Modern Imagi-Nations: Central America (1)

A couple years ago, I took  short trip to Belize for vacation for a week. While there, I got to chatting with a Belizean Police Officer about the history of Belize and he mentioned the tension that has been between Belize and Guatemala for as long as he could remember. 

That got me thinking about an imagi-nations campaign set in the 1970's and 80's where Guatemala and Belize and their sponsor states and other Central and South American countries fought a hot Cold War.  To that end, I've started the process of building up some stuff for it. 

Belize, as a member of the British Commonwealth - has a constant presence (no matter how small) of British Army advisors or troops. So, first up we have 12 British Army infantrymen or they could also double for SAS troopers. Peter Pig figures from their AK-47 range. Painting DPM jungle camouflage in 15mm was a bit of a challenge, but I think they turned out ok.

   

Next up we have 9 Belizean Police. These are also from the Peter Pig AK-47 range. Will obviously need quite a few more of them; as well as at least a platoon of Belize Defense Force infantry. 

Guatemalans are on the paint desk now. I figure once they're done, I can do some small border skirmishes around checkpoints etc. This will be a slow build project but I think will be quite fun once it really takes off. 

2021 Painted Figures - 540

2021 Finished Terrain - 14

2021 Games Played - 5

Various Historicals and Terrain Catch-Up

These various projects have been finished between April and October of 2021. 

First up we have 8x Perry Miniatures British Light Infantry. These are plastic and were a bit of a pain to paint if I'm being honest. Detail was a bit shallow in places. I think they turned out ok though. Will be using them for both The French & Indian War and the American War of Independence using Muskets & Tomahawks, Songs of Drums and Tomahawks, and Sharp Practice. With Zeal & Bayonets!

28mm Reaper Campfire. Useful for pretty much any period or genre you could ever think of.

15mm Blue Moon Cabin. Will work for both North America or Eastern Europe. Will be used mostly for Chain of Command and Silver Bayonet.

15mm JR Miniatures Destroyed Factory. Have had this beast for about 8yrs and finally decided to paint it up. Measures approx. 18"x11.5". The chimney is about 5.5" tall. Very useful for my 15mm WW2 games.

6mm Church. The church is actually a re-purposed Thomas Kincaid knicknack. Will be used for my various 6mm projects including ACW and WW1.

A few 20mm soft plastic Afghan Insurgents. I've got a host of rulesets to try for modern Iraq/Afghanistan. More to come in future.

28mm Renedra Early Medieval/Dark Ages building. To be fair could probably be used through the 18th Century if pushed.

28mm Warlord WW2 US Infantry. I will be honestly using these for Horror gaming such as Achtung Cthulhu etc. as my only WW2 in 28mm I have is Pacific theater.

Another 28mm Renedra Early Medieval/Dark Ages building.

28mm Cabbage Patch.

Absolutely gorgeous and fun to paint 28mm Bad Squiddo Female Viking Archers!

20mm or 1/72 ESCI and Airfix US Army Skirmishers for my ACW Sharp Practice project. 

28mm Sign Stones.

15mm Dutch Garage.

28mm Wargames Foundry Pirates. Still have a metric shedload of these to do but am kind of doing them in bits and pieces whenever I get the hankering for some swashbuckling painting.

10/15mm Destroyed Bridge. May at some point add water effects.

 

As you can see, loads of stuff finished and this is only 1 of approx 10 catch up posts I've got in drafts.

2021 Painted Figures - 419

2021 Finished Terrain - 13 

2021 Games Played - 5 

Pre Christmas Hobbying

Finally trying to get a more "up to date" update schedule going to fit in with the fact that with all the crap going on in the world - I am desperately trying to enforce my standard rule of at least 15 minutes of hobbying/painting a day to help de-stress. It really does help. So, without further ado - 

Completed 4 more Gripping Beast 54mm Gladiators, giving me a total of 6 done. More than enough for a game, so will hopefully be able to make that happen soon. 

Assembled a 4Ground 28mm Wagon that'll be very useful in a variety of games and periods!

