Last Chechen figures

The last of my Chechen figures completed, all that I have left to do is finish my Grozny apartment block and a captured Tiny Terrain T62 😉. Onto the figures, all Tiny Terrain. Dougie

 A couple of snipers and a Chechen warlord

 AGS17 team

 Some prone fighters, 2 more snipers!

Casualties. 

28mm Grozny Destroyed Apartment block part 1

My gaming oppo has a lot of mdf destroyed city buildings that we've been using for our Chechen games, I wanted to try my had at scratch building a destroyed apartment block using blue craftfoam, I wanted it heavily destroyed with rubble but still usable as a gaming piece, so having all levels accessible for figures.
This is the sort of building I had in mind.

I did some rough sketches of what I wanted mainly to get the levels right, I standardised doors at 35mm x 20mm and windows at 20mm x 20mm. A level worked out at about 55mm high. I eventually decided on a 6 level block with the upper level slightly taller to allow for a walkaround area. The block ended up at 350mm high and to keep it manageable I kept the sides to 300mm and the endwall with the lift shaft/stairwell at 200mm. Once I was sorted I cut the basic structure out of blue craftfoam

The structure was glued and pinned using standard white glue.

 The floors added.

I made the base, again from 5mm craftfoam backed on 2mm mdf for strength, and carved in some cracked pavements. I considered the rubble question and obviously with the amount of destruction the building has had the rubble would be piled to the first or second storey, this would however make it very difficult to place figures so I decided to add some rubble to give an impression of the destruction but still make it accessible for figures. The rubble itself was a mixture of broken pollyfilla that had been poured into a tray to set then smashed and Woodland scenics talus.

  The whole building was then sprayed with Halfords grey primer, virtually a full can!!!

Next up in part  2 is the painting proper and some small amounts of detailing, I find it really easy to get carried away with details so I'm trying to keep this to a minimum. Hopefully!
Dougie

28mm Empress USMC Hue '68

First test figs from the cracking new range from Empress

28mm TTCombat Cargo Ship

This is the 28mm cargo ship from TTCombat, now appearing as the "JPO SAM" from Alliance Shipping out of Monrovia. Built straight from the pack with a little weathering.

20mm British Internal Security vehicles Part 1

For "Winter of '79" and Ulster use, Sgts Mess models. I picked up a couple of Landrover Snatch's and A Humber Flying Pig with the fold out screens. Easy kits to assemble.
Here is the Snatch assembled

 The Pig comes with solid screens which wasn't what I wanted

Here's a pic of the version I had in mind

Any hoo used the basic dimensions and knocked a couple up out of plasticard, happier with these

On to painting next.
Dougie

Wallsend Revolutionary Communist Party Direct Action Group

20mm Liberation figures for "Winter of '79" games, currently using "Firefight Modern" as rules choice.
Dougie

"Fireteam Modern" AAR

Fireteam Modern are a relatively new set of rules by Rory Crabb, they are at the skirmish level with players activating fireteams so an ideal size force is a platoon. Here's a link to the designers webpage Fireteam Modern
Me and my son played out a small skirmish in 20mm using the rules and I was quite pleased with the way they panned out, here's the skirmish which is set in the Falklands 1982 during the British breakout phase after the landings.
A small patrol from Patrols Platoon 3PARA has bumped an Argentinian unit beside a lone building and peat cutting.
The British force consists of a 2 man command element and 2 sections of 2 fireteams each. They are rated as regular veterans.
The Argentinians have 2 fireteams rated as regular conscripts.
Here's a shot of the terrain, The Argentinian force deployed in the area of the house and peat cuttings, the British entered from the high ground at the bottom of the picture.

The activation cards went the way of the British from the start with them activating and advancing towards the objective, at this point the Argentinians were hidden and the Britsh failed to spot them. The Argentinians activated next and got the first rounds off hitting a British fireteam, seriously wounding a tom but not causing enough suppression points to put the fireteam"under-fire".
The British reaction was swift with good use of command cards and succeeded in totally suppressing the fireteam in the peat cutting before successfully close assaulting them. The horrific number of suppression points effectively ended their resistance and the British captured the position.
Thoughts: I really like this system, the best description I would give is that it cannily gets the balance between detail and playability which is always hard to do. If modern skirmish is your thing buy a copy. More photos of the game below. Dougie

left flank British frieteam taking cover in a stream bed puts fire onto the Argentinian position at the house

 Argentinian fireteam at the house

 From the Argentinian perspective British fireteam advancing

 Right flank British section and command element heading for cover

 Left flank skirmishing forward

 The horrific result of close assault after massive fire suppression