Sunday, August 26, 2012

First of the Yugoslav Wars infantry painted up

While I've been enjoying the last few days of summer, I've also been painting up the Yugoslav Wars infantry I got from Platoon 20.
I thought I'd show what they look like all painted up. Enjoy!
The fireteam as a whole.


Chuckov Norrisavic, the soldier I'll be rooting for on the battlefield. You might notice he's wearing some sneakers for going into battle. If you're going to get shot in the face, you might as well go out in style.

Captain Petrovic, looking stoic. 

A figure with an AK74u. 
And here they are showing off their equipment. 
I should probably be getting some more miniatures in the future, I think I'll get some Serbs this time, but they're on eBay and they'll probably ship from England, which is always fun waiting for them (oh goody).
I might also get a couple of sets, one just to tide me over as I get back into the "school groove".
Stay tuned!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

My Top 20 Stuff...

1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?
A fictional WWIII around the Cold War, so maybe the Late 1960's or Early 1970's.

2. Next period, money no object? 
I've thought about the Lebanese Civil War or the Balkan Wars of 1912, those or the Russian Civil War. Also, maybe the Korean War in 15mm or some war in the distant future on another planet.

3. Favourite 5 films? 
1: Moonrise Kingdom
2: South Park- Bigger, Longer and Uncut
3: Pineapple Express
4: Saving Private Ryan
5: It's Kind of a Funny Story
 
"What kind of bird are you?" "I'm a sparrow, she's a dove-" "No, I said what kind of bird are YOU."

4. Favourite 5 TV series?
1: South Park
2: Ed Atlin's YouTube Tutorials (not really T.V., but you get the point). Between the abuse of his beard chair and weird voice, this guy always makes me laugh.
3: The Colbert Report
4: Futurama
5: Tosh.0

5. Favourite book and author? 
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Ramarque.
"Good God, is there nothing that is sacred to me?"

6.Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!! 
Dwight D. Eisenhower. He did a lot for my country, and even the entire world.

7. Favourite Wargames rules?
Well, I'm currently working with Force on Force, and that seems to be very good, but I'd have to say Standoff: Cold War, purely for nostalgic reasons.

8. Favourite Sport and team? 
I'm not too much of a sports person, but my favorite sport to play is soccer, but my favorite team is the Boston Bruins.

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
Back to the time when my relatives were in Sweden.

10. Last meal on Death Row? 
Raspberry Bismark, Dr. Pepper, and a KFC Famous Bowl. I'm not much of a junk food fan, but those things are GOOD.
Omnomnomnomnomnom.

11. Fantasy relationship and why? 
A nice girl who likes music.

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
Chuck Norris, despite the fact that we look nothing alike. Don't stare at this picture too long, he could probably killed someone just by staring at them.

13. Favourite Comic  Superhero? 
I'm not too much of a comic book person. 

14. Favourite Military quote?
"There was never a good war or a bad peace."-Benjamin Franklin.

15. Historical destination to visit? 
Tough one. Probably Omaha Beach.

16. Biggest Wargaming regret? 
Ever trying to get into Flames of War. That was expensive...

17. Favourite Fantasy job?
Making wargaming miniatures. I haven't the slightest idea how to do that, but it would be cool.

18. Favourite Song, Top 5? 
1: Coldplay- In My Place
2: The Beatles- Yesterday
3: Simon and Garfunkel- Bleeker Street
4: Coldplay- The Scientist
5: Simon and Garfunkel- Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.


19. Favourite Wargaming Moment? 
When I beat Brody in Standoff: Cold War in a game that was British Army vs. Russians, which was the first time we ever used those rules. 

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
People who have a very happy-go-lucky view on life and they believe they've got the world and their future all figured out. Allow my cynical side to come out for a second, but if I know anything, it's that the world sometimes works against you.
Some more: Parents who let their annoying children run around like morons, people who wear fake glasses, busy-bodies, religious fanatics (if you believe in God, that's fine, it's your life, but don't push your religion on me), bullies, the Kardashians, stupid people, this list goes on and on and on. 

Feel free to copy and paste the questions, and stay tuned!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Platoon 20 Yugoslav Wars Generic Infantry preview

My first troops for the Yugoslav Wars have arrived! This is more of a generic militia, and it could probably apply to any of the 3 armies during the war.
These are some great looking miniatures from Platoon 20, although I got them from the U.S. company that sells them.
Anyway, enough of my yammering, let's get to the preview!
In Force on Force rules, this should make up about a fireteam or so.

This is who I'll assign to my squad leader, he just looks like one to me. Also, it's just my favorite pose.

Nice bandanna!

This figure appears to be wearing a flak jacket, which adds another defense die in Force on Force.

This guy is being smart and ducking.

