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

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

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.

HQ

HQ
 The Battalion.

Bradley Battalion

Bradley company
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

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

M3s
Two HQs add some flexibility to my M1 battalion as they can be split into 2 separate groups.

M1 Battalion

M1 Company

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

CO Stand

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

FAOs and FAC
Next; American Armour.