A word from Chris Bennett of the The Phalanx Consortium

May 24, 2014, 2:51 am

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We asked Chris from Phalanx Consortium to introduce himself as he is now running the USA side of Skirmish Sangin for us, you can buy US based products through www.skirmishsanginusa.com here is what he wrote:

Greetings Everyone,

As the new North American distributor of the Skirmish Sangin line of rules and figures we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves to the Sangin community at large. The Phalanx Consortium was initially established as a tabletop miniatures accessory and figure design group made up of designers from across the US to fill a need that many game developers have in bringing their game system to life.

As our company has increased its client base the opportunity presented itself to add a distribution side to our business model specifically supporting small/start up game designers who might not have had the opportunity to establish distribution channels into the North American market.

In growing our business in this direction Colin and I began the distribution conversation back in January of this year and have been hard at work since then to establish production and publication capacity through our affiliated vendors as a licensed producer of the Sangin line. This means that each figure and book sold in North America is directly produce within the US which has considerable benefits for both companies as well as our customers. We also plan on supporting Sangin at regional and national conventions during the remainder of this year, with further expansion in 2015.

We look forward to having the opportunity to serve Radio Dishdash Publishing and the Sangin community now an in the future, with our commitment to representing both groups to the best of our talents and abilities. To all happy gaming!

Sincerely,

Chris Bennett
Owner and Chief Designer

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Pooch- Australian SAS Finished

May 27, 2014, 4:18 pm

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Just to prove that I am actually painting soldiers, as well as having fun building cardboard MRAPs, here are some Australian SASR (Special Air Service Regiment) soldiers I finished recently.

They are from Empress Miniatures, and the full team of 6 is made up from their US Special Forces pack as well as a couple of single figures.

The sniper miniature is a single figure that used to be a freebie from them with a ruleset, but you can now buy it as a single figure. I didn't really like the head that it came with, so replaced it with one of the newer Auzzie helmets. Pretty simple really, but I like the figure a whole lot more now!

Enough for now, that sniper picture is really reminding me that I need a proper photography set up (natural light+desert coloured buildings = bright!)

What next? I have a few things I want to finish, so hopefully something soon....

Pooch

Empress Miniatures to stock Skirmish Sangin Books

May 28, 2014, 6:43 pm

≫ Next: Skirmish Sangin Competition – Call to Arms 16/17 August 2014

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Radio Dishdash Publishing (RDDP) is proud to announce that Empress Miniatures will now be stocking our books in the UK. 

This is just the beginning of what we hope to be an exciting collaboration between the two companies. We have in the works many ideas and plans to bring out new products in the new too distance future.

Colin Phillips (RDDP)– “We have been looking to find the right partner in the UK for along time. Our recent trip to attend Salute gave us the opportunity to discuss ideas with Empress and we found a lot of common ground”

Paul Eaglestone (Empress)– “We knew the Sangin Guys from the forums for a number of years. Then they asked to use our miniatures for the photography of Skirmish Sangin and they look absolutely fantastic. They are as passionate about modern wargaming as we are, so then it was just a matter of finding the right project for us all to work on.”

Watch out for more news in the near future.

Skirmish Sangin Competition – Call to Arms 16/17 August 2014

June 2, 2014, 10:08 pm

≫ Next: Craig H- Painting the Bundeswehr

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Call to Arms, Wellington New Zealand -  16/17 August 2014

Firstly our apologies to all those who read this living in places other than New Zealand, we realise its frustrating to read about event you can't attend (Of course if you can get here, you can play, we'll make sure of that) but as other events happen globally we will put that information out  - Colin

Introduction:

Welcome to the first Skirmish Sangin competition. Our aim is to provide a narrative competition, the over arching scenario called “Operation Civilisation” this has ISAF trying to dislodge the Taliban out of the green zone, a contested area somewhere in the Helmand province.

The success or failure of this mission will be decided by your results as commanders on the ground with your results contributing to the success or failure of the ISAF mission. Narrative elements will come into play and we will work hard to make this competition as much fun as possible. This is the player’s pack, which will contain important information; specialist rules and any other additional information we think may be useful.

Overview:

All current forces - so that's all forces listed in Skirmish Sangin and Sangin Despatches no.1 are allowed.

A short note on force building

Skirmish Sangin is a narrative based game and while the rules will allow someone to turn up with 16 Novice Taliban all armed with RPG’s (16x25 = 400pts + 16x35 = 560pts for a total of 960pts) this is not in the spirit of the game and the force will be refused.

This competition is not for players who want to win at all costs but for players who want to have fun both winning and losing, and who bring forces that accurately reflect the battlefield of modern Afghanistan.

Each player will be asked to develop two forces:

• An ISAF force
• A Taliban/Insurgent force

If you could indicate which of the two is your preference for the tournament we will try to accommodate your first choice as much as possible. We will have spare miniatures available for those who do not have an alternate force.

Each force can be up to 1000 points each and cannot include any off table or advanced rules elements; these will be allocated for at the beginning of each game, depending on the narrative.

