9th Company

The final movie in my war movie marathon was the Russian film 9th Company, telling the (historically based) story of the 9th Company, 345th Guards Airborne Regiment during the final year of the Russian War in Afghanistan. 9th Company is basically a Russian version of Full Metal Jacket being spilt into two main parts, the conscripts training in the Soviet Union then their service in Afghanistan. Similarities between the two movies are such that the first half is somewhat tedious - I mean how many screaming sergeant majors and troops on long runs and obstacle courses do you want to see?

It is when the film gets to Afghanistan that it really comes into its own, landing at Bagram air base the film moves up a number of notches and is made all the more impressive by the use of large quantities of real Soviet equipment especially the predatory Hinds. The 39 man company's mission is to station themselves on Hill 3234 and protect Soviet convoys, though it must be said with limited success. The final battle as 250 mujahadeen attack rounds things off impressively enough, though the film maker's throw history out of the window by wiping out most of the Soviet garrison for dramatic purposes (in real life 6 were killed and 28 wounded out of the 39).

Overall I enjoyed the second half of the movie a lot. The first half wasn't bad, it was just too familiar. The second half was very impressive if only for the chance to see Hind's in action along with BMP2's and BM-21's. If you have any interest in Soviet forces the movie is a must buy and even if you haven't it is a worthwhile addition to any war film collection.

Days Of Glory

The second movie in my marathon war movie session was the Days of Glory (the 2006 French film not the 1944 Gregory Peck one). Days of Glory tells the story of the native African troops who served in the French army during the second half of WW2 and the pretty shoddy way they were treated at the time and subsequently by French governments who refused to pay the veterans their pensions when their homelands became independent.

As war films go it is not the most action packed, with the battle sequences limited to a mountain assault in Tunisia (very reminiscent of a WW1 battle) and a defensive action against the Germans in an Alsace town, that said both are well done. The worth of the film is its addressing of a topic often overlooked, the contribution of native colonial forces in the liberation of France and the discrimination these troops faced from the homeland they were dying for. As with most films it sticks to its own agenda and as such ignores the war crimes committed by the French colonial forces in Italy (notably after Monte Cassino) so not to dilute your sympathy for injustices suffered by the main characters. Following the release of the film in France, the French government reinstated the military pensions of those colonial troops who had fought for France during the war.

Overall a good film on an obscure subject and worth checking out (again this one is also available for less than a fiver), a Goumier unit would certainly make for an interesting addition to a WW2 tabletop. 

Assembly

Feeling slightly sorry for myself not being up for painting 6mm tanks I plonked myself in front of the TV and watched a number of war films over the last couple of days. First off was Assembly, the story of one man's determined attempts to ensure his unit's brave sacrifice was not forgotten and the dead recognised as heroes not listed MIA.

Set in 1948 during the Huahai campaign of the Chinese Civil War, the film is in many respect China's Saving Private Ryan and the opening battle sequence of the PLA battling the Nationalist KMT in a Chinese town is as good as anything in Speilberg's film and like that, the story is highly compelling and tinged with sadness. 

For perfectionists there are odd little irritants, the KMT armour in the 1948 battle is wrong (M46 not M4...) and the US flag on the American truck in the 1951 sequences something you are more likely to see on an ambassadors car rather than a 6 x 4, but overall the whole look and feel of this film is excellent and the final stand of the 48 men of the 9th company is as intense and as good war cinema as you can get. Overall, Assembly is an excellent war movie and despite its uncommon setting well worth checking out.

Note: looking for a trailer on You Tube I have found someone has uploaded the movie in 10 minute chunks. Whilst I don't think this is the best way to watch the film (and as the DVD is under a fiver you shouldn't be a cheapskate!) it will give you an idea of how good it is before you buy it!

CDSU Super Heavy Armour Platoon

Sod's Law dictates that when I take some time off from work I end up catching some debilitating disease (usually the terrible Man flu!) - this time my plans of painting up more 6mm SF armour went south as I managed to contract an eye infection over the bank holiday weekend and then spread it to the good eye (I'm clever like that!). I'm now half way through a course of anti-biotic eye drops and my eyes are starting to feel less like being polished with sandpaper, so hopefully I'll be able to finish off my half completed CDSU Armour Company I started last week.

