20mm 1979 Very British Civil War/Winter of 79

Last Thursday Ian, Will and I played out a couple of games of Black Ops.  We used the ideas from Winter of 79 as a starting point for an SAS raid on Border Farm, on the outskirts of Pont-y-Pandy.  The town was held by the British Army and the SAS mission was to investigate reports of armed Welsh separatists in the vicinity.


The SAS numbered 6 figures a leader (Ace), 2 man sniper team (King), and 3 troopers (Jacks), one a medic and one an RTO.  The Welsh Separatist fanatics included a Big boss and local cell leader (Aces), GPMG and Charlie G figures (Kings), 2 big boss bodyguards and a demolitions expert with large IED (Queens) and 15 terrorists (Jacks).  One third of the Welsh forces were awake and patrolling the farm.  The SAS could call up a British infantry section from the town with a Humber Pig, Saxon APC and Landy ambulance, plus an infantry section, leader and medic.  The Welsh were waiting on some additional muscle in the shape of a contingent of coal miners from the valleys, so they could mount an attack on Pant-y-Pandy.


The first run through saw Will's SAS approach close enough to toss hand grenades into the farm buildings and gun down any defenders outside the buildings, tearing into Ian's Welsh and breaking them.  The survivors slinked away as best they could under cover of darkness.


In the second run through, Ian's SAS had much less luck, with one of their troopers being stumbled upon by a sentry, who proved remarkably resilient in the ensuing fisticuffs and raising enough noise to ensure several other figures became embroiled, waking Will's Welsh garrison.  The Welsh kept up a steady GPMG fire on the SAS sniper team, gradually whittling them and the surviving troopers down to the point where the SAS leader called up the British Army reserves.  These guys piled out of the town towards the farm, only for the Pig to be shot up with Charlie G fire and the Saxon and dismounts to be caught by the IED detonation.  By this point, the Welsh figured they had done enough and retired from the farm through the woods.  No doubt they would be trying to get a message through to the contingent of coal miners to abandon the rendezvous, thereby buying the British garrison of Pont-y-Pandy some time.


The farm layout.

British security checkpoint outside the town manned by police and MPs.

The British Army relief column passing through the check point.

The scene of the ambush.

The surviving SAS and British Army take possession of the farm, but the Will-o-the-Wisp Welshmen have scarpered leaving only the dead, who somewhat obviously tell no tales.

These were fun games - the rules need a little bit of modification from the RAW as the nuances of dealing with IEDs and such are not fully explained.  However, it did give an exciting game and looked pretty cool on the table.


Thanks for looking.

20mm Ferret MkII armoured car

This is the 20mm Ferret MkII AC from RH Models.  I got it ready for Crisis Point although in the end it wasn't needed.  The hull is a resin casting and the wheels and turret are white metal castings.  I painted the vehicle in Vallejo reflective green, NATO black wheels, MG and straps, beige brow and gunmetal tools, sky blue vision ports.  Wheels and MG are dry brushed basalt grey and the whole model is washed in Army Painter strong tone ink diluted 3:1 with flow enhancer.  Weight marker is flat yellow, canvas rolls are English uniform and olive drab.

This was a joy to put together and easy to paint.  No air bubbles and very little excess resin to cut or file off.  I'll probably finish the turret with a pair of REE magnets to hold it in place.

So, it can provide a command run about for cold war gone hot scenarios or it can patrol the streets in the Winter of 79.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Humber Pigs

These are Humber Pig models in 20mm from Sgts Mess.  I picked up a platoon's worth of transports, 4 vehicles worth.  I painted these up quickly to get them ready for the Crisis Point game earlier this month, although they never made it onto the table then, unfortunately.

Nice crisp castings and simple to put together.  Just the wheels to fit and the front fender/bull bars.  I painted the bull bars separately so that I could put more detail into the front grill and lights, although there isn't a lot to do in that area.  Just the lights and an ink wash for the grill.

All four vehicles ready to crash through a barricade or improvised road block.

Nicely detailed rear doors.

I'm not a big fan of some of the other BAOR vehicles from Sgts Mess, especially the FV432 which looks somewhat squashed to me, but that's just me.  These I really like and I'm looking forward to getting a glimpse of the new Landrovers that are being released as well as putting in a plea for the Saracen and Saladin when I saw them at Triples.  Well worth a look at their web site if BAOR vehicles are your thing or drop them an e-mail if you fancy the Saracen or Saladin.

These are going to find themselves on the streets in my Winter of 79 games.

Thanks for looking.

