Little Lead Arms Race: 2013

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year and all the best in 2014.

Monday, 2 December 2013

American Engineers.

Finished some engineers for my American battle group. First up the heavy stuff, a M728 C.E.V(USM33) and a M60 AVLB(USM37) both by H&R.

M728 and M60 AVLB

M60 AVLB with bridge deployed.

3 platoons of engineers in M113s (USM11) including a Dragon ATGW, form an Engineering support company.

Engineering coy

The engineering company can also be used to bolster the regular infantry, especially in defence.

Sunday, 1 December 2013

"Warthogs"...

A10 Thuderbolt(USMA417),not the best model from H&R but they paint up just fine. Camo is "European 1" scheme, low vis decals are by Dom's Decals.

A10 "Warthogs"

Too direct these beauties on target are some Forward Air Controllers.

FACs

Next up American engineers.

I did these units for last years Arctic Strike game, since then they have yet to see the light of day. While I was reorganising my Soviets I thought I would take some pictures. All the models are Heroics and Ross.

The CO unit consists of a BMD+30mm(SM20) and a BTRD(SM21), the AA unit is a ZPU23+crew(SM48) and the figures are from the Soviet Airborne Troops(M7).The anti aircraft units in the background are ZPU23s mounted on BTRDs.

Co and air defence units

The Soviets realised that airborne forces are vulnerable to counter attack by enemy forces and often lack the mobility to move far from their landing points .To give their airborne forces the mobility and improved fire they needed the BMD series of air deployable vehicles were developed. The first of these was the BMD1(SM19), listed as "BMD Paratroop" in the H&R lists.

CO and BMD1 battalion

CO and BMD1 coy

In the 1980s the BMD2 was introduced(SM20). This is listed as "DMD+30mm" in the H&R lists.

CO and BMD2 battalion

CO and BMD2 coy

Also used to provide limited fire power to the airborne was the ASU85(SM27)

ASU85

Additional anti tank capability was provided by BRDM3s with Spandrel AT5 atgw(SM25) but these were replaced by a modified BTRD the BTR-RD(Robot) which carries the AT5 Spandrel on a single firing post. These are a simple conversion done a while back.

BTR-RD and HQ

BTR-RD and HQ unit

Monday, 19 August 2013

American Support Units

Support units consist of anti tank, air defence and self propelled mortars organised as direct support under command of a HQ or as general support commanded by the CO.
The anti tank company consists of 4 Improved Tow Vehicles by Heroics and Ros.

TOW vehicles

Air defence is either a M163 Vulcan or M730 Chapparrel, with a pair of Stinger teams in Hummers, all by H&R.

M163 Vulcan & M730 Chapparral

M163 & M730

Hummers

Stinger Teams

Stinger Teams ans Hummers

Finally direct fire support is provided by a M125 81mm mortar carrier and a M106 107mm mortar carrier, both by H&R.

M106 & M125

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

American M2 Bradleys

The Bradley fighting vehicle was Americans response to the Soviet BMP series of mechanised infantry fighting vehicles introduced in the mid 1960s. Faster than a M113, its greater speed allows the infantry to keep pace with with the M1 Abrams.
The Hq consists of a Heriocs and Ros M577 and a M2 Bradley.

The Battalion.

Bradley Battalion

Bradley company

Next; support units.

Saturday, 10 August 2013

American Artillery

Traditionally the main killing arm of any army is its artillery. These units tend to be some of its most technologically advanced units, the American army is no exception, fielding some of the most up to date units of any modern army. The most common of these is the M109 series of self propelled howitzers.
The artillery is organised into 2, 3 battery units and a support vehicle. The M109A1 is by H&R and the M922 FASVV is by Scotia.

Artillery

M109s and M922

Next; Bradley fighting vehicles.

American Armour

The M1 Abrams was a quantum leap in American armour design. Fast, quiet and heavily armoured with the emphasis placed on crew survivability the M1 was a totally different tank from its predecessor the M60, so different a new set of tactics were formulated for the M1 as well as a new infantry vehicle, the M2/3 Bradley fighting vehicle introduced to complement the M1s high mobility.
The HQ stand is 20mmx30mm and has a H&R M1 Abrams and a M577 command vehicle. The M1s are still in their factory applied Forrest Green paint and the M577s are in Winter Verdant MERDC.

HQs

The eyes and ears of the HQs are the recce units. The M3 bradley is Identical to the M2 so to avoid confusion they are painted in MERDC. The only pictures I've seen of Bradleys in MERDC were taken at Fort Hood undergoing trials.

M3s

Two HQs add some flexibility to my M1 battalion as they can be split into 2 separate groups.

M1 Battalion

M1 Company

Next; Artillery

American Command Units

After sometime away from 6mm gaming completing an American Civil War project in 15mm, I now have some Modern American units completed. The MERDC cammo pattern is based on an article by Steven Zaloga, originally published in Military Modelling. I was fortunate to find a copy at the Grimsby club, for those interested a PDF can be found on this site http://www.hobbyhavoc.com/oldhavoc/index.php?topic=1230.0 . At the club we have all decided to base our armies around 1985. This was an interesting time for the Americans as they were undergoing another structural organisation as well as introducing new equipment and transitioning from MERDC to NATO 3 colour camouflage. Because of this you see plenty of older equipment in MERDC and newer equipment in a basic Forrest Green factory finish, as the NATO scheme wasn't officially adopted till about '86/'87. Its this mix of old and new I've tried to depict in my units.
First up is the CO stand on a 40mmx40mm base and consists of a a H&R M113, M577 and a Hummer personal carrier.

CO Stand

Next are the FAO and FAC stands based on 2 pence pieces. These consist of 2 FIST-V artillery observer vehicles and a air liaison team in a Hummer. The FIST-V is identical to the Improved TOW vehicle so this is the model I've used.

FAOs and FAC

Next; American Armour.

Monday, 27 May 2013

American Units WIP

I'm still working on my 80's Americans and have just added a couple of vanity units to the pile. These have no use in game terms but add to the overall effect. Both by Scotia they consist of a M113 Fitters Vehicle(MM0003) for my M113 battalion and a pair of M922 FAASV(MM0051) to keep the M109 artillery batteries supplied.

M113 fiters vehicle and M922

All very nice models the M922 fits very well with the Heroics and Ros M109.

New British and Yet More Soviets!

Some of the guys on the Cold War Commander forum were surprised at the quality of the Heroics and Ross Challenger 2 and Chieftain tank models. I must admit I was impressed with these offerings from H&R an wondered if they had been remolded at some point. This prompted me to dig out the command units I did for my Brits a few years back.

H&R Challenger and Chieftain

Not that you can tell much from the painted models but I think they were probably of the same quality as the newer casts I featured in my previous post.

As I'm doing some new units for the British the unwritten law of the "little lead arms race" comes into force. The Soviets I had been working on had to be finished to maintain the status quo. Some T72s by H&R(SM03). These are T72Ms but they will do as Soviet T72As.

T72 battalion

HQ T72 and BRDM2u

Also recently completed a battalion of H&R T62Ms(SM59). You don't see many pictures of Soviet T62s with sand shields out side of Afghanistan but this is such a nice model I decided to use it anyway.

T62 battalion

HQ T62 and BRDM2

As well as the two tank battalions some more engineering units have been finished. These are all by Scotia and consist of MDK 2M Rotary Excavator (RM0061), a ST210 Mobile Crane(RM0062), a BTM Trench Digger(RM0026) and a TMS65 Decontamination Tank (RM0079)

Soviet Engineering units