To follow up from the buildings, here are the T72s.....almost done! Just have to get some new bases from warbases....accidently got the basic bases that are cut by saw not laser....laser is well worth the extra cost!!!!

Iraq

After finishing a large amount of 10mm WW1 troops for a big game at Wargames Illustrated HQ I am back to my modern stuff.... The T72s are almost finished so I will post those soon...then the BMPs and support weapons! and some infantry....

Concurrent with all this is my terrain, I have base boards and all the stuff I think I need to finish it. So I have 2 "farmlets", 8 1foot square tiles for my town and 2 other larger base boards for some industrial blocks.

I have also picked up quite a few plam trees and some pre-cut mdf shapes to fashion some areas of trees....you have to break up the desert somehow!

This is the photo of where by town currently sits.....looking forward to the finished result!!!

Whilst I have been carefully cleaning up and gluing together my Iraqi horde (over 40 vehicles) I have managed a game against Clive using the Flames of War modern variant from the blog (http://stoppingtheredtide.blogspot.co.uk/). It played well and there was nothing that caused too much concern over being unrealistic....

I will likely try to tie things in more closely to the recent releases for Vietnam and Arab-Israli Wars...sure this will mean armour classes of 20 for M1A1s but I'll see how it goes!

Work still progressing on the buildings as well, I got a few more from Game Craft Miniatures and I also have some oil storage tanks etc for an industrial zone....just need the time to finish it all!!!!

Here's a picture of this week's game of USMC versus generic middle eastern forces.

Finally some helicopter support. Until I build the OV10 Bronco I am using the UH-1 as an FAC team. UH1 is Battlefront as are the bases. AH-1 are Fabbri from ebay sources. The Marine decal should be low visc dark grey but see comments previously re my decal issues, the off white ones are the from a opaque covered decal...the black (and correct) decals are torn up in disgust at the bottom of my bin....grrrrrrr!

Next is what has become my favorite unit so far, the LAV company... all QRF. So Commander, 3 platoons of normal LAV25, 1 recon LAV25, 1 LAV with mortar and finally the LAV-AT. Normal 1 stand = 1 platoon. The turret for the LAV seems a bit thin...I have added machine guns from the Battlefront M113 box, this aids in improving the height of the model. Apparently the mold has been recently chnaged....but these LAVs were very poorly cast for the back in particular. Biggest frustration has been the decals from I-94/Minibits, the LAVs were almost propelled across the room such was my frustration!!! the slightest hint of water and the decals just crumble. I have found the decals that have an opaque sheet covering them are OK but avoid the transparent covered ones at all costs!!!!

Next up is the Battalion Heavy Weapons company. All mounted at this stage, I have models to do the dismounted version but this is not high on the painting plan just yet! All are Peter Pig.The unit is scaled to have 2 TOW sections, 1 with 40mm AGL and one with 0.50cal.

Found a chance to take some updated photos of force. First up is the BGHQ. So the commander, a FST team, 2 mortar teams, 1 AAGW team, recon team with a sniper team and finally the engineer platoon. All infantry are Peter Pig, mortar teams are mostly WW2 US Paras with head swaps. The engineer team is of course a homage to Hurt locker! The Hummers are split, the 2 ones with the canvas top are QRF and the others PeterPig, I wish someone would do an open backed Hummer....then again I own too many already some would say!

Progress...

Well it is the new year and I am committed to trying to keep my progress on my troops more regular, I have finished a UH-1 and 2 AH1s. Next is to finish a harrier and building, then painting a Bronco and my air support will almost be finished.
The LAV company is almost complete, it has been extended to include a mortar variant and a command variant. The Heavy Weapons company is done as well.....next is to add stowage to the LVTP7s. I need to paint the dismounted version's of the heavy weapons platoon..ie: 2 TOW launcers, a 0.50cal and AGL. Then once the M1s are painted the USMC force will essentially be finished... I have weakened and brought M551s so I can extend the forces to cover the airbourne forces in the gulf....and lastly I have a pile of Bradleys, M901s and some support troops to cover the regular army.

Next 2 big projects....first up is my terrain that is coming together slowly. Buildings are the go at the moment (they and the road network are from gameCraft in the US). Lastly is the Iraqi army....2 fold benefits for this. I can game against Clive's Iranians and of course against the marines. I took advantage of the "Stopping the Red Tide" deal at QRF so have a pile of T72s and support and I got a bundle of BMP1s from Old Glory....

I took some shots of a game on the weekend of my USMC defending against Clive's Iranians. We keep tweaking the rules further to try and speed the game up....not 100% successful but we keep trying!