The Scottish Powerplay; Prologue

Minister: "Nigel, spot of Cabernet?" 

Nigel: "Thank you Minister. Half a glass if you please. On duty. Derek here (standing off camera) is from the Policy Coordination Unit with your Scots briefing"

Minister: "Well, lead on Macduff"
 
Derek: Unsure at last remark "yessir. Minister...The position in Scotland is somewhat fluid. The vast majority want independance in some form and yet there is no clear sign of a common force emerging - unlike in Wales. The Scot players, frankly, seem to be more concerned with the who gets what regarding the oil revenues than how they actually get it. There are significant forces available but as yet they have not really taken a grip. Excuse me for saying, but with the collapse of legitimate centralised government eminating from Whitehall, there is a power vacuum - it's just a question of  who takes over".
 
Minister: Motioning around "Does this look like a collapse to you.... err, Derek?"

Nigel: "Yeees, thank you Derek - you have another briefing perhaps?"
 
Derek: Straightens. "Yes sir. But I should mention Irish Republican involvement on the Clyde and increasing Norwegian government uncertainty about the security of the oilfields...."
 
Minister: "Yes, yes, thank you..."

Derek leaves.

Minister: "Rather nice 'Cab'. I think I'll have a bottle sent to my office".

Nigel: "Minister, we need to get one step ahead of the Scots Nats, create the environment up there and build the battlefield to fight it how we want to fight it".
 
Minister: "None of that nonsense they ran into in the Welsh Office I hope Nigel? Perhaps something the Army Council will appreciate...?"

Nigel: "Yes Minister".

 

S&S Models: The Ghost of Christmas Past

Christmas Day. Hooray! Lot's to be thankful for this year. My lovely wife, job, being safe and dry, and keeping Mr Reaper at bay for another year.

The gifts come in secondary to all that, but my very welcome wargames haul this year includes the hefty hardback resource  Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain 1974-79 by acclaimed historian Dominic Sandbrook, and a pair of S&S Models latest 20mm Cold War Scorpion CVR(T) beauties from my father-in-law and Scimitar CVR(T) stocking filler from Heather.

The Scorpion CVR(T) seems fitting, almost comforting given the era covered by the book. Shaun has done a wonderful job and the resin/metal model instantly takes me back to school days. Black blazers, the whiff of Airfix cement, and of course Airfix magazine. A quick nostalgic scan of the net this morning showed that I bought my first Airfix Magazine in 1969. Ouch!

The Airfix Scorpion/Scimitar model was released in 1974 and became one of my favourite Airfix kits despite the fact the rubber tracks were always and still are a bitch to put on the model. The main differences visible in Shaun's model are the stowage bins that were very quickly added to vehicles in the field, but overall it retains the same characteristic Scorpion signature. Classic. Am very pleased.

Well Christmas is about to kick off big time here. Hope you have a great day yourselves.

Cheers, Slainte
Mark

Merry Christmas

Whilst I'm reaching the very end of my reserves as the working year comes towards an end, my Winter of '79 Paras are building up their reserves for the year ahead.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Maff for being a good mate as always. Major Mike for your support and a special mention to avid follower Mark Hickman for re-engergising us.

Whether you are a follower of Winter of '79 or have just stumbled on this page looking for a rock tribute band, we hope you get to share the day with the one/s who mean the most to you and for whom you mean the most. We want to wish you and your families a Very Happy Christmas!

If you are checking the net on Christmas Day, pop by to share a virtual dram and I may have some new models to share with you.

 
Cheers & All the Best!
Mark

McAK47

Conversion-fest last night. Got carried away and as a result, produced this nice little Scottish cameo piece from a bald-headed Chechen fighter. I'm really proud of how the Tam turned out and even added a tourrie and ribbons for added Gaelic flair!

Update: Unfortunately, he is one of a large number of figures sent to Mark Hickman in Dorset to be painted which were never returned.

And, just pulled this photo off the mobile. I wanted to mash up the figures that I had available, mixing pistols and rifles, gasmasks and scarves, helmets, berets and bareheads to create that truly desperate Popular Front or militia look.

Cheers
Mark
  

Platoon20 Urban Geezer Conversion

Over the past two years I've picked up four packs of  Armed Civilians/Terrorists (P-CV1) from Tony at Platoon 20. and set myself the challenge to make the four base figures as different as possible with the minimum of effort.

Sure, pushing the putty you can give them different jackets, different weapons etc, but sometimes, simple works.

Playing around with the figures in this classic pack, I've found that just taking the heads off and repositioning them makes a huge difference to how they look. whilst a simple headswop creates a whole new figure.

Best figure of the bunch is probably Man in zipper jacket, firing 9mm Browning HP pistol, two handed. He is an incredibly versatile miniature. A beret and he's a Spanish Civil War International Brigader or a 1960's Latin guerrilla. A balaclava and he's SAS or 70's terrorist. In this case I've given him a Liberation Minis head with knitted hat to create a more Geezers' blokey look. 

Cheers
Mark

Call of Duty: Festive Cheer

Saturday didn't quite go to plan. Well, not my plan at least. Up early and off on the annual odyssey to find the perfect Christmas Tree. If you have visions of the Griswold Family Christmas Tree, not far wrong. We returned with a seven foot monster that the King of Norway would be proud of.

I started converting some more Winter of '79 figures this morning but lost the thread amongst the household chaos being wrought by the tree, lights, baubles and general melee of festive decorations. Following a small intervention...I settled back down and switched to a box of spare Call of Duty:Modern Warfare figs that needed cleaning and prepping. In this case Wartime Miniatures, Modern Russians. They were originally bought with the intention of creating a Desanti force for Battlefield Evolution: Modern Warfare, supported by S&S Models' BMDs and T64Bs.

The Call of Duty:Modern Warfare spares box also had a pack of Liberation Miniatures guys in bandanna with AK47, cracking figures, and some MJ Figures Mercs with AK47. I picked out the best of both. Some bandanna guys will be slid into the Desanti force above but the rst along with the MJ Mercs, will become local Caucasus militia/rebels with a track/shellsuit look. Need more RPG!

A few Liberation Modern Russians with caps and SVD/PKM were lurking and are now going to join the Desanti, but I removed the heads from the figures with AKs for future use elsewhere.

 My existing stash from Liberation Miniatures

Needs more Snipers and RPGs

 All in all, the Russians proved to be a welcome distraction. But back now to my Winter of '79 conversions.

Cheers
Mark

I Wanna Be..... Anarchy

 A tiny bit of left over Green Stuff prompted me to give this errant guy from Platoon 20 a Mohican! I rolled the Green Stuff into a 'sausage', flattened, shaped and cut to length.

Moulding the Green Stuff around his head I used a toothpick to gently tease the base of the Green Stuff down onto his scalp and smoothed out to give a firm grip. If I can summon up a spare Sterling, I'll change his weapon. Might even look at giving him an SLR.




Cheers
Mark