Para-Commandos

 

To round off my Indonesian Confrontation 28mm skirmish project, I've ordered a small selection of the Indonesian para-commando figures from Warbases. I have bundled together a two man command group, two small arms groups of four figures each and a couple of BAR gunners, so enough for a decent sized squad. I'm sure they will be fun to paint as they have very distinctive USMC style camouflage one piece fatigues, which will look great if I can get the shades right. There's no rush with these yet, however, so I'll stash them away for a rainy weekend later in the year.

The Gurkha Museum

 

The official museum of the Gurkha Regiment is only a fifteen minute walk from my front door but I haven't visited it for years, the last time being when I went there for a work experience visit when a Nepali student at school had a placement. I don't know why I haven't been back since but I'm going to rectify that oversight by a trip at the weekend, with a focus on the exhibits relating to the Indonesian Confrontation, which are a highlight of the displays. These include this reconstruction of a jungle 'basha', which is a great inspiration for some modelling. I'll report back after the trip!

The Brunei Revolt and The Borneo Confrontation - The Gurkha Museum - Winchester

Commando Miniatures Gurkha Patrol

 

I ordered some Commando Miniatures Gurkhas from Warbases the other day, as I liked the other figures that I bought for Aden and thought the Gurkhas looked even better. This is two packs worth from the range, one a patrol of four men and the other a command group of an officer, a radio op, a Bren gunner and an Iban scout, which is a really great figure. I'll add one of the dog handlers I got the other day and possibly some more Armalite armed squaddies, then have a think about the Indonesian para-commando opposition.

Commando Miniatures Dog Handlers

 

These arrived in the post yesterday and they are the mutts proverbial nuts. Although they have Armalites instead of SLR's, being Gurkhas for the Indonesian Confrontation and Borneo, I'll use one of them as a dog handler for my 'Not Quite Aden' project, akin to the Royal Marine dog handler in the photo. I think I might even have some spare dog figures somewhere, so could have a separate dog and handler figure so that the dog can be deployed. It also raises the question of what to do with the spare standing figure, so some actual Gurkhas might be added to post-colonial skirmish plans perhaps in the Far East? 

Fivecore Skirmish

 

I'm looking at some options for the 28mm Commando Miniatures figures that I have for Aden and Radfan, which opens up all sorts of possibilities when it comes to skirmish, squad-level rules. My first thought was to use the Fistful of Lead Core rules, the One Hour Skirmish Wargaming system or even Danger Close! but I'm now leaning toward Nordic Weasel's Fivecore Skirmish rules. I like the way the Fivecore system works and, although I haven't tried it out yet, I think it would be an excellent fit for the post-colonial Middle Eastern setting that I'm working on, as it includes its own campaign and scenario generation system. It also ties in really well with my Sandbox Skirmish project in 15mm, which will use No End In Sight.