So where are the AAR's?

Not only are the scenarios delayed, but the AAR's are too!

So bear with us, I plan to get through a Patrol mission before I head away to GENCON, so there should be one up here in the next week.

But for now, step 1 is finishing some British to play the game with!

Luckily I have the Taliban painted and ready to go.....

Chris

Armies of Afghanistan- Dougies' Painted British

Dougie is back, with a further finished fireteam of British. While it may not have answered my call for different nationalities, they are too gorgeous not to post up!

Over to Dougie...

Second fireteam now complete so I’ve a handy little force to start with, same organisation and weapon mix as the first.

I’ve just ordered some of the latest Brits from Empress as well as the first pack of Dish Dash Talibs to have a crack at.

Later, Dougie

Proving that Dougie isn't just awesome at painting Multi-Cam, here is a Taliban from Eureka that he has painted.

I for one can't wait to see what he makes of our Taliban- don't forget to pick up your set from the Skirmish Sangin website!

Next post is something VERY different....

Pooch

Posts from the Sangin Community- More British in MTP, and Terrain!

Following on from Matt's British last week, I got sent some pictures from Pat of his British, with yet another way of painting MTP!

Pat painted them using Humbrol Enamels (he calls himself "old school"!) I am sure if you would like the Humbrol list (for the other enamel-painting types out there), Pat will be able to share.

A big thanks to Pat for sending the pictures through, he had this to say...

As you can see I've got two moving Fireteams & one kneeling team, although I've got more figures to paint up, plus all of Empress Brit 06 so the exact teams will change. I saw the new Empress Brit 08 & 09 at the SELWG show, really cool especially the female medic and the vallon mine sweeper- but they weren't available, real shame but will order them later along with some of the new Taliban (good Christmas present, they will beat socks!).

So there you have it, another way of painting MTP! I like the nice mix of colours that Pat has used- it certainly looks the business!

Pat also sent through some WIP shots of his next batch of British, showing off some very neat greenstuff work!

Along with his British, Pat also sent through some images of a piece of terrain he is working on...

I for one, love how this terrain looks. It is made from 5mm foam board and are mounted on 3mm White Foamed-PVC (MDF works as well). Pat went with a pan-middle eastern white stucco paintjob, which has come out really nicely. For me, it is all about the fruit stands, the tiling, the white walls, I like it right down to the three colours of doors. Apparently it is a work in progress but I think it looks darn good as it is, and with the internal details (furniture) Pat is talking about it will look even better!

This is all just reminding me that I need to make more terrain.....

So now that we have three different ways of painting British MTP, so where is the love for the other ISAF nations? Surely you can't ALL be playing British... right? We must be due some other ISAF nations, or even some more Taliban? Send us through what you have finished through to chris@skirmishsangin.com, things like AAR's, ORBATs, Scenarios, Painting, Terrain and we will share them with the whole community.

Pooch

Posts from the Sangin Community- British in MTP

We had been getting a few emails lately of things which people are working on. Keep them coming, it is always cool to see what people are working on for Skirmish Sangin!

Matt sent through some pictures of his Taliban a while back (we saw one at the weekend). Luckily for us, he has also sent through pictures of his British, along with a bit of how he did his take on MTP:

My aim was to give an impression of MTP, as fast as possible, and as easy to repeat as possible with my shakey hands and old eyeballs!

I did the painting on these in a day while wearing MTP trousers as a rough guide, then the next day was used to do the basing. So two days all up.

To start, I used a grey under coat, followed by a light green first coat liberally painted over all the cloth areas. I added some large dashes of light brown-always in horizontal lines where possible. Next up is thinner dark brown dashes near next to or through the light brown. Then with a khaki colour I put light dashed or splodges randomly here and there, hardly noticeable.

This was then followed by what I feel gives the multi-splodge/mtp impression- the palid flesh small dashes and dots often near where the other stripes are and the odd one randomly to kill any voids.

The rest of model (guns, boots, flesh and webbing) was worked on after this, once they were done the model was given a wash of GW's argrax earthshade mixed with games workshops medium so it flows nicer and avoids pooling.

I tried something a bit different on the guns too- they are painted a light tan colour then later dry brushed lightly with black to show where the spray has rubbed off, its becoming common now for troops out in the dirt to have coyote brown l85's

So there you have it, another way to paint MTP! The beret head comes from a Warlord Games WW2 kit (you can tell by his strong jaw!). I think Matt has done a great job on these, some great little detail touches there. Empress have just released a few new packs for their British, I for one will be picking them up to add to my forces!