All forces must be WYSIWYG, your miniatures need to accurately represent the primary weapon that the figure is using and must be painted.

ISAF players must adhere to ISAF structures for their Fire-team and the Taliban are limited to 3 RPGs per force. Please note that all character BODY rating will be rolled before the start of the competition on Saturday morning.

All forces must be submitted at least a week prior to the event for approval.

If you also have suitable Afghanistan terrain that we could use for the weekend, please let us know.

Registration and Cost

See Wellington Warlords website:

http://www.warlords.org.nz

How will the competition run?

The competition is limited to 10 players and each player will play 5 games over the weekend with either their Taliban or ISAF force.

The results of your games will decide the success of Operation Civilisation. Craig and I will be updating you before each game and throughout the day on the availability of off table assets.

As each game will be scenario based, in some instances the different tables will interact with each other e.g. a mortar fired on one table may well hit on another table. Requests for a MEDEVAC chopper may be delayed if the chopper is already rescuing someone on another table. The idea is that each game forms part of the battlefront and have the issues for each commander dictated by the overarching battle.

Scoring

Games are scored by the victory points earned per game, with all victory points going towards the ISAF and Taliban totals. At the end of the final game the side with the most total victory points will decide the success of Operation “Civilization”.

Players will also have an opponent score card and these will confidential and handed to the referees.

Score	Description
0	Your opponent more than occasionally displayed behaviour you would classify as borderline cheating and was not what you expected to face when playing a narrative game. The opponent played against the narrative, e.g. moving figures towards unseen opponents, were argumentative or unpleasant to play against
1	Your opponent's behaviour clearly detracted from your ability to enjoy the game. They refused to resolve rules disputes amicably or displayed an unsavoury attitude throughout the game - whether too much gloating when winning or too much bitterness when things didn't go their way. PLEASE NOTE calling over an Umpire for a rules dispute is regarded as an amicable outcome and should not be punished.
5	Your opponent gave you a decent amicable game or better Your opponent was essentially in line with, or exceeded your expectations of another player's behaviour. Rules queries were decided amicably. Nothing they did detracted from your ability to enjoy the game, other than maybe having beat you but you can hardly hold that against them...

We expect all of the games to be scored at a 5, people should come to the games wanting to enjoy the game with their opponent and roll some dice. At the end of the day, this is toy soldiers; we are here to have fun!

There will be a number of prizes, which will be based around the narrative aspects of the campaign, rewarding those who are really getting in to the narrative of the games.

What you need to bring

Any gaming material that you require to play, including:

• Your army!
• At least two copies of your Army Roster
• Pen and paper
• Main Rulebook and Sangin Despatches No.1 if relevant
• Tape measure
• Some d10 and d6

·      We also recommend you have a set of tokens, and a copy of the grenade template

Time table

Saturday 16^thAugust

9.00am – Briefing

9:30am – 11.30am     Round 1

1.00pm – 3pm            Round 2

3.30pm – 5.30pm       Round 3

Sunday 17^thAugust

10.00am – 12.00am   Round 4

1.00pm – 3pm            Round 5

3.30pm                       Prize giving

Craig H- Painting the Bundeswehr

June 5, 2014, 4:01 pm

≫ Next: Ray- Gaso-Line Vehicle Review

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Craig H has returned, this time he is looking at how he painted his Fallschirmjäger from Eureka Miniatures. While he claims to be not much of a painter, he has done a mighty fine job on these I think! Now to persuade him to come out for a game..... Over to Craig

Let me get started by saying I’m a complete novice when it comes to painting. My only real experience was painting a Skaven Blood Bowl team back in the 1990s – and they came out looking more like a retro 80s New Wave fluro boy band than a menacing Chaos-warped football team (Chaos offers gifts in many ways....-Ed). So I approached painting my Bundeswehr force with trepidation.

I took a lot of time to do some research first. German uniforms use a disruptive camouflage pattern known as flecktarn (or flecktarnmuster). This is a combination of the words Fleck and Tarnung and together simply means ‘spotted camouflage.’ As the name suggests this is a pattern of colours to create a dithering effect, to eliminate hard boundaries. The standard Western European pattern is a 5-colour scheme of greens, browns and black.

Bundeswehr Wustentarn, or desert camouflage, is the special design utilised in Afghanistan. It cuts out two colours and goes for a simple 3-colour scheme of khaki tan, with medium brown and dark green spots. And when I say spots I mean really small ones, but more on that later…

Suprisingly, Craig has decided to go without the non-regulation headgear!

Starting out, I mounted the team on some old Warhammer bases I had lying around. I then primed the team with white primer. I thought long about whether to use black instead but white worked quite well to create the lighter look I was aiming for. Shopping around, I settled on a range of paints from Vallejo and Tamiya as well as some washes from Games Workshop.

