15mm Flytrap Factory US Marines

All,

Here is the newest debut of my 15mm forces.  So much for a side project, eh?  In any case, these are my latest production, and they are my new favorite troops.  There's a couple quirks, and (as usual) my pics aren't the best and don't do them justice, but these figures are absolutely amazing, and I'm pretty happy with my paint job too.

So, these are 15mm Modern US Marines from Flytrap Factory.  I don't know yet where they will deploy, and I don't know what rules I'll be using them with, but they're ready.  I painted them up in the US "Multicam" pattern, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  Being that they're Multica, so suitable for temperate, tropical, and desert climes, I did my best to give them 'multicam' bases too, which amounted to a textured base painted desert sand, given a strong wash, then sticking some static grass to them.  It looks okay, but now I just got two forces for the price of one ;)  Which is why I didn't list these as "Modern Middle East" or "Modern Africa;" they're both.

The whole force, 25 guys from two packs.  I bought the 'stand alone' USMC pack of 15 troops, and another Skirmish Sangin scenario pack that had three HMMWVs (which haven't been touched yet) and another ten Marines.  Here you can see my 'multicam basing' in aggregate; not too bad.

Another look at the whole force.  You can tell there were two different sculptors used for the two different Flytrap USMC packs, but they fit well together.  Both packs have a lot of character, a lot of poses, and the gear weapons (for the most part) look fantastic.  I say 'for the most part,' because there are a couple weapons in here that look a bit strange (detailed below), and several of the M-16s look like they're sporting Vietnam-era 20-round magazines...  But I don't care, I still love'em!

Let's get to the poses.  And please forgive me; I'll be damned if I can take a good photo here lately.  Part of the problem is there's been no natural light, it's been overcast here for the past couple weeks.  So bear with me.  These pics really don't do them justice, the figures are incredible.

First up is a SAW gunner pose from the Skirmish Sangin pack.  As I mentioned, I went with Multicam for the uniforms, then put a tan color on all the gear.  I left all the weapons black as I haven't had great success with painting weapons camouflage in 15mm.

Next pose from the Skirmish Sangin pack is an M-203 gunner (on an M-16A4, evidenced by the ACOG sitting atop a rail).  Love the fig; as anyone following the blog knows, I'm partial to 203 gunners ;)

Next Skirmish Sangin pose is a rifleman, again with M-16A4, ACOG, and this time with broom handle.

Damn my picture taking skills!  This is the next pose from the Skirmish Sangin pack, and they look much better in person!  What you're looking at is, as above, two figs of the same pose, one facing us (right) and one facing away (left).  Here you can see that, once again, in painting these up I went with three different skin tones; on the right is African American, on the Caucasian.

The figs don't look anywhere near this featureless, believe me, its' just my photo skills...

Last pose from the Skirmish Sangin pack, all others will be from the 'stand alone USMC infantry pack.'  Another M-16A4 with ACOG and broomstick.

A rifleman with M-16 at the ready carry, moving forward with eyes over the sights.

Probably my favorite pose, the other M-203 guys.  But you can see the magazine looks just a shade short.

I really like this pose: another M-16 rifleman, and the only one showing some skin, with his sleeves rolled up.  His magazine is definitely short, but I love the character.

Next pose, and the last of the duplicate poses.  Again, great character, but here's the one weapon problem.  I don't know what that weapon is.  It could be an M-4 with a super long magazine and a super short barrel, or maybe an MP5 with a super long magazine, though it wouldn't make much sense for a Marine grunt to running around with an MP5.

And here are two more riflemen, in differing poses.  Here you can see the guy on the left has one of the EOTech-style optics, looks like the right is an aiming dot.

The reverse.

On left we have another M-16 with EOTech, on right we have some sort of SAW, and it's cool because we actually have a left-handed pose!

I say some sort of SAW as frankly I can't tell anymore.  Yes, I was a Marine, but 'back then' all we had was the M-249 SAW, and none of these crazy-ass attachments they have nowadays (okay, we had attachments, but not like now.  A few people had an ACOG and/or PEQ2/PAC4, not everyone having everything).  So I'm not sure how to spot the differences between the M-249, the Mk48, and the M-27.

Reverse.  The SAW could be an M-249 I suppose, but that flash suppressor is pretty big.  The weapon looks like it has an EOTech sight and a PEQ/PAC (can't tell the difference at this scale).

Two more SAWs.  The one on the left is pretty clearly the short version of an M-249, and the one on the right looks to me like the M-27, but I'm not sure.

