Gaming idea wish list, and musings of a sort

I've been thinking of 'future' gaming projects - things that keep catching my fancy, and so on...

*28mm Malayan Emergency - An evocative period -Counter insurgency, WW2 style. In some respects a colonial war (stalwart planters holding out in jungle outposts whilst the 'natives' are restless) but in many ways one of the first of the post-1945 bush fire wars. Game play it offers quite a few possibilities ranging from CTs (Communist Terrorists) attacking a planters bnungalow, through to high risk arrests, via ambushes and patrols by both sides.  I  had some of the Britannia Malayan War figures, but after Dave H died and the range was discontinued I (reluctantly) decided not to pursue the idea. I (paint) converted some of the figures for African games, and sold the rest. Then, the other month, I saw a lot of 20mm figures for use in the Malayan Emergency (Bare headed VC vs WW2 Chindits). I looked into the possibilities of doing the same, and whilst it is possible, there will be an awful lot of 'making do' and overlooking slight inaccuracies. Based on that, it looks like it might have to be 28mm - especially as the figures are back available, and currently represent the most complete and versatile range lol. The irony is not lost on me! Sides would be comparatively small ~ a platoon of CTs vs a couple of sections of commonwealth troops, a few vehicles and a planters bungalow.  Rules would be Force on Force, probably based of Ambush Valley

*15mm(?) Mortal Engines - With the success of my move to 20mm for my Moderns, It has made me wonder if I might not be better off doing Mortal Engines in 15mm rather tan my planned 28mm. The figures will allow a lot greater substitution (with only paint conversions), the vehicles would be easier to store, and I could get a better game in on the average size table. The downside is that there aren't so many 'steampunk' characters available in the scale, but this might be a nessecary sacrifice. The height of the traction fortress tower would then only come down to 25cm... Still ruddy huge, but a lot more achievable than about 1m! Rules would be GASLIGHT of some form...

*20mm Twilight 2000 (TW2K) - A somewhat inevitable move, given my interest in things Post Apocalypse, especially retro post apocalypse. 20mm simply because by this point I'll have lots of cold war types in the scale. I could equally do it in 28mm using some of my BritApoc stuff. It'll give me chance to use a few more different vehicles, as well s some of the cool post-apoc/zombie survivor figures out there. I'll probably also add in some Dark Future/Mad-max style battle cars too, just for the fun of it. Rules will probably be FoF for larger battles, and Skank for hero/skirmish battles.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

*20mm Russians in Afghanistan - I've not got too much interest in doing 'ultra-modern afghanistan', atleast not in terms of buying for it, but there are some seriously funky afghan models out there which I could quite fancy painting. By the time I've finished my cold war project, I'll have more Russians than one can shake an AK at, and the conclusion suddenly seems obvious. It'll also mean I have some Muslim types that I can contribute to club games. FoF for rules again...

*20mm Americans invading somewhere Latin American (Grenada? Panama? Imagineria?) during the 80's - It seems, looking back, that most of the movies of my Childhood/early teens had American Special forces doing dodgy stuff somewhere in Latin America or the Caribbean: Predator, Clear and Present Danger, Commando, Welcome to the Jungle, Romancing the Stone, etc etc etc.Again, between TW2K & CWGH I should have a fair few American troopers. Some of my NATO partisans should be usable as 'natives' and it wouldn't take much to add some soviet and American irregulars (maybe using WW2 & Vietnam cast offs, cubans, etc), and so on. Rules would be Force on Force (again!)

* 20mm(?) Winter of '79 - I'll already have cold war brits and assortment of irregulars. Throw in a couple of red phone boxes and a village pub and we are all go for the Winter of '79. FoF for rules....

Operation Urgent Fury Range - 20mm Hotspur/Combat figures

Seeing as a chap was offloading his Hotspur 'Urgent Fury' (Grenada) figures cheaply on eBay, I thought I'd take the opportunity to pick some up to use in Cold War Gone Hot games... As the pictures on the Stonewall Website aren't all they could be, I thought I'd show what was in each pack ( as well as giving a rundown on kit, etc. I did a size comparison the other month...). Casting quality is ok - there are a couple which look like they'll be a right pain to clean up, and a few bits of flash, but generally they look better than the civilians I bought the other month...

FUR4A - US Marines

5 figures - 1x M16/M203, 4xM16. Figures are in M1 'tinpots' and Kevlar flack jackets. A couple have LAWs thrush through their backpacks the figures are good, their poses conveying urgency and looking 'busy'. There are sleves rolled up on a couple of the figures, but there isn't too much to say that these chaps are in a tropical clime, so they should work very well in Europe...

FUR5A - US Marine command

6 figures - 2x3 individual poses. Figures are M16 armed, (and IIRC one has a radio - although I can't remember which!) Again, poses are good,and the figures are in a mix of long and roll up sleeves  kevlar flack jackets and M1 'tinpots'...

These guys are nice figures, buuuut, they have the failing that most of the Urgent Fury figures have - a distinct lack of support! These guys only have a single M203 for fire support... RH models do some (post-nam) guys in flack jackets with M1 tin pots, so I'll be relying on them to fill in the gaps. Otherwise, It's going to be converting Vietnam figures in flack jackets into the right sort of flack jacket!

FUR2 - US Army Rangers

5 figures - 1x M16xM203, 1xM21 sniper, 3xM16 (1 w/ radio?). These guys are in the Ranger garrison caps, and are (as you would expect) without body armour. Atleast one has a LAW stuff into his pack, like the Marines... 

Fire support for these guys is again non-existant, so I be turning to Liberation figures once again, but they are a lower priority than the Marines (and in fairness, they aren't really a priority either!) so for the time being they'll make a nice advisory team for my Partisans.

FUR1 - US Seal Teams

5 figures - 2x Silenced MAC-10, 1xM240 SAW, 1xM16/M203, 1xM16/CAR15. Most have Boonies, although 1 is bare headed. These guys are wearing combat vests (from what I recall). They have their sleeves down, but I'm not sure how much the floppy 'bush' hat was used in Europe... not that it's going to stop me :) With a good mix of weapons, I'd say this fire team was pretty much complete1

FUR8 - Grenada Command-~Cuban Advisors

6 figures - 2x3 poses (4xAK, 2xMP (Uzi? Czech SMG of some sort?)) One pose is in a Soviet M40 helmet, whilst the other 2 are in garrison caps. One of the AK wielding figures has a Radio backpack. Clothing is fairly generic combats, and they have Soviet style webbing... One set of 3 will become partisans, the other set will be put to one side until I need some Mercenaries/Cubans/Africans/South Americans...

FUR6 - Grenadan PRA

5 figures - 4xAK, 1xAK & RPG. The figures are in a mix of Soviet M40 and garrison caps, and have the generic fatigues and Russian webbing of the comand figures. Not too much else to say about them really... These guys will be adding to my partisan forces, but probably in a generic enough scheme that I could wheel them out anywhere from 70's South america to Bosnia...

And, as with the other forces... The Grenadans/Cubans are a bit lacking on the support front. Atleast the RPG gives a bit more potential fire support than a UGL, but even so... If I was going to add to these forces, I'd use some of the Platoon 20 Arab wars figures (for the M40 helmets and genra-Sov kit), and some of the generic peak cap/M40/Cuban Liberation figures...

All in all - well worth the money I paid. the figures are nice and well realised, and if I'd bought them off the web store I wouldn't have been disappointed. The only complaint (and I've made it before) is the lack of support weapons! It would be impossible to put together a squad of the correct composition using just Combat figures...