15mm Flytrap Factory Taliban

All,

You may have seen I've played three fights using Royal Marines in Afghanistan; so far I've been using insurgent figures by Rebel Minis.  Now, those are good looking troops, but they don't fit Afghanistan as well as they could, looking much more suitable for Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc...  Quite some time ago I had purchased some 15mm Taliban from Flytrap Factory (at the same time I bought some USMC and Royal Marines), but for some reason I hadn't painted them up.  So, spurned on by a fellow wargamer, my Royal Marine campaign took a breather last weekend while I did some painting.  These are for you, Mr. Robertson ;)

The whole force, ten troops in five poses.  The figures are really well done; great heft to them, weapons clearly done (though the AKs do look a little like Stg-44s/MP-43s to me), and the facial features and clothing look perfect for the subject matter.  I only wish there were more of them, ten is kind of a small pack.  But they look great and were easy to paint up.  Having said that, I hate painting irregulars, trying to come up with realistic color combinations that aren't too flamboyant but don't just wash out.   I'm very happy with how these turned out.

The first pose, either a boss angrily shaking his fist at the Allies, or a guy throwing a grenade.  So obviously I did the clothing in different colors, but I also did the beards/hair, and the AKs in different colors.

Reverse; you can see the robes are very well done, nice and crisp, which made painting very easy.

Kind of offset.

The next guy, a younger looking rifleman, wearing the "Massoud" hat.  I have no idea what that headgear is really called, but we called them Massoud hats when I was there...

 Reverse.

Offset.

Another rifleman with AK.

 Reverse.

Offset.

A kneeling rifleman.

Reverse.

Offset.

And last pose, the ubiquitous RPG gunner.

Reverse.

Offset, you can see the folding stock AK over his shoulder.

And then I got a little more accomplished, some odds and ends.

A grabbed my Royal Marines and put some grass on their bases, and painted the weapons black.  If you don't recall, when I originally painted them I put some desert tan on various parts of the weapons; not sure why, guess I thought it looked cool.  Anyway, it was kind of aggravating me, so I went back and did the weapons all black.

And then I did up some more temperate casualty figures (these are all from Peter Pig) and finally some proper desert casualty figures.

Well, that's it for now.  The weekend is fast approaching and the boy is already bothering me to play, so stay tuned, we'll definitely be getting some games in.

V/R,
Jack