I had been pondering on a camo scheme for the CDSU for a little while and in the end decided to do something akin to the current Chinese three colour green-sand-black scheme. As a test piece(s) I decided to repaint three old CMD super heavy grav tanks sporting twin barrel armament and was pleased with the end result, adding some Dom's Decals 1/600th Soviet aircraft stars as markings. Unfortunately the models are no longer available in this version (shame as I really want six more...). The 40mm long hull with a one barrel version of the turret is available from GZG as DF-T21 Andromeda, but I am less keen on this compared to the three I have. Hopefully GZG will rediscover the two gun turret one day and make it available once more.

Just Wizard!

To try and keep myself sane when painting up units and armies I take a break by grabbing an odd unrelated figure and slapping a bit of paint on that. The purple wizard is one such figure. I think it is an old Citadel one (again pre-slotta though for consistency with my other fantasy figures he is now on a slotta) that I decided to experiment with purple over a black undercoat and see the end result. For the yellow areas I overpainted the black with a white undercoat then went orange topped with yellow. I was pleased with the end result. Not quite sure what he'll be used for but I'm sure he'll prove useful in some game or another...

The other wizard (again old Citadel pre-slotta) is my first attempt at painting in acrylics (over white undercoat) some twenty years ago in a painting session with then girlfriend (now SWMBO). For some reason TG(NSWMBO) decided she wasn't going to paint with enamels but bought a pile of pots of acrylics at some show (in Birmingham IIRC) which we sat down with one Sunday afternoon. This was the only figure I attempted and then reverted to enamels for nigh on fifteen years. They had the pigment consistency of poster paints and were very gritty (as opposed to Citadel paints at the time which were too runny). When painting the purple wizard I spotted this forlorn looking individual and decided to repaint him, but on closer inspection decided a bit of touching up and shading on the face was all that was really needed. Again no real idea what he'll end up being used for but it is another figure less in the lead mountain!

When's Second Breakfast?

Somewhat intrigued by what Tony is up to with halflings on his Dampf's Modelling Page Blog, I decided to dig out the unit of old GW Halflings I completed earlier this year to show on the blog.

I can't recall exactly when I bought these, but as most were pre-slotta base I assume it was around 1984-5. Bearing in mind I was a Goblin fantatic at the time I am not quite sure why I bought them (lunch for the goblins?), probably because they looked so much fun!

I dug them out as part of an exercise to see what F/SF units I could make out of the various odds and sods of white metal and plastic I have amassed over the last thirty years of wargaming that have never made it near a wargames table. Fortunately I had enough halflings to make a unit (without including some of the old GW LoTR hobbits I found from the first time they had the licence - I'm saving these for a rainy day).

Lovely little figures and full of character, there are a few duplications in the unit, but nothing too bad. I especially like the leader in breastplate with a pot for his helmet and the female with beer barrel which is the unit's standard bearer.

For those interested, the armour is my standard "grubbby armour" technique - paint it black, dry brush with GW Tin Bitz, then drybrush over that leaving bits showing through with GW Chainmail - quick and effective on anything from orcs through to dwarves, just use less Chainmail for a more grubby look...

Warrior Of Rome: Fire In The East

I must confess to a guilty secret - I'm addicted to historical fiction, especially sword and sandals stuff. Anything with ancient warriors beating several kinds of crap out of each other with swords and shields then it's probably on my reading list, the more bloody and brutal the better...

Fortunately the Easter Bunny, noticing an ever increasing waistline, decided that one chocolate egg was enough this year and threw in a copy of Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome: Fire in the East to sweeten the deal. It is the story of Marcus Clodius Ballista, a Roman citizen of barbarian origins tasked with defending the city of Arete against the Sassanid Empire in 255AD.

Now I haven't much of a clue about Roman history during this period (neither do academics apparently) but the book is a great read with naval action against pirates, intrigue, politics and a great big siege as the Sassanid's attempt to take Arete. Good stuff, can't wait for book two King of Kings.

African Warlord SF Armour

When I was chatting to Tony at Salute about Iron Cow he asked about opfors for the South African Commonwealth in Iron Cow as nothing appeared that obvious as most of the continent had gone downhill during the 21st century. I had recently been working on some SAC background for a mini-campaign/article or PDF supplement and outlined some of the ideas that were being penned. The idea of the SAC is that they ensure their own survival first and then do what they can for the rest of the continent second. The mini-campaign concept centred around SAC military units on humanitarian missions to Central Africa, with random encounters of anything from bandits using RPG's and IED's, through small bands of warlords and slavers to first world forces in the employ of industrialists exploiting whatever sparse resources the continent still can offer (the obvious candidate here for Tony was the EuroFed Legion...)

