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!

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!

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!

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!

Force on Force has arrived!

Today Force on Force arrived in the mail, so this afternoon was spent reading it, getting a little confused by the rules, reading it again then realizing it wasn't so confusing after all.

A very nicely laid out book. There's some great artwork in it by Osprey Publishings as well, along with references to miniature websites in the beginning.

I've read you can cover pretty much any post-WWII conflict, and when I heard that I automatically thought of a fictitious Second American Revolution, but I'm having second thoughts partially because I'd have to convert a lot of miniatures to do that.
I started looking to the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971 (Elhiem has a line for that). I've done research on both conflicts and I must say they are both quite interesting. However, I think I should just read the book before I jump to conclusions.
Stay tuned!

Force on Force is on it's way!

TToday I ordered Osprey Publishing's "Force on Force" modern wargaming rules.

An interesting fact: this is the first set of wargame rules that I haven't made up on my own!

After talking it over with my good friend James, we'll be gaming in a modern Second American Revolution (or Second American Civil War), which takes place during a military coup d'etat in 2012.
The situation is basically that the U.S. Army along with the support of friendly militias overthrow the U.S. Government (this is purely fictitious, I don't believe this will happen, more like a "what if" scenario). An army called the "American People's Army" forms and begins to fight the U.S. Army across the country from Arizona to New York city. Both sides of the war have civilian militias supporting their causes.
Another thought I had was the Iran-Iraq War, but its starting to lean more towards the Second Revolution. 
I will be picking some miniatures up from Syr Hobbs Wargames sometime in the near future. We're back to 20mm, WOOOO!! I also just noticed that this is my 100th Post. Another hooray for the Basement Wargamer.
Stay tuned!

Status Report (July 5, 2012)

Had a great 4th of July celebration in Boston with my family. Did some great exploring and enjoyed the awesome fireworks in the rain, which actually made it more fun.

A view of the South End. Come to find out, my grandfather actually designed one of the hotels down around there (a majority of my family is from the Boston area, including me). 

Me at the Reflection Pool at the Christian Church of Science, probably doing some... you know... reflecting...

Anyway, I should be ordering a copy of Force on Force rather soon. I'll just have to read it and maybe even review it!
Stay tuned!