modern | GeMiGaBoK

Jun 3, 2014 Posted by Aksu

FoF campaign start: Enduring Oppression

We started a new Force of Force campaign yesterday: “Enduring Oppression” The Soviet experience in Afghanistan. We will be fast-forwarding through the long years of the occupation. In the beginning the Afghans will be poorly armed and disorganised, but as the game progresses they will gain experience and equipment. The Soviets will also evolve during the campaign from a strong but inflexible mechanised army to an army that is more suitable to operations in a mountainous country. We have three players in the campaign playing against the umpire (me). Janne has a platoon of VDV, Petri has Soviet motor rifle troops, and Eero plays a hard-line Khalqi platoon leader with a mixture of raw conscripts and revolutionary Sarandoy gendarmes. Each player had starting pool of points to buy their troops, and victory points gained during the game can be used to buy and upgrade troops. They also have access to scenario-specific assets (tanks, artillery, airlifts). The Soviets have to determine before each mission which of their men are sick (1-2 on d6) and the poorly motivated Afghans are prone to desertion (1-2 on d6). Most of the losses will be non-combat ones, and the Soviets will be realistically struggling to get their squads to anything resembling full strength. The campaign is set in a fictional province of six locations controlled by two dushman factions, religiously motivated tribes operating from Lah Tariq, and secular guerrillas based mostly around Bang Kaar. The six locations on the map can be pacified by winning missions there. This will lower the insurrection level in that location. Losing a mission will raise the insurrection level in that location. The first scenario was dictated by me to be the pacification of Pish Pawr, and building a fortified base there. This went well for the players, as they had access to incredible amounts of firepower. The village was pacified, unfortunately practically every house in the village was flattened by Soviet 122 mm artillery or Hind strafing runs. The camp is practically unassailable by the lightly armed dushman troops, so the second scenario was an ambush of some supply trucks, which was intended to lure a reaction force from the camp into a killing zone. Unfortunately this did not work for the dushman fighters, who lost most of their men before retreating back towards Lah Tariq. The players will now have pretty much free hand in deciding what operations to attempt next. They can move into any of the locations, even through... read more

May 14, 2014 Posted by Aksu

6mm trees work in progress

I recently ordered a bunch of 30 mm high trees from a Chinese seller on eBay. 100 trees for 8 quid, delivered post-free in a week and a half. I have to say I am pleased with the product, the price-quality ratio can not be beaten easily (although I am a bit worried about the kind of work-life balance the people who make this product have). The trees are twisted and painted wire, with flock-clumps to represent the foliage. Not the sturdiest construction I’ve seen, but they seem to be good enough to sustain the rigours of gaming. Everestmodel is the seller, and here is a link to the trees on eBay. Anyway, the picture shows a quick test how these trees work with 1/300 scale figures, in this case a Cold War Commander tank. Seems just perfect to me. I’ve been planning to base the trees 3-5 to a base, and multiple bases to cover a wooded... read more

May 12, 2014 Posted by Aksu

Afghan fighters in progress

My latest project is some Afghan opponents to my Cold War Soviets. These figures are from Elhiem and Sandsmodels. Even though they are quite different in style – elhiem is very naturalistic with realistic proportions, sands models are more chunky and stylised – they seem to mix quite well. This is a very early stage in the painting, with most of the main cloth colours blocked in. Next the rest of the main colours – faces, guns, shoes – and then the dip and highlights. And then bases. I will be busy, as this bunch is supposed to have it’s day of glory next week, when we I need to design a couple of small Force on Force scenarios set in the Afghan green zone in... read more

Jan 29, 2013 Posted by Aksu