Republican Guard vs. USMC (FoF)

I played my first Force on Force game in months today.  I took the role of an Iraqi Republican Guard force defending a small town from invading US marines.  My friend Tim had a full USMC squad (3 fireteams of 4 men, plus a leader), plus a 3-man GPMG team, a 3-man sniper team, & a CO.  I had 2 squads of Republican Guard (2 fireteams of 6 riflemen, & 2 4-man support teams with RPGs & RPDs), plus a 3-man GPMG team, a T-55 tank, a medic, CO & a Ba'athist Party Official.  The Iraqi setup can be seen to the right, and the USMC setup is below (the sniper team is atop the cliff).

The scenario was a straightforward Take & Hold, with an Objective building at each side of the battlefield, and 2 central Objective buildings.  My Republican Guard leapfrogged along the buildings towards the 2 central objectives, whilst one fireteam tried rushing along a side alley to reach the centre-most Objective.  However, they took a few casualties from Tim's opening shots.

UMC infantry squad (TW)

I've painted-up a full 12-soldier squad of Unified Marine Corps infantry.  Now that I can see the camouflage pattern on a large group of figures, I'm happier with the design.  Next to the squad leader are marines armed with an ATGM launcher, & a GPMG.  These are 15mm scale miniatures - Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines.

UMC Warthog vehicle (TW)

This weekend I finished my first scout/patrol vehicle for my Tomorrow's War Unified Marine Corps force.  The model is a Rebel Minis Comanche - a very nice model.  This one has additional hatch armour & a chaingun, which is removable.  The tinted windows have a gloss coating, but it doesn't show-up that well in these photos.  I will be using the helmet-less figures as drivers for my UMC vehicles.

I always find inventing camouflage schemes tricky, & especially so with the garish alien jungle I've been putting together for this setting.  I've kept the camo fairly simple - it's a scaled-up version of the green & purple 'tiger stripes' that I've started painting my UMC infantry with.  It seems OK at breaking-up the form of the Warthog against the jungle, especially at a distance.  Possibly it needs a fourth colour - maybe a few dark orange leaf shapes over the stripes?  All thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Click on the thumbnails for larger views.

Combat android units (TW)

This week I finished work on a full 8-robot squad of combat androids, plus a pair of 2-robot AT RPG teams.  These 15mm figures are for the colonial force in the future setting that my friend Tim & I have been working on, to be played using the Tomorrow's War rules.  I'm really happy with how the colour scheme has turned out on these:

UMC / Combat Androids pt.2 (TW)

I've now painted-up a fireteam & an AT RPG team of colonial combat androids.  I'm very pleased with the colour scheme - it's straightforward to paint on such tiny miniatures; striking, but also plausible for the setting.  To the right is the droid AT team, & below is the 4-robot fireteam.  Click on the images for a larger view.  As mentioned previously, the models are Rebel Minis Shalur Mercenaries.

I've also tried-out a 'jewel effect' on the visors of the UMC troopers (see right), which I think was semi-successful.  The models are Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines.  I'm still not 100% satisfied with the paint scheme for these human soldiers, but I'm not sure what it is - possible the camo scheme still needs work?  Any suggestions welcome, thanks.

UMC / Combat Androids pt.1 (TW)

I've been closing-in on final paint schemes for my Unified Marine Corps troops & colonial combat androids.  I want something that will look plausibly military but futuristic, whilst working in a colourful extraterrestrial jungle setting.  To the right is a rework of the UMC trooper camo that I posted a few days ago.  The visors are now plain grey, but I will add a 'jewel effect' as a final touch.  The camo has slightly bolder strokes, & the boots have base-green plates on the front.  I'm quite pleased with this scheme now.  The pattern isn't too riotous, & seems to blend the troopers into their surroundings well.  These models are 15mm Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines.

For the colonial combat androids, I'm aiming for something that will mark them out as an opposing force, whilst still looking military.  I've gone with a simple vivid green colour, with highlights along the upper edges of the armour plating.  This lends a slightly mantis-like appearance, where the camo is more about looking like harmless foliage rather than blending-in.  The model is a 15mm Rebel Minis Shalur Mercenary.

Possible miniatures for Tomorrow's War

I thought I'd do a list of miniatures that I have in mind to represent the units in the Tomorrow's War setting that my friend Tim & I are developing.  There are two factions - the expeditionary forces of Earth, primarily consisting of the Unified Marine Corps; & the disparate but increasingly high-tech colonial forces, who rely more on android & mecha units.  Items in orange below are things that I have already bought:

Trial UMC camouflague (TW)

I recently posted several pieces on the extraterrestrial jungle scenery that I've been putting together for Tomorrow's War.  Today I've been trialing a possible camo scheme for the UMC (Unified Marine Corps) infantry that will feature in this setting.  These soldiers will be part of an expeditionary force from Earth who are battling the more advanced but initially factious separatist forces in the jungles of a colony world.

The models are Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines.  I've used Citadel Paints.  I'm fairly pleased with the palette of colours - a base of Camo Green, with a Flesh Wash for depth & lightened Camo Green highlights.  On top of this I've painted a traditional 'jungle pattern' using Dark Angels Green & Liche Purple (the plants in this jungle are quite garish).  The webbing & backpacks are Dark Angels Green.  The visors will have an orange 'jewel effect' once finished.

The figure on the the left has his helmet & armour in the base green, & the one on the right has camo all over.  I think the left one looks unfinished like this, & as I will be using high contrast between armour & undersuits/mechanisms on the colonial forces, I think I should go with the right-hand approach. However, I think this scheme can be improved - perhaps with a larger, more angular pattern, to reflect the oversized foliage of the scenery?  Any suggestions & ideas welcome, thanks!

Converted French with GPMGs (FoF)

I haven't got much hobby stuff done over the past month, as I've been away at music festivals, ill with a heavy cold, & sorting out Christmas presents.  But here are four conversions that I've done as gifts for my friend Tim's French platoon in Force on Force.  He needed some figures armed with FN Minimi GPMGs to go with his Peter Pig French Foreign Legion; so I've converted some USMC gunners, using French beret heads from Peter Pig's Odds and Ends (Mostly Heads) range. 

These were surprisingly simple - for the standing figures I made an incision each side of the jaw using a Stanley knife, then twisted the original head slightly one way, then the other using needle-nose pliers.  The head came off in good condition, and can be used elsewhere!  I then used a fine-gauge hand drill to make a hole for the peg/neck of the French beret head, & glued it in place.  The prone figures were slightly trickier, needing the use of a small vice to hold the figures whilst I razor-sawed the heads off, prior to drilling the holes & filing-out indentations for the chins.  I'm pleased with the results, & will be using the 'insurgent headscarf' heads that I bought at the same time to convert various figures for my PLO force & Middle East civilian bases.