It's been a long time coming...

M113's being painted up!

...but I am finally back!

The last year has been a bit of a wild ride for me, in the ups and downs of life there has been more "down" than "up" in this case.  However; on the bright side my new study as a Pharmacy student is very enjoyable and I hope I have sorted everything for the first year!

Miniature wise, painting took a solid back seat to getting my head back into the study space, so not as much model work has been done this year than I wanted.  Also still looking for employment here means I have to obviously prioritise the time I have with that over more enjoyable activities!  Nonetheless, I have still managed to do some work up here on the models, and got back into it today!

I have started painting more of my 'Army of Legais' forces.  Legais is another fake nation used in training by the Australian army, a lot of their kit is essentially the Australian Army in Vietnam - so older era Centurion tanks, M113s and a few basic armoured cars.

I updated these designs by incorporating some updated M113's (similar to the Danish PNMK upgrade - a turret with an autocannon on a M113 chassis), upgrading the Centurions to be South African Olifant tanks, and have also included some South African G6 artillery.

This is only a quick update, I will give a more detailed painting guide once I finish this batch! :)

An Olifant halfway through painting, and two already completed!

A more side-on view of the completed models.

Musorians on the Move!

SITREP:

1930Z MUSORIAN FORCE ELEMENT DETECTED CROSSING MUS/AUS BORDER.
CONTACT LOST WITH FORWARD RECON ELEMENTS FOLLOWING DISPATCH OF FOLLOWING IMAGES.

LIKELY ELEMENTS OF MUSORIAN 4TH REPUBLIC GUARD.  

SF ELEMENTS MOBILISED TO CONDUCT INITIAL ASSESSMENTS AND SPOILING RAIDS.  MORE TO FOLLOW.
 Hi everyone!
Well, I am finally getting back from being on hiatus again - although 'hiatus' is a strong word to use in this instance, as I have been quite busy with painting up my models.  Since last report I have actually completed a full Australian Special Forces troop section; a small USMC raiding force - and a majority of a Musorian strike element as shown below!  These models have even had the opportunity to be put on display and shown to the public here up North in Townsville, so with luck I will begin to stimulate some interest in the 6mm community up here.  

 For the models, I decided to base this particular force around the concept of the Musorians being more or less a "not Syrian/not Iraq pre-Gulf War" group - they are the big players in the region, but not so big that they would be willing to operate alone... there will eventually be a Russian element within the Musorian forces, much like there will eventually be a Chinese element within my Kamarians.

The left image shows the main armour used by the Musorian Republic Guard - the T-72M TURMS.  I had the idea to do some slight modification to a GHQ T-72M (India) pattern after looking at 'TACOBAT's efforts on doing the same thing *here's the link* on his Modern Warfare blog, I was suitably amped up to make my own.  However; as they are supposed to be in Australia, I wanted them to look a little different... and so I went with a Hull Red with German Camo Dark Green and Khaki 'dabbing' to give the look of a dedicated camo scheme.

On the table, they look amazing!  The ERA blocks were painted sand yellow for the purposes of 'breaking up' the model.  I like my units to have something that distinctly breaks the model into segments, be it the weapon barrel or some other distinguishing feature... it helps to make the board visually appealing to passerbys as well.

 Next to be painted were my T-55MV's and EE-11 Urutu's - they will be utilised in support of the infantry and there will eventually be a dedicated T-55 unit supporting the T-72s.  The use of Explosive Reactive Armour in Musorian use will be dedicated only to the Musorian Republican Guard units... 'normal' units will have T-55Ms, T-62s, T-72s of various build without ERA; and some T-90s.  The T-90s *the Indian GHQ variant* are the exception to the rule and are molded with the latest Russian KONTAKT ERA - in setting they are like the real-world sale of T-90 tanks to the Syrians, being used to fill a gap that existed between capabilities and necessities.