Finding the base ‘khaki tan’ colour turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. I tested a range of options and initially tried out a test figure with Tamiya Desert Yellow, and then Vallejo Iraqi Sand. However, I found these efforts resulted in a base colour that looked too brown when combined with the other camouflage colours. The tan is intended to get a lighter brown result. In the end I went with Vallejo Buff , which by itself gives the figures a butter cream look (and reminded me of a 1970s Volvo 66 my father used to own). Don’t worry though – in combination with the other two flecktarn colours it turns out quite well.

Next was painting the faces and arms in Tamiya Flat Flesh (XF-15) (with a Reikland Wash from GW), then another light layer of Flat Flesh for the cheeks, chin etc. With the weapons I sent with a black base. I intend to put highlight over the weapons , but for now that gives a good contrast colour.

So on to the tricky part, the spots. I chose Tamiya NATO Green (XF-67) and Vallejo Beige Brown. I went for a beige shade rather than a darker brown as I felt this seemed to reflect the small difference with the base colour. Looking closely at actual photos, I saw that the pattern of the dots is not uniform or random. In a lot of places, the browns and greens flow into ‘splotches’ of colour, with dots cascading from the edges. These the splotches are often seen along the pants inside leg, or on the inside of the arms, as a way of breaking up the soldier’s silhouette.

The toughest thing was to avoid adding too many spots, particularly the green ones. In reality, there are large areas that are completely clear of brown or green spots. Although it is a 3-colour scheme, the green appears a lot less than the other two colours. This makes sense in a desert environment, but getting the right distribution is tricky. A couple of times I had to repaint over areas that seemed just too predominantly green.

So, with an unsteady hand and a fine detail brush I got to work. Getting the spots as small as possible and appropriately spaced proved difficult. In the end I settled for a more general pattern. The spots may be bigger than reality, but I consider that the outcome captured the essence of the flecktarn design.

For the boots, I went with Tamiya Desert Yellow (XF-59) or Tamiya Khaki (XF-49) for the webbing and side packs etc. This served to add a little variety to the colour scheme. Finally, I used brown wash in the folds of the fatigues for shadowing and along the seams to make them stand out.

The bases I painted in Vallejo Iraqi Sand, and added some desert flocking as a layer. Finally with a fine detail brush I added a German flag in black, red and gold.

All in all I’m reasonably happy with the outcome, for what was only my second effort at painting. More practice and less caffeine would have probably ended up with smaller, closer grouped spots, and a finer level of detail but I think that these are a good representation of what a Bundeswehr combat team would look like. There are a few touch-ups required, such as buckles, and getting the combat canine right but for now I think they’re ready for combat.

While I haven’t gotten the painting bug (yet) I am already thinking about a new project. There’s an Empress Miniatures Force Recon team on my shelf that, with a couple of conversions, would look good in Polish GROM colours. Already back to hitting the websites for some research…

Craig

So there you have it, a good way to paint those desert Germans you have lying around! Now Craig, it is time to get those Germans out on patrol!

Ray- Gaso-Line Vehicle Review

June 10, 2014, 5:38 pm

≫ Next: Alex McE- Painting better Baddies- eventually!

≪ Previous: Craig H- Painting the Bundeswehr

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Ray has made all of us here very jealous by buying some of the Gasoline Vehicles. Not only that, he has been able to have enough time to assemble and paint them, and they look lovely! But I will let Ray tell you all about them....

It’s been a while since I lasted posted anything on the blog so apologies to everyone for that. Like most gamers I tend to be very easily side-tracked by anything shiny and new. This time it was my son deciding that Saga looked interesting and rushing off to buy some Anglo-Saxons. So of course Dad had to do some Vikings to take them on. Ahh well, back into the swing of things in the 21st century now so here goes with another Sangin article.

Now that I’ve painted enough infantry to do a French platoon I thought I might give a bit of a low down on the Gaso-Line vehicles.

I fell in love with these when I saw the range of vehicles these guys produce but never having bought any, and not being a huge fan of resin vehicles I was a wee bit hesitant to splash out hand earned dosh on spec. I’ve had a few bad experiences in the past with resin vehicles either not fitting together properly or being so covered in flash that you have to spend hours tidying the damn things up. I much prefer plastic kits but the modern range in 1/48th is limited to say the least.

So I bit the bullet and ordered the French VAB. The Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB) entered service with the French army in the mid 70’s and is still going strong. Admittedly it’s had more than a few upgrades over the years but its longevity really has to be admired.

I also ordered a French reconnaissance VBL. Compared with the VAB the Véhicule Blindé Léger is the baby of the army. It was developed during the late 80’s as a light, air transportable amphibious all-terrain vehicle and entered service with the French army in the early 90’s. There are lots of variants in service including some armed with Milan missile systems.

I was going intending to get the AMX10RC to provide a bit of back up I but figured that its presence at skirmish level would be a bit too overpowering. I have to say though it’s a stunning looking vehicle and I’m pretty sure I’ll succumb to temptation at some point soon and order one! (Don't worry Ray, I will write you a scenario for the AMX10RC when you buy it!- Ed)

The kits arrived quickly, much more quickly than I anticipated in fact and, as well as being impressed with the service I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the casting. There was a bit of flash on the mouldings but nothing too dramatic and half an hour tidying up the kits was time well spent.