20mm card buildings

Following a couple of visits to model shops in Northwich and Chester, I took the plunge and picked up some Metcalfe card model buildings in HO/OO scale.  Here are the three kits covering the Manor Farm complex, the farm itself and a workers cottage, barn and tractor shed, and modern barn, silage pit and chicken sheds.  I've spent around 3 or 4 hours assembling these, they aren't perfect, but are pretty robust.  I'll finish them off by darkening some of the fold lines, adding some plastic tube chimney pots and basing them. I've photographed them with some RH Models 1980's British infantry for scale.  I think they will also work well with 15mm scale troops as well.

First up, the Manor Farm House itself, showing the front porch and side lean-to building.

Rear view with extension and rear lean-to buildings.

The farm set also comes with a workers cottage, shown here from the front with side lean-to.

Rear view of the cottage with side and rear lean-to buildings.

The large modern barn set with side building cow byre.

With the barn comes this pair of chicken sheds.  These need to be based on some plastic strip wooden runners when I come to base them.

On the left is an empty silage pit, which also comes with the modern barn complex.  On the right is an older style barn with hay loft, showing the front entrance.

With the older-style barn comes a tractor shed, perfect for storing your ... err ... tractor.  Or possibly your bomb factory, bank robbery haul, transmitter, etc.

I also picked up a couple of terraced houses, a corner shop, library and a small factory complex; more on these later.  Once I complete them, I'll have enough buildings for a small town or the edge of a larger town or city suburb.  So, I have some simple Winter of 79 scenarios in mind based around the farm complex to try out my copy of the Living on the Front Line rules.

Thanks for looking.

More 20mm urban terror paramilitaries

The next set of recruits into the Winter of 79 campaign is a unit of militia in berets.  I've painted these up in a mixture of khaki, brown and grey jackets/parkas, blue jeans or brown trousers.  They all carry SLRs, Sterlings, Brens or GPMGs.  These are from RH Models (Liberation) and are very nice with really crisp detail.

A pair of leaders.

A rifle team, commanded by a Sterling armed NCO type, a pair of FNs and a Bren gunner.

Another rifle team as above, taking cover.

A third rifle team.

A fire support team of GPMG and assistant plus an NCO.

Another fire support team.

Of course these can be mixed and matched with the bareheaded troops (posted earlier) to add some AT support and make up larger units.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Command Post

I wanted a bunker position to provide a firebase to cover a roadside checkpoint for a Winter of 79 game.  Fortunately, Ironclad Miniatures attended the WMMS show in Wolverhampton a couple of weeks back and I saw this in their catalogue - perfect.  As it comes from their Vietnam Firebase range, I figured it can dual purpose for my US and ANZAC forces in that conflict too.

The sand bags are Russian Green dry brushed grey green, while wooden parts were English Uniform dry brushed light brown.  The model is stuck to a 10cm square mdf base built up with resin filler to level off the surrounding land surface, covered in PVA glue and sprinkled with sand.  Static grass and straw and dead grass clumps were added for variety.

Front view.

Rear view.  I added some wooden packing crates, metal ammo crates and an oil drum to give it a lived in look and some discarded magazines around the parapet - all bits from Sgts Mess.

The roof is detachable and this view shows that four figures based on 20mm squares comfortably fit into the bunker.  Figures are Winter of 79 militia/revolutionaries, and will form the subject of a later post.

The view from an attackers perspective.

This was a great little casting.  Almost no preparation needed - I did give it a wash in warm water and detergent.  Paint coverage on the resin was great and the whole thing took a hour or so, excluding drying times, to complete.

Thanks for looking.

Elhiem Cold War British

I finished the BAOR figures I bought from Elhiem in their Christmas sale.  Here is a full platoon in patrol poses, three sections of 8 and a platoon HQ of 4 or 5.

Part of the platoon HQ, left to right officer, RTO and sniper.

The rest of the platoon HQ, a light mortar gunner and an NCO with Sterling.

The fire support gun team with GPMG gunner and assistant, plus an SLR rifleman.

The rifle team with 4 SLR riflemen (including NCOs) plus a Sterling armed Charlie G gunner.

A dog handler, complete with German Shepherd.

Higher level (Co or Batt) commanders.

More command figures with the RSM.

An advanced optics spotter team, at the back an RTO and spotter with binoculars, at the front the officer and a rifleman.

Various manpack support weapons, at the front a Charlie G gunner and a Blowpipe launcher, at the back a LAW gunner.

I've still to add a platoon from Britannia Miniatures and that should give me a full company, enough to fill a table in 20mm I think.  I must say, it will be good to get the last of the DPM figures complete as it's quite time consuming, although does give a pleasing effect to the models when they are finished.  Again, these will finish up in the Falklands, Centag, Northag and even North Wales in our Winter of 79 campaign.

Thanks for looking.