Hi Kids, The two 1/56 Sho't Centurions from Chieftain Models are complete enough for the battlefield. I painted the first one Israeli Sand, and it came out rather green-ish. The second one (with the crewman) I base coated in UK Sand, followed by Israeli Sand. I think I like the second one better. I left off the bazooka plates since I thought there was absolutely no way on God's green earth they would stay on when gamers have to pick up the 2 pound 4 ounce tanks. Yes, I weighed them. I decided to go with a .50 cal M2 MG for the commander and a 7.62 MG for the loader. Saturday was their baptism, standing in for South African Oliphants in Angola, the 1987 Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. I though it might be cool to play a game with FAPLA, Cubans, and Russians vs. UNITA and South Africa. Not sure how many of the gamers agreed with me, but about 8 of them showed up for the fun. And yes, they were forewarned. We used Disposable Heroes, mainly because I love that rules set! For simplicity we didn't use the air or artillery support.
Here we have a shot of three MRAP's from Hobby Armor Depot. These are the closest things I could get to South African Buffels and Casspirs. They were a lot of work, but I think they look really cool. I'd dearly love to pick up a few more, especially the 6-wheeler, but have had trouble getting them through the mail. These have had some of that Army Painter Stain. I'm still debating staining the tanks.
A T54/55 from the London War Room goes up in flames after taking a hit from a Milan missile. Probably the high point of the game for the South Africans. Yes, you guessed it, that once again is the world famous Triple Grey and Black camo of my GW Imperial Army, Kryomek, Ogre, and just about every other mechanical model I own. Two of the T55's were from RLBPS' Vietnam range. The only major difference is the LWR ones have a HMG in a pintle mount.
Oh crap! The first Oliphant gets smacked by three T54/55's in one turn, and its all over but the crying. I really have to point out the Oliphants were plagued by crap-tastic die rolls the whole game. One 105mm shot even failed to penetrate the track on the T-55! Another T-55 was blasted through the hull and suffered no crew casualties! Wow!
Near the end of the battle, a BTR-60 (actually a sci-fi 6 wheeled APC from Ultracast.net.) gets knocked out by light cannon fire from a Casspir. Another BTR-152 (Hobby Armor Depot) and T-34/85 (All Fronts Armor) sit in the shallow river outside town. Skirmish lines of (Devil Dog Design, Eureka, and The Assault Group) FAPLA advance into the town.
The west side of the table, looking north. For some reason the guys in charge wanted the South Africans to set up on this side. IIRC, they attacked from the other direction. The soon to be famous "Dookie Hills" are made out of expanding insulation foam. You can see the UNITA guys on the edge of town near the airstrip. That foreground patch of woods is where the Milan team shot the T-55.
The Southwest angle looking north, showing the river with all its cover. People take delight in telling me a lot of these are aquarium plants. Yes, I know that. I bought them. In a pet store. FAPLA sets up in cover, including their 12.7mm heavy machine gun in the rocks. It did fearful execution all through the game.
The final position of the South African Infantry, just south east of town. They were soon to be shot to bits by half the FAPLA forces, including the surviving tanks. They are all USMC figures from The Assault Group. Maybe someday I'll paint up all those Soviets so we can do some Cold War-gone-hot scenarios!
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