Operation Parakeet

South Georgia, April 1982. British arctic researchers and naturists are held by Argentine Special Forces at the old coaling station of Penguin Inlet. With all attention on Grytviken, a scratch team of SBS/SAS troopers and a platoon of Royal Marines are tasked to "get the bloody Penguin twitchers out and don't let anyone slot them."

The SAS / SBS land at dusk and observe the settlement; the Marines are delayed by strong currents and engine trouble, with dawn rising and the Marines slogging up the far side of the Glacier, Sgt Chaz tells his 7 lads - "let's just f**cki*ng do it."

Penguin Inlet: South Georgia

They divide into two bricks - Sgt Chaz and troopers Gaz, Daz and Baz going left and Sgt Mike, Jake, Stan and Goffy going right; each brick has M16s, a M203 and a couple of LAWs. The first buildings are empty. The next, to judge by the empty tins and a grimace from Stan, are occupied.....an Argie steps out of the right hand shack, goes to call an alarm and is dropped. It all goes loud as 203 rounds thump into the shacks, followed by M16 fire. The buildings are clear. Mike's brick pushes up to the house adjacent to the slipway and spot a clutch of Argies over the road; they open fire and drop the Argies but Mike goes down. Meanwhile Chaz's brick is up to a small shack on the road, Baz and Gaz break left to move up to the house next to the Church......"Action LEFT" as a squad of Argies bundles out, firing...."ACTION FRONT!" as FNs are poked out of the windows of a house over the track.

 SAS/SBS Firing line working forward

The entire settlement is engulfed as the Brits put out fire. The Argies to the left are grenaded and scatter but a stray round drops Daz; Baz puts some down range but a rife grenade goes off far too close and he's down too.  Mike's brick is under fire now with Goffy put out of action.

Its looking a bit tight for the SAS/SBS but Chaz unlimbers a LAW and fires it at the house across the road - demolishing the chimney; its followed by some 203 rounds that rattle the windows. Doors are slamming and some Argies run towards the church - are they going for the civvies? They get dropped.

 Protagonisti: Chaz, Gaz, Daz and Baz

Mike is cut off from his guys as they are on the other side of the shack putting fire down the road - he slots a couple of Argies across the slipway and ducks back head ringing from a grenade. Shaking his head, he gets the M16 online and drops two more Args. He steps back into a porch and covers the right flank.

While everyone else (about two blokes in all) put out covering fire, Chaz leads Gaz in a looping run around to the side door of the church...."BRITISH ARMY!!".....size tens are applied to the door which is stuck firm. Cheers and singing of Rule Britannia are heard from the church as the door gets another good kicking but succumbs to a pew wielded by some large Arctic Survey lads.

Two brave Argies run out the back of the house

to set up a fire position in cover

Bullets rip into the settlement as an Argie MAG MG up on the hill opens up. Its a long shot but Jake cycles his 203, raises the M16 and plonks a grenade onto the gun team. The civilians pour out of the church and are ushered to cover; its all oddly quiet. The troopers scout around quickly and help their wounded up and away. Sgt Chaz gets on the radio "Penguin One Alpha to Penguin Actual. We have run out of Argies. Out."

Sgt Chaz: unhurt
Troopers
Gaz: unhurt
Daz: torn 'tache
Baz: killed

Sgt Mike: unhurt
Troopers
Jake: demon with the 203
Stan: ripped copy of Penthouse
Goffy: dented tin of Chicken Supreme

Game hosted and run by Mark, played with a liberally interpreted Voyages Extraordinaire from Wessex Games.

Cheers
Maff

S&S Models OTO-Melara 105mm Pack Howitzer

I have to admit a soft spot for the meccano-like 105mm L5 Pack Howitzer (aka Italian OTO-Melara Mod 56). Some of you who are my age would have had a Corgi diecast model of one of these as a kid back in the early seventies. So I'm delighted that Shaun at S&S Models has released this iconic weapon in 20mm.

£5.50 inc postage to UK

April 2012 Update PDF

The L5 saw action in Aden, Borneo, Vietnam and Malaya with British and Commonwealth forces. The Argentines also deployed three batteries in the Falklands in 1982.

The pack howitzer was designed to be easily broken down (into 12? parts) by it's crew and as a result it was not suitable for being towed over long distances unless you had a REME wagon following behind to pick up the bits that fell off. I believe the offical handbook restricted road movement to a MAXIMUM of 20 miles and shows it porteed on the flatbed of a Bedford truck, though the principal means of battlefield transport was meant to be a 3/4 ton Land Rover.

The L5 was progressively replaced by the L118 Light Gun from 1974 to 1978/9. Read more about British towed artillery in the seventies in my previous article.

From a Winter of '79 perspective the L5 105mm pack howitzer, with it's compact size and ease of transportation amkes it a perfect weapon to equip rebel formations whether regular or militia. The fact that the L5 could be placed in the back of a Bedford gives us ample opportunity for building some fun hastily armoured lorry 'technicals' for Winter of '79.

The 105mm pack howitzer is also available from Skytrex but in this instance I prefer the look of Shaun's so email is on the way to order one to start off my rebel artillery park. 


Cheers
Mark

MJ Falklands 20mm British: Go & Buy

Back on Tuesday evening I ordered several packs from MJ Figures new 20mm Falkland 1982 range. Wednesday they sent an email to inform me the figs had been despatched and duly enough on Thursday, there was a note through the letterbox to say they're waiting for me at the post office.