Of further note, the one on the left is interesting because he looks like a Brit to me.  If you look at the helmet and the gear, it looks like one of the Brit Marines.  Now, yes, I did buy a pack of Flytrap Factory Brit Marines (to be posted soon), but I swear that I didn't mix them up.  And when you hold this guy up next to the Brit Marines, he's smaller and looks to be done by a different sculptor.  To really screw things up, there's a SAW gunner in the Brit Marine pack that looks like a US Marine (helmet/gear)!  I didn't mix them up, didn't even open them at the same time.  Ya gotta believe me ;)

Reverse.

And the last pose, a solitary rifleman with M-16 and EOTech sight.

Reverse.

Again, sorry for the dismal photos, but these little guys are fantastic and I can't wait to get them into the fight (and I haven't even started my 20mm campaign yet!).

Lots more posts to come of recently completed troops, and I should be starting my Balkans campaign any minute now, so stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

Cuba Liberation Epilogue

All,

This is to put a wrap on Cuba Libre's Campaign for Liberation and set the stage for the next campaign.

The campaign lasted from 1 Feb 1990 to 5 Feb 1990, and comprised thirty-two tactically significant engagements, thirty of which were company-sized, and two which were platoon-sized raids on high value targets (the former conducted in 10mm with multi-based stands and individual vehicles, the latter with individually based 15mm figures).  In those fights, the Cuban Liberation Army racked up an impressive record, with 24 wins, three losses, and five draws.

Total losses for the campaign:
                                  CLA                                                                  Regime
Casualties                  570                                                                    865
POW/EPW                10                                                                      240
Tanks                         8                                                                        18
APC                           4                                                                        10
Armored Car             1                                                                         4
SP Gun                      0                                                                         1
Light Vehicle            1                                                                         1
Helicopters               1                                                                          0
Fighter Aircraft        **                                                                        **

**I shamefully admit I have yet to play out the air-to air portion of the campaign, which obviously has no impact on the group portion.  In any case, my plan is for the CLA to have an air force of a squadron or two of F-4 Phantoms, and for them to have a number of engagements with Regime MiG-21s.  I just need to get around to it...  Once I do I'll come back and update the stats here.

The campaign ended with daring Special Operations raids which captured El Presidente and eliminated the last holdover, hard line regime general.  While regime holdovers remain, they have fled Cuba for other locations (which will be dealt with in future campaigns).  While the CLA spread out across the island to mop up, the Free Cuba Government in Exile (FCGE) was flown in and installed as the interim government.  On 1 April 1990, the island nation announced itself to the world as the new sovereign nation of Free Cuba, and held its first free elections of the new era.  The former commanding general of the Cuban Liberation Army, Generalissimo Jerico Waraldonez, was elected Free Cuba's first president, and the nation was immediately recognized by the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, rapidly followed by Israel, France, Germany, and Italy, and then the UN.

The island nation vowed to never again allow a despot to rule over it, and so a republican constitution was quickly ratified in order to combat that potentiality.  Additionally, it was decided to form a strong military for self defense, governed by civilian leadership.  But the Free Cuban state was scarred by so many years of dictatorial rule, and resolved to aid free nations under attack, and peoples yearning to be free, wherever and however it could.  To that end, the CLA and the regime military was dissolved, and in its place the Free Cuban military was created.  The vast majority of the Free Cuban military comprised the CNDF, or Cuban National Defense Force, charged with safeguarding the homeland from foreign aggression.  But a sizable portion was dedicated to that lofty goal of aiding freedom-loving people worldwide; led exclusively by former members of the CLA, this new entity was known as the Cuban Liberation Expeditionary Force (CLEF).  Based in Free Cuba, it is prepared for worldwide deployment at the prerogative of the Free Cuban government, to protect the weak, to free the oppressed, and to ensure freedom's light is never extinguished (cheesy, I know, but I'm having fun).  The CLEF table of organization will come out in a separate post; from now on there will be a master OOB, and a campaign specific OOB (i.e., showing only the units taking part in a specific campaign, as the entire CLEF will never be deployed to one location).  And it's entirely possible that I end up running separate campaigns concurrently.

With regards to international relations, the government of Free Cuba is none to pleased with Venezuela, given the latter's attempts to prop up the regime by dispatching paratroopers.  President Waraldonez signed a secret executive order stating his intent for the CLEF to conduct covert activities against the government of Venezuela.

One last aspect of the War of Liberation to deal with; early on, CLA Special Operations Forces were inserted into Havana to take over a radio station and broadcast propaganda messages to marshal local militias and alert the local populace to the CLA's arrival.  A fierce firefight broke out, and the CLA troops found themselves in combat not only with soldiers of the regime, but also with members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).  What they were doing in Havana is anyone's guess; interrogation of former regime officials revealed only that Cuba enjoyed its status amongst the non-aligned nations of the world, as did the Islamic Republic, and so the two had relations.  In any case, the CLA and IRGC definitely came to grips in Havana, with that battle being the only 'stand-up' fight between the two entities.  However, following the collapse of the regime, Captain Fordesante's 1st Troop, 5th Tank Battalion was mopping up in Havana and came upon a fortified compound.  CLA troopers moved ahead, attempting to defuse the situation, but it turned out the occupants of the compound didn't respond to communications in Spanish or English.  Multiple attempts were made to make a parley, but things didn't work out as planned, and when a burst of small arms fire was received from the compound, wounding a CLA trooper, Fordesante brought his M-48s on line and leveled the building.  The Islamic Republic was not amused and vowed to even the score.

