Mars T80U

My burgeoning Alcovian arsenal has been enhanced with the addition of a Mars T80U MBT. A surprise win on eBay for 99p plus postage.

 The T80 is a bit advanced for Alcovia but destined to be a Soviet Tank Generica nevertheless. It's a beautiful kit. Recommended

Cheers
Mark

война миниатюры игры

After a fruitless weekend trying to work out how I could make a regular army squad out of the packs currently available from Under Fire Miniatures - and I'm talking combat poses here, not just milling around eating the Russian version of Chicken Supreme rats straight out of the tin or texting the girlfriend on the mobile - I decided to call it quits and bring my handful of remaining (30 years old?) Platoon 20 Modern Russian Motor Rifles up to full platoon strength.

Placed my order with Platoon 20 on the webstore late Sunday night, got an email from Tony on Monday to say they'd been despatched and today, Tuesday, I have them on my kitchen table.

These Platoon 20 miniatures are excellent in their own way. I may have a soft spot for them, but they arrived very well moulded, crisply detailed, no flash, practically nothing in the way of mould seams and are by far superior to the originals that I bought a lifetime ago now. 

The KLMK hooded camouflage oversuit worn by the figures is still fine for modern operations. The M60 (M40) helmet is a little anarchronistic but I may be able to make an impression of the new 6B7 with some Green Stuff if I deem it worth the effort. The M60 proxies for the M68 but this being Alcovia the older pattern M60 helmet is certainly not out of place. There's probably warehouses full of them in Byzerk left over from Cold War Soviet occupation forces.

I also included several packs of Modern Soviet Paras with my order. One pack is destined to have heads swopped with the Motor Rifles, but the rest will become hardened Alcovian milita.

Let me recommend M-SM12 Paratooper Support Weapons (RPK, RPG16) and Command - it's worth buying on it's own. Either as an 'ambush' pack OR simply because the Para BMD crewman/NCO walking with AKSU74 (photo on the left, painted by Mark Griffin) makes a beautifully arrogant militia leader and his buddy firing his AKSU74, is a perfect bodyguard figure.

I already own a few Platoon 20 East German Paras in berets. These will now become nasty Alcovian militia types. The plan is to add a pack of P-DDR6 East German Para Support Weapons with my next order to Tony to beef up their firepower.

So there we have it. Seriously nice figures. A very welcome blast from the past plus some useful additions to my Alcovian forces.

Cheers
Mark

Intelligence Find

Extracts from US Army Field Manual FM100-631 National Forces of Alcovia discovered in the former quarters of personnel from the US 303rd Logistical Studies Group:

These pages were found alongside used return train ticket stubs to the port of Bulgrava and a local bus timetable.

Assault on Rebel Stronghold Continues

April 9, 2011

At the end of week three of the ongoing assault on the river port of Bulgrava, there seems to be no sign of any progress one way or another. Thoroughly ensconced in the maze of warehouses, manufacturing and processing facilities found along the waterside, rebel forces of APA have managed to repel any attempts to storm their position both from land and water.

It is thought that the rebels may be receiving aid from militia elements operating in small boats able to penetrate the scuttled hulks that have been positioned to block access to the harbor by larger ships and military craft. One source even offered the possibility that destabilizing factions from Iqenistan might even be ferrying arms and supplies across the Borka river but no conclusive evidence has been presented for such international interference and the monarchy has yet to make any official government statement on the possibility.

Artillery strikes against the port have destroyed many structures, but helicopter assaults or strikes have proven ineffective and dangerous due to a high number of concealed anti-aircraft assets in and around the port. Hand-held rockets and anti-aircraft gun emplacemrnts have been scene peppering the sky and any approaching aircraft.

In one tragic incident, a helicopter, privately chartered by a relief fund, strayed too close to the port and was shot down. Rebel sources insist that the helicopter was actually carrying commandos for a covert insertion into the port. Nothing has been officially confirmed to support the notion of national forces using civilian craft for military purposes.