Having been raised on a healthy diet of Airfix kits I’ve become accustomed to “Glue parts A and B to part C etc.” so one of my concerns was how easy they would be to put together. Given Gaso-Line is a French company, and with my French being non-existent, I was worried about not having any English instructions included. Luckily, this time pretty much everything was done by pictures with the only writing being a list of the parts provided. In saying that, it definitely pays to sit down for half an hour and have dry run with the kits so you are clear in your head where everything is supposed to go as some of the parts are very fiddly.

Now at this point I have to make an apology. I completely forgot to take any shots of the vehicles before completion so you’ll just have to take my word for everything!

The bulk of the kits are obviously resin however both had the smaller parts made out of brass and the VBL has rubber tyres that clip over the wheel mounts.

Everything went together remarkably easily once I had cleaned off the flash. The hull of the VAB comes in two parts (top and bottom) which fit together very well with no obvious gaps. Wheels etc. all fit snuggly onto the axles and don’t look like they are likely to fall of anytime soon.

The VAB has a couple of optional parts. The earlier versions of the vehicle have an amphibious capability so you can model it with (or without) propellers, I decided to leave them off and do the bang up to date version.

The most fiddly bits are the machine gun mountings for both kits and the other brass edged bits and pieces, particularly the wing mirror mounts. I’ve spent many frustrating hours rigging 1/1200 scale Napoleonic ships so this wasn’t too bad (masochist- Ed), but there was a reasonable amount of swearing involved.

In the next part I’ll go into a bit of detail about how I painted the kits but suffice to say I would have no hesitation about ordering more of these Gaso-Line kits. They go together excellently and the quality of the castings is first class.

In the meantime, have a look at the Gaso-Line range if you haven't already done so, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised, I certainly was!

Those are some dusty French vehicles there Ray! Now having seen these in person and in the photos, they are lovely. Gasoline make some cracking model kits, and it is taking all of my willpower to not buy any. Those who know my willpower in regard to buying model kits will know that I will be buying something from them in the next week or two, I am just that weak!

You will have to give us a picture of the whole French Platoon too, with their transports!

Alex McE- Painting better Baddies- eventually!

June 13, 2014, 2:57 pm

≫ Next: New Taliban coming very soon!

≪ Previous: Ray- Gaso-Line Vehicle Review

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Alex McE is back, this time with a whole lot of painted Insurgents. He has adopted a few bright colour schemes, a lovely deep red which he has used as the symbol for his band of fighters. Anyway, over to Alex....

Lesson: it takes a gentle reminder from Pooch and a quiet weekend for me to finally break radio silence. It’s not been a great few months in real world for me and a lot of things – notably my hobby time – haven’t been as productive as I would have liked.

That aside, this has taken too damn long! Without further ado – baddies!

Here’s my Warlord and his buddy with an RPG. Everyone knows RPG warheads are red right? (I have seen some in strange colours, so sure, why not red- Ed) The Warlord is rocking mirror shades, a red beret and an ANP uniform.

Next up are the support weapons. I totally dig the dude in the baseball cap with his RPG17. Football team emblem still to be done!

Then the grunts – these are the guys rocking good old fashioned assault rifles and who are just all style, all the time.

In the penultimate photo my favourites – the dudes in Type 99 Chinese Marine Camo. I’m super happy with these ones – more than any of the others and the guy in the bandana is just rocking his fashion choice. (It is just an odd looking colour palatte isn't it?- Ed)

Lastly, the one figure in this collection I really don’t like. But it’s okay, because if the nice people at Empress are going to sculpt you wearing a dorky tracksuit then I am pleased to oblige. Someone didn’t get the “best camouflage gear” memo:

In terms of the colour palettes – if anyone wants to know I’m happy to share. My crappy cellphone pics and pretend lightbox on top of the fridge don’t work that well when the ambient light in the house is as bad as it was on Sunday night

As far as the models go, they’re really nice. It’s an interesting combination of weapons and I love the little details – most are wearing webbing and they’re generally well posed. I’m not crazy on their faces but in this group of models, that’s not such an issue.

And now? I get stuck into the 17 conventional Taliban sitting on my painting table that are based and awaiting a day that isn’t freakishly cold and damp in my basement so I can prime them!

So the Insurgency is going well for you then Alex! I do love the brightness of the red, and how it contrasts with all the other more traditional dull military tones. That being said, the Chinese camo is just such an odd base colour, I can't quite get my head around it. And the tracksuit wearer, just screams Russian mafia from a Guy Ritchie film. At least you didn't give him a Pink Kappa tracksuit!

New Taliban coming very soon!

June 15, 2014, 1:51 pm

≫ Next: Tom- NZSAS Painted!

≪ Previous: Alex McE- Painting better Baddies- eventually!

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So soon in fact, that we have had enough time for Craig to get a set of them painted!

