Syrian ZSU-23-4 'Shilka'

Not to be out-gunned by their IDF opponents, my 1980s Syrian Army force have gained a 'Shilka' this week.  Like the M163 VADS, the ZSU-23-4 is a lightly-armoured mobile AA unit that kicks out a hellish rate of fire.  Again, in Crossfire rules terms, I'll give this 5D firepower against infantry.  This is a very nice 15mm-scale miniature from the QRF moderns range.  The quad autocannons were slightly fiddly to assemble (& I'll have to be fairly careful when handling during games), but the rest of the model is very straightforward to assemble (only 9 pieces total).

IDF M163 VADS

This week I painted-up a support vehicle for my 15mm-scale IDF force - an M163 VADS (self-propelled Vulcan Air Defence System).  In the IDF's 1982 incursion into Lebanon, it was discovered that the M168 rotary autocannon on this vehicle didn't have the range to defend against the Syrian Gazelle helicopters that attacked from long-range with cutting-edge HOT missiles.  Consequently, the IDF tended to use their M163 VADS for clearing buildings of potential or identified ambushers.  In Crossfire rules terms, the vulcan cannon will have a horrific 5D firepower against infantry - however, being mounted on an M113 chassis, this unit is still very vulnerable to ATGM & RPG fire. The model is from the excellent Peter Pig AK47 range.

Middle East militia

Here are some more units for my 15mm-scale Middle East Crossfire collection.  Today I finished painting these two mobs of militia.  These are a mix of Peter Pig & Rebel Minis figures.  I head-swapped some of the miniatures to increase the number of keffiyeh-wearing fighters, using the very handy Peter Pig spare heads sprues.  I'll mostly be using these to represent 'armed rabble' type insurgents rather than the drilled PLO regular forces, who will be mostly wearing camouflage.  They could represent poor-quality fighters from a variety of the bewildering array of factions in the Lebanon war of the early '80s - Druze, Mourabitoun, Phalangists, or any of the disparate groups grouped under the 'PLO' umbrella.  If I branch-out into wargaming the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion, they could even be used as insurgents for that.

There are two mobs here, one consists of a leader & two rifle fireteams, with one containing an RPG-7.  The other mob has a leader & only one rifle fireteam, plus a 75mm recoilless rifle team. In Crossfire rules terms, these will be Green troops, using a house rule for militia - unlike regular troops, they won't cause Kills on additional Suppression rolls, which means that while they may be able to Pin professional soldiers in place with weight of fire, they won't be able to finish their enemies off easily without charging into a close combat en masse.

PLO snipers

Today I painted up another two tiny bases for my 1980s Arab-Israeli Wars collection - two PLO snipers. These are 15mm-scale figures from Peter Pig's AK47 range. Crossfire doesn't really require miniatures for snipers, as the rules treat them as special one-off attacks rather than true units.  However, I think it's nice to have them available as reminders of force composition, & for the limited time that they are on the table to indicate line-of-sight.

I painted the sniper with the Dragunov in 'Black September' camouflage, & the one with the M21 in a Palestinian copy of a Pakistani desert scheme, similar to the one worn by the Syrian AT commandos that I painted a while back.

Syrian Army weapon teams

A couple of very small additions to my 1980s Syrian Crossfire force - two weapon teams.  Here is a 60mm mortar & a DShK HMG, all 15mm-scale Peter Pig miniatures from the AK47 range.  The bases are laser-cut ply from Fenris Games.  These additional teams are useful for points-balancing opposing forces, & should complement the main fire base of the mech infantry platoon nicely.