20mm Falklands Project

As you know, I am pushing to get my Falklands stuff done, especially with the 30^th Anniversary of the Argentine invasion being this April 2^nd.  I will not be able to get in a game in on that weekend as I am planning to go to Recruits in Lee Summit, MO, for that weekend.  But I should be able to get a couple of games in before June 14^th, which would be the date the Argentine forces surrendered.

Again, due to my work schedule, I have been contracting out my painting to Northumbrian Painting Services, which painted up all of the figures in this entry.

But first up is a picture of my cards for the Falklands, using the Too Fat Lardies, “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” (IABSM) rules and the Falklands supplement from their Season Special.  As I mention in one of my previous entries (link), I was using a company called ArtCow to make these cards.  I am happy with them and like the finish product.  See below for a picture of the final product and these links to see what cards I designed into the decks (link) & (link).

Also, I finished my Blinds for hidden movement for the Falklands.  I printed them off and glued them to heavy card stock, the type used for comic books & magazine storage.  You will noticed two sizes.  First is the 8” wide, which is the recommend width for IABSM.  They are taller then what is recommended, but I like the oval aspect for visual appearance.  The second size is 3” wide.  While it is not in IABSM rules, in their B’Maso supplement, they recommend 3” blinds for squad size elements vs. the 8” blinds for platoons.  So I am taking that suggestion for the Falklands too.  Also, you probably noticed that I have made blinds for Chile and one with penguins on it.  That is because, I will probably get around to doing some figures for the Chilean army to fight my Argentine troops for either the Beagle Conflict in 1978, or a possible assistance to the British in 1982 with the Chile blind.  The penguins are an unknown faction to both sides – it might be a group of penguins waddling through or a lost patrol of Argentine troops that either side knew were there.  There was several incidents of both sides seeing the troops from the other side, but not sure who they were or even though that they were friendlies.

This first group pictures are from the Argentine 1^st Amphibious Commandos Group, specifically the 16 man team that attacked the Governor’s House on April 2^nd.   They are the old Hotspur miniatures.   I have also bought, but not assembled the Governor’s House model kit from Card Models by Tony (link).   I hope to have that assembled by the end of Spring.

Next few pictures are of miniatures that are done to be either mixed in with my Argentine conscripts shown on previously (link) to have a unit from the 5^th Marine Infantry Bn, or to be used separately to represent the troops for the army’s 601^st or 602^nd Commandos.  The size of the force was decided on based on the force at the skirmish at the Top Malo House.  They are all Hotspurs, except for the surrendering figure at the far left rear of the picture.  He is from Platoon20.  The next picture is one of the two 1/72^nd Altaya AAV7A1 amphibian tractor that I got off of EBay.  This is the closes model that I could find of the LTVP7 that the Argentine Marines had for Operation Rosario.  The only thing noticeable wrong is the headlights and the need for a proper paint job.  Finally, the last picture is of the card model kit from Card Models by Tony (link) of the Top Malo house, which these figures will be defending.   I got mine, but once again, I still have to assemble it.

I only had a few British figures done specifically done for the Falklands this time around.  The following pictures are of those figures.  The first picture is a Blowpipe anti-air missile gunner and a Forward Observation Officer.  Both are from Liberation Miniatures.  The second picture is of the Liberation’s Falkland / Cold War SAS set.  The final picture is of the Hotspur’s Falklands SAS set.

These last set of pictures are of 1/144^th scale models of aircraft for the Falklands.  There really is a gap of models available for the Falklands in “game” friendly scales.  By that, I mean kits that will small enough to not take up a lot of room on the table, but also look right with other figures.  Yes, I know that there are 1/72^nd scale kits and that they fit with the miniatures, but I rather not have something as large as a 1/72^nd scale Pucara balanced on a small metal pole over my game table.  It is too big and probably out of balance.  Anyway the first one is a kit of a Sea Harrier from Academy / Minicraft.  I actually have had this kit for many years and never got around to even opening it.  The next one is of a Pucara (!).  This is available through Small Scale Shop at Shapeways (link).  It is available in the two different versions (one flying & one landed).  Everything from Shapeways is done by 3D printing on various materials.  But what is impressive is that is one piece!  The landing gear, the propellers, everything is done on the single piece, in case of the landed version of the Pucara.

The model’s surface is rough, but should be easy to sand down. Also there was a lot of oil on my kits, so they will need a good washing as well.  

Finally, with the 1/144^th scale Pucara, I think the Pebble Island raid is very do-able on.  Several Pucaras on the table will look decent and they will not take up an acre of space.  As you can see from the picture below, the Liberation’s SAS miniatures and the 1/144^th scale Pucara don’t look all that bad together, even with the Pucara being half the size that would be if it was to scale with the figures.

Well, that finally leaves my entry on the IABSM3 play test to still do.  I didn’t get many photos that turned out, so it will be a very brief report.  Keep your eye out for it.

Be seeing you

Cheers