And there we go, the stage is set; the War of Liberation was just a springboard to other campaigns.  My intent is for Cuba Libre to provide me years of modern gaming material.  I hope you like it.

V/R,
Jack

Forces for Modern Africa Part 4 - Rebel Minis Chinese Infantry

All,

The last set (so far, at least) of troops for Modern Africa are my Rebel Minis Chinese Infantry.  Not sure why I bought Chinese infantry, didn't really fit into any plans that I had, but then it hit me: these guys can serve as UN troops in my Modern Africa setting (not representing Chinese forces, just some nameless, faceless "UN" troops.  Maybe.).

The Rebel Minis Chinese Infantry is a pretty good pack, with 21 guys in seven different poses (I'm loving the large number of different poses per pack).  They're all in helmets, and don't have much in the way of gear.  Also, they are all armed with the same 'bullpup'-type rifle, which is my only real complaint.  I wish there were some with SAWs/LMGs and some form of AT weapon, but now would be the time to inform everyone that Rebel Minis does a separate Chinese Heavy Weapons set.  In any case, for my use as UN peacekeepers, they are good with only rifles.

The whole force of 21 guys, with their distinctive blue domes.  Moving on to the individual poses.

I made up a quick green and gray camouflage to throw on them (shouldn't say made up, I found some pics of Chinese troops wearing something similar), and here you can see the very light gear, just a belt with a couple magazine pouches on the front and a 'Y' harness on the back (hard to see in this pic).

Next up, a guy moving forward at the ready.  I like the sense of motion.

As I've stated previously, the cost of having all these poses is that they can get a bit 'samey.'  This is a different pose than the previous pic, with this guy standing a bit more upright.

Moving forward at the tactical carry.

Moving forward at the alert carry.

Another guy moving forward, between the tactical and alert carries.

Rifleman in the kneeling position, though he has the wrong leg forward...

That's the whole Chinese Infantry pack; nothing too fantastic, but cheap and very quick to paint up and get into action.  Just need to get them into action.

Just to prove I've gotten a little work done on Irishserb's gorgeous AAVs, as well as the fact I bought a couple Peter Pig vehicles from Brookhurst Hobbies.  To show how old this pic is, I actually finished the bottom vehicle and used it in the final battle of Cuba Libre.

A shot of everything I've got ready for Modern Africa.  From top to bottom: 21 blue helmeted UN infantry, 27 African Rebels with 4 Foreign Special Forces 'advisers,' 27 African Government infantry with 4 European 'Security Contractors,' 16 French Foreign Legion troopers, and 14 guerrillas/ mercenaries/paramilitaries (Battlefront Vietnam-era SEALS).  Not sure when they'll see the table though...

On a positive note, tonight I finished up the basing on my 15mm Flytrap Factory USMC and Brit Marines, and I received my Elhiem 20mm troops, got them cleaned up and glued to sticks so I can prime them.  More to come.

V/R,
Jack

Forces for Modern Africa Part 3 - Rebel Minis' Rebels

All,

Part Three of my modern forces for Africa has arrived, and these are once again Rebel Minis from the 'Bongolesia' battle box, which is a super deal containing almost 30 government troops, four contractors/mercenaries, and almost 30 rebels/freedom fighters.  This installment deals with the rebels, to whom I've also attached four Special Forces types left over from the Rebel Minis Special Forces pack I bought (and posted previously, here: http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2015/08/forces-for-modern-middle-east-part-1.html).  The SF guys are trained in unconventional warfare and are here to train and organize the rebels.

So, in the scenario background I have floating around in my head, you have a government element and a rebel element, with the gov't troops trying to maintain power and the rebels trying to take over power.  The gov't hires some mercenaries to help train and organize them, while a sympathetic country sends in SF guys to train and organize the rebels.  There's one more piece to the puzzle, but that will be in my next post.

The whole force, consisting of four Special Forces guys and twenty-seven rebels, all from Rebel Minis and based for Central Africa.

Up first are the four SF guys.  These are all clean, crisp sculpts, easy to paint up.  I didn't use them for my desert Special Forces because I wanted all those guys to have helmets on; these four have bush hats.

You've got a leader with pistol, a guy with an M4-type carbine, a guy with field glasses and slung MP5, and  a guy talking on a radio with slung MP5.  I did them up in US-style Woodland cammies, turned out pretty good I think, though I'm not as happy with the brown color for the vests/gear.

