Armies of Afghanistan- Craig W (SEALs)

Who am I?
My name is Craig and I helped to design and write Sangin. I’ve always been an avid gamer, be it wargaming or roleplaying. My aim has always been to play the games that resonate with my perceptions of genre. When it comes to working on games as an author/designer/modeller I take the same approach. If it doesn’t interest me it doesn’t get done! So when Chris, Colin and myself dreamt up the idea of a painting challenge it took me a while to think of what I wanted to do.

Why? Well I have a reasonably big collection of troops for Sangin – all British of course, because that’s what floated my boat when we designed the game. But I’ve got a lot of British. So after much internal debate (I would do modern Chinese or Russians but they are not in theatre.) I picked my next favourite thing - Americans.

What Army am I playing?
Due to the fact that I am very busy preparing troops (Kiwi’s and Aussie’s – from our own figure range) and terrain for Salute in April 2014 and writing my PhD (Slacker- Ed) I decided on a small force that would not take up much time and would still wet my appetite for gaming.

So I decided a small American special forces team would be it. Both Colin and Chris foolishly offered me some troops and thus my new nightmare has begun. Much internet research has led me to embark upon Navy Seal’s as my troop force with ultimately a bigger force later with accompanying vehicles (painted by my brother http://houseofqueeg.wordpress.com/ The Great QUEEG!-yeah nobody said I couldn’t get a ring in…)
So what are Seals – no they are not fish eating mammals that live in the oceans, hmmm maybe they are. Anyway the Navy SEAL Website describes SEALs as:
“Navy SEAL - Sea, Air, Land.
Navy SEALs are a unique breed of warrior who conduct special operations in any environment, but who are uniquely trained and equipped to operate from, around and in maritime areas. SEALs take their name from the environments in which they are trained to operate: sea, air and land. Their small highly trained teams usually work quietly at night conducting some of the nation's most important missions. SEALs are constantly deployed throughout the world to protect national interests.
Navy SEALs and their high speed boat driving counterparts, Naval Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen, form the operational arms of the Naval Special Warfare community, which is headed by the Naval Special Warfare Command. NSW acts both as the Navy's special operations force as well as the Navy component of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is responsible for all U.S. special operations forces.
NSW training and preparation stresses an enduring commitment to individual initiative, personal responsibility and mission accomplishment. Naval Special Warfare goes to great lengths to ensure that its forces are capable and prepared.”


So I have ordered a few additional books to keep me warm at night while the paint fumes dry and booked some serious computer time to drool over videos found online.

What am I getting with my starting funds?

To begin with I am getting a couple of packs of Empress Miniatures (Delta miniatures to paint as SEALs):

Which I intend to paint as:

Then I intend to get one of these for my bro to paint for me:

Then its game on!