Escape from the Empire!

Last Thursday we played a multi-player Star Wars Miniatures Battles game with an interesting (I thought) premise - the origin of Han Solo. Nerds will know that Mr. Solo was formerly an officer in the Imperial Navy and was cashiered after attacking a fellow officer who was about to murder a Wookiee prisoner, Chewbacca. This started the whole "life debt" thing between Han and Chewie that continued until episode 6 or later. Anyway the scenario is Han's escape from Imperial custody - stealing a TIE fighter and escaping to join the Bounty Hunter's Union, or whatever. Above we see Our Heroes having disembarked from their TIE fighter (battle damaged!), accompanied by another defecting Imperial pilot, Phil.

Turn 2 and Phil has already been "defeated". Oh well, he wasn't "canon" anyway ;-)

Some bounty hunters want to put Han and Chewie through a traditional hazing ritual, running agauntlet of blaster fire.

Imperials appear on the scene, bent on apprehending the fugitives. Han takes aim...

 "I didn't hit it that hard - it must've had a self-destruct!"

 Chewie's down and the Imperials form a gunline. Han is headed for the Spice Mines for sure...

Even the bounty hunters were made short work of by the planetary militia. A brief game, but at least it looked good. I always enjoy rolling out the Star Wars toys.

Afghan Army Squad & T-55MV - 28mm

DRA squad, mortar team and T-55 MV

More stuff for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  In my email to Curt I gave this entry the pseudo-Ludlum-esque title of "The Afghan Assortment".  It includes a squad of DRA troops, a DRA mortar team and a T-55MV.  Apologies for the quality of some of the photos - I just couldn't get the light right...

DRA squad on the move

The infantry are from Mongrel Miniatures, a line now only available from UK retailer Newline Designs.  They represent the troops of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the puppet regime the Soviets propped up with their 10-year occupation.  I always love the name of these Communist regimes - the DRA was hardly "democratic", and I don't think it was a "republic", but anyway...

DRA officer and radio trooper

The DRA forces were trained and equipped by the Soviets, in theory fighting the Mujahideen.  I'm sure they did that, but they often fought with them as well, turning against those who armed and trained them.  As such these are great models to have for my Afghanistan collection, as they can fight against the Soviets, or with them, or sometimes both in one scenario. They will fight with all of the credibility and reliability of an Environment Canada Climate guess forecast.

RPD gunner with his squad

The squad has eight troopers, including one with an RPD MG. The mortar team is a two-man group, and I quite like how they are flinching as they prepare to unleash another round...

DRA mortar team

I think these models would do to also represent today's Hamid Karzai Kleptocracy Heroin National Militia Afghan National Army. They would have more "western" kit, but I'm sure some part of their structure is still using Soviet-era equipment - the country was/is still awash with it.

The tank model is interesting - it is actually a 1/50 scale James Bond toy.  I believe the intrepid agent 007 drove one of these things to some net positive effect during the Peirce Brosnan era. And so of course there is a quite nice die-cast toy to commemorate the moment!  It really is a great little model, and paints up nicely. And how odd - it is so hard to find properly scaled 28mm modern tanks (i.e. not 1/56 scale) to see something so niche as a T-55MV appear in 28mm is really a surprise!

DRA troops with their T-55 MV

The T-55MV is an upgraded version of the venerable Soviet battle chariot, the T-55.  The "MV" version features reactive armour, improved optics, smokes launchers, an improved gun that can fire ATGM rounds down the tube and other bits.  I doubt the T-55MV would last very long against front line western tanks today (or even a T-80 or T-90), but it would give you a leg up against your neighbour's T-55s...

Fighting to ensure the security of heroin against terrorism in Afghanistan

The Soviet Union equipped the DRA with some T-55 units, but I doubt they went to the trouble to upgrade them to "MV" status, so this vehicle would be much more of a contemporary thing.  But it is still widely deployed - heck even the Russians still have a few - so the model will do nicely to represent everything from the current Afghan Heroin Smuggling Ring Regime to any generic "Republic of Bezerkostan" situation on the gaming table.

Curt's Painting Challenge continues - I am desperately clinging to 10th place, but I'm hoping to move up.  More submissions to follow...

Afghan Rocket Launcher - 28mm Insurgent Artillery

Afghan rocket crew, ready to shell the enemy...or their friends...whatever

Another submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, a 28mm Afghan team operating a Chinese-made rocket launcher.  This little vignette is available from Eureka Miniatures (good luck finding it on their bonkers website, but it's there).

These extras make for a nice objective marker

You get the rocket launcher, the trailer, several ammo crates with spare shells and a couple of loose AK-47s.  It's a great little piece, and a nice addition to my 28mm Mujahideen collection.

