New Battlefront Cold War Tanks on the Horizon

Battlefront previewed newer T-55 AM2 models. This is something I have been hoping to find for the Alcovia project.

Armies Army Makers

A New Idea From Armies Army

Armies Army has been a powerhouse of 15mm vehicle and figure design for some time now. Mostly a manufacturer of 15mm science fiction models, Keith has recently started working with Cold War era machines and troops and has now taken his first steps toward a very cool idea in helping out other up and coming designers. He starts this out with Ben Kerr Barnes' Gaz Tigr in 15mm

The Gaz Tigr is a high mobility 4x4 infantry vehicle with a role comparable to that of the US HMMWV. This vehicle entered service in 2006 with the Russian Army, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Naval Infantry, and has been exported to a number of countries including China. It has been seen recently with Russian infantry in Syria and again in large numbers in Crimea. The standard vehicle can carry 9 passengers with the option of fighting from roof hatches and hinged ballistic windows.

According to Keith, he's waiting for the the master to get to him but says that it looks good for molding. Hopefully we will have this proper, modern Russian vehicle in our hands soon.

Check out the progress of the kit and all other Armies Army products at...

https://www.facebook.com/ArmiesArmy/?fref=ts

Finally Getting Somewhere - New Minis

Over the last year or so, Crisis in Alcovia has taken a back burner to other projects. After abandoning the 20mm angle, I have been waiting for certain ranges of miniatures to start to mature, mainly Eureka's modern Russians.

Not only have I acquired some of these finally, I have also received a number of QRF Cold War era Russians that should make for a fine contract between acovian forces loyal to the crown and with newer equipment and rebel forces that are made up from units with older equipment (one of their main gripes).

I figures these, along with some converted Peter Pig militia types should make for the basics of infantry elements for the Alcovian Civil War. I have added some Khurasan Miniatures Somali militia types to these. They are a bit differently scaled but will work as militia elements on their own. They are really nice and will be painted as ethnic Iqenis.

Last, but definitely not the least, are some of Khurasan's new T-90 tanks. While a lot more recent than the hardware, I had planned to use in the Alcovian conflict, these will represent secret weapons of the crown, issued to elite bodyguard regiments.

I have also picked up some VBLs from IrishSerb. These are great little resin kits and while they are French, they do not look out of place next to Russian hardware. Alcovia purchased a bunch from France's export market. I picked these because nobody makes an Otokar Cobra or any of the other newer Eastern "jeeps".

I'll post more pics as I get things painted. 

-Eli

New Recruits Arrive - 15mm QRF Russians

Thanks to a wonderful net buddy, I am now 64 15mm Russians richer. This gent, kind enough to send me these troops for the price of shipping, has given me a big push into getting the 15mm version of Alcovia going.

While I wait for Eureka and, hopefully, Pole Bitwy get their 15mm modern Russians and Chechens out, I'm planning on painting these cold War era Russians as the sorts of second line troops that make up the bulk of the rebel army in the Alcovian civil war. A few simple conversions should also close the generational gap, but as Alcovia is certainly not Russia, it is easy to imagine they still have some older gear around. Heck, even Russia doesn't have its whole army modernized.

As reward for his kind donation to the cause, I shall be converting a command figure into the donater's likeness as the rebel commander Jonaz Keprozchi (a play on the fellow's real name).

So, thank you to the kind soul who sent the new recruits!

-Eli

Sneak Peak at New 15mm Modern Russians From Eureka Miniatures

While cruising around looking for information on 15mm modern Russians and following up on Eureka's 300 Club project for the same, I stumbled across a blog by an Australian gent called "Wargaming With Barks". Imagine my delight when he had posted pictures of the majority of the range.

Traditional Helmets

Sphera Helmets

While I won't be so crass as to pull all the images off of his blog and re-post them here, I have nicked one simage to post above. Please visit his blog to see the rest and get the full story.

I did ask if he knew how long it would be before we would see these released and he said he believed they were about two months out. I emailed Nic Robson at Eureka to ask, but he is away at Salute and I'll have to wait until he gets back for a direct answer. It's also worth a quick note that in addition to the extensive range of Modern Russians we are also going to see Chechens released near or at the same time. 

Looks like 15mm Alcovia is about to get A LOT easier.

In the meantime, and because I want to make use of these figures to their fullest, I'll be converting some existing minis to militia minis. Most of these are Peter Pig AK-47 and Old Glory NVA figures that I'veh ad languishing about for a bit. I might even be able to mix a few of my Old Glory Vietnam era U.S. Troops as it seems that a fair number of American assault rifles seem to make it into the hands of modern European militias. In fact, whole caches of US arms turned up in raids in Chechnya.

-Eli

Rethinking Scale

I have been thinking that I may have to rethink the use of 20mm as the primary scale for the Alcovia project. Though there are a few models available in 20mm/1:72 that are not found in 15mm, these are few and 15mm supports the scale well. The main thing that 15mm does seem to lack is suitably modern infantry models.

Even those models that there are are relatively few and far between. QRF and Peter Pig both do 15mm modern Russians, but these are all good up to the 80s/90s and both of very generic and aging castings. The 20mm miniatures I have seen go all the way up to current Russians and have much more character in them.

A plan comes to mind to use 15mm for larger scale battles in the open regions of Alcovia, played out on typical 4'x6' or 4'x8' tables at the company level and play the 20mm stuff at the platoon level on 2' x 2' or 4' x 4' board that focus in on a block or two of close-in fighting.

As it stands I already have three T-55s and 3 BTR-152s in 15mm leftover from an aborted project or two.

When it comes down to it, I still want to work with some 20mm miniatures as I never have worked with them before and it does bring back a certain nostalgia from my childhood when I bought box after box of 1:72 models and figures.