Painting update (20mm) - Partisans & Soviet motor rifles support weapons

Time for another painting update - I'm afraid the pictures aren't as good as my usual output, mainly due to rushing and not having enough (artificial) light... Heyho. Hopefully you cane still get a feel!

First off, some more Soviet motor rifles. I've only just realised that one of the snipers was destined to become a partisan, but has snuck through the ranks. Not a major problem, I've one more figure left so he'll go to be a partisan instead and the 2nd MR platoon gets it's sniper support earlier than expected :) I've also got some heavier support for the Soviets (HMG, ATGM & RR) which despite not being in the FoF Orbats should come in handy for games...

The first of my Twilight 2000/post-apocalypse figures, in this case a female civilian with a sword. Not a subject I'd necessarily have chosen, but she came with the eye-patch wearing lady with sawn-off shotgun and long coat who I wanted for a partisan leader, and it seemed a shame not to use her for something. She might also make the occasional comedy appearance in CWGH when a band of refugees are transformed into poorly equipped partisans... 

And speaking of partisans... Yet more of them are done! A HMG for AA/ground use as appropriate in the scenario, 2 pics of some western/generic partisans, and a gaggle of 'Eastern' (read: Polish) partisans. The Poles are mainly Platoon 20 'WW2' figures (I use the ' ' marks as in the P20 catalogue they were marked as possibly be useful for other, later, European conflicts; which given the companies small 'Post Apocalypse' cough *not-Twilight 2000* cough range at the time seemed like a fairly broad hint. Certainly the kneeling guy with shotgun could have escaped Somerset yesterday, and I've tried to use generic muted colours and wellies to give the gear a more timeless feel.). The weaponry is a bit archaic, but most WarPact countries still had stocks of PPSh's in storage to dish out to civilian militia, so that's my reasoning...

Plans - 20mm Cold War

Well, my last few 'Plan' updates have very much been talking about projects I'm hoping to start in the near future - but what about those I'm already working on?

I currently have about all the NATO partisans I'll need (+/- a few bits for special scenarios), about a platoon of British Paras (I say about as although I should have  ordered more  than enough, I'll not be able to confirm that I've got everything  need until I actually get around to laying them all out), assorted SAS/delta force types and a full platoon of Soviet motor rifles (either BMP or BTR transports, and not far off fulfilling a second platoon's worth of Infantry - think I only need another 10 or so assorted figures. I'll probably also get enough BMPs to make them fully mobile - so that'll be 4, including one for the company commander).

When various things in the post/Christmas present pile turn up, I should then be able to add to the list:
10x T72
2xNVA squads + Platoon Command
2xNBC kitted Soviet Squads
A few more Soviet support weapons
2x Scorpion/Scimitar Tanks
& 2x Chieftains

What else is planned after I get that lot painted (I had originally planned to give all the different WarPact forces their own armoured vehicles, but I think I'm just going to paint most of them in a relatively generic manner to save on significant duplication.... ?

Soviet Motor Rifles - Nothing! These guys should be pretty much complete, baring a few scenario specific bits (a Shilka, a couple of staff officers and a command truck/BTR/BMP)

Soviet VDV - I'd ideally like a platoon's worth (3 squads & a command team), possibly with a couple of support assets (BMD-1s, etc)

Soviet Spetsnatz - There are a few FoF scenarios where Spetsnatz are needed, and I'm torn between just using the VDV guys (above) along with a few conversions, or trying to make a force (maybe jump helmets and camo face-paint? I've always been influenced by the Spetsnatz guys in Operation flashpoint, like the in the picture). There would only be 15-20 of them in total... Another scenario also calls for 'Red Army Faction' terorrosits, so I'll get a couple of packs of Liberation 'generics in balaklavas' and they may get a couple of RPKs/RPGs to make them more versatile for other scenarios in the future

Polish Army - The Poles feature heavily in the FoF scenarios, but unfortunately there aren't any particularly suitable figures in existence! Liberation have just released some Polish Marines, and Rolf has said he'll do some in Infantry helmets (like the ones above) at some point, so these'll have to wait. As and when they come out, I'll be looking at maybe 3-5 squads. They'll also need some (3-5) T-55s, but these will come from the 'Motor Pool - and be shared with the East Germans...
There are some rebel Polish units in the scenarios, so I'll get an extra squad or two and give them the red partisan arm bands (and maybe helmet stripes)

DDR NVA (+  Worker's combat teams) - I want to get another squad of NVA, as well as a few special weapons to 'flesh out' the squads (depending on which unit they are in), as well as hopefully being able to convert a few AGI 3x40 (in the photo above!). Scenarios give them an impressive range of kit - BMP1s (sorted), T72s (sorted), 7 T55s (which will overlap nicely with the poles) and some BTR-60's (I'll get the open topped early versions, as I think they look cooler, and will add some variety). I also want to get a couple of squads of 'Workers Combat teams' which I'll mount in trucks. These civilian militia should make for an interesting looking unit on table (PPSh41s & AK47s, in overalls, caps and DDR helmets - see below) and will probably come in handy for TW2K games as well...

