Minor update

Not much to report, save that the barbed wire from SnM Stuff arrived today.

It's yet another UK order that's arrived before some of my US orders that were placed before it. I'm thinking, when all this is done, of going through and listing dates of order and arrival for everything just to have a record for later.

Reinforcements Arriving

It's been a busy couple of days for the mail carriers in Kinyonga, though their labor is not yet over.

My full QRF order from Scale Creep Miniatures and my Peter Pig order from Brookhurst Hobbies arrived yesterday, but I was too busy with some real life things to open them until today. Today's mail brought the second order from Peter Pig UK, and the huts and blast markers from PaperTerrain.

With the Peter Pig BTR-152 in hand, I was able to compare the size of the old Maisto M939 diecast trucks I had. They're longer than the BTR-152, but the wheels are about the same size and the height is reasonably compatible, so I think for my purposes they'll work to fill in extra trucks where needed. The M939 is technically too modern for my setting, but I'm going with the "a truck is a truck" rule for now, at least until such time as I can acquire a significant number of proper period trucks for an insignificant amount of money.

Most concerning to me right now amongst the not yet received is the Old Glory figures and vehicles ordered from Warweb. The earliest of them were ordered 19 days ago. They're just barely inside their "allow 2-3 weeks" timeframe, with no notice yet of anything shipping, and no answer to phone or email. This makes me a bit nervous since I've never ordered from them before. I wasn't expecting so long a delay because I thought everything I ordered was listed as in stock; I'm wondering if I overlooked one that wasn't or if their stock count wasn't up to date.

Other than that, I'm waiting on the Old Glory ZSU-23-4 and M40 Jeep w/RCL that I ordered direct from OldGlory15s, the casualty/wrecked/pinned markers from Litko, the barbed wire from SnM Stuff, the Nu-bee Mi-4 Hip from Hattons, the AA guns and rockets from TheSceneUK, and the radio transmitter pylon from Shapeways. Of those, the last 4 are all overseas, so I'm not too worried about the timeframe on them. Litko produces when the order is received, so it always takes a little while for them to ship, but I'm used to them and their communication.

I need the Old Glory orders (both Warweb and OG15s) and the TheSceneUK heavy weapons to be able to start sorting bases and units, especially the technicals since there are 4 pickups and 4 crew-served guns in the Warweb order and an additional 3 guns and a rocket launcher from TheScene. Once I have those, I can sort out which weapons I want mounted on which vehicles. The pickups, Unimogs, Land Rover, BTR-40, and M939s are all candidates for weapon mounts.

Totalling Up the Purchases (updated 9/14/15)

One of the hazards of buying a little here and there is you can quickly buy more than you need or spend more than you wanted. I'm pretty sure I've ended up doing that already with the AK-47 project. I won't really be sure until I have everything in hand so I can sort it out and figure up points, but I was going through to figure up how many things I'd ordered and thought I'd post the list here in a single post at the same time. Counts are number of figures/vehicles/items, not number of packs.

Old Glory
original order from Warweb cancelled

New Old Glory Order
Middle Eastern Regulars - 50 *