Here's the back just so you can see what they look like turned around, just if anyone is interested in picking this set up.
I may do a camouflage painting guide, showing you guys how to paint M81 Woodland camouflage. Stay tuned!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Today's order

I've been working for the money to buy some miniatures for my new Yugoslav Wars era.
Today, I went over to Syr-Hobbs Wargames and bought a generic 4-man infantry set from Platoon 20.
The code on the Platoon 20 Website is M-BW1, if anyone is interested.
Syr-Hobbs is normally pretty good on shipping time, and luckily it's U.S.-based so it should be here within a week and half or so.
I will do a preview (as I normally do) of the miniatures before I paint them when they get here.
Stay tuned!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Status Report (August 12, 2012)

I've been looking around for some miniatures and doing a bit of research on what the average soldier fight for the Serbs, Croats or Bosnians would have looked like (as far as uniforms and kits go) and used in battle.
So far, for the infantry, almost all regular riflemen used a Zastava M70, which is the Yugoslavian version of the AK-47. They used a bunch of Yugoslavian variants of Russian weapons, like the Dragunov and PKM and so on.
Almost all sides used M81 Woodland camouflage or something that looked like it, if not that, then a mixture of civilian and military-looking clothes. The Serbians used the old Yugoslavian Army uniform commonly which was a kind of field khaki-gray. From the footage and photographs I've seen, Chicom rigs and rucksacks are used quite a bit.
The Serbs wore old Yugoslavian helmets (if at all), and the Bosnians and Croats wore a mixture of M1's and M56's (the M56 being my favorite helmet). I've seen berets and winter wool hats being worn by some soldiers in a few pictures I've seen, but some wear nothing on their head at all. A really useful site to look at if you're into military helmets is Brendon's Helmets. There's quite the collection there.
Here are some other examples of some soldiers:
I believe this soldier is Yugoslavian or Serbian, judging by the helmet and camo. The helmet is actually called the "M59".

A good example of a post-Yugoslavian uniform in use with the Serbs.

Here's an example of an M56 in use amongst Croatian forces. The soldier second on the left is wearing what I think is Olive Drab. These might be Bosnians, because from the footage I've seen, they tend to be sporting the M56 a lot more than the Croats.

Bosnians wearing the same helmet.

Croats using the M1 Helmet. One of the soldiers in this picture (the 3rd one on the left holding his rifle over his shoulder) is actually carrying what looks like an FN-FAL.

And some more Yugoslavians or Serbs with man's best friend (although I tend to like cats a bit more, but I think a cat's battlefield effectiveness is questionable). 
 For the soldiers with helmets, I've been looking on Elhiem Figures and RH Models for both helmeted and civilian militia models.
I'll keep you posted when I pick the first miniatures up.
However, just before I leave, I thought I'd show you the pictures I've been taking while I enjoy the last few weeks of summer before I have to go to school again. This is just the countryside around where I live. Enjoy!


This is my favorite one.


Turkeys always move in a troop-like fashion.



A lot of people come up to Maine for the summertime, and sadly a lot of them get to miss the best part about it, the countryside. However, they don't get to miss the nearly constant dreary weather, but hey, if they don't like it, they can go to Florida!
Stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Status Report (August 8, 2012)

I've [finally] made up my mind on what era I want to cover in Force on Force: The Yugoslav Wars. I did some research about it, and I must say, it is a fascinating and very, almost touchy subject to cover.
The Yugoslav Wars took place from 1991 to about 1999, and was probably Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. It was basically a series of brutal ethnic conflicts and land grabs between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, and it took place in what was then known as Yugoslavia.
The reason this is a touchy subject is because of what took place in them. What set this war apart from many others was the brutal atrocities that took place on all sides. I'm trying not to get too political here, but the Yugoslav Wars really grabbed my attention.
I did a bit of research on the armies that fought in it, and there was pretty much an army for every ethnicity in Yugoslavia at the time. If you want to read a bit more about it, there's a very fascinating article about them on Wikipedia that sums it up rather well.
In the meantime, I had my friend James over last night, and since fireworks are now legal in the state of Maine, we decided to mess around with some bottle rockets.
I noticed that it actually looks like the tank is firing (James lit it intending that it would blow the tank up and send it sky high, instead it shot off towards my dad's garden and scared the goat).
I will probably be buying some miniatures in the near future for the era, which the miniatures should not be hard to find: Guerrillas with AK-47's, paint on a good coat of M81 Woodland and voila! You've got a soldier during the Yugoslav Wars.
This will probably be a quick project, enough to make a small force to play with, and then I'll probably tuck them away for further use for when the time comes.
Stay tuned!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Status Report (August 5, 2012)

I've been getting the hang of Force on Force over the past few days. So far I've learned the basics of infantry combat, but since I don't really have too many armored vehicles, it might be a while before I can do some mechanized combat and see what that's all about.
Brody came over last night and we did a 15-minute or so skirmish between some 9 or so Cold War U.S. Infantry and I used 9 random figures I grabbed out of the bin just for the game.
He and I both enjoy the game quite a bit.
Now here comes the part where I always seem to fail: making up my mind.
Iran-Iraq War: Bloody, long, trench warfare, hundreds of casualties or the India-Pakistan Wars: Swift, short, lots of mechanized warfare, blitzkrieg-like tactics and medium to high casualties.Then there's the Yugoslav Wars: Long, mobile, bloody, fought in a series, a little more recent.
I'll make up my mind soon, maybe with a little help from Brody.
Stay tuned!