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Author Topic: A War in The East  (Read 74024 times)

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #270 on: July 28, 2018, 05:29:58 PM »
And sorry Ultravanillasmurf, you were looking for comments from others and I jumped into an essay. :/

This was sent to me from someone else of their own cast.


Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #271 on: July 28, 2018, 05:42:24 PM »
And sorry Ultravanillasmurf, you were looking for comments from others and I jumped into an essay. :/
Well it is your thread ^__^.

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #272 on: July 28, 2018, 06:05:17 PM »

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #273 on: July 29, 2018, 06:55:19 PM »
Someone just posted their Humvee on the Spectre fan page. Oh look, the same mould slip behind the front right wheel arch. :P


Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #274 on: July 30, 2018, 06:37:43 PM »
Its been a while since I've managed to properly touch much in the way of wargaming figures for my Eastern European project. So, bringing things back around to the last time I posted some military hardware for that conflict, here's what's happened with the technicals since then.

"Spec Ops" Land Rover



The biggest thing holding me back from finishing the "Spec ops" technical was getting a hold of some crew. At first I tried the 1/48th scale Airfix which were intended for the kit. Whilst they fit well enough, the problem was that they were too tall for my 28mm infantry (oi, 28mm miniatures manufacturers sell vehicles which are scaled to your damn figures!). Instead I had a look about for potential alternatives, and decided upon Spectre Miniatures' Razor crew.

There's three problems with these figures as they are now. One: they're too small, so look like children, but yeah, that's the scale's problem. And two, that the Razor has really cramped seating. These guy's knees are going towards chest level with how bunched up they are. Thus why this vehicle now has doors to cover these issues. The last problem is that ah... they're Americans. I didn't know going in, but the Razor's in use by American forces. See I mixed it up with the Russian buggy the Chaborz, and though that these were Russian crew with a souped up Kord MG. So they may not be fully suitable for irregular forces in an Eastern European conflict. Though saying that, they could have sourced that MG through back channels, or I could replace just the gun with something more suitable eventually.

The guy in the back's one of their generic special forces gunners, who doesn't have as many of the same problems. Of course, only after I'd ordered these guys was my memory jogged that Empress do a set of crew figures for these Airfix kits which are more appropriately scaled... As did the SASM order come with some gunners who would have been perfect for this. Ah well, I'm committed now and not in the mood to go tearing out a second set of crew figures (though they'll probably have to come out for painting, at least the guy in the back). 

Land Rover Flak



Elsewhere I was able to work on this other Land Rover. The issue with not being able to work on this one was that Spectre missed out a critical part for the AA gun with my first order, so I had to wait for a second to arrive before I could do anything about this. Now that its arrived ...and I set aside my other distractions, I've been able to finish putting this one together.

The gunner's had a bit of modification to make him look a bit less like some Middle Eastern Militant. Notably that Russian style (or rather Swedish) ballistic helmet, which he presumably looted out of some depot or bought off of Ebay. I wish Spectre would release some Western crew for their technicals instead of all the MENA ones (they literally have one non-MENA crew member on their whole site that I can see). I guess that's why Special Artizan Service Miniatures have said they're going to release their own gunners, though unfortunately none of them will fit this particular weapon.





This one hadn't had much done to it when I'd originally posted it. Now its come along a bit. I'd managed to work out what I wanted to do with the gunner's platform, going for something like the real vehicle its based on. Its going maybe a bit lighter armed compared to the other two technicals from this post, but still seems reasonable for what it is (and its nice to have some variety in games). For the moment its still sans a gun and gunner (plus a load of sanding), as I've ran out of DShKs (again), but there's no rush in having it painted. 

This one will probably be painted in a tan camo like the real vehicles, as will the first two likely be done up in either their basic civilian colours, or a similar hand painted style camo. We'll see what takes priority, as whilst making shooty vehicles is fun ...I'm still in constant need to have more terrain painted.

For those who have an appreciation for technicals, I'd recommend you head over and have a look at this particular sub-reddit (appropriately named). It covers all sorts of Improvised Fighting Vehicles, and has been a great resource for this sort of thing (besides random Facebook users posting up their war snaps!).

https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytechnicals/new/

As I've said elsewhere then, besides this stuff I'll hopefully have more bits for my modern project coming along over the next few days. Some Spetsnaz for my Nationalist forces are on the table, converted from the SEALs which I posted earlier. Along with work starting on converting that Spectre Humvee to be better suited for this particular conflict (i.e. hacking off half the detail which made such a point about having miscasts in my review). Ah, which comes first here is going to be based on ...what has the biggest gun. ...Ah, I mean which has the most use in games.

(Like hell half of this stuff will ever be used for more than one game...)

Offline Rich H

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #275 on: July 30, 2018, 10:39:24 PM »
Nice stuff as ever :D

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #276 on: July 31, 2018, 08:35:43 AM »
Those Land Rovers are looking good. The third vehicle looks suitably improvised.