With all this at the back of my mind (and now being the proud owner of a wonderful - unpainted -  SAC armoured regiment with convoy to protect) I have been toying with building up a small warlord army, mixing and matching troop types and armour into a ragtag force that might not be able to stand up to the SAC on a level playing field but in rough terrain and using the ambush rules could be a real challenge. This would also allow me to use up a number of 6mm odds and sods I have ended up with over the years including these lovely little Scotia grav-tanks. I only have the three and have no idea what code they are, but they are some of the nicer Scotia designs and I have always liked the remote hull mounted gun look (Scotia do some futuristic versions of contemporary armour with hull mounted guns including a cool looking "Abrahms 2000" version using the M1 hull).

This will be an ongoing project with bits added as and when. I'm not sure what I'm going to call this force but reading article in this month's BBC History Magazine about Uganda's misfortunes post-colonialism and the Holy Spirit Movement and Lord's Resistance Army led by quasi-Christian spirit mediums, it'll have to be something a bit weird to compete with real life...

EuroFed Armoured Regiment

I managed to complete the remainder of my EuroFed armoured company for Iron Cow today.

The tank squadron comprises of 15 delightful Monsabert MBT's and a Tassigny Command APC from Brigade Models. Whilst 15mm SF is in "vogue" at the moment, you can't really beat lining up large numbers of 6mm tanks can you? The Monsabert is a lovely little model with some fantastic detail.

The Monsabert hull provides the basis for the Glorie SPG and I have two artillery batteries (Napoleon's "daughters") of three SPG's and a Tassigny Command APC each. I must confess I didn't like the model when I first saw it, not keen on having the barrel in the 45 degree firing position. However it has grown on me and I am pleased with the end result.

Finally there is the command unit. In Iron Cow the issuing of orders (as well as the jamming of your enemy's) is of paramount importance so a goodly number of Tassigny Command APC's are welcome. To provide some (usually very necessary) protection I have three support variants of the Monsabert which, in addition to a mean looking howitzer, sport some lethal chain guns on the turret (no doubt with infantry and VTOL attacks in mind).

If there is one gap in the Brigade range it is VTOL's. Tony says he's no good at sculpting them (!), fortunately I have some old GZG ones knocking around who will have to be press ganged into EuroFed use. Unfortunately, nice though they are, there is not a lot of variety in the GZG range (most are variants off a couple of hull designs), so if anyone knows of any alternative sources I'd appreciate it.

My First Wargames Army

A comment on the Brigade Message Board led to a bit of idle reminiscing last night about my first ever proper wargames army - a 1/300th 1944 US Armoured Division (the imaginary 38th Armored Division, nicknamed "The Reaper"). Not much has survived various house moves (or if it has it is hiding) but I did find a pile of models a while back, veterans of many a teenage battle in Graham's garage against Simon's 1:1 panzer division (well that was his ambition, not sure if he ever got there but Graham's Brits and my Yanks had to combine to give him a game).

Most of the division was made up of Heroics and Ros miniatures, but I was never really very happy with the clean look of the models. Everyone knows that US armoured units of the late war looked like refugee caravans (!), so many models (like the M3A1 half track and M7 Priest here) got covered in packs and rolls made out of Milliput and had crews added, mainly from the US heavy weapons pack.

Additionally the green models on green table look was kind of boring so a number of tanks (like this Skytrex M26 Pershing - well I had to have something to take on the King Tigers!) had orange air recognition panels fitted from old toothpaste tube (this was in the days when they were usefully made of metal).

As the division expanded I started to get ambitious and decided the H&R jeeps looked like they had just left the production line or were driven by some REMF not a frontline recon unit, so I converted a number to having the windscreen down, a wirecutter bar fitted, a crewman with .50 cal mg (actually its a BAR but in this scale...) and lots of packs and rolls.

I realised it was all getting too silly when I converted a platoon of US infantry into MP's by removing their packs (in 6mm...) and painting blue MP armbands and rings around their helmets on them... (this was for a planned but never fought Battle of the Bulge game).

These lads haven't seen action for over twenty years and are starting to go slightly yellow due to the Humbrol varnish used but they hold fond memories of many a battle fought including one epic D-Day battle that last two days and we never really got off the beach (on Simon's lounge floor).

