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Forum > The Conflicts that came in from the Cold
A War in The East
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Wyrmalla:
Well my WWII blog's gone on for over a year now, which means its time to get distracted again...
See I've been pining to play some modern games for some time. Some of you may recall my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. thread in the PA board from a while ago. This is using that as a basis, just with the video game specific stuff stripped out. I'm working through what I've built already - tidying up what I can - , but so far there's plenty of new bits to break it up to scratch.
I'm going for a conflict set somewhere in Eastern Europe. The plan at the moment is to go for four platoons so that most battles are accurate to the location: Nationalist Territorial Defence Battalions, "Non-State Actors" (little green men), Spetsnaz (GRU), and generic Separatist/ Militiamen.
Rules wise the plan's to see how Spectre: Operations scales up to platoon sized games. I'm starting out with single squads, then introducing modern IFVs and hopefully later tanks. I've no idea how the system handles things, but hopefully it should be quick enough without too much tweaking.
Here's where I'm at for now. I'll maybe start posting more of the older stuff, but may keep that to my original thread. Up to you guys. :P
These are what I started out with, mostly as they were the easiest to finish. They're your regular Empress Miniatures Russians with very little tweaking other than to give some of the soldiers more accurate loadouts (i.e. AK-74s for the RPG teams). Right now I have two of the three platoon squads done, along with the command section.
(tsk, the camera couldn't bloody focus right)
They're wearing a mix of plain green uniforms and gorka suits, along with a variation in polymer and wood stocked AKs for variety. I'm not going for near future stuff, rather just modern, so no fancy T-14 tanks or anything. The Motor Rifle platoon's mounted in 3 BMP-3s, which are still in the works.
The camo's a variant on the usual brown/ green/ black pattern. I'm not sure if I want to include the black stripes, or leave them as is and just say that's how the base they're from decided to paint them?
Besides the proper military types an irregular force is planned. I'm rating my technology on a slope. The Russians are in the top of the line technology (sort of). The Nationalists aren't quite there, but good enough, with their equipment being a bit more rag-tag. The Separatists are going to be riding ex-moth-balled gear, or even home-made technicals (I was wondering if a captured Humvee would be interesting too, but don't want to go overboard). Whilst I haven't started on the infantry yet, I did throw together a support vehicle for them.
Whilst the BRDM-2 doesn't really cut it for full scale engagements, throw on some slat armour and a ZU-23-2 on the roof and it can be a nippy fire support vehicle. This one's a HLBS kit with a Spectre Miniatures ZU-23-2 stuck on the top (yes, I fixed the sights...). The armour's just plasticard. The stowage is mostly by Die Waffenkammer/ HLBS.
I also have an MTLB in a similar role. This one's for the Nationalists.
I've gone a bit more overboard on the armour here ...as the MTLB's a gloried artillery tractor to be honest (all the armour kits I'm making are based on photos though, not sure if I can get away with posting them however). Sticking those ZU-23s on the back of random vehicles is kind of fun. :)
Now AA guns strapped onto the back of recce vehicles is all well and good, but having something with an actual official designation is maybe more effective...
Yes, this is based on a photograph. I'm thinking of maybe covering the front in sandbags, as it looks a bit bare compared to the rest of the vehicle.
The Nationalist forces will be riding in BMP-2s, up armoured and covered in crap.
This one's painted in some mock digital camo which I've seen going about. I'm not massively into how it looks though, so will probably go for a green/ grey stripe pattern with the other lot (I'll just say this one's been nabbed from a dissolved unit). Its by HLBS, with bits from TT Combat (obligatory mattress), HLBS, Spectre, and Die Waffenkammer (that terrain thread in the PA Board hurt my wallet bad this month...).
The soldiers need something to fight over, and I've began putting together more scenery to go along with my existing collection. The plan's to have enough for a town board. Whilst I probably have enough cottages I'd like to have shops, garages, maybe a pharmacy or a police station to mix in with them.
This is due to be either a cafe or a grocery store, depending on which order of bits shows up first.
I'm thinking about going over the walls in pebbledash, but need to work out where the rear door and air con units are going first.
This is an older building which has languished for a while now. The plans to make it a petrol station, with separate pumps. Right now it too's in limbo awaiting bits, so its still fairly natty (lots of gap filling to do).
And to go along with all the cottages are a load of sheds/ garages. These'll also work for a more urban area as storage units. They're still being worked through; only two having roofs so far.
I don't want to go too overboard with the interior details, just enough to hint at what the real things are like. I need to go back and do the same to the existing buildings which I made years ago as well, as a fair few of them don't have any furniture.
Anyhow, any input would be appreciated. Criticise the hell out of stuff as necessary. :)
Marine0846:
Your stuff is looking good to me.
Excellent painting on your Russian guys.
Bmp3's work as a ride, would your men have that modern of kit?
Love your buildings.
Really nice builds, can't wait to see them done.
Wyrmalla:
The BMP-3s are for the Russians, which have been in service in limited numbers since '85. Due to the amount of Cold War era surplus the rest of the forces will have I felt like giving the Russians a bit more punch (and damn, balancing those for a platoon level game will be difficult. Spectre luckily has rules for "light tank cannons". ...Those things use the BMP-2's main gun in a co-ax mount).
I do have "recorded" stats for vehicles in service with the Ukrainian armed forces for the past decade, though whether they're exact is obviously questionable. They had some carry over BMP-3 from the U.S.S.R. I believe (single digits), with more being "acquired" recently. BMP-2s and BTR-80s have been the mainstay since even before the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. (surprisingly few MTLB in the official records past a certain point).
Rich H:
Wow nice start!
Where did the corrugated iron come form? I'm always looking for a good alternative source.
commissarmoody:
Always fun to see your work. I too am interested to see if the Specter rules work for bigger games.
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