The non-Russian elements of my Musorian Republican Guard; the EE-11s, GCT Self Propelled Guns, and AMX-VCIs, will eventually be supported by EE-9 Cascavel recon vehicles and some more AMX-VCIs.  I enjoy having some mixture in the army; as the Republican Guard of Iraq also utilised such unusual combinations - a lot of Arabian armies seem to have more equipment purchased as real world examples of "rule of cool" than any actual desire to maintain logistics or maintenance commonality - so why should my forces be any different?  :)


I particuarly like how the GCT howizters and the VCI's finished up, I think they are the best examples of the painting style in the army to date!

This is the majority of the vehicles for my Musorian Republic Guard element - however I still need to finish a troop of BMP-2 IFVs, some EE-9 Cascavel heavy recon vehicles and some air defence in the form of some ZSU-23/4's which will likely be fitted without their radars so they can work as heavy fire support vehicles for the army - after all, if four 23mm cannons can't get rid of the threat, then you probably should have brought along a different tank! :)

Modelling hiatus, but the nations keep building!

Hey all!

Just a quick post.  My chance to do any model painting for the next couple of months is going to be a little limited - I am actually having to pack up and move interstate very soon, so that will keep the hands busy for a little while but fear not!  Painting will occur once I know exactly WHERE it is I'm going! :)

As for thoughts, I have been thinking (as usual, a terrible idea and highly overrated ;) ) about the WHERE exactly I want my imagi-nations to be based.  I was having a bit of a struggle with my initial setup - the names just didn't seem to click with what I wanted to represent and I really didn't see a place that could 'correllate' without having to do something like dredge up the continent of Zealandia (yes, it's a real thing, New Zealand is actually made up of the mountain tops of said submerged continental plate!) and go from there.

Then I remembered - I have the perfect solution to this all along! 

I served with our military here in Australia for quite a few years, and throughout that time, we did exercises and training against imaginary armies from imaginary nations.  So instead, using some of these as a background, I decided to remake Australia.

So now, I have a whole bunch of different ideas for my nations.

As none of these are real, they pretty much used a random mish-mash of whatever the instructor needed them to use to get training outcomes... and as they do not use real world land regions, I can pretty much make up whatever I want with them.  Winner!

In the end I've decided to keep it mostly to Australia.  The reason being is quite simple.  It's my country, so I'll break it if I want to :P but more importantly Australia is actually MASSIVE.  You can literally fit all of the European nations into our landmass with room for probably another whole copy of all of those nations for good measure.

Our nation is roughly similar in size to the US, but with a population size that is about the same as Taiwan if that puts things into perspective - so let's just say there is plenty of room to spare! ;)

 

A (badly modified by myself! :) ) map of Queensland.
Tropicana and Legais are both on this map.

The country of Legais is basically the real world territory of the "Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday" region in Queensland - the backstory being that French from New Caledonia and Vanuatu 'brought out' the region from the local populace and under the feet of the British before the Crimean War.

Legais will be a nation in absolute turmoil - most of it being stirred up by the Kamarians and their Musorian 'masters'.

Tropicana (also called Tropikana, more to follow) has a Germanic background based around the German colonial empire expanding through New Guinea and into the top end.  Following World War One, rather than become an Australian holding, Tropicana instead opted to become its own nation.



It will be on cool terms with Legais due to WW2 history, with conflict only limited by the fact that Australian territory is between them.  Tropikana will be the equivalent of real world Poland post-communism, never entirely enthralled with being in 'the wrong camp' after WW2, but now starting to find its way.

The Arnhem Land, in my Australia it is its own country.

In the next case, I found the real world name and location of a region actually fitted in quite nicely with what I wanted - and so we now have the indigenous people's lands known as 'Arnhem Land' in the Northern Territory becoming a nation of its own accord.  In this case, I have made some modifications to the southern end where the 'border' will follow one of the real world highways up until a certain point.  They aren't shown in the map I have, but it gives you an idea of the kind of size I'll be looking at.

This land will be a place that is currently undergoing its own equivalent of the Rhodesian Bush Wars/ anti-apartheid conflict.