Dateline: Slavikova

The crisis in Alcovia worsens today with news of the break away region of Slavikova in North East Alcovia announcing it's independence from the former Sovietbloc ally.

An official spokeman was quick to quash any suggestion that Slavikova has ceded from Alcovia. It was claimed that criminal elements and  gangsters backed by the CIA and KGB are attempting to undermine the confidence of the people of Slavikova in order to profit from the current political situation in Alcovia.

Reuters reports that armed militamen have taken the strategic village of Ivic and gun battles have broken out of the streets of Byzerk, the capital of the region. President Putin has vowed to protect the borders of neighbouring states ajoining Slavikova with whatever force is deemed necessary.

It is known that a small detachment of US military personnel of the 303rd Logistical Studies Group are in the region providing an advisory role to local units of the Alcovian army. The US Army has refused to comment on their current status. The safety and whereabouts of the Group remain unknown.

Looking at More Real Estate

Mark's been doing such a great job of finding bits and pieces that work well for creating the look of Alcovia. I'm really indebted to him and his experience in the hobby. He's been able to source things that I'd never have known about. Following up on some leads of his, I did find a couple more buildings that look like they might work for Alcovia's towns and larger villages.

The buildings I found are from Italeri and are readily available and not too pricey. I've never worked with the kits first hand but the looks of the buildings would update rather easily with just the addition of some more modern roof patches using some tar paper or corrugated tin or iron. The addition of some modern clutter around them would also move them up to present. Cinder block garden walls, a concrete wall patch on a corner, maybe the addition of electric outside lights would also add to the updating.

The "Stone House" model could even be sub-divided into two dwellings, capitalizing on the presence of the two chimneys by the addition of a second set of doors. This might require a bit of cutting and rebuilding, but it would allow the use of the same model to spice add some variety.

Now, I need to find some good shop models.

-Eli

Alcovian Real Estate

Earlier in the week Eli and I were discussing whether there is such a thing as a typical Alcovian village and what it would look like. Looking at Balkan and sub-Russian villages, we find that they vary between region.

Architecture can vary from modern Central-South European to historic and traditional. Construction seems to be a mix cinder block, concrete and wood siding. Roofing again a conglomeration of  (Bitumen) tar paper, shingles and plenty of aluminum.

An unexpected day at home today has given me the opportunity to look at the Miniart 1:72 East Eurpoean Farmyard in detail and you know, it could be perfect with a little work and save on wholsescale scratch building of an Alcovian village set in the regiosn where most of our action is going to occur.

The Miniart kit comes with 4 identical sprues, each with a moulded plastic thatched roof section, a long rendered wall, a short rendered wall, wooden door with smaller inner door and accessories. These walls are whole, you have to cut out your barn doors . There is also a separate 'cottage' sprue which has a long and a short rendered wall, with windows cut out, but you choose if you want to cut out the door.

What this means is that you have enough walls for two buildings plus a long and a short wall left over! Brill! Means that you have the flexibilty to give your farm compound additional walls/lean-to's or create two barns plus a destroyed house. With two Farmyard kits - you have enough spare walls for an extra building!

The Eastern European Village House comes with 2 'cottage' sprues. Mix and matching the walls from the Village House and 2 Farmyard kits gives you the walls for 4 houses plus two barns.

I suggest Slaters or Plastikard Wills embossed  plastic sheets to replace the thatched roofing if you want that true Alcovian look. The thatched roofing can be saved for a later scratchbuilding project. I suggest a mix of pitched and hipped roofs to add variety to the buildings.

The look of the buildings can be further enhanced by giving them a brick, stone or cinder block embossed plastikard course. Maybe even replacing some or all of one or more walls with embossed plastikard cinder block.

 S&S Models rough stone walls, plastered rough stone walls and corrugated iron gates will be perfect for giving character to the larger Alcovian village 'compounds'.

Cheers
Mark