Afghan Rocket Launcher - 28mm Insurgent Artillery

Afghan rocket crew, ready to shell the enemy...or their friends...whatever

Another submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, a 28mm Afghan team operating a Chinese-made rocket launcher.  This little vignette is available from Eureka Miniatures (good luck finding it on their bonkers website, but it's there).

These extras make for a nice objective marker

You get the rocket launcher, the trailer, several ammo crates with spare shells and a couple of loose AK-47s.  It's a great little piece, and a nice addition to my 28mm Mujahideen collection.

Two crew come with the set

This piece will be more of an objective-type item in a game, since the range of the weapon would easily exceed the distances usually represented on our tables.  But having it fire off the table while opposing forces try to knock it out will be fun. Particularly if the crew has protection from helicopters hunting for it.

I thought a nice blue colour would do for this fellow - why should work be drab?

Eureka has some great sculpts generally - the hands on these fellows look a little goofy, but overall they are very clean castings and they are fun and easy to paint.

Watch out NATO/Soviets/Northern Alliance/Pakistanis/UN/Hamid Karzai Heroin Army...

My Mujahideen forces now have quite the arsenal to protect their caves/heroin poppy fields - a rocket launcher, recoilless rifles, mortars, heavy MGs and a Stinger Missile.  The hapless Soviet Motor Rifle troops coming to get them will need all the help they can round up...

Mujahideen with Stinger Missile - 28mm

28mm Afghan guerrilla from Eureka

If you are going to have a downed Soviet helicopter crew, you might wonder how they got that way.  Eureka miniatures has an answer - a 28mm Mujahideen fighter with Stinger missile.  He is another entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

US-supplied Stinger missiles were used against Soviet occupiers

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the Mujahideen greatly feared the Soviet Hind attack helicopters. The Stinger is a US man-portable SAM system quite useful for shooting down such helicopters, and as the US started to increase their support to the Afghan rebels they started shipping the missile systems to the Mujahideen.

This fellow should help keep the Hinds at bay when we play a game set Afghanistan again in the future.