Kamaria actually takes a fair bite out of both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and is part of the 'top cover' that makes up the original 'Capricornian Republic' bloc that used to exist in this timeline - more on that another time! :)

Kamaria will be the part of the Musorian-Kamarian alliance actively trying to rebuild the old 'Capricornian Bloc' - I tend to think of it kind of like Cuba back in the 60's, 70's and 80's and how it got stuck into Africa and the Carribean trying to ignite the spark for revolution to make a Carribean power bloc.


Finally there is Musoria, which calls it's part of Australia "New Holland" and wants to 'retake' the lands 'stolen' from their New Holland heritage - essentially the 'big bad' for my forces.  Musorian territory will consist of the Kimberley and Pilbara regions in Western Australia.

Musoria will take on a role of 'major regional player, international small fish in a pond of big fish' - kind of like East Germany back in the day - enough clout to forge its own path, but still working to other's drums as well.

I'll expand more into these different areas as I collect the models and fill their back stories.  I already have most of Legais' backstory and army ideas thought out - so I'll be sure to post that soon! 

Knowing the terrain... pretty sure I'm starting to learn it's name...

Hi all!
 

Well yes, I am here still alive and kicking here!  Time hasn't been wasted (well, not much...) and progression on the forces for my future armies is well underway!

So you may (rightfully) ask what the heck I have been up to?  I, dear reader, have been busy building the foundations for a great battle!  The base from which greatness can arise!
...
...
I've been building terrain :)

My first, completed model has been a lovely piece from JR Minis 6mm range - I am not sure if this particular model is still in production, but I believe I acquired this one through Noble Knight Minis (link attached).  This model was sold as an Oil Refinery - but to my eye it appeared more like the basis for an oil burning power plant - the three hoppers with the copper/brass tops looked, to my eye - like some giant set of batteries.  I can imagine (and indeed will attach) some string painted black/ silver/ copper and leading from the copper points to a nearby set of power lines... a pair of the larger power pylons from either GamesCraft Miniatures or maybe some Brigade Models Shapeways designs.

For everything in Eulanus, I want it to look like it is past it's glory days... but that there still lies 'something' within it where if someone actually took some time to fix it, the building really could go again.  Everything has to have that "at least a decade of minimal support, but never entirely abandoned" feel... kind of looking like this...



The Power Plant:
"If they tell us they are going to the power plant, we give grieve for them before they go... so many of the boys, they go there to fight for it, to fight for the power, they never come home.  You see the one who controls the plant, he controls the mine... and the one who controls the mine, he makes the rules" - Old man of Ijobo village, a slum located a short distance from the old Ikanawa Industries Power Plant.

Aerial recon of the Ikanawa Industries Power Plant


The other major project I am building is a mine system, the actual terrain piece is not even half complete yet, but the actual mine entrance is.  This was a kitbash and was made from some leftover scraps of household items, materials included:

Main hill - Foam material covered in "no more gaps" sealant with a slight mix of sand in it... fun fact... the no more gaps... it cracks when it hardens so you need a few coats - go figure eh? :)

The mine 'building' - An internal holding tray from a large pack of Gillette razor blades.  No major changes except to scrape off some brand markings, the areas covered by some upturned FOW small bases.

Air vents - 15mm scale small air vents from Ground Zero Games
Generator on top - A 15mm scale generator from a radar dish pack by Ground Zero Games
Roller Door - plastic card and plastic rods filed and glued into place as needed.

Eventually, this will have a small rail ending, and a place for rail cars to sit where tipper trucks can then tip the material into them... The trucks themselves will be the ones to drive into the mine to pick up the ore, and I will have one of the excavators and a dozer outside getting maintenance at a shed... remember, this is a third-world mining operation, nothing too crazy here when it comes to automation - or overall safety for that matter ;) 


The Ground Zero Games 15mm accessories are from my sci-fi gear, but have turned out to be great little additions to the mix.  The power generator units in particular look great mixed in as larger, more powerful units at this scale.  Just goes to show how any scale can fit if you find the right use!