This is the first set of four Taliban, two armed with AKs, one with an RPG and one with a PKM. All have been sculpted by eBob.

These Taliban will soon be joined by even more Taliban (funny how that happens) which are currently being sculpted by eBob. We hope to have these available from www.empressminiatures.com and skirmishsangin.com in the next few days.

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Tom- NZSAS Painted!

June 19, 2014, 1:45 pm

≫ Next: Mogadishu Ranger and Mud Brick House

≪ Previous: New Taliban coming very soon!

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Tom is back, this time with a whole lot more painting done. Making up for the bright and garish colours of his first painting post by using the same technique to the more drab colours of the NZSAS. Although, I do notice that Tom has snuck in a few bright colours still, perhaps using a bright blue to counter the bright red of Alex's Insurgents? Over to Tom....

I have been busy and made some progress....... eventually.

With the Sangin narrative competition coming up soon (Call to Arms. You should enter, details are here- Ed) I have been spurred on to complete my NZSAS. So backing up Willie Apiata VC we have a team of NZSAS armed with a Minimi, a couple of M4s with M203 UGLs and a sniper all from the Empress miniatures range. The Empress figures took a bit of filing back and I missed a bit and once the base coats were on I needed to go back and do a bit more filing - boo hiss!

Then it was getting the painting complete. I painted them the same way I did Willie but unfortunately none of my work in progress shots came out.

I started with a Tamiya light grey undercoat to get a nice light finish. The base coat of the model was Vallejo Green Ochre, with Canvas for the pouches, Black for the weapons and Dark Flesh for the... flesh. I picked out my officer with a blue denim shirt - the SAS are notorious for varying uniforms - and this is a small homage to that tradition as the rest of the models really are quite standard. (And a lovely denim shirt it is. Known to his mates as Cowboy?- Ed)

I shaded the uniforms with heavily watered down Agrax Earthshade (citadel ink) and the skin with Serephin Sepia (citadel ink).
From the shades I took the uniforms back up to Green Ochre and then highlighted Dark Sand (Vallejo). The Canvas was taken back to Canvas and then highlighted with a mix of Dark Sand and Canvas. The skin went back to Dark Flesh from shade to Basic Skin Tone with a final highlight for chins, nose and under the eyes of Light Skin (all Vallejo).

The Camo is Chocolate Brown with a stripe of Brown Sand down the middle (both Vallejo).

The Sniper and Spotter are lovely models and I decided to blend the rifle in as well - a joy to paint these two.

Right now all I need to do is prepare for Call To Arms - building a list - 1000 points mmmmm........

Looking good there Tom! Is that a wee NZ fern I spy on one of the baseball caps? As to the army list for CTA, this whole NZSAS patrol I would think will work out around 1000- 9 Elite soldiers is your first 900 points, leaving you just a 100 points to kit them out. You might have to leave one or two of them at home, otherwise your poor NZSAS boys might not have any cool kit!

Mogadishu Ranger and Mud Brick House

June 27, 2014, 4:27 pm

≫ Next: Dougie- Renedra 1/56th scale 28mm Mud Brick House

≪ Previous: Tom- NZSAS Painted!

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US Mogadishu Ranger

This is the first digital cut of our new Mogadishu Ranger. They can also be used for the early Afghanistan war and the war in Iraq.

This is part of the series we are getting ready for our release of Maalintii Rangers (Somali for Day of the Rangers) otherwise known as Blackhawk Down to you chaps. Think New Year probably.

This is the first digital sculpt we have done and we are using a US sculptor through our US distributor Phalanx Consortium. We are getting very excited about it.

Now obviously we have to work out a few bugs from the system as we learn how to 3D print the master but its definitely coming along in leaps and bounds. We keep you uptodate as we can.

Renedra Mud-brick house

Now I have obviously been hiding under a rock since SALUTE 2014 (Desperately trying to Sangin Despatches No.2 finished - hopefully August-September time) as I completely missed this short review Model Dads did that followed up their review of our game. The competition has finished but nevertheless its a good little review. The good news is that Renedra have made this great little model that gets cheaper the more you buy. If only everything worked like that.

Dougie- Renedra 1/56th scale 28mm Mud Brick House

July 1, 2014, 1:03 pm

≫ Next: The Phalanx Consortium is bringing Skirmish Sangin to Historicon!

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I know that Colin wasn't the only one drooling over the Renedra Mud Brick Houses. How do I know that? Because Dougie has sent through some lovely pictures of his finished version. There are some more pictures up already on his blog (here) be sure to check them out!

Haven’t done an update in a while due to work, however the good news is I started my pre-retirement leave on June 21st and I’m officially retired on 18th July, Woo Hoo!

My second PARA fireteam is progressing well but in the meantime thought I’d show what I’d done with Renedra’s new 28mm Mud Brick House, its fine for Afghanistan as well as other locales, injection moulded plastic and there’s also an accessory frame with domes, extra walls, a canopy and some useful pots and bowls!

Here’s a shot of the box with some of my other Salute purchases!