Bertie's Blog

I have for the past couple of weeks been pondering whether it was appropriate to post certain Wessex Games' material on this blog. I set this blog up to put up photos of stuff I was painting etc, some of which would appear in forthcoming Wessex Games rulebooks, but some things that would not. There was specific Wessex Games items about work on forthcoming rules and miniatures that I wanted to share but I have concluded that my "personal" gaming blog wasn't the right place so I've created Bertie's Blog!

Bertie's Blog is where I'll post anything specific that relates to Wessex Games commercially ie. games development on rules we are producing or miniatures we are sculpting, and continue here on Bleaseworld with photos of stuff that may of may not end up being photographed in a WG product (like the Brigade models which will be in the Iron Cow PDF).

Glad we got that sorted out then... :-) 

American Soldier

I picked up a copy of Queensrÿche's new album American Soldier the other day. I had fallen out of love with the US prog metal band following the release of the (to my mind) disappointing Promised Land (it is no Operation: Mindcrime!). However, they piqued my interest with the new album which promised to be an "epic concept album exploring the consequences of war from the soldier's perspective"...

I was intrigued that lead singer, Geoff Tate, had gone out and interviewed US vets from a number of wars from Vietnam through Somalia to Iraq and used these interviews to develop the album (and in a number of cases include excerpts of the interviews in the songs which can be quite harrowing).

Now if you are into Celine Dion then this probably isn't going to be an album for you, but if you like a bit of guitar and gung-ho rock then American Soldier may well be the CD to stick on when playing Ambush Alley or Scudbusters, I'm certainly enjoying it...

EuroFed Aerospace Craft

Curse the sunny weather - SWMBO (or "She Who Must Not Be Named" as Saul called her by mistake!) has had me out in the fresh air engaged in that heinous activity - gardening!!! :-) Lord knows what a Goji Berry is, but we've now got one and over the weekend I've had spent longer with my fingers stuck in mud than holding a paintbrush (well I hope it's mud, we do have a large black labrador that spends a lot of time in the garden...).

Anyway, I did manage to get some "me time" and whilst the EuroFed Armoured Company is still only half painted I did manage to paint up some useful aerospace support for them (and games of Iron Hawk). Tony at Brigade let me have some master castings from their forthcoming Squadron Commander range (I believe they will be available at SELWG) including four Comete class and two Meteore class from the European Federation Aerospace Force.

The Comete is a simple little one piece model that looks ideal for both air and space combat as well as dropping munitions on ONESS and Neo-Soviet ground forces. The Meteore is a much bigger model and probably will only see service in space. Both are nice sharp models, but I really like the look of the Meteore... I painted them up in a blue-grey/light blue scheme and used some I-94 Enterprises decals (they are WW2 British Pacific but unusual enough to work for the Eurofed - I wanted to avoid using French markings as they are supposed to be a European Federation, albeit French dominated).

The Circuit

Last few days have been a bit of a rush work wise with meetings in London and Paris, so much of a rush that I forgot to pack a book to read on the Eurostar to Paris and plane back to Bristol! :-( I quickly browsed the small selection of books in WHSmiths' at St Pancras International and picked up Bob Shepherd's The Circuit.

The Circuit recounts (ex-SAS Warrant Officer) Bob Shepherd's work in the Private Security Companies since 1994 in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. I have become increasing interested in PSC's and PMC's (Private Military Contractors) of late as I want to include them in the Iron Cow background as an option for gamers other than the national power blocs.

A fascinating read, the author is quite honest in how his 'black and white' opinions of who the good guys and the bad guys are changed after his experiences following his military service and certainly pulls no punches in respect of what he sees as strategic and tactical errors by the US Military (especially Lt Col Sassaman in Iraq), the ineptitude of some other contractors (including his own employer) and some of the people he was tasked with protecting. There is some really interesting detail and colour in this book and anyone with an interest in the current War on Terror, the world's trouble spots in general or even how battlefield reporters go about their job will be well rewarded by picking this book up.

Memo To Self: Ignore All Distractions!

So there I was minding my own business trying to finish off painting my 6mm EuroFed when issue 65 of The Journal arrives... 