The Mine *still in production phase*: The Ko Idet mine *Kudos if you know where the name may have originated from!* was the first mine in Eulanus to show the promise of untold riches.  Unlike the other minerals in the area, the usual assortment of alloys and precious metals... it was only Ko Idet and a few rare others that showed signs of the materials called rare-earth elements.  Worth more than gold to the manufacturing industries of a resource-hungry world, it would be these finds in mines such as this which would eventually see Eulanus become a hotbed of violence even greater than what it had already experienced.







With time and patience, I'll continue to build up... and soon the first cities shall be made and from there, hopefully I'll be able to begin the area terrain and finally - the armies!

But first, they all need to get there... and to do that, you need transport aircraft...

6mm gaming - Where we begin...

One of the first things that came to my mind when making my 6mm armies was number of (what I thought were) simple questions:

A) Where did I want this occur, 
B) When was this going to occur; and,
C) Who was going to be involved?

Naturally I wanted to incorporate the modern power-players, but I felt that modern engagements just seemed too, well, constrained (that, and it can be a little tetchy for those who may not be 100% okay with the current situations in the world being played out in miniature - it is something that has to be considered for some after all).

In order to keep away from having to explain how a terror group could take over most of the Middle East and Africa by itself under modern circumstances, I decided to do the next best thing - I rewrote the history books ;)

I decided to do what the latest Skirmish: Afrika is doing (a very interesting book - one I hope to review in the future!) and take my fight into Afrika and the surrounds.  I may very well incorporate the lands of Skirmish: Afrika into my storyline in the future.  But for now, I am using the equally interesting and very fun nation-generating rules of 'Not Just a Brush War' by Nordic Weasel games.  

That - and hey, us Weasels have got to stick together!!! ;)

I have found the template by NWG to be a great and interesting way to make nations that I otherwise simply wouldn't imagine myself!

As such, I have made some very 'interesting' nations already using these templates... here is the first of the big four that will be a part of my coming world... the 'Kingdom' of Eulanus - a nation bursting at the seams... mostly because of the chaos within!

The Kingdom of Eulanus

The Kingdom of Eulanus is a Moderately sized nation with 14 million people who call it home.  

The main resource of Eulanus is an abundant supply of building materials such as timber and basic iron, critical elements in the building industries of the many nations in the region.  (I rolled a double on the score for 'Building Materials... I suspect Eulanus has a rather focused iron smelting and forestry industry, or really likes to cut down its rainforests).

A Largely rural people, the Kingdom of Eulanus is effectively 21 years behind the technology curve when compared to its first-world counterparts.  Because of this, the nation still focuses what national industry they have into supporting the creation and supply of building materials, the majority of which is shipped worldwide for consumption by said first world nations... Eulanus has Plentiful Heavy Industry because of these efforts.

However, moving into the 21st century has not been kind to Eulanus, with said 'Kingdom' now being merely a throwback to ages past as chaos grips the country.  Following the death of the absolute monarch Joseph Boto III, the nation began the process of being a Transitional Democracy, even though the transition was seen as Reasonably Legitimate, the process has since become Extremely Unpopular due to ongoing economic mismanagement and horrendous levels of endemic corruption.

Even with such corruption, there is still a manner of imperfect coherency within the nation as the ability to pay anyone to do anything does allow anything you want - for a price...

One of the greatest sticking points for ongoing social dysfunction is the attempts by the corrupt "democractic rulers" to try and enforce a form of leader worship (often considered the 'local religion' for the region).  People find it hard to worship someone they elected into office.

Although the nation is a mess, it has found an unlikely regional power supporter in the form of the nation of Surentar.  The cheap labour force that Surentar has at its disposal is often sent to work in the heavy industry of Eulanus - effectively as government-indentured servants providing Surentar with everything it needs from the lands of Eulanus.  This process is kept well-oiled through the equally-oiled hands of the Eulanus officials; after all, you can get anything done in Eulanus if your money is good.

