing for the future.   So here is a window looking into the direction of the war between the nations of Uwanda and Mugabia. 
______________________

The Mugabian President stood in the conference room and frowned at his generals.

"What do you mean, Mugabia's greatest war hero is an a Uwandan hospital?  Uwanda's troops stand on Mugabian soil; our hero lies in their hospital, and you have nothing to say?  Tell me, do you enjoy breathing?"

As always, the President found just the right words to motivate his officers.  A plan was quickly offered to remove the Uwandan troops from Mugabia, and shortly afterward, a second plan put forth for the liberation of Mugabia's greatest hero.

Mugabia's President Upepo-mfuko reviews the elite Presidential Guard. 

______________________

Uwanda's chief of staff looked across the table, meeting the eyes of each of the generals seated there.  He began, "Well gentlemen, what do we do now?  I am open to suggestions."

The attack at B15 did not lead to the string of anticipated successes, largely due to the leadership of a man now recovering from his wounds in a Uwandan hospital.

The Uwandan chiefs considered a number of options, and in time a consensus was reached.  It was finally time to go to war.  To this point, even the action at B15 had been conducted with a minimum commitment.  Every effort had been made to avoid escalating the scope of the conflict. But a year had passed, as had the appeals by Uwanda to find a peaceful solution.  Mugabia's occupation of Uwanda's territory could no longer be tolerated, and the ULF's absurd demands simply could not be met. 

Uwanda would mobilize.  Requests to allies for help achieving a peaceful solution would be replaced by orders for war materials. Uwanda would aggressively protect its sovereignty. A large scale offensive would be launched with the aim of regaining lost territory, destroying Mugabia's ability to make war, and to capture or kill the Mugabian president.  Preparations were under way...

Vickers Mk.III main battle tanks of the Uwandan army on maneuvers.

Note: Vehicles and Mugabian Presidential Guard (Soviet naval infantry)  by QRF, the president and officer figures by Peter Pig.

First Ork Truck Painted

Well, I finally got paint on the first ork truck and here are some pix:

 

 

 

 

 

 

One down, two to go.  Guess at some point, I should stop calling it an ork truck, since they won't really be orks in my post apocalypse game.

Behind the Scenes of the Mugabia/Uwanda War

I've been working on the next phase of the Mugabia/Uwanda War today, working out the details and contingencies for upcoming battles, which got me to thinking about some of the plans, expectations, surprises, and near misses that have occurred during this game.  After thinking a bit, I thought I'd share some of this with readers...

I've been fighting the Mugabia/Uwanda War for about six years now, but the game calendar has actually only progressed about a year (funny, I thought it would be the other way around).  In that year of game time, there have been 18 battles, involving two national armies and 4 other factions/organizations.

I actually have eleven armies and factions for use in the game, and have built or designed many additional game pieces that have not come into play.  This is because the direction of the game has actually been dictated by what I call the Fate Tables.  A collection of mostly hand written randomizing tables that decide future directions and events in the game.

After each battle, the Fate Tables are adjusted or weighted (or sometimes not)  by the results of the battle and consulted for the direction of each side.  For example, the offensive that resulted in AARs 8, 9, 10, and 11 was dictated by the die roll, with details of the attacks and forces being decided by other factors.  At one point, Mugabian battlefield failures almost resulted in a coup, the die roll was a couple percent off.  But after the results of battles 15 through 18, Mugabian political stability is somewhat higher.

After AAR11, the ULF rolled to establish a more independent identity by taking more initiative, simultaneously, the tables dictated that Mugabia would encourage the ULF to act more aggressively to force Uwanda to respond more violently.  This could have the effect of generating greater unity in the ULF cause, and possibly generate Russian, Cuban, or Chinese direct support per the Fate Tables.  Uwanda continuously lobbies for UN, US, UK and/or French help, but thus far, the die rolls just haven't gone that way.

A number of near misses have occurred though.  The Mugabian coup was two percent away from happening, and would have resulted in Mugabian irregular and/or Army troops attacking the Presidential Palace and Presidential guard.  Would have been some interesting battles.  Irregular forces, other revolutionaries and ULF forces would have picked sides based on Fate Table results.  Soviet, Cuban, or  UN forces could have been called in also.

The massive losses of aircraft in the battles described in AAR10 resulted in possible Uwandan aircav /air-mobile raids on Mugabian airbases, and a possible raid on the presidential palace to be postponed. 

A wide number of small air intercepts have almost happened, including visiting Soviet Mig 23s almost intercepting patrolling Uwandan aircraft.  That incident could have likely brought about further Soviet involvement, or western response, but the dice missed the mark.

The Cuban advisers that have been helping to train the Mugabians, and to a lesser degree ULF leadership,  just missed the tabletop in AAR15, and at the objective in AAR17.  But the Uwandan loss in AAR15 allowed the Cubans to withdraw prior to the repeat attack at the objective.  And the failure in AAR17 resulted in the Cubans not being needed.

A lot of possibilities have been considered with various forces being created and figs painted, but the battles on the tabletop have so often resulted in surprises that keep the swing of the Fate Tables in check. 

Another recurring event, is that characters with bright futures keep getting killed.  I learned my lesson with Abdi, a ULF leader in the first couple of battles.  He was to be a significant leader for the ULF, with a great storyline developed for him.  And then he got killed right away.  So now I don't plan too far in advance.

The Mugabian officer that was killed by the ULF forces (that he was leading in AAR9) was another surprise.  The morale failure that brought that about was very unlikely, the worst possible result, so I quickly created a table with the most likely result being retreat, but also with surrender a possibility, and a one percent chance of mutiny against the Mugabian officer.  Now he's a forgotten casualty of war.

Col. Chuma is the latest, and maybe the most significant opposite of Abdi.  He wasn't expected to play a significant role in the game, other than being part of the tabletop command, and offering a vantage point for the story.  Then he confounded Uwanda's expected victory in AAR15.  His survival in the next battle, and unexpected (at least by me) victory in AA17 made him potentially legendary.  And then he gets wounded and captured. (Even more legendary?!) I have several ideas, out-growths ranging from prisoner exchanges to rescue attempts, but still everything is still dependent on upcoming events and resulting rolls on the Fate Tables.

Anyway, there is a lot of silliness that goes on behind the blog, a kind of role playing thing that drives the game.  All of it being a combination of my imagination, suggestions by friends, family, and other gamers, and input from the dice.

Anyway, just thought I'd share some of what doesn't show up in the AARs.