Soviet Navy -  One of the FoF scenarios uses the crew of a Russian submarine, so I'll pick up a few Naval Infantry (Liberation do some in life vests) or maybe substitute in some WW2 Soviet Sailors. The photo below shows some sailors manning a coastal defence gun, so you can see the look I'm after..

Soviet 2nd/3rd line/Mobilisation Forces - I do fancy doing some Soviet 'reserve' forces at some point, although these will probably be more TW2K than CWGH. These reserve troops will have older kit and a few obsolete vehicles. The lower don the food chain, the more obsolete stuff gets. So 2nd/3rd line troops will probably be using T-62s or maybe T-55s and BTR-60s from the DDR forces. I'm not sure how obsolete we are talking for 'Mobilisation' forces - I'm aiming for an excuse to get a mix of troops in Trucks and BTR-152s/40's and hopefully IS-3's or T-34/85s as armoured support. Not sure whether to use troops in the 'traditional' brown uniform (see below), or possibly the Liberation 'Generic' figures in soviet helmet as they are slightly less uniform (but are primarily wearing Chinese style chest rigs...)

British Paras - Pretty much all sorted now I think, I'll be substituting these for the US Airbourne in the CWGH Polish Scenarios. The only additions I can think of will be another Bren, and I may need a figure or two to finish off the Platoon HQ. I may also get some Milans & lightweight (airmobile) landies, just to add some extra punch and versatility.

British Army - I'm planning to substitute the BAOR for most of the scenarios using the US army in the CWGH scenario book, the only problem is it isn't necessarily an exact swap. Where the Yanks are equipped with an M60 & M203 per 3 man squad, with a couple of 'Dragon' ATGWs in the platoon HQ and go mounted in Bradley IFVs, the Brits Have a GPMG (& possibly a CG) per squad, a CG in the platoon HQ (if not in the squads) and are mounted in FV432 (or, if/when they break down, an FV432, a Bedford, a landrover and the Sgt's Volvo estate...) Trading off the slightly more effective Dragon for an extra CG isn't too much of a compromise - the big one is the FV432 vs the Bradley. I haven't decided yet whether to go for the 'The FVs are broken down... again/Use what you can get 'soft-skin' approach and give the troops a couple of scorpion/Scimitar light tanks instead, or maybe just try to tack on an extra Milan team or something to make up for the loss of the Bradley's TOW system. Whatever way, these guys will be in reinforced Platoon strength, and I'll be getting 4 Challenger I's to replace the M1 Abrams in the missions details.

Bundeswher - The Bundeswher get a couple of scenarios in CWGH, and should be useful for TW2K too. I'm currently looking at A platoon in Marder 1A2a (although I'm tempted to swap for M113s, but I don't think anyone does the Bundeswher version in 1/72... that said, its not THAT different, so I might be able to 'fake' it) as well as a pair of Leopard 1A5s. I want to add a Luchs scout car (or maybe the M48A2G2 which was in use before hand... or maybe both :) )

Canadians - After reading First Clash, I want to get some Canadians, although they don't fit into any of the scenario's particularly well I might use them as substitutes for the Dutch. Up until very recently, there weren't any figures available, but luckily elheim have released a pack (the first of many I hope!). They'll have a platoon of infantry mounted in M113s, a couple of 'C1' Leopards (1A3 variants) and if I can find them, Lynx scout carriers.

NATO Partisans - Again, all sorted bar a few slight 'tweaks' and minor additions for scenarios. The only things I can think of might be a captured Soviet 14.5mm AAHMG, and maybe some gun crew.

SAS/Delta - And another one effectively sorted, although I still need to get a SAS Milan team at some stage...!

Plans - 20mm Twilight 2000 Post Apoc

This is something of a 'journey home' for me - afterall, the first non-GW gaming I did was Post Apocalypse (inspired by the Fallout Tactics computer game), and it's a subject I have revisited many times over the years, the most recent incarnation being my BritApoc setting. I've fancied the idea of Twilight 2000 ever since I came across it, as at the time it was one of the few 'gritty/realistic/non-road-warrior-or-gamma-world settings out there.  Infact, some of the inspiration for BritApoc probably came from it, albeit indirectly. Apart from thinking about maybe doing a couple of BritApoc games with ragged British fighting ragged Soviets, that is about as far as the idea went until I came across some of the TW2K threads on the Guild (see below!).