Not surprisingly, the Kingdom of Eulanus faces a number of issues - with the widespread corruption and unpopularity of the government, many people are turning to crime to make ends meet, with most resorting to open street violence to loot, steal and protest against the conditions.  Even those simply trying to survive use the chaos to steal what precious food and medicine they can.  Eulanus is beginning to seriously look as though it may transition into even greater chaos than what it already has...

Eulanus Military

Close quarter fighters - with the endemic corruption and widespread near-chaos... it is no surprise that the 'military' of Eulanus is tokenistic.  Small arms and crew served weapons dominate the armed forces, and anything better than a technical is seen as a reason to claim armoured division status... These "troops" are not trained as light infantry (if trained at all), they are simply that poorly equipped that they literally have no heavier equipment.

The air force... for what it can be called, is focused on strategic bombing, trying to replace the lost firepower and artillery that the land forces simply do not have.  The age of the platforms, almost thirty years behind modern technology - means that the Il-28 BEAGLE and Mirage III aircraft they use are hard-pressed to fulfill this role.  A few C-119's.. somehow still flying, round out the air deployment (and ad-hoc bomber) capabilities of the force, although most of these have been onsold for their scrap value...

The fact that any of the air force is flyable at all is a feat in of itself - although many believe it is because the local air commanders see themselves as defacto warlords - and so having such power makes them even bigger "big men" than their army counterparts.

With the limited availability of any sort of true armour the tooling for machinery, as odd as the Air Force focus is strategic bombing - focused on heavy tanks.  To this end, the Kingdom of Eulania had previously acquired a large number of IS-3 heavy tanks, which were able to be supported by local heavy industry.  However, due to years of neglect and abuse, most are horribly dilapidated and have been either scrapped, abadoned in place, or are used as checkpoint guards.  The few that remain mobile and functioning - a rare combination for any Eulanian equipment, are operated in limited numbers.

The kingdom of Eulanus does claim to have some 'elite' formations, however, these paramilitary units are more or less simply hardened criminals and hooligans who have been put on the government payroll to ensure compliance and attempt to 'restore order'.  Naturally, any plan involving arming criminal elements and giving them (albeit limited and outdated) basic infantry training to ensure their loyalty didn't exactly work as planned - the paramilitaries are often seen using their power primarily to develop their own organised crime networks.

One of the few fields where the Eulanus military is actually well supplied is in the field of infantry support weapons.  A huge arms deal in the late 90's saw large stocks of surplus ex-East German equipment transferred to Eulanian control.  So, although dated, many Eulanus troops, whilst lacking pretty much everything else, do have their own organic anti-tank, anti-air and indirect fire capabilities.  

As a whole, the Eulanian Armed Forces represent the equivalent of a disfunctional, ineffective, but well equipped militia with the ability to cause some damage with their infantry - if the tactics suit them and they can somehow be in the right place to fight... The average Eulanian knows his limits, but remains willing to fight.

So what's the beef?

Eulanus' current circumstances, the widespread corruption, street violence and lack of popularity, have seen two major problems arise.  The first is a rogue general - a man calling himself "General Joker" (the story goes that he often finds it hilarious to conduct all sorts of atrocities on his captives) has taken it upon himself to establish his own area of control - essentially becoming a warlord.

The more pressing concern for the government, however, is the current talk of a Military Coup.  Colonel Samo Maguto recently returned from Sandhurst academy in the UK - and rumour has it that his men under his professional and respected leadership - are beginning to be more than just the rouse-rabble the corrupt controllers in the capital can control.  The Colonel knows this - and so do his political masters, only time will tell how this ends...

__________________________________________

So, there you have it!  The nation of Eulanus - an absolute hodge-podge that sounds like a right-proper place to settle in... provided you have good cover and enough ammunition to last!


As before, if you found this to be a very interesting little tale, you too can build your own adventures and imagi-nations with the help of 'Not Just a Brush War' as available in the link!