Is that an M-ATV I spy back there Dougie? If so, you should head to Queeg's site to see his ones....

Assembly takes a couple of minutes then greenstuff to fill the gaps, you can do this quite roughly as this adds to the ramshackle look of these buildings

I cut a 2mm MDF base and primed it grey

Painted and based using my normal method of layering and washes, a distressed green door and a few tufts added.

I’ve ordered some detail items from Black Cat Bases here in the UK, farm implements and tools etc, but these haven’t arrived yet so in the meantime I’ve added a couple of pots and an AK!

A couple of close ups:

In theatre:

Next update will be the completion of my 2nd PARA fireteam then either some Eureka Talibs or a Javelin Team.
Dougie

Looking really good Dougie! Doesn't take much to convert a 20mm table of terrain into a 28mm table does it? And as for the Renedra houses, you have made it look really good, I just hope I can do the same on the set I am starting!

The Phalanx Consortium is bringing Skirmish Sangin to Historicon!

July 3, 2014, 3:10 pm

≫ Next: Taliban available now, and a Competition!

≪ Previous: Dougie- Renedra 1/56th scale 28mm Mud Brick House

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Chris from Phalanx has this to say...

The Phalanx Consortium will be at Historicon 2014 (July 17-20th). We'll be at Booth 110 in the Exhibitor’s Hall and will be featuring Skirmish Sangin Modern Warfare Rules, who we are now the exclusive distributors for in the USA and Canada.

We’ll be running demos at our booth during hall hours. We’ll also have copies of Skirmish Sangin and Sangin Despatches No.1 and the full range of Modern Aussie/Kiwi 28mm figure range available for sale at the booth. So now is the perfect time to build up those fire teams for your battles in Afghanistan and other modern theatres.

In addition to those great products we will be sneak previewing future releases from Radio Dishdash both on the supplement and figures side.

So please drop by and say, “Hello!”, and pick up a copy because in the words of one reviewer, “If you want a modern-period skirmish game, it is worth picking up a copy. You will not be disappointed …” – Paul Burkin – Wargames Soldiers & Strategy (Issue 66).

See you there!

Taliban available now, and a Competition!

July 13, 2014, 3:50 pm

≫ Next: Sneak peak at the Historicon Demo board

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Our gorgeous new Taliban Painted by Craig Watterson

We promised that our Taliban were not too far away, and they are ready NOW!

All you need to do is head to our good friend Empress Miniatures website or our own skirmishsangin.com, and pick yourself up a set (only available in the UK at present but soon to be available in the USA). They are also stocking our range of Kiwis/Auzzies, so you can pick yourself up some of them too!

To commemorate our first set of 4 Taliban, we thought it time for a competition...

SHOW US YOUR INSURGENTS!

We don't show enough pictures of painted Taliban miniatures on this blog, so with the release of our Taliban miniatures, it is time we corrected that!

What do you need to do?
Simple, send us a picture of a single figure, group or vehicle from your Taliban force- any manufacturer welcome! Once we have received the entries, we will collate them all and post pictures up on our blog of the entries. Winners will be chosen at random from our entrants, all of the winners will be sent a free set of our first four Taliban!

Where do I need to send the pictures?
You need to send them to me, chris@skirmishsangin.com

How long have I got?
Entries need to be received by the 31st July. Plenty of time to get something painted!

Now to tantalise you even more, below are the first of the next set wave of Taliban, these will soon to be in production.

And there are more than that on the way!

Get painting!

Pooch

Sneak peak at the Historicon Demo board

July 16, 2014, 1:05 pm

≫ Next: Game last night

≪ Previous: Taliban available now, and a Competition!

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Chris from Phalanx Consortium our USA distributor is just about ready to roll to Historicon and posted us this sneak peak of his demo board, and this is just half of it, he is keeping us in suspense about the other half.

It looks fantastic, the detail is out of this world and I bet it looks even better in the flesh, I so wish I was going, I am absolutely sure its going to be a real hoot. So if your one of the lucky ones going don't forget to rock up and have a chat with Chris and even play the demo on that beautiful table.

He is going to have all of our goodies for sale, so it will be a great place to stock up on books and figures etc.

Over the next few days he is going to be sending us some pics of the con, so we will post them up as we get them.

Game last night

July 17, 2014, 4:05 pm

≫ Next: More on Historicon

≪ Previous: Sneak peak at the Historicon Demo board

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Last night as part of the preparation for the Wellington Warlords - Call to Arms narrative competition Chris, Craig H and I had a game of..... yes you have guessed it Skirmish Sangin.

Craig H fielded his Germans, a group of hardened Bundeswehr troops on a mission. While I sneakily prepared the Taliban for Chris to play.

Having promised Craig, the Taliban would cheat and take a gun to knife fight, Craig came ready to do battle. The terrain looked like this:

The scenario was:

ISAF acting on Information has been received and confirmed by ICOMS chatter that the Taliban in the village of Musa-musa has hid an arms cache. ISAF decides as to launch a raid against Musa-musa, knowing that any raid carried out over land will result in the Cache being moved before they can close the answer is to chopper a squad into Musa-Musa to find and hold the cache until vehicle assistance can arrive on the scene.

