2nd Painting Challenge Entry

For my second entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I embraced my inner squirrel with a trio of separate periods.

First up were 10 Bolshevik infantry in greatcoats from Copplestone Castings. I have long been intrigued by the Back of Beyond setting but have never taken the plunge, but the release of the Dunsterforce supplement for 'Setting The East Ablaze' rule set finally persuaded me to invest in some figures. So these are the first in what will hopefully grow to a decent force to take on all enemies of the Revolution, whether they be reactionary Whites or Imperialist British.

Next up is a squad of Space Marines from the Thousand Sons Legion. I have been a big fan of the Horus Heresy and WH30K setting since the days of Epic Space Marine, so, when GW released boxed sets for 30K, I snapped them up, and have finally got around to putting some paint on. Until more join their ranks, they will form the basis of a Thousand Sons force for Kill Team.

Finally, there are the first two members of Seal Team Bravo (possibly connected to a TV series!) I was going to do the whole team in one sitting but doing all that Multicam camo was too much to face. Hopefully their team-mates won't be too far behind. Both are from Spectre Miniatures and are absolutely outstanding sculpts, full of detail and character. First up is Bravo Seven (from Spectre's Task Force Operators line), a scout with a suppressed MP7:

He is backed up by Bravo 2, a DM armed with a suppressed SCAR-H rifle. He is from Spectre's US Rangers line and the suppressor was an addition made out of 3mm brass rod:

The camo pattern was painted following the guide on Spectre's website and I am quite chuffed with how it has turned out. Now back to the painting table as I am trying to complete my entry for the weekend's Theme Round - Reconnaissance.

Resources for Conflict in Norway

Although I was quite taken with the idea of gaming a modern conflict in Norway, my knowledge of the period was sketchy to say the least. However, thanks to the wonders of the WWW, I was able to quickly start boning up on the forces Norway and her NATO allies would have put in the way of the Red hordes. In the process I came across some really helpful resources.

First off, was a book called 'Red Star, White Lights' by Jason Weiser. It is available as a PDF download at WargameVault and is a pack of 11 scenarios set in Norway, Sweden and Finland against the Russians during the Cold War - perfect! 

The scenarios themselves will be very familiar to anyone who has played Ambush Alley/Force on Force, but are easily adaptable to alternative rulesets (of which more in a moment). They cover conventional main-force clashes, raids on LoC troops, beach landings and SOF operations, as well as ones including Norwegian Home Guard defenders, which I am very keen to try out. 

It also includes some suggestions for special rules to reflect the particular challenges presented by the harsh Arctic environment and sample platoon ORBATS for the armies most likely to find themselves slugging it out in the snow - British, Norwegians, Soviets, but also Finns and Swedes. For someone like me just starting out in this 'period', this is absolutely invaluable information.  Finally, there are suggestions for relevant miniature ranges in 15 & 20mm, and a bibliography for further reading. Thoroughly recommended.

I also came across two excellent blogs. Cold War Gamer has masses of info on the Cold War period, covering ORBATs. modelling, tactics, reviews and more, all nicely illustrated with plenty of eye candy! Cold War Hot Hot Hot is a bit more focused on the models but as a super added bonus Richard has come up with a Cold War version of the Battlegroup WW2 rules by Ironfist. I am a big fan of these rules and so finding this Cold War version was just fantastic. The Cold War version sticks closely to the core BG mechanics and I am looking forward to using them once I have enough troops painted up. Richard has several AARs posted on his blog to illustrate the rules in action. In addition, he has done a host of Army Lists to go with the rules, including Norwegian, Royal Marines and Soviet Arctic Infantry; basically, all the information I could possibly want! These two sites are essential visits if you are at all into Cold War gaming and I am finding them both invaluable as I start out and massively interesting.