Variag Technicals.

Variag Technicals.

Khand is home to many peoples, one of which are the Variag. The Variag are a semi nomadic people with a strong cavalry ethos, who were famous in ancient times for using a mixture of war chariots and light cavalry in their war hosts. This practice gave them the name of  Wainriders amongst the nations of the West.

The Variag also have a reputation for innovation, so it unsurprising to see that many Variag clans have produced a wide array of  fast moving and hard hitting technicals for use in the many battles that have occurred throughout conflict torn Khand. The Variag also have a strong tradition of hiring out as mercenaries , a practise that has enriched many individual clan lords.

Two of the base diecasts.

The base vehicles for the technicals are three very cheap and nasty diecasts that were sold at The Warehouse a couple of years back. They did come with a roll bar in the back that had been removed some time back. The first step was to create a tray out of plastic card in the back so that a) the wire axle could be hidden, and b) the weapon mount had a level place to sit.

So cheap that you can see the wire axle...

A bit of GW sprue to provide a level base for the plastic card.

A crude plastic card tray is added.

The next step was to raid the bits box and find a few weapons, and some odd bits of plastic and sprue to make the weapons mounts. The white cross grid. plastic is actually pieces of a plastic frame used to mount cross stitch and also makes great windows and fencing.

Bits and pieces ready to make the weapons mounts.

 I deccided the weapons mix for these would be two 20mm Oerlikon guns (from the Airfix Buffalo kit) and a generic ATGM made out of a piece of aircraft undercarriage. The ATGM is quite large but I like it as it suggests a ATGM rather the accurately modelling a particular type.

The vehices before being sprayed black.

 I then sprayed them black with cheap matt spray paint, badly drybrushed the vehicle bodies white and the weapons olive drab, and the gave them a light brown wash.

Variag Technicals - potential friends or foes, given one's ability to pay.

Edit - this should have been the photo used above!

Occasionally amongst the Variag Clan leaders, one arises to prominence  above all others and becomes Khan of all the Clans. Rumour currently has it that one clan leader is currently well on his way to achieving this goal. Stories of this so called  "Diesela Khan" are currently viewed with interest throughout the region....

M48 Battle King Refurbishment.

In between purchasing toys and planning my Goose Green game, I have managed to clean up and paint another tank to add to my Haradi forces. I've also painted up some other stuff, but they can wait for another post.

A bright metallic green is perhaps not the best colour for a MBT.

Some of you might remember a previous post about some Battle Kings that my lovely wife bought me. The King Tiger has since found a good home with Archduke Piccolo (click here for his blog), the SPG is getting a few last minute touch ups, the Hawk launcher has been played with, while the M-48 has been repainted!

Less green, more sand.

The view from the other side.

Close up on the tank commander.

I also have added again to my collection of Battle Kings, with the purchase of a rather nice  K-103 Chieftain.  This one is one of the later releases of the toy, as it has a more sensible paint job (the first releases were also in metallic green, and the running gear is all in olive green.  The tank commander is also luckily in one piece, as normally in play worn examples the head is often missing.

Chieftain and Sherman. Both with their factory paint jobs which were greatly improved from the first release of Battle Kings. 

Another view of same. I do like the paint job!

The chieftain came with a encrustation of something resin-like on the front.

The Sherman tank commander figure has been cut level with the  hatch rim.

 The Sherman I acquired back in October last year as part of a large purchase of diecasts (click here for details), but had been since then on the disposals list. Now since it has a paint job similar to the chieftain, I have decided that I can use it for a second, or even third line, Haradi unit. Of course, I may just change my mind again entirely. Still no rush, and better yet, no wrong answer!

Another Parcel from the UK!

Early Saturday morning a package arrived for me, containing my order from Model Hobbies. inside the box was my order of two packets of  "British Infantry of the 1970s" by A Call to Arms (PSR link here), and two packets of the Revell reissue of the Matchbox "Nato Paratroopers" (PSR link here), which now go by the more accurate title of "British Paratroopers (Falklands War)".

A freshly opened parcel full of new toys!

The box art.  The Revell one seems to show a FRS 1 Harrier conducting ground support, with the Paras  engaged in a fire fight -  quite a change from the old box art!

 The Revell figures have been reissued in the same dark green that they have used for a number of their modern sets. I may have to purchase another set of the Revell  "German Armoured Infantry" (PSR link here), so that I can loot it for Milans. All of the CD ToEs that I have give at least one Milan stand in the support company.

