Haradian Chieftains

As mentioned in a previous post, one of the backgrounds my gaming group uses for moderns is Harad. Harad is a troubled land, with many armed factions seeking to gain control of the country. One of these factions is the Army of the People's Islamic Republic of Harad. Like many groups in Harad, it's equipment ranges from elements of the old Imperial Army, ex Warpact equipment, purchases on the open market, and finally local production of various utility. The Chieftain models are plastic knock offs of the Matchbox Battle Kings Chieftain.

Tanks and spray can of primer.

Missing gun is replaced by sprue.

The hole on the Matchbox original has been blanked out on the casting that produced this knock off.

 While many factors possess Chieftains from the old Imperial Army (purchased at a time that the West was friendly to Harad, and the UK keen to sell arms for oil money), many of the tanks purchased are suffering from a lack of love maintenance. In order to simulate this, the breakdown number mechanic, has been adapted from GDW's Over the Top. Simply put, a vehicle is given a number from 1-10 that it must roll higher than in order to a) take part in the scenario, and/or b) roll whenever it wishes to move. Rolls are modified by crew quality. Naturally failure results in a breakdown and either no appearance in the scenario, or a lack of further movement.

Iraqi Sand is painted over the grey primer.

Suitable slogans are dabbed on the tanks in Arabic. The middle tank's is meant to be 'People's Jihad'. Between Google Translator and my painting it's probably reads as 'Green squiggle'

This could mean victory, but I bet it's just a nice looking squiggle.

Another view of the Chieftains. The road wheels are completely wrong, but the tanks were free.

Look! Flank Armour!

Victory on all three tanks.

All in all, a cheap and simple way to boost tank numbers. While not the most accurate of Chieftain models, these have the over riding virtue of being free, and available in reasonable numbers. I am toying with a way of making the plastic trucks that you used to get with the bags of Hong Kong knock offs usable in a simple and effective manner, as the post war cab body would be perfect for use throughout the third world. My basic idea is to add rear wheel arches, a cab floor of some type, and possibly change the wheels or thicken them up in some way. If I can figure this out, I will be able to increase the motorpool by dozens of vehicles.