MJ Figures: BF01 £2.50

So this morning I walked up to the post office in the village to pick up the parcel. Made it back just before the rain but I wouldn't have minded, as these little beauties would have been worth the soaking.

The photos on the MJ webstore don't do them justice. The actual figures are well sculpted, crisply moulded, with no flash or mould seams. Unfortunately one figures arrived without most of his rifle, which had obviously broken during packaging, but I'm sure in this instance I can rustle up a spare Sterling for him. The minis are very naturally posed with well articulated faces (obligatory Tom Selleck moustaces in evidence on some figures) and above all, the berets look absolutely cracking, giving these Toms plenty of real soldier character.

Even better, these MJ Falklands British match with my ex-Hotspur figures - hallebloodylujah! I'll be buying at least one additional pack of the MJ's simply to whip the beret heads off and convert some ex-Hotspur Falkland figures.

The figures mostly appear to be wearing 68 pattern DPM Windproofs and a couple are wearing the longer and more voluminous 68 pattern Waterproof. In this scale the 68 pattern Windproof can easily double as a combat jacket with detachable hood, whilst the Waterproof can be painted as a civilian or ex-foreign army parka.

The 58 pattern webbing is in fighting order (sans bumroll). IMO the various pouches are too small on many of the figures to be truly accurate, especially waterbottle and kidney pouches, but I guess they suffice to look the part in this scale and a small niggle considering how good the figures are overall.

The L4 (Bren) LMG and SLR are very well sculpted, though the L4 looks a little short to my eye and there's no bipod in evidence. A small sprue with folded and extend bipod options like Elhiem provided with their GPMG gunner would have been a great addition. All SLRs have bayonets attached. Too often a pigs ear when attempted by other manufacturers, are in this case, well moulded and look like they can do the business.

Pack BF02, includes a bareheaded casualty lying face down and a separate SLR on a base, which even on it's own would make a good morale marker.

Summing up, what do I think? Well, these MJ Figures Falkland 1982 British are hot out of the parcel and I'm about to place a second order, so that should say something in itself. I hope Mark at MJ expands the range to include helmeted variants, GPMGs, Charlie Gs and support weapons as I'd love to see more Toms of this quality available.

Cheers
Mark

MJ Figures 20mm Falklands Brits

MJ Figures have released two packs of 20mm Toms in berets suitable for the Falklands conflict and of course, will equally find themselves perfectly at home on Winter of '79.

What can I say? Naturally these minis have my attention, particularly as most of the riflemen have bayonets 'cause "they don't like it up 'em". Hoods are also visible on the back of the jackets and a couple look like windproofs from the photos, which doubly gives them a Winter of '79 feel. I've ordered a couple of packs based on owning some of MJ's crisp, well proportioned Modern Mercenaries and am looking forward to these Brits dropping through the letterbox in a couple of days.

Cheers
Mark

The wrong side of the tracks

Its penguin-fart AM and a file of Argies creep towards Moody Brook using the Camber Light Railway sidings as cover.

Meanwhile, the Moody Brook Garrison - aka Marines Dave and Ron - have taken cover by a historic piece of rolling stock.

And, just to their North, Marine Pete and Cpl Baz are adding their own Para insulting graffiti to the seagull guano on the old coalshed.

The Big Picture, the Argie Rupertino is out of shot to the left; barely encouraged, the SF creep forward slowly......but are rumbled by the Booties. Dave drops the lead gaucho and Ron lets fly with his sterling; argie return fire is innefective and Pete takes out an argie on the far side of the tanker - Baz legs it to the tanker and drops another.

The seagull's eye view; with three men down the Argies decide that they don't need the scrap metal that much and call it a day for now. The Booties find a new ambush position and wonder how the lads at the Govt House are doing......

Freshly painted ex Hotspur argies from Stonewall and veteran Pltn20 Bootnecks. I like most of the argie SF / Marines but some of the figs are a bit tired in places; faces seem a bit craggy. I didnt like the GMPG guy then and I dont now - that said the guy with the SMG is ace as are the crouching figures - though the mags on the other SMGs are negligible. Platoon 20s? Good old figs, love 'em, solid castings that do the job.

Cheers

Maff

RH Models 20mm Argentines in the pipe

Rolf's first 20mm Argies.........

RH Models, Liberation Miniatures

20mm Argentine Infantry

Very much still in the pre moulding stage but some nice figures in the pipeline. Can see a role for some of these in Winter of '79 too.

Cheers
Mark

Government House, Port Stanley

 
Tony has done a great job creating a 20mm/OO 'cut-down' version of Government House for our forthcoming Operation Rosairio games.

Government House is available to you from Card Models for just £4.99. The model has been created with flexibility in mind so you can leave off the wing and greenhouse for use on it's own, and it could even be proxy as a 'posh' proxy for Top Malo House.

Combined together these Falklands buildings from Tony at Card Models can create small settlements for actual or hypothetical battles including SAS/SBS or even Buzo Tactico raids and skirmishes.

Cheers
Mark

An Ungentlemanly Act

 
Following a chat with Tony this morning, he's going to have a go at making a 20mm card model of Government House for us. Due to the size and complexity of the real building it will be a 'cut-down' version. But still ripe for some Buzo Tactico madness.

 Government House

The great thing is that many of these Falkland Island buildings, including Government House can be used within Winter of '79 or other Cold War, Modern and post apocalyptic settings.

Once again, any suggestions for Falkland Islands or other buildings you want to see, either leave a message below or visit Card Models and email Tony direct.

Cheers
Mark