Nigerian Army Patrol

This is the work to date on my Nigerian Army force. The Nigerians are present in Zugando as past of the I-COZ coalition, and represent the largest chunk of the UN force, closely followed by the British Army.

The Nigerian Army (NA) has a lot of experience of peacekeeping missions, having served in Liberia, Yugoslavia Rwanda, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Nigeria have contributed over 20, 000 troops and police to UN peacekeeping mission since 1960. They are also currently engaged with Islamist terrorists in northern Nigeria. 

The Nigerian Army is large, about 100,000 troops, but much of it's equipment  and especially its AFV's, is out-moded, compared to most western nations. 

The Saracen APC is a British made vehicals dating from 1952.The British used them a lot in the 1980's in Northern Ireland, but stopped using them in 1991. The NA still use them to this day, but even they are starting to replace them. They currently have about 10 in active service. 

In Force on Force the Saracen compares with a Bradly or a BMP-2 for protection but as it is only armed with a twin-MG turret it is seriously under powered as far as Firepower goes. It holds 9 passengers, and so it is ideal to transport my section, which is two fire-teams of four and a squad leader. 

The venerable T-55 is an old cold-war era soviet tank that has been in service in the NA for some time, and is showing its age. Despite repeated calls for the tank to be replaces the NA still field about 100 T-55s. This one has been upgrades with extra armor and a more up to date sensor suite, but even so it lacks the protection and the firepower to fulfill an anti-tank role against modern MBTs. As such, the T-55 has been relegated to an infantry support role, which is a position more suited to it's abilities

Luckily, the Zugandan Peoples Resistance Army lacks AFVs, and the few it has are the even more out-moded T-34/85. 

The Panhard VBL is a french made light armoured car that is widely used by the NA in a reconnaissance and support role. The VBL above has a MK 20 Rh 202 20mm autocannon, and is capable of anti-aircraft fire (not that the PRA have any aircraft). In FoF this is AP3/AT2 (L).

The VBL below is a VBL RECO and is fitted with a .50 Cal MG in a protected turret. 

The standard infantry rifle is the OBJ-006, which is a Nigerian made copy of the AK47. They also carry RPG-7 for anti-tank. The Nigerian Army are generally well trained and well motivated. In my games I tend to rate them as TQ D6 or D8 and Morale D8

The Saracen APC is made by Britannia Miniatures and comes form their Malay Emergency range. I painted it up exactly as it comes. I know the gunner in the rear is using a Bren gun, which even the NA don't use anymore, but I thought it would be too much bother to convert it. 

The T-55 is a die-cast vehical bought off eBay. It as a 1:50 scale model form the James Bond film Goldeneye. No conversion was necessary as it was already very detailed, just a quick paint job. 

The two VBL's are also diecast from eBay. They are 1:47 scale from Maisto. Personally I think 1:47 is a bit too big for 28mm but I wasn't spoiled for choice when it came to manufacturers. The VBL Canon  was just repainted. The VBL RECO was a bit trickier, as it was originally fitted with Mistral SAM missile  which wasn't much use as the PRA don't have any aircraft. I converted it using an upturned Chimera turret and a .50 cal MG from Imprint Models. 
The NA Infantry were made from The Assault Group 'Russians with woolly hats'. I did a head swap with West Winds WW2 German  helmets, then built up their body armour with epoxy putty. It wasn't a very hard job and I think the result was worth it. 

I think I will expand my NA force by building it up to a platoon, adding in another section or two, a HQ and some fire support (perhaps a GMPG or mortar). I will add a truck and a Land Rover as transports, rather than another Saracen. With only 10 in active service, I doubt they are that common. At some point in the future I would like to do some Nigerian Police too. 

I would like to note that I have found a 'real world' blog that has been invaluable in my research about the Nigerian Army. BeegEagle's Blog is an independent news blog crammed with amazing photos and new on the activities of the NA. Beegeagle describes himself as and opinionated Nigerian male with a keen interest in geopolitics, defense and strategic studies. I would describe him as the go-to guy for anything you need to know about the Nigerian Army.