Light Transport Plane

The CIA covert team move in to secure a light transport plane, a Beach Bonanza V Tail, believed to be being used by wanted war criminal and arms dealer Henry Gwapondi to smuggle weapons and supplies to PRA outposts in the jungle. The CIA agents are going to place a discreet tracking device on the plane in the hopes it will lead them to Mr Gwapondi, who they would very much like to question. 

I bought this plane on Ebay for £5(+£3 PP) fully painted! Perfect for an objective for Black Ops!

Move CIA Covert Operatives

Two more CIA operatives for the covert team.

CIA Covert Team

Sometimes you need to make a lot of noise and destruction. That's when we send in the marines. Sometimes you need something more covert. Field agents, on the ground, with an in-depth knowledge of the fluid situation are an invaluable asset in the war against the PRA. The CIA and MI6 have a number of agents in the field feeding back a constant flow of Intel on the constantly changing face of the war. This is very dangerous work, and relies on their skills at developing local assets to assist them. The threat of danger is ever present and these covert agents are always ready to protect themselves and their assets. 

These figures are from Spectre Miniatures. I painted them as I plan to use them when I try out Black Ops, a new small skirmish game from Osprey. 

Militiamen with Bad-Ass Hyenas

  Worrying report have been circulating of PRA militiamen training hyenas as attack 'dogs' for some time, but last week intrepid photojournalist Felix Champ managed to photograph them. Quite how wide spread this practice is is difficult to say, but there have certainly been repost of PRA commanders keeping the viscous animals as pets. 
  The local CIA commander was unimpressed by the reports. He was quoted as saying "TIA. This is Africa. Things like that happens every day." 

  Don't think I have taken leave of my senses. Some gangs in Africa actually do like to keep Hyenas as 'pets' because it makes them look bad ass. If you Google images of pet hyenas you will found plenty of pictures. 

In Call of Duty the African gangs use hyenas as attack dogs, which kind of gave me the idea. The CoD mission 'Fatal Extraction' was really the inspiration for me to start Zugando anyway, so hyenas have been on my 'to-do' list for a long time. 

Call of Duty hyena

I have converted these figures. They were from the Northstar Africa range, and I added collars and muzzles from Green Stuff, and added chains from the local bead shop. The militia are from Spectre Miniatures. I painted six hyenas, but have now decided that is a bit excessive, so two have been re-based to use in a post-apocalypse setting like Across the Dead Earth. 

PRA Militiamen for Spectre Miniatures

Asymmetrical engagements are where it is at, and I am pretty sure you can't have enough militia. Hordes of gun-toting, dope-smoking bad guys tearing through the town on gunned up Toyota technicals! 

  Does it get any better? 

  Here are some more militiamen for my PRA forces. I have used the figures from Spectre Miniatures that I got when I backed their Kickstarter last year. They are nice figures, with some good detailing. Scale-wise they fit better with the Empress miniatures that with The Assault Group. 

The Headman

Some Flunkies

Special Forces Divers

US Navy Seals and British SBS have been operating in the coastal regions around the PRA stronghold of Seatown, probing the rebels defences, conducting aggressive recon, and targeting PRA outposts. Most of the raids have been conducted using helicopters or small boats from the US and RN warships attempting to blockade Seatown, but a handful have featured stealthful insertions by scuba divers. These feared amphibious warriors emerge from the sea, strike, then vanish as quickly as they arrived- leaving no trace. 

Fighting Season News

Last year at Salute I spoke to Richard from Two Fat Lardies and said that a ultra-modern rule set would be great. This year Two Fat Lardies have announced that they will be bring out a set of rules designed to be used to game ultra-modern conflicts, with particular emphasis on asymmetrical engagements. I am not going to claim any particular credit...but I guess Richard knows a good idea when he hears it.  

The game will be called Fighting Season, and at this stage looks like it will be a supplement for their WW2 game Chain of Command, which has been very well received by player who game that period. The plan is to produce a book with army list covering Afgan and Iraq, but I will certainly be modifying it for Zugando. Richard of Two Fat Lardies has been promoting it at Salute at the weekend

Here is a Link to the Lardies blog if you want to know more. 

Another CIA operative

Here is another member of the CIA wet team. This one is using locally acquired weaponry and adds some serious fire-power with the RPG 7. 

This is another Spectre Miniatures figure. This photo shows a mould line across the face and down the leg, which is annoying. In real life it doesn't look anywhere near as obvious, but when a photo of a mini 1 inch high is blown up to six inches high even minor imperfections look quite obvious.

CIA Wet Team Operative

Sometimes the CIA Agents operating in Zugando need to do more than just pass Intel onto the UN and Special Forces: Sometimes it in necessary for them to get their hands dirty, and to eliminate a threat without drawing attention to tehir actions. That is when they call in the shadowy 'Wet Teams'. Wet work has been a euphemism used by the Agency to describe assassinations and murder since the days of the cold war. The Wet Teams are recruited from the agency, PMC operatives and former special forces. They operate under a cloak of secrecy: their identities, and their actions, are highly classified. 

They are the ultimate deniable asset. 

Weapons Dump by Spectre Miniatures

These markers were a little bonus for those of us who backed the Spectre Miniatures Kick Starter in 2014. Personally I think it was a little thing the Spectre Miniatures guys quickly cobbled together when they realised that they had far more success that they had originally planned for, but I like them and so I am not complaining. 

As far as I know they were exclusive to the KS deal, but it wouldn't be too hard to recreate- just a tarpaulin made from Green Stuff, with a load of weapons and packs pushed into it. I think I might give it a go myself, as I have enough bits and bobs from the Warlord Games WW2 plastic sprue and the Wargames Factory's plastic zombie survivors. 

In game terms they can represent ammo dumps, spawning points or objectives, which should come in handy. 

More Firepower for the People's Resistance Army

The PRA continue to solidify it's control over the inland areas of Zugando. Here you can see their latest additions to their arsenal.  

 
.30 calibre Browning HMG on tripod mount (Note these were from The Assult Group's Vietnam range, with a bit of Green Stuff to change their hair to 'African' hair.)

More PRA 'regulars' from TAG.

A Soviet-era Russian-made DShK HMG on anti-aircraft mount. Useful to prevent helicopters attacking your positions. This one is manned by a couple of militia men (Made by Eureka).

High Value Individual #5: Thomas The Butcher

Thomas Mukaka (AKA Thomas the Butcher, AKA Bloody Tom) is a local leader of the PRA Militias. Unlike many PRA leaders, Mukaka has no military experiences, but instead has risen from the ranks of the militia. He has achieved his success by a combination of brutally and ruthless cunning. His men fear him more than they admire him. His drug fuelled paranoia and callous disregard for human life has led to him murdering a number of his own lieutenants.

Mukaka has come to the attention of the I-COZ intelligence services when he executed two western aid workers. He killed them because he feared the SAS would try to rescue them, although in truth the SAS were busy in another part of Zugando, and has no plans to attack Mukaka. After the murder of the aid workers the UN diplomats who had been trying to secure the hostages release decided it could no longer negotiate with Mukaka and, ironically perhaps, the SAS have been tasked with removing Mukaka.