Two crew come with the set

This piece will be more of an objective-type item in a game, since the range of the weapon would easily exceed the distances usually represented on our tables.  But having it fire off the table while opposing forces try to knock it out will be fun. Particularly if the crew has protection from helicopters hunting for it.

I thought a nice blue colour would do for this fellow - why should work be drab?

Eureka has some great sculpts generally - the hands on these fellows look a little goofy, but overall they are very clean castings and they are fun and easy to paint.

Watch out NATO/Soviets/Northern Alliance/Pakistanis/UN/Hamid Karzai Heroin Army...

My Mujahideen forces now have quite the arsenal to protect their caves/heroin poppy fields - a rocket launcher, recoilless rifles, mortars, heavy MGs and a Stinger Missile.  The hapless Soviet Motor Rifle troops coming to get them will need all the help they can round up...

Mujahideen with Stinger Missile - 28mm

28mm Afghan guerrilla from Eureka

If you are going to have a downed Soviet helicopter crew, you might wonder how they got that way.  Eureka miniatures has an answer - a 28mm Mujahideen fighter with Stinger missile.  He is another entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

US-supplied Stinger missiles were used against Soviet occupiers

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the Mujahideen greatly feared the Soviet Hind attack helicopters. The Stinger is a US man-portable SAM system quite useful for shooting down such helicopters, and as the US started to increase their support to the Afghan rebels they started shipping the missile systems to the Mujahideen.

This fellow should help keep the Hinds at bay when we play a game set Afghanistan again in the future.  

28mm Downed Russian Helicopter Pilots

28mm downed Russian helo pilots from Mongrel Miniatures

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submissions conitnue to roll along, and as part of my efforts to cling to the top 10 of the group I have shifted to a few modern 28mm models that have been sitting in the pending pile for quite some time. 

These figures are 28mm downed Soviet Helicopter pilots, part of the amazing range of figures once sold by Mongrel Miniatures.  The Mongrel Miniatures figures are no longer sold independently, but are available from retailer NewLine Designs in the UK.

Mongrel Miniatures castings are beautiful and easy to paint

The Mongrel Miniatures line is one the absolute best 28mm lines out there, and I have a substantial force of their 1980s Soviets, Mujahideen and BAOR.  These Soviet pilots are a relatively late addition to the collection, but they will make great objective-type models for games set in Afghanistan.  They would also make good downed Elysian Valkyrie pilots in the 40k setting, as the green/khaki matches well with my Elysian forces.

"Which way to the base at Bagram?"

I love these sculpts - you can see the pain and worry on their faces...things suck when you don't have your Hind gunship handy!  I purchased two packs of these - I will paint the second pair in blue colours that match my sci-fi troops.

War Correspondents - 15mm

Peter Pig 15mm TV news crew

Once again, a small Analogue Hobbies Challenge submission. This one is a 1970s-era TV news crew in 15mm scale, models from Peter Pig. These guys will serve as bits of game table ephemera as part of my Golan Heights Project.

Ready to cover the gaming war zones of the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts

I think these guys could work in a pinch for more modern eras, but the camera the one guy is using - with the double roll container for film, does mark it out for the 1960s-1970s era...I guess one could theorize these are some sort of hipster war correspondents from Brooklyn, but even then they would be using iPhones with Instagram, and would be detailing the cuisine in a war zone, as opposed to the actual fighting.

I would love to find a modern TV news crew for 15mm and 28mm.   I have a sci-fi journalist team in 28mm, but a modern one would be cool.  If anyone has any ideas, please send them my way!

One final note - generally in our wargaming, journalist figures are sources of amusement or mockery, but real world war correspondents, as well as intrepid journalists in totalitarian-run places, often pay with their lives to get the story out.  Learn more at Reporters Without Borders.

IDF Centurions - 15mm

Ready to hold the Purple Line...

Continuing with the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submissions, here is a pair of 15mm IDF Centurion Sho't Kals, the main IDF tank from the 1973 battle on the Golan Heights.  These are Peter Pig models, with some slight adjustments.

Chunky Centurions from Peter Pig

These are the "generic" Centurions from Peter Pig - not the Centurions from their modern IDF range.  The IDF Peter Pig Centurions have ERA and thermal sleeves on the gun - equipment from the war in Lebanon.  Those features were not in the field in 1973, so I used the generic tank.  I cut off the smoke launchers, and added some stowage, cupola MGs and cards on the rear turret for the Israeli tactical numbers.

Tactical numbers were mounted on cards or sections of cloth and hung from the back of the turret

The commander and the .30 cals were extras from Peter Pig

These tanks raise my IDF Centurion complement to five MBTs - a spartan amount, but just right for  scenarios featuring a desperate defence of the "Purple Line".  I would like to add a few more, and then put some Ishermans on to the table.  But one thing at a time...