Lets get to the rebels.

And what would a rebel force be without RPGs?  This force is good to go as it has three.  So, right off the bat you can see I did the rebels up as a ragtag force wearing a wild mixture of different military and civilian clothing.  The rockets here look a bit bulbous, but they look fine on the table.

Next three guys, riflemen toting the ubiquitous AK-47, and no sleeves to prove they've got tickets to the gun show...

Three more guys, this time in a good kneeling position.  As with the government troops, this pack has an awesome array of poses.

Three riflemen moving forward.

Three riflemen standing their ground.

Three more on the move.

Three guys firing from the offhand.

Three dudes double-timing it forward.  I really like this pose, and you probably can't tell because there's no one else to reference it against, but this guy is a bit bigger than his buddies.  I like it; everybody shouldn't be the same size.

Some sort of honcho dude, with cowboy hat.  He's the big boss.

Oh crap, I forgot about these!  When I bought my stuff from Rebel Minis, I bought the Bongolesia box and I bought an Ambush Alley Box (Operation Dark Star).  The Bongolesia box came with the hostage on the left, and the Ambush Alley box came with the guy on the right.

Reverse.

Oh, more bonus content: these are Peter Pig casualty figures ().  Real quick job on these: primed green, black boots, flesh, pick out some equipment with a sand color, then throw some red on and fini.

Well, that's that.  I didn't receive my 20mm figs this weekend, so I'm still not ready to start my Balkans campaign (fingers crossed they get here by Wednesday and I can paint them up Friday and play Saturday), but I've been working on other stuff to post here, so stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

Forces for Modern Africa Part 2 - Peter Pig French Foreign Legion

All,

Part two of my 15mm troops for Modern Africa leads us to some Peter Pig Modern French, which I've painted up as Legion Etrangere.  I bought four packs of eight figs: one of officers, one of Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs), one of riflemen in helmets, and one of riflemen in berets.  My force here is 16 troops; I split the overall force down the middle in order to do one in temperate camo and one for the desert (which is not painted yet, still need to get to that).

Here's the whole force: 16 troops, which break down to four guys from each pack.  Four SAWs in 16 troops sounds a bit high, but I'll get over it.  Such is life ordering packs of eight ;)

First up, the officers, which really breaks down into three leader-looking guys and a radioman (far left).  Here you see that I've thrown these guys into camouflage utilities; regretfully I admit I am not happy with my cammie uniforms, but I'm too lazy/busy to go back and re-do them.  I used three colors: a light green, a dark green, and a reddish brown.  It's not that it looks bad, it just doesn't look right for the French cammie uniform.

Two other things: I put helmet covers on about half of the helmeted troops, and, for the first time, I tried using different skin tones.  The African Gov't troops in the last post were dark skinned, but for the French I decided to use three different tones: a bright color for Caucasians, a medium color suitable (I hope) for various Middle Eastern/North African/Asian/Hispanic, and a dark tone for African, all mixed in the same unit.  Nothing ground breaking, but I think it looks good and is pretty cool for representing the Legion.

Reverse of the Officers.  Here you can see I also put these guys in flak jackets/body armor.

The SAW gunners.  I like the poses, but the weapons themselves look just a little stubby.

Reverse of the SAW gunners.

Riflemen in berets; of course, these are my favorite.  Really good, clean sculpts, easy to paint up, and look fantastic.  You guys can let me know if the color I used on the berets looks right.

The other side.

And the riflemen in helmets.  The FAMAS may be a little stubby too, technically speaking, but they look great to me, very nicely sculpted.

Reverse of the helmeted riflemen.

Ah, bonus footage, I forgot!  After I took the above pics I sent off for another order of Peter Pig goodies from Brookhurst Hobbies (who are absolutely amazing, I might add).

So I picked up one of their Land Rovers (please forgive me; it's finished now, but obviously was not at the time of these photos), as well as a pack of the vehicle-mounted machine gunners.  So I painted one of the .50 caliber HMGs as FFL (also have one for the desert Legionnaires).

Another look.  Pretty cool, they have their own stand, so you don't even have to glue them in, which means for fight number 1 I can roll the Land Rover for the French in a temperate environment, then for fight number 2 I can roll out the Land Rover with an African Militia member for the desert.  I like it.

Anyway, that's my French Foreign Legion troops for temperate climates, two more sets of figures for Modern Africa to go.  Looks like this is another painting weekend; I received my 20mm terrain for Spec Ops in the Balkans, but I haven't received the rest of my troops yet; I don't mean to complain, they're not late, I'm just saying I haven't gotten them yet and they need to be painted and based.  Probably get another game in with my older son though ;)

V/R,
Jack