Non MENA crew would be great (and I wish Empress did a crew for their jeep in their Universal Soldier range).

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #277 on: July 31, 2018, 06:58:03 PM »
"Hey Wyrmalla, why are you picking up all this American stuff when most of your models are Eastern European". Well I'm glad you asked voice in my head that keeps telling me to murder kittens...

In my First Impressions Review of SASM's new SEALs and GROM I mentioned the universalism of their kit in the modern world. With most Western aligned forces moving towards using similar gear, and their competitors doing something similar with locally made stuff.

Having posted that review and shown off the models, I was going to just paint them up as is. However, these SASM models come with loose arms (at least the SEALs do) which seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a go at some conversions.

So here's my shot at doing something a bit different with that set. Rather than doing them up wearing entirely American gear, I've gone ahead and included some bits more specific to Eastern Europe, or rather Ukraine specifically.






The Ukrainians seem to largely be using American style armour, with locally produced webbing, etc. Their dump pouches for instance look a bit more basic than the ones you see on the SEALs, perhaps just being something bought on the commercial market. Along with things like ski goggles probably being bought in the same place that Airsoft players did.



So here's my initial work on these Spetsnaz.



I decided to go for a Breaching Squad, aping the set up of Spectre Miniature's Spetsnaz and the existing Russian special forces that I've already built.

First off the squad has a pair of Grenadiers armed with AK-74s with GP-25 Grenade Launchers. These are the support gunners for the team, with one being the leader.



The rest of the squad however have more compact firearms. In order to show that they may not be using as expensive gear as the Americans, I decided to not go for as many picatinny rails on their guns. Rather they armed more to a 90s standard that's been upgraded a bit "enough". This pair's armed with a pair of SBR AKs (taken from the Warlord Games Spec Ops AKs that I just cut the barrel down on and added attachments from SASM's M16s. That Spec Ops set was the source for most of the arms on these conversions).



Running short on AKs, I looked for an alternative. Police breaching squads seem to feature shoguns paired with ARs, so I mocked up a pair of Fort-500 shotguns out of the Benelli shotguns included in the Spec Ops sprue, with spare hunting shotguns. They aren't exact, but close enough.



Last up in the squad ...and first coming through the doors, are my attempt at shield bearers. Of course the squad's set up is guess work, so they aren't likely armed exactly like the real ones. In this case I've seen guys with shields armed both with pistols or full length rifles (with wrist attachments to be fired one handed). From what I can remember in the Spectre: Operations rules if a model has a full sized shield like these they can't be armed with a rifle, so instead I went for some stocked pistols (they should really be Glocks or something, but I just had these Tokarevs to hand and they look the part).




Hopefully they look the part. The goggles are a bit large on some of them, but they'll probably do. I should probably mention that I modified the original SEALs a bit besides the arms and weapons. Adding various pouches, the ski goggles and generally changing the positions of the heads and legs so they looked a bit more dynamic (the running guys were mostly standing upright originally),



They'll be painted up in either Multi Cam, or British Desert DPM. With a mix of tan webbing with the odd bit of black and green – giving the impression that some of the stuff really has been bought from some outdoor goods store and never intended for combat. Ah, giving their AKs wood stocks may be a bit much though. :)


Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #278 on: July 31, 2018, 09:56:00 PM »
Nice job on the figures.

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #279 on: August 04, 2018, 12:59:53 PM »
Here's another link to another site. :P

A roundup of what the company Special Artizan Service Miniatures have been up to so far this month. Mostly moderns, so maybe out of place for discussing in detail here. However, those new European Civilians look like they'd be suitable for anywhere in the past 100 years to be honest.

https://thesticks.net/2018/08/04/miniatures-news-special-artizan-service-miniatures-august-releases/


I'm jostling with some ideas for another project besides my moderns. But every time my hand reaches for some plasticard the other slaps it away and says "bad, go finish your existing projects dummy!". So ideally today I'll either start painting those Spetsnaz, or more likely continue work on some vehicle, or terrain piece (...right now my buildings are getting bigger and bigger, so they don't fit quite so well in the hand as a titchy vehicle does. Nor do they have guns. Its a wonder then why I have so many shooty things and a constant shortage on terrain. ...Shortage being six boxes of the crap that is). :)

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #280 on: August 09, 2018, 09:38:23 PM »
Just a little tester of the Spetsnaz as I try out a paint scheme. I'm not massively sure on how to paint this multicam silliness.


Offline Rich H

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #281 on: August 10, 2018, 06:32:23 AM »
 :-*

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #282 on: August 10, 2018, 12:33:59 PM »
Neat.

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #283 on: August 12, 2018, 12:36:18 PM »
With a bit of a delay, the set of Spetsnaz for my moderns are done.



I believe these are supposed to be a State Anti-Terrorism squad - i.e. part of the police forces. So they'd work for fighting against my Separatist militias, as they try and subvert the State control in areas. The Spetsnaz fighting them off as they set up safe houses, loot bases, etc (and I have been considering using my cave scenery that was made for my Elder Scrolls games for this modern setting. I'll just need to swap out some of the lava tiles for weapons stockpiles...).