Lots of interesting stuff within but one article really piqued my interest. It was on WW2 Soviet coastal and riverine forces, not a topic I really knew much about, but the idea of gunboats (with T34 turrets) sailing up the Danube, engaging other vessels as well as tanks on the shore (one gunboat was famously sunk by a German Elefant!) seems hard to resist, especially as NavWar make some in 1/300th. (Now I do have some unpainted Soviet armour somewhere...)

I am doing best to be strong and focus on projects in hand, but I'd only need a couple, they are only £1.50 each and it's so easy to order things via the internet these days...

Monster Planet

Several years later... Just finished Monster Planet, the third in David Wellington's zombie trilogy. Set twelve years after the initial two volumes, Monster Planet is a bit of a disappointment. 

It starts off really well with the surviving Somalia heroines of the first book and the daughter of the UN weapons inspector flying a Mil-8 helicopter over rampaging zombies crossing Egypt. Indeed the post-apocalyptic/last survivors feel was promising, but the book goes down hill somewhat quickly after that as the action returns to America. 

Whilst there are some good scenes, it is increasingly far-fetched with too much emphasis on the magic powers of the undead and too little on zombie brain eating action (I mean who wants their undead turning people into mushrooms? We want them eating brains!). A shame really as the original novel was good and the second had its moments. 

If you read the first two you will undoubtedly end picking up the third to see how it all turns out, just be aware it ain't as good as its predecessors...

Shiver Me Timbers!

Took a bit of a break from painting today as the postman delivered a large parcel this morning! :-) Inside was the Mega Bloks Black Pearl which I spent most of the morning messing with around on the floor, sticking it together and then breaking it apart (then sticking it together so "SWMBO" could see it then breaking it apart!).

What's this got to do with wargaming you cry?! Well I'd been looking for some suitable ships to use in Strange Grogge, but as true to scale models would be ridiculously big and most kits are too small scale wise I'd almost given up on the idea until I spotted this game at Salute...

The models being used, with 28mm scale miniatures, are from the Mega Bloks Pirates of the Carribean line (Mega Bloks if you don't know is a company that produce Lego-like models, usually cheaper and IMHO having made a number through Saul's childhood, as good as, if not better...). The one above is (I think) The Flying Dutchman, but inspired by this game I hunted the Black Pearl and a generic Pirate Ship down on eBay, paying under a tenner for both.

This is a project for later in the year, but as I have now amassed a substantial collection of fantasy pirates from Black Scorpion, Olley's Armies, Fortress Figures, Rackham (to name a few) we'll soon be sailing the Seven Seas on Bleaseworld!

Panzerfäuste Ogres

The 6mm painting came to a grinding halt when I found that all three cans of black undercoat had run out (!) so I need to get some more before the I can get on with the EuroFed armour. Turning my eyes to a pile of half finished projects I decided to finish of my Panzerfäuste Ogre conversions as they would be needed in the forthcoming PDF edition.

Based on WW2 Hungarians I did the majority of the conversion work some moons ago, using the GW plastic Ogre Bulls as the basis and building up the torsos with Milliput. Detail was added using Green Stuff and weapons and accessories came from the 1/32nd Airfix Multipose Afrika Korp set. I went with 1/32nd as 1/35th accessories looked too small and flimsy compared to the figures. The helmet on the sergeant is probably a tad too small to be realistic but to my mind it works well giving the figure a slightly comic fantasy appearance. The headgear on the private was sculpted from Green Stuff. The models were then painted in up in WW2 Hungarian colours.

Overall I am really pleased with the conversions and the overall look of the Ogres. I am not sure when I'll get around to actually sculpting some Ogres from scratch for Panzerfäuste but these conversions were relatively straight forward and will make good proxies for the time being. As an exercise in using Milliput and Green Stuff it has certainly given me more confidence to have a go on some larger models sometime in the future. In the meantime I need to finish off the long awaited Highland Orcs before I get lynched by Panzerfäuste gamers!

Monster Nation

Back onto zombies and I've finished book two of David Wellington's trilogy,  Monster Nation. Trilogy is a bit of a misnomer as this prequel can be read in isolation as none of the main characters from Monster Island are in this book are in this and the action is by and large centred in California and Colorado.

Lots of good bits in this book that would make great wargames scenarios, such as the S&R teams in Denver trying to rescue the uninfected, but also bits that will make the zombie purist somewhat annoyed (invisible zombies?). Overall I quite enjoyed it but it might not be to everyone's taste.