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=1671&p=13721&hilit=tw2k#p13721

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=1069&p=7315&hilit=tw2k#p7315

http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=437
http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=221&p=622&hilit=elhiem+vietnam#p622
http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=456&hilit=twilight2000

I would already have a large number of 'Cold warriors' as well as some ragged 80's style partisans, so things were beginning to look set up. I was initially going to do 'straight' Twilight 2000...however, I'm not a great one for being tied into a 'canon' these days (did enough of that with Games Workshop, and as someone once said, why be limited by someone else's imagination?) so I swayed towards doing my own thing 'Twilight 85' if you will. Then I actually *read* the Twilight 2000 background (1st & 2nd edition - the first is Pre-Gorbachev, the second post, and for ease of integration of my figure collection, I'll be using the first...), and wow. So I'll be adding a few 'future which never came' elements to my forces (US army LAVs in MERDC camo!)

I'm not sure what scale games I'm aiming for (or what rules) - part of me expects the usual small groups of 4-12, but I also fancy major 'warband' size battles (about reinforced platoon strength) which are something I would struggle to do with my BritApoc stuff. I'm guessing that I'll use Force on Force for these games, especially as apparently one of the SOG campaign packs has post-apocalypse rules :)

Location wise (as it'll seriously impact on the forces available) I'm currently looking at the a region towards the Polish border in the DDR, so that I can use Soviets, Brits, Yanks, Canadians, Federal Germans, East Germans, Poles and possibly Czechs, as there aren't really too many other figures suitable for use in some of the other fronts (although, some games in Jugoslavia could be a good use of the various Balkan Wars Serbs, and having a Cousin-in-law who was in the Turkish Army in the 1980's kind of makes me want to do some Turks - especially giving the range of vehicles they and the Greeks used)

Anyway, enough airy-fairy hand wringing, on with the planning! The forces I'm currently thinking of are:

Soviets/Warsaw Pact
The Soviets have to be in there! These troops will be representing the remains of a joint Polish/Soviet force which was attempting to exploit the depletion in allied resources left by NATO's (well, the US MilGov aligned half's) last push into Poland. For the main body of these guys I will use Cold War forces, with the addition of a few raggedy types in mixed uniforms and head gear, maybe also use some of the RH 'Generic' figures in Soviet helmets & Civilians in Soviet helmets to add character. Vehicle support will probably be a motley assortment of Warsaw-pact armour - maybe a couple of BTRs and a T72, but probably some older kit too (T-62's and BTR 152s or some such). almost certainly a couple of heavy weapons either mounted in/on vehicles or ready to disembark ready to provide additional fire support. As with all major military forces these days, they are more along the lines of local warlords, but they have still endeavoured to maintain a series of offensives against NATO.

Marauders 
As bandits, deserters and renegades, and the occasional 'good guy' unaligned to other forces. They are truly independant and will happily strike at anyone if it offers a good possibility of loot.  These guys will need to be a mix of figures, with a range of uniforms and equipment. Luckily for me, I already have the perfect foundation for this by using my NATO partisans, although they might well need to have a few more vehicles rather than the current planned technical  I'm guessing these will probably be '1-off' bits of kit (probably diecasts) which I'll pick up anyway knowing my inner horder...! They'll be a mix of Eastern & Western, possibly with some 'bodge' jobs (gives me an excuse to get/use one of the Vietnam Aussie M113 Fire supports with a Saracen turret) and armoured civilian kit. I'm also hoping to add some 'European Road warriors' to add to the post apocalypse feel of the setting, but without getting too mad max on it!

Town Militia/scavengers/etc
I'd envisage most settlements having a few 'have a go heroes' in addition to any forces stationed there by one of the 'powers'. I'll probably just use the few civilians I am doing without partisan armbands to fill in for these guys...

NATO Cantonment
The remnants of NATO in this area are a ragged mix of East (!) & West Germans, Americans, 'free' Poles, Canadians and Brits. These troops have given up any goal of ejecting the Soviets from the region, and have instead fallen back on trying to maintain the status quo, and protect what troops lie within their Cantonment from the deprivations of some of the other forces in the area. These will be a mix of my various NATO figures, with added Americans & also a home for some of my East Germans (Following a Coup, they switched sides and asked for NATO assistance. These guys will have a real hodge podge of kit - but I'm hoping for atleast 1 LAV and a couple of Humvees to capture that 'TW2K' feel.... 

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....