CapnJim's Modern Stuff - Balczaki-Soviet Bridge Fight Full AAR - Pg 54-10 Aug 25

[sandsmodels]

great looking urban terrain

[CapnJim]

Nice!

If you ever change your mind about the Humvees then Tamiya do nice ones in 1/48. Currently on my list for a future Panama 1989 Just (Be)cause scenario.

PS:  Knowing you to be a fellow creative with plastic figures, the Rubicon US army figures with AKs swapped out from their NVA box make very acceptable PDF. Just need a few Kpots. Actually they make pretty good 'anyone with a mix of surplus Soviet weapons and BDUs' which covers a wide variety of folk both past and present.

Thanks.  I may look at those Tamiya Humvees.  These 2 only outfit one squad...

As for plastics kit-bashing - I've already been pondering some possibilities.  I've decided my 28mm "modern" games will all be set in the 1990s, and I think I'm set (painted or in the painting queue) for my fictional countries of Balszakistan (former Soviet republic) and the People's Republic of Northern Gambola (Africa).  Aside from a few police and some Narco types, I really don't have anything for my fictional Central American country of El Perdomo (thus far only used in my Top Secret RPG campaign).  Those Rubicon kits, with a few other bits and bobs, would do nicely for Perdoman Army troops...

Good job on the vehicle camo Jim.

Thanks, Ash.

great looking urban terrain

Thanks!  Appreciate it...

[carlos marighela]

The Rubes will be even more versatile once they release the Australians, loads of FAL arms.

[CapnJim]

Nice!  Good job on the camo.  I can't tell from the photo - does he have M16 pouches, or AK pouches?

And the first batch of my Balszaki infantry is a bit more than half done. I plan to finish the rest Monday or Tuesday.  Of course, pics will follow...stay tuned here!

[carlos marighela]

M16 pouch on the left, the carrier for a Warlord Games  Russian entrenching tool on the right serving as a proxy AK pouch. The Panamanians apparently swapped out East German AK pouches for one of the usual pouches on their ALICE webbing. Didn't bother shaving the rear H straps off that one but most of his colleagues are getting a change to the Alice 'Y' yoke. Once you have found the right AK arms it's a simple and fun conversion.

The corresponding North Vietnamese  in tunics are getting a few Warlord Games Japanese helmeted head swaps and being turned into 1970s/early '80s Chinese PLA. It's a fair approximation and means my Soviets can have someone else to fight. Or my Vietnamese come to that. 

The detail isn't much of an advance on 1970s era ESCI soft plastics but these are very versatile sets. Rubicon should really think about doing some Mao capped heads. NVA in tunics become Chinese, those in shirts become Pathet Lao and their Viet Cong box could become Khmer Rouge.

[CapnJim]

Thanks.   I'll probably use some spare British WW2 ammo pouches to augment the M16 pouches.  And I'll probably leave the "H" harness, as they'd be for for a fictional country anyway....

Hopefully Rubicon releases their ANZACs sooner vs, later, not only for the SLRs but the bush hats too...I wouldn't mind mixing in a few of those with the M1 helmets...I may even see how Warlord heads with berets (from their British Para plastic box) look, but I suspect they'll be a bit big.  We'll see...

[carlos marighela]

It will be the best use for the Aussies, they aren't that well researched. They are all wearing pixie suits, which saw limited use and only very late in the war. Most have rolled up sleeves and they have a mix of weapons that don't gel. Own guns, deleted in 1966, with a uniform that only came in to being two years later. Not even that useful as post-war Aussies as the pixie shirts disappeared pretty quickly and were as rare as hens' teeth by the 1980s, the only trace being the ghastly design of the trousers.

Still, I am all in favor of Rubicon with all their faults as they are a great source of conversion fodder. I suspect that between the Australian box and the US one it might be possible to make reasonable Cold War Canadian proxies. I doubt that more than a handful of the Rubicon figures I have will ever et used for their original, intended purpose.

My next task is to convert a Rubicon US Army chap or two into M67 recoilless rifle gunners as, to my chagrin, I've discovered that the Berlin Brigade fielded those instead of M47 Dragons. 

[CapnJim]

Huh.  No Dragons in Berlin?  Learn something new every day...

I've fired an M67.  My Guard unit (a combat engineer battalion I was in from '80 to '84)) carried them as our primary anti-armor weapon.  They were fun to shoot while prone....

I have done up some of Rubicon's Marines and VC as such (I did add in a couple WW2 weapons with the VC though).  But yer right.  I hope they keep making the kits.  I can always use some conversion fodder if I don't do them up as intended...

[carlos marighela]

Surprised and then after I thought about, not surprised. They did have jeep mounted TOW but I suppose in urban terrain, the M67 probably has more utility than a Dragon whilst being about on par for the drawbacks.  Seen a vid of a range practice with the M67, they were engineers too. I can see why you want to be prone. Overall it seems a lot more craptastic than the Carl Gustav.

Of course being a gamer I'm now contemplating making myself a M202 Flash, purely for the cool factor.

[CapnJim]

I have never seen an M202.  Not even in storage.  It's my understanding, though, they were somewhat less than reliable.  And I don't recall seeing any minis out there with one.  Good luck with scratch-building one (and coming up with a rule for it!). 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I have never seen an M202.  Not even in storage.  It's my understanding, though, they were somewhat less than reliable.  And I don't recall seeing any minis out there with one.  Good luck with scratch-building one (and coming up with a rule for it!).

Well, one appears in Commando (comedy moment when the lead female fires it backwards).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Surprised and then after I thought about, not surprised. They did have jeep mounted TOW but I suppose in urban terrain, the M67 probably has more utility than a Dragon whilst being about on par for the drawbacks.  Seen a vid of a range practice with the M67, they were engineers too. I can see why you want to be prone. Overall it seems a lot more craptastic than the Carl Gustav.

Probably for the same reason the Berlin Infantry Brigade kept their BAT after Milan entered service.

[carlos marighela]

But Milan was also deployed in Berlin by the British Army as well as the the French, as was TOW by the US Berlin Brigade. All three, including the Dragon, are wire guided SACLOS systems and TOW is the closer equivalent to Milan.

It's almost as if armies do this stuff with an eye to pissing off gamers in the future.

[has.been]

It's almost as if armies do this stuff with an eye to pissing off gamers in the future.

I am reminded of a cartoon.
1st Caveman is painting a TV on the wall of the cave.
2nd Caveman queries it.
1st Caveman says, 'Yes I know there is no such thing, but in a few thousand years
 it will drive archeologists crazy'.

[CapnJim]

Yes, well, back to the topic at hand now...

Three things:

1.  My first batch of Balszaki infantry is done. I will post pics tomorrow (Thursday).

2.  They will see the elephant for the first time Friday.  And will my US infantry.  My weekly gaming group is set to play a scenario in Balszakistan.  In our last Balszakistan game, in 1990 US special forces rescued the staff of an NGO medical center help prisoner by Balszaki rebels.  And now, the Balszaki rebels will seek their revenge, by trying to kill/kidnap the US Ambassador to Balszakistan.  I will post the scenario details hopefully tomorrow.   

3.  My next figures are almost ready for painting.  My US 2nd Squad, along with the Plt Ldr, RTO, and medic (and a fill-in figure for my African regular platoon, to get their 1st squad up to 7 figures).

Stay tuned......