Got an idea for a scenario? Or want to share some pictures of what you have been working on? Maybe an AAR of a game you have had. Send them through to chris@skirmishsangin.com and we will share them with the whole community.

Pooch

Armies of Afghanistan- Dougie is back for Part 7!

After a while spent incommunicado, Dougie has sent through just a couple of little teaser pictures of the things he is working on. Mainly, that he is finishing up the second fire team he started a wee while back. You should also rejoice that his blog is back updating, if you don't know where to look, head here

First off gotta say sorry for the delay in this update, due entirely to my retirement and holidays with my good lady wife! Any hoo work on the second fireteam has progressed with the flesh and Multicam completed, I’ve just started on the boots so there’s not too much left to do.

I’ve also started a Eureka Talib, nice figures but I must get some DishDash examples!

Dougie

I hope you had a wonderful set of travels Dougie, but I must say that it is nice to have more pictures of that gorgeous multi-cam to grace our blog! Look forward to seeing the next set of Paras finished, as well as their opposition.

Peter Tann - Attack State Red Review

Attack State Red

Well Peter has done it again he has reviewed one of my favourite books on the Afghanistan conflict  a great review that I am sure you'll all enjoy, well done Peter and keep them coming.

For my second review I am going to look at Attack State Red by Colonel Richard Kemp and Chris Hughes. The book follows the soldiers of the Royal Anglian Regiment during their tour of Afghanistan in 2007, following the 'break in' battles of the previous year. Part of this tour was also covered by the Ross Kemp documentary Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (well worth a watch in its own right), and you could do a lot worse than read and watch the two in tandem.

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The authors set out to give a 'soldier's eye view' of the conflict, and in this I think they have succeeded admirably. At times the action described is unrelenting, and the reader gets a real insight into the intensity, challenges and demands of the Anglians' tour of duty - leaving you breathless at the end!

I felt the book had a real 'cinematic' feel, which allows you to paint a vivid picture of the events in your mind's eye. Although the book does reference commanders, particularly at platoon and company level, the book is (for me) at its strongest when describing the soldiers and NCOs operating at section level. Kemp and Hughes let these men speak in their own voice and the reader gets a real sense of immediacy and of being 'present' as the action unfolds.

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A perfect example of this is the action which opens the book, describing a company operation which breaks down into numerous platoon and section contacts (one of these has been the subject of an episode of the BBC documentary Our War - an absolutely superb series).

In the close terrain a section gets pinned down, other platoons manoeuvring to support find themselves engaged and then initiate their own counter-ambushes as Taliban try to infiltrate/outflank them, a sniper protecting the Tac HQ uses his pistol to dispatch an insurgent (a feat he was to repeat later in the tour) and the CO calls in mortars whilst trying to co-ordinate his dispersed units' response. The authors convincingly convey the swirling, confused and hectic nature of combat, as well as the soldiers' own reactions, which include how they deal with the sad news that one of their comrades, injured in the battle, later dies after being evacuated.

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There is a wealth of information in here for Skirmish Sangin players. What emerges is how often even large company operations break down into platoon and section engagements, so many of the actions are easily transferred the tabletop. So, you could game the ambush and extraction of Sgt Holmes' section in the opening chapter of the book, or the close 'urban' fighting experienced by the Anglians in the narrow, twisting alleys and compounds they often find themselves in.

Another account that I found intriguing is of events later in the tour when, due to R&R, illness and injury, a platoon is reduced to 3 sections of 4 or 5 men, rather than the usual 8. This might make for an interesting alternative 'platoon' action, where the platoon in question is at about half strength and opens up some interesting command decisions (can your 5 man section put down enough fire to suppress the enemy?

Can you effectively close with the enemy with a 4 man assault section?). There are actions alongside ANA forces and their OMLT mentors, which throw up several 'combined arms' scenario ideas, as well as actions involving vehicles (mainly WMIKs, Scimitars and Vikings), including one major ambush on the outskirts of Sangin. Another interesting idea is a sniper led ambush of a Taliban unit, an interesting reversal of roles for the conflict in Afghanistan.

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of this book. It is well written, gives an immersive account of combat 'on the ground' as experienced by the soldiers of the Royal Anglian Regiment, and is a veritable treasure trove of scenario ideas. Top notch!

Colin's Note:

So just to be clear one day Peter emailed me asking if I was interested in some book reviews on Afghanistan and as I always say "write something and we'll let you know" a lot of people ask but few people deliver. I am sure Pooch will vouch this is how he got involved. The rest as you can see is history. Peter's first review was excellent and he just keeps getting better. So if you fancy writing something for the blog, be it a scenario, an article, a review, basically anything just drop us a line.  We are always after new talent.