The Taliban in the mean time seeing the Mosquito (Pashtun slang for Helicopter) race back to protect their cache.

Basically a meeting engagement with a difference.

Now I only have Pooch's pics at the mo and as he played Taliban we only have the Taliban side of the story.

Below: The game started with the Taliban sprint champion of the world piling across the board and running through the tall poppy field, I can almost hear his giggling as he ran with his RPG into the cornfield closely followed by a few others. This guy later, went on to kill the German sniper with his RPG.

 Below: Other Taliban raced for the high ground with their heavy weapons (PKM)

Below: The above shows the concerted effort to move up by the Taliban. It was a running counter bonaza

Below: The best shot of the game came from a running German, he spotted and fired while running, for a successful hit. Scratch one T.

Taliban reinforce the high ground.

Below: Towards the end of the game the Taliban bring out their novices knowing full well that only numbers will count.

Hopefully more pics to follow when Craig H sends me his pics which I presume will tell Germans side of the story.

So in the end it was a small victory for the Taliban, although the smaller german force really held there own right to the end.

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More on Historicon

July 21, 2014, 1:02 pm

≫ Next: The Germans side of the battle of the Arms Cache

≪ Previous: Game last night

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Here are a few pictures from Historicon, now its all over I think Chris will be having a few days rest but thought you would like to see what went on.

Above Chris working hard to demo games to people, below more eye candy of the table

The stand in all its glory

The Germans side of the battle of the Arms Cache

July 21, 2014, 9:28 pm

≫ Next: Insurgents Competition ending soon!

≪ Previous: More on Historicon

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As promised, here are Craig H's images from the game we had last week.

Below: So this is what it looked like from the german edge of the table, crops and compounds everywhere.

Below: The early German moves were to secure the first compound and get their Marksmen on the roof, ably supported by his team members as they secured the first building.

Below: The marksman scanned looking for  the enemy but failed his spot roll. Unfortunately he was too mush of a target and was killed with a RPG round from the Taliban in the corn/poppy field

BELOW: In the meantime the Taliban Olympic sprint champion had crossed 36" of terrain to move into hand to hand combat with the German NCO. A vicious fight ensued that went on for a while.

BELOW: On the opposite side of the table the Germans were gaining ground, fast moving toward the second building, Each man covering the other.

BELOW: Unfortunately one German was a little too eager and was hit, his team mate quickly running up to administer first aid, rolls a 00 a fumble, so he actually made the wound worse and the screaming German now made everybody in his team take Morale rolls.... they made them as they are made of stern stuff.

BELOW: In the middle of the table, the more cautious Germans used all available cover to move towards the enemy.

Unfortunately that's all the images we have, but the Germans did well for over 3/4 of the battle when eventually their casualties began to tell, as they moved men to the rear for CASEVAC. It was a narrow victory for the Taliban.

Insurgents Competition ending soon!

July 27, 2014, 7:47 pm

≫ Next: Call to Arms preperation- Pooch's ISAF Army List

≪ Previous: The Germans side of the battle of the Arms Cache

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Entries have been rolling in for our Taliban competition, both in 20 and 28mm and from a variety of manufacturers.

We have been really impressed with what we have received, so keep them coming in!

You have until the end of the month to get your pictures in to us. All you need to do is to send us a picture of your painted insurgent models, then we will collate them all and then get them put up on the Skirmish Sangin blog. We will be choosing our winners at random too, so make sure you get your pictures to us!

All the details you need are here, so get your entries in!

Chris

Call to Arms preperation- Pooch's ISAF Army List

July 30, 2014, 3:51 pm

≫ Next: Call to Arms preperation- Pooch's Taliban Army List

≪ Previous: Insurgents Competition ending soon!

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DON'T FORGET TO SEND US PICTURES OF YOUR INSURGENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A SET OF OUR BRAND NEW TALIBAN MINIATURES! ENTRIES CLOSE VERY SOON.......

The first Skirmish Sangin tournament is only a few weeks away at Call to Arms in Wellington, New Zealand. I managed to win the rock/paper/scissors competition between the three writers, and so get the opportunity to play, while the other two are being the generals for the ISAF and Taliban sides and have to organise the whole thing, while I just get to have fun playing games (suckers).

In keeping with my traditional style with tournaments, I have only organised myself two weeks from the start. Having now sent my entry, the first port of call is making a list.

Deciding on which ISAF force to take was difficult, too many cool ideas, too many cool lists, Royal Marine Commandos, Afghan National Police, SAS, Kiwis, DEVGRU, Parajumpers..... But in the end, I have opted to bring my Australians. It will be a good wee kick to get them done, the Empress models have been sitting half done on my table for a while, so getting them finished will be a double bonus.

An Australian armed with an HK417 with some locals in the Urzgan province

This is what I plan to bring for my 1000 point list....

