US Special Forces In Zugando

 Since the US pulled out most of its ground forces supporting the I-COZ coalition, it has committed even more Special Forces to support the British Special Forces already operating in the country. The addition of this highly specialized manpower has allows the expansion of the campaign to eliminate the command and control structures withing the PRA. 
The dense jungle vegetation and poor infrastructure has made the role of the SF very difficult, but they are slowly beginning to make gains, having eliminated a number of high value targets in the resent weeks. 
  The US SF have established a number of hidden forward bases and are supplied by air by the USMC operating off the coast. The USMC also supply air cover, UMV and a small number of specialists to support the USSF.

These figures are a mixture of Eureka and Empress miniatures. They scale together well enough for me to use them in mixed units. 

Transport Zugandan Style

Just a few pictures of the sort of vehicals you might typically expect to see in any Zugandan Village. Some of these have been shown previously on Four Colour Super Minis, my other blog, but here they are gathered together.

These three are from the Disney Cars range. You might recognize Tow Mater? Disney Cars are nominally 1:55 scale, which is spot on for 28mm if you ask me. Some of the models have their sized exaggerated for comic effect, so it is best to see it in person before you buy them. These three scale very well with my 28 mm figures. 

This limo will be for a VIP, perhaps a UN envoy or a member of the government.  I have a few VIP's, along with some body guards, waiting to be painted in my lead mountain. At least they have now got a ride!

British Special Forces

British Special Forces have been operating 'behind the lines' in Zugando for many months. They are operating outside remits the mandate of the UN I-COZ force, which is a peace-keeping and monitoring force, but with the express permission of the Zugandan government.  Their objective is to find and eliminate the leadership of the Peoples Resistance Army, something they have had a degree of success with, most recently capturing a PRA officer at Fanno Casa, and destroying a weapons cache.

The lightly equipped SAS force is currently being commanded by Captain Price, a very experienced officer known for being tough, determined, and often maverick. He has a superb grasp of the ebb and flow of the battlefield and is well liked and trusted by the men under his command. 

These figures are from TAG. I painted them in Desert DPM camouflage, mostly because it looks cool and at the time most of the British soldiers I saw on the news, or on Google images, wore desert DPM. Since I painted them the new MTP camouflage, which is a greener version of the american Multicam, is more in evidence. It's also better suited to the terrain in Zugando. Rather than repaint the whole lot I plan to buy some more and paint them up in MTP. That way I can mix and match as an when I feel the need. I also want to add some support weapons, snipers etc. 

As always, comments are welcome. 

The Press Corps

While three aren't any rules in Force on Force for the press corps, war corespondents and journalists on the battlefield, I have found that over time I have acquired a few over the last year or two, so I thought I would present them here, along with some home spun rules for you perusal. 

Basically, I would use these journalists with a Fog of War card. When the card is drawn a random fire team is chosen. The journalist focus on the exploits of that fire team, and are set up withing 6 inches of the fire team, by whoever drew the card. They are moved by the player who has the initiative, and can move anywhere so long as they remain within 6 inches of  the fire team if possible. They can be positioned in cover, or blocking line of sight etc. 

They will remain with their chosen fire team until the journalists take a casualty, or the fire team is wiped out: at this point the journalists run for cover. 

If any civilian,  hostage, or dependent etc is killed in Line of Sight of the journalist, or if anyone injures one of the journalists, then the player responsible looses 2VP at the end of the game, as it will be all over the world news by morning. 

Pulitzer prize wining photo-journalist Felix Champ has spent his life reporting from the worst places in the world. He is freelance, preferring to travel unencumbered by regulations as much as by equipment. His article exposing the decree of Russian involvement in the trade in blood diamonds has brought the light of the free press to shine on Zugnado, as well as to earn him a few enemies in the PRA and in Russia. 

Matti Scern is a loose cannon, a young buck out to prove himself in the war-torn landscape of Zugando. He takes unnecessary risks in his attempts to get the scoop, and the other journalists tend to avoid him in case they get caught up the trouble he leaves in his wake. 

Rex Sadler, war correspondent for the News 4 and his intrepid cameraman Lance Waverly generally report from the relative 'safety' of the capital city Victoria Town, but they have been know to travel into the lawless hinterlands in search of a story. 

Felix Champ is a great figure by Fenris Games. He is a lovely sculpt and was a pleasure to paint  he would be useful as a tourist too (not tat you get many tourists in Zugando!). Matti Scern is from Black Cat Bases. Not a great figure perhaps, but useful enough. 
Rex Sadler is a limited edition figure available through TAG, if you buy more that £39 worth of stuff. It's difficult to see in this picture but he is wearing a flack jacket under his suit. Lance Waverly, the camera man, is from EM4, and is a Mark Copplestone sculpt (one of my favorite sculptors). This is  the second Lance Waverly I have painted, as I did one for my superhero campaign. 

Comments are welcome, especially about my 'house rules'.

Angry Civilian Mobs

Pulp Citizen asked for a photo of the Zugandan civilians all 'mobbed' up, to see what the look like. I was trying out the camera on my new Ipad, on one of the rare sunny days we have here in the UK, and so I snapped off this shot.

As you can see the angry mob is on two movement bases. These are by Warbases, and they are called Zombie bases (but as you can see they work well for the living as well as the living-dead). they are laser cut for accuracy with 2p sized holes, which is convenient because I use 2p coins to base my Zugandan figures. The come in various sizes. I have five 'holes' per base, which is  roughly 2 inches by 3 inches: Exactly the right size for a 'civilian mob' in the Force on Force!

If you click on the image you should get a bigger picture.