Of course with all this reading about zombies and having seen 28 Weeks Later again recently on the TV I was pondering some zombie orientated miniature games. I do have the excellent Twilight Creations' Zombies!!! (a must have game), but was thinking about something more military themed. Ambush Z seems popular but I may be a cheapskate and just play around with Scudbusters using the reaction charts to control the zombies and the campaign system to gradually wear the SOF down.

EuroFed Mechanised Infantry

The Iron Cow arms race continues apace with the European Federation building up its forces to counter the fascist military of the American Republic!

First off is a mechanised infantry company using Brigade Models' lovely little Tassigny APC's and infantry. The Tassigny is a nice looking GEV APC and one of my favourite models in the entire Brigade line (there is just something about it's boxy look that appeals).

The unit HQ is a variant, the Tassigny Command APC which has a communications dish replacing the hull mounted weapon on the standard APC.

The infantry are Brigade's generic infantry pack and I must say probably the best 6mm SF infantry I have come across (with GZG a very close second). When I built my first Iron Cow armies up fifteen odd years ago using AFV's from GZG, Scotia etc, SF infantry were either non-exsitant or very poor. For the most part I used Heroics & Ros modern troops, their insurgents pack regularly getting drafted to various armies causes.

These days we are served with a number of really very good offerings including GZG and Dark Realm.

Unfortunately Brigade only do one pack which is a damn shame as they are very well detailed but not too fussy to paint up nicely with simple use of a black undercoat, some dry-brushing and odd dots of detail.

The infantry platoon pack contains regular troopers, a commander pointing and three different types of heavy weapon and I've decided to use them for EuroFed as I have enough to do a regular infantry company and also a EuroFed Legion one later on.

On a related SF infantry front I have ordered a couple of packs of Dark Realm including their jungle troops which look like they could be useful for English Republic Genetic Infantry (Gen: I) and in a strange turn of fate re-discovered several packs of the (very) old NavWar SF infantry which could well be useful for some Private Military Contractor forces I was planning to raise...

Before that though it'll be back to the EuroFed with a pile of tanks, artillery and close aerospace support currently sitting on the painting table awaiting undercoating.

AmRep Support Tanks

Tony at Brigade was kind enough to include three turrets for their M-826 Boyd Support Tank which uses the same body as the standard Boyd MBT in my order so I can switch between them dependent on mission requirements. I've now painted them up and here are the Boyd's in support mode...

Work continues apace on the Iron Cow front with my eyes (and paintbrush) now turned on the EuroFed. I've painted up several APC's for an infantry company and am part way through the infantry. Photos hopefully tomorrow. Before this I did finish the remainder of the AmRep Eagle flight which now just need decals applying.

Monster Island

Just finished reading Monster Island by David Wellington, a zombie story set in modern day New York. I must say I quite enjoyed it even if, (disregarding the zombie aspect), it is somewhat far fetched with a gang of Somali girl soldiers and a UN weapons inspector sailing a trawler from East Africa to the US to try and acquire AIDS drugs from the UN building in zombie infested New York.

The story is written in alternate chapters in the first person (for the UN weapons inspector) and the third person (for a zombie eye view) and rattles along quite nicely. Some fun touches such as the zombie pigeons and the mummies in the museum that also come back to life along with the other dead.

It does have some "fantasy" elements that might annoy zombie purists (yes, I know how silly that sounds)  but has some excellent ideas gamers looking to put on some zombie games, whether they are scenarios or just some cool concepts.

AmRep Eagle Aerospace Fighter

Tony at Brigade Games was kind enough to provide me with some samples of their (mostly) as yet unreleased 1/300th SF fighters. Brigade acquired the rights for Squadron Commander 3600 a little while back and intend to re-release it geared towards 1/300th scale miniatures (and thus compatible with their 6mm Iron Cow vehicle range). Of course in Wessex Towers we did not know this when we set David Manley to work on our own set of 1/300th SF Fighter rules using the AirWar: C21 mechanisms which will be called Iron Hawk: 2136AD. Not sure which set will see light of day first but I'm sure they'll both be worth buying (he said diplomatically!).

Anyhow, looking for some aerospace support for the AmRep Marine Corp tanks I have started painting up a flight of AmRep Eagle aerospace fighters. So far this one is the furthest along and is just waiting for markings to be added. I will probably opt for some of the current US low-vis grey ones if I can find some appropriate decals. A very well sculpted model I can see this being popular with both Iron Cow and Iron Hawk gamers.