Finished this 15mm garage/workshop/back garden shed in a continuation of expanding my European buildings for Chain of Command etc. Really need to get on with further terrain building for this as I need pretty much everything for a battlefield - roads, hedges, streams, rivers, farm fields etc.

First five 20mm Insurgents finished, going to need to get these forces built up to a minimum of 45 figures eventually for various historical and "what if" scenarios.

Finished another "28mm" Bob Olley Steampunk Dwarf. I put 28mm in "" because while they are lovely sculpts and a LOT of fun to paint...they are bloody huge chunky figures and I'm not sure what to use them for as they don't match up with anything else I have.

Finished these two Pulp Figures - Gun Mollie and a gold Statue. Love them both. They're sculpted by Bob Murch up in Canada at Pulp Figures. I highly recommend all of his ranges!

So, that's what I've been working on since my last update. Further posts coming soon on several subjects to include Naval Wargaming, Mental Health, virtual wargaming, and various other projects and subjects. Also need to do my plan for next year post. Stay Safe and Merry Christmas!

2020 Painted Figures - 231 

2020 Finished Terrain - 14 

2020 Games Played - 6 

275th Regiment - Peoples Army of North Vietnam

A quick update today as I'm cracking on with prepping for "LARD SUMMIT"; a gathering of Lardie gamers playing Toofatlardies games at the Recruits gaming convention in Lee Summit, MO on the 28th of Sept. 2019.

The game I'm going to be putting on is part of The Battle of Long Tan between the NVA/VC against D Coy, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment - using "Charlie Don't Surf".

To that end, I've just finished off a Company of NVA regulars of the 275th Regiment -

These figures are from Battlefront and were bloody awful. Tons of flash, odd scaled weapons...just terrible.  If I had it to do over again, I'd buy all Peter Pig. I hope they turned out ok, and the bamboo/underbrush tufts really help I think.

Now to get on with Viet Cong, more Aussies, terrain, supports etc. Till next time!

2019 Finished Figures - 150
2019 Finished Terrain - 19
2019 Games Played - 3

Terrain Progress

Quick update as I'm knee deep in work and trying to get stuff painted!

I've been focusing on terrain the last week, and while I have only finished two pieces; I've made a ton of progress with assembly, planning, painting etc. 

First up we have a lovely resin 15mm Russian Workshop from Novus Design Studio Novus Design Studio. Didn't need any cleanup other than a quick wash to get the release agent off. Painted up very well and QUICK. 

15mm Russian Workshop Front

Rear

Interior 

Next up, a quickly assembled campsite.  I plan on using these in my SAGA/Dux Brit games.  28mm Renedra Tents on a MDF base that I cut down in the workshop.

That's all I've got for right now. Stay tuned for some interesting/exciting news coming soon!

2019 Finished Figures - 37
2019 Finished Terrain - 5
2019 Games Played - 1

Chain of Command - Under Strength German Infantry Platoon

It has been radio silent for a little bit, but for good reason. I've been working away at my 15mm German infantry platoon for "Chain of Command" and finally got them done!  Now, I must have miscounted when I was assembling this platoon as I'm short about 6 riflemen, but this seems rather true to form for the German army circa late 1943-45 so, I'm just going to use it as an under strength platoon until I find suitable figures to round them out.

These are all Plastic Soldier Company Late War German plastics, and while they painted up nice enough, they're a tad spindly and a pain to put together.  The Panzerschrek team is from the PSC Heavy Weapons box, and they seem "chunky'er" so I wonder if PSC is maybe adjusting they're ranges to more fit in with the likes of Battlefront?  I'm quite happy with this base platoon, and am looking forward to extending my WW2 collection further in 15mm and also in 20mm.

I've also finished these three scatter bases of mines.  They're 28mm and were super easy to paint.

Rather productive couple of weeks.  Now on to painting these -

Absolutely awesome kits from Red Vectors. Very simple and quick to put together.

Oh, and I also had a Lord of the Rings themed game of "Song of Blades and Heroes" with a wargaming newbie/friend that was a lot of fun and was very well received by said friend!

 

2019 Finished Figures - 37
2019 Finished Terrain - 3
2019 Games Played - 1