Dougie- British Paras continued

In case you were wondering, Dougie has not been idle. He is back, with a little update looking at his next project...

Well folks work has commenced on my second fireteam, same ORBAT as before: from left to right we have a “Tom” standing firing his Minimi, “Tom” with an SA80A2 and a stowed Vallon mine detector, Fireteam leader with SA80A2 and a “Tom” with an SA80A2/UGL combo.

Stonking figures from Empress!

Dougie

Looking forward to seeing these "Toms" with some paint on them!

Dougie - Painting British Part 5- Varnish and Basing

Like some avenging angel, here to remind us what productivity looks like and how we all should be painting rather than writing poorly attempted witty comments on blogs, Dougie is back. And this time, he is here to finish stuff.....

This update will cover varnishing the figure and finished the bases. First off I always use 2 varnishes. The first coat is standard Humbrol gloss poly 35, this is a good protective coat for the paint and also helps unify the colours. The photo shows our figure having had his coat of Humbrol 35.

He then gets a coat of matt, now there’s a load of discussion on painting forums about matt varnish and which is best, I use Daler-Rowney Soluble Varnish Matt, and I’ve never had a problem, it dries dead flat, as below

The next 2 shots show the figure with the base finished, I’ve simply used Silflor 2 tone tufts Late Autumn in 4mm size, his glasses have also been re-glossed.

The last 2 show my first 4 man fireteam.

Lots more to follow!
Dougie

Well. They are simply lovely. That camo has come up really well Dougie- Craig and I have been debating about whether it is a touch bright, but you know what, I quite like it. And it's actually making me wonder if I have made my Auzzies too dark. Well that, and reminding me that I really should buy the whole range of Empress British. Because when painted up like that, they are just awesome.

Any clues for us for what is next?

I really need to get back to painting....

Dougie- Painting British Part 4- Badges/Boots/Weapons/Equipment

Dougie is back again, having given us all a couple of days to try his Multi-cam technique (I did, did you?). He returns to finish off the other elements of the model, guns, boots and badges. All things which if you get right, will really add a cool element to your figures.

First off I’ve painted the uniform badges; I’ve restricted this to jump wings and 3PARA DZ Patch. Here’s a photo of the actual kit, the jump wings are subdued and below them on the Velcro is the green 3PARA DZ patch

Here’s a close up of my version on the figure...

I’ve painted his boots starting with a base of VMC SS Cam Blk Brown 822, then brought the sand coloured boots up using the following colours from dark to light, VMC Cork Brown 843, VMC Tan Yellow 912 and VMC Dark Sand 847.

For modern weapons I’ve never been keen on using metallic colours, so I use a range of Greys running from VMC German Grey 995 to VMC Light Grey 990 and the shades in between.

I then finished off the helmet band, strap, gloves and radio earpiece and boom mike.

This is the front and back views below of the completed figure.

The next update we’ll be varnishing the figure and finishing the base.
Later, Dougie

Dougie - Painting British Part 3- Multicam

I hope you are sitting down in a comfy chair, because Dougie's "How To" guide continues, this time tackling the MTP camo for his Paras. I'm sure everyone who is planning to paint any form of Multicam will find this useful, if only for the techniques he chooses!

Well here’s how I paint MultiCam. At each stage I’ve included front and back views of the figure.

These are the paints I have used...
VMC Medium Grey 987
VMC Buff 976
VMC English Uniform 921
VMC Golden Olive 857
VMC USA Uniform 922
VMC SS Cam Blk Brown 822
VMC Ivory 918
and finally Daler Rowney Acrylic Artists Ink Sepia 251.

It’s an 8 stage process so here goes!

Stage 1 is to paint the whole uniform, body armour and webbing/load carrying equipment in VMC Medium Grey 987. Leave a small amount of black showing at the clothing joins.

Stage 2 is to highlight this colour with VMC Buff 976 as below.

Stage 3 is to lay on the first camo colour, VMC English Uniform 921 in a horizontal pattern, as below

Stage 4 we add VMC Golden Olive 857, again in a horizontal pattern as below

Stage 5 we add smaller areas of VMC USA Uniform 922, as below

Stage 6 we add flecks/swirls of VMC SS Cam Blk Brown 822, as below

Stage 7 is to add flecks/swirls of VMC Ivory 918, as below

Stage 8 is the last stage in my MultiCam method, we use Daler Rowney Acrylic Artists Ink Sepia 251 and a fine brush to line out and edge all joins and uniform seams, as below

It is a bit time comsuming but I’m quite pleased with the result. Next update we’ll be adding uniform detail, so that’s the buckles, Velcro areas and badges/insignia.

Later, Dougie