This set's set up similarly to how I did my first group of Russian Spetsnaz, who were also an Anti-Terrorism unit. Though they don't have the same variety in gear - lacking DMRs, auto-shotguns, dedicated Grenade Launchers, etc- , they aught to be comparable given the irregular forces each are likely to be fighting. When I was planning each Spetsnaz group months ago I pictured the Russians as having higher quality gear, but their support was more standardised. Whilst these guys, using what they can get, would be backed up by stuff that may be a bit overkill for such small scale operations. I.e. BTR-82As facing off against BTR-4s (a 30mm gun + 7.62x39 co-ax MG vs a 30mm gun, 7.62x39 Co-Ax, Grenade Launcher, and 2 ATGMs, along with better armour and ergonomics).




The squad's made up of eight guys. Who form into two teams of four. Each team has: a Team Leader with AK-74 + Under Barrel Grenade Launcher, one Operator with a Ballistic Shield and automatic pistol, an Operator with Pump Action Shotgun and an AKSU, and a fourth Operator with an AKSU. That should be enough for the types of operations these guys would be encountering hopefully. I'd have liked to have given the guy with a shield an AK, but I don't believe the Spectre rules allow for that sort of thing (only letting you take one handed weapons, which I suppose given the AK and shield combo gives the AK a brace, would count as one handed). Stick them in a BTR-3 or 4 and they should be able to take on most low-tier threats without having to call in the Military (...though we're playing a game here, so of course a tank will eventually show up).




They're painted to be wearing some modern multi-cam, paired with American inspired bump helmets and chest rigs, along with some tacticool looking ski-goggles and other bits. This again sets them against the Russian forces I have who are wearing mostly green clothing and locally made gear (something I'd maybe like to subvert in future, as the upcoming Spectre and SASM Spetsnaz both have more modern gear). And well the tan camo looks kind of cool in a European setting, and makes them stand out from all the guys I already have wearing mid-2000s forest and desert camo.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, these are all made from Special Artizan Service Miniatures US Navy SEALs. When picking up that set I hadn't realised that it'd be so simple to turn them into other state forces. Rather I'd assumed that the arms came attached to the figures. That they don't let me swap them out from some of Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops ones with AKs with not too much bother (the rest of the arms come from the various Wargames Factory plastics, just with new guns, etc). The sculpting isn't amazing, but is enough to give the impression I was looking for.






With these now cleared, I'll need to start searching for what to paint next. My time right now's split between finishing off the building phase of that Restaurant which I'd posted a while ago, and putting together a that Humvee from Spectre. Though I also have those three technicals due a paint, along with a BMP-1. Priority wise, the first two are coming first, the terrain in particular, as that's what I'll likely get the most use out of (its been set back a bit however as I can't for the life of me finding those modular air ducts that I bought years ago, and need to put an order in with Spectre to buy some of their new Air Conditioning Units). There's a 1/48th Scale T-72 wreck (to go with all those busted BTR-80 wrecks I accidentally bought) which I'd put together a good while now which aught to be worked on if I can find the time as well, though that's not been prioritised as I need to find some Steel Wool to cover smoke coming out of its detached turret ring.

I've also decided what to do with the remainder of the SASM Special Forces figures I have. The original thought was to just have them locals armed with M16s, but I don't really want to tear up their rifles to have the right front ends. Instead, keeping them as they are, they look like they may suit for some Israelis. ...Which would be an excuse to add to my modern IDF. That I've since cannibalised or lost all my other IDF stuff isn't factoring in here. I'll never have the time to do terrain to justify having Israelis (though I did make some for a friend ages ago), they'd be nice to have. ...And the super simple to paint uniforms aren't factoring in here in the least. Hmn, though then I'd have to go and make them an APC to go in. Then some militants to face off against. And a Mosque. Eugh...



Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: A War in The East
« Reply #284 on: August 14, 2018, 08:48:29 PM »
Its taken me a while to finish this thing off since I originally posted my review. Here's what I've since done with Spectre Miniatures new Humvee, in order to make it a bit more suitable for use in Eastern Europe.




Its not a 100% recreation of the source vehicle (the front grill has a later armour module added, as is the windscreen a newer variant too), but enough to give the right impression. Some of you may remember the original Humvee which I'd made for my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. collection, which was made in 1/43rd scale. Taken what I remember from making that, this one's a more appropriate size for my current modern miniatures. As are the details a bit more accurate (though I'm still obviously not happy with everything. I never am) - a NSV machine gun rather than a DShK for example. Less use of balsa wood that is...




With this one, to suite the later period in which it'll be serving, I'll do away with the "KFOR" insignia and go for some invasion stripes. Though keep the same camo I think (just with a less harsh dark green. Maybe more grey in it this time).

« Last Edit: August 14, 2018, 08:50:06 PM by Wyrmalla »

 

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