Veteran- F88,1 Grenade
Average- F88 with UGL, 1 Grenade
Average- Minimi, 1 Grenade
Veteran- HK417, 1 Grenade

Veteran- F88, 1 Grenade
Average- F88, 1 Grenade
Average- Minimi, 1 Grenade
Veteran- HK417, 1 Grenade

Veteran 2-man Javelin Team

So two standard fire teams, and support from a Javelin team. With a mix of Veteran and Average soldiers this would represent an Auzzie force towards the end of their deployment, supported by the Javelin to do some serious compound clearing! To make it easy on myself to remember, I gave everyone a grenade, otherwise I would very quickly get confused as to who had thrown what.

The HK417 is a Designated Marksman Rifle, so I will use the stats for the Light Support Weapon (LSW) found in Despatches I, doing 3d10 damage at a range of 600m (300").

And with that, I have a list.

But how ready are they to go? Er... Let's just say they aren't painted.

The two fireteams have got most of their camo done, the Javelin team is undercoated. All of them need a fair bit more work done. So I had better get cracking! Tomorrow, I will show my plans for a Taliban list, and hopefully will have done some painting on these Australians....

Pooch

Call to Arms preperation- Pooch's Taliban Army List

July 31, 2014, 4:05 pm

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Time has almost run out on the Insurgent painting competition, last chance to get your entries in!

Yesterday I posted up my plans for my Australian force for the first Skirmish Sangin Tournament at Call to Arms in just two weeks time.

For the tournament, you have to provide both an ISAF and a Taliban force, to game over the weekend. With my ISAF sorted, I need to sort out my Taliban list.

I find making a Taliban list a lot harder than making an ISAF force- basically because an ISAF force writes itself! With strict fire team organisations, high points costs and limited options, the 1000 point lists all have a similar base.

Not so for Taliban. The only impositions Colin put on me were:

- 1000 points
- No off table assets

All in all, pretty darn flexible!

Colin also sent out the forthcoming Taliban ORBAT to the competitors (released very soon in Despatches II), but I have decided to keep my force simple and from the main rule book. Don't worry, I am sure during the reports of the tournament some snippets of what is in the forthcoming ORBAT will be revealed!

I decided to give myself one more rule- that I am not going to include any IEDs or Booby Traps. Mainly because last time I had a game with Colin, he told me a Taliban force needed them to win. Wanting to prove Colin wrong and because I am an argumentative sod, they are out.

After all of my self imposed restrictions, what does that leave me with? Well, lots actually. When making a Taliban force, I like a mix of qualities, and a mix of cool upgraded guys, as well as having some novices with AKs (who can be scarily effective, as Craig H found out!).

But the first step I need an inspirational leader for the force.

I have opted for a Veteran, with an AK and the Warrior Imam upgrade package.

The other Taliban upgrade package I will use in the force is the Sword of Allah, giving a massive bonus to rifle skill to one of my fighters. I will put this on a veteran armed with a Sniper Rifle. Hopefully I will roll a high BODY rating, giving him a very high Rifle skill, combined with a 4d10 damage weapon will help me punch through the ISAF Body Armour!

Next, I will add some heavy weapons in the form of two Average Taliban with RPG's. No Taliban force would ever leave home without an RPG or two, they are just so darn effective! With 6d10 damage if it hits, 1 d10 damage if it hits near you, the RPG is one of the great levellers that the Taliban have against the ISAF. After adding another Average Taliban, this time with a PKM, it will give me another guy firing with a 4d10 damage weapon.

Not wanting to have lots and lots of heavy weapons, it was time to bulk out the force with some normal Taliban with the good ol' AK. 1 Veteran, 2 Average and 5 Novices will fit the bill nicely!. While you might look at the humble AK you may think that it will only have a limited effect (2d10 damage against 1d10+4 body armour) especially in the hands of a novice with a rifle skill ranging between 32% and 50%. But, this is a dice game, and having a lot of AKs will have a much greater effect. They might not all the time, but sometimes, they will! (That's right. 50% of the time, they work everytime....)

The last thing I am going to add to the list is a technical. The technical should give my Taliban a mobile firebase, capable of zooming around and causing mayhem with the heavy machine gun mounted on the back. Either that, or it will get slotted by a Javelin or AT-4 before it gets an opportunity to do anything. Either way, it is going to be entertaining! The technical is also a good opportunity for me to finish a piece of modelling I started a while ago, converting up one of the Airfix Landrovers into a Taliban technical. I am going to put a .50 cal HMG on the back, mainly because that is the weapon I have spare!

Now, I eluded to yesterday how much painting I had left to do on my Australians. Now, if I was intelligent, I would use my already painted Empress Miniatures Taliban. But given I am clearly not intelligent person, I have decided that this is a good opportunity to get my Eureka Miniatures Taliban painted.

So, this is where they are at:

Yep, definitely ready to go

Plus I haven't built the technical fully yet.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have an update with some painting. Right, enough blogging, now I really have to paint!

Pooch