I have waited for some time for these to be reissued.

Lots of SLRs!

As has been pointed out over at Small Scale World, the new A Call To Arms figures are actually quite old, having previously  - in a larger form - been produced as Britains soldiers. (See links here, and here for more information)

My collection of the aforementioned figures - no rare ones though!

I was lucky enough to have the first of these purchased for me as a child by Sister Declan, and the rest I have acquired in my normal packrat style over the last ten years. I never acquired any of the marines that were listed in the Britains catalogue at the time as I have never had any cross my path!

Still I figured it was worth while digging them out for a comparison shot with their newer (and smaller) incarnations!

Nice figures regardless of the scale!

Now that these figures have arrived, I can begin the process of making up  the Argentinean army and air force units needed for the Goose Green scenario. Of course, once I have done that i can start making up the forces needed to do some of the other battles...

Of Catapults and God Kings

 Today's post is going to be largely pictures as I am feeling particularly lazy.

A box full of cool toys!

In my last post I mentioned that I had won the Horrible histories competition held over at Small Scale World.  The product review and competition has heaps more information and links about this range, and I would strongly encourage you to check it out.

This afternoon I received a package which contained a great deal of stuff. Awesome stuff. Stuff that lets you hurl rubber pigs about the place.

The Egyptian Starter Set.

The Roman Starter Set.

The back of the Egyptian box.

The back of the Roman box.

The four blind boosters - each one contains a historical hero to add to your  army.

Inside the box was two starter sets - one Roman, and one Egyptian, - and four blind booster packets.

Unwrapping a fiery Iceni Queen.

I got two Boudica figures from the boosters.

An unnamed Highwayman in the third.

And Blackbeard the pirate in the fourth.

The group shot.

Each of the starter sets contains a leader, a catapult, 3 rubber pigs, two soldier figures, two peasant figures,  three action cards and a copy of the rules. Also included was a spare rubber band for the catapult.

Inside the Roman set.

The cards - used in the advanced game.

The Roman cards.

Caesar and his starter force.

The pig hurler catapult. Loads of fun!

The back card of the Egyptian set.

Inside the Egyptian starter set.

The Egyptian cards..

The Egyptian catapult.

Pharaoh and his starter set.

Both sides get this nice  head spike rack and scoring system.

All the figures together!

Once again - Thank you to Hugh from Small Scale World for the competition - I have been having loads of fun firing rubber pigs around the place!

I do intend to play at least one game of the advanced rules, but the sheer joy of shooting stuff with rubber pigs cannot be underrated!

The weekend that was.

Elephant plus milliput  equals logistic element!

I have managed to get a bit of modelling and painting done over the long weekend - so i should be posting some of that over the next few days. I also took part in a large game of Axis and Allies 1940, using both the Pacific and Europe sets. I found that to be quite an interesting experience, but a very time consuming one. I lso had the opportunity to inspect the new Axis and Allies 1914 board game. The pieces are very nice, but I am not sure when I would get time to play it. Hobby time is a valuable commodity and I generally pefer tabletop wargames to board games these days.

I have also made up a pack elephant stand for Harad games. The Elephant is from the Hat reissue of the  Airfix Tarzan set. The figure next to him is from the Mars Mujahideen set.

Currently I am eagerly expecting in the mail a number of items, in particular the Horrible History figures that I won in a competition over at Small Scale World (for details click here). I won one of the runner up prize packs, and will post pictures of them once I get my hands on them.

Recently arrived is this Matchbox Battle Kings K-110 recovery Vehicle my wife bought me.

I also after seeing the reviews, conversions and painted figures of the new British Infantry of the 1970s from A Call To Arms on a number of blogs (see here for the review from Small Scale World, here for some nice Royal Marines from 20th Century Wargames, and here and here for some conversions and Scots Guards from over at Plastic Warriors), I decided to order a couple of packets along with a couple of packets of the reissued Matchbox Paratroopers from an outfit called Model Hobbies in the UK. Once these arrive I will start converting the figures I need to make up my Argentinians for the Goose Green scenario.

It is quite a big beast.

It is of the same truck design as the Battle Kings Tank Transporter .

The business end of the tow truck.

Matchbox produced a number of vehicles that never were throughout their ranges. Some of these were loosely based on prototypes or preproduction concept art. Many of these toys then provided inspiration for UK comic book illustrators, the best know example being that of the Adventure 2000 Raider Command providing inspiration for Judge Dredd's transport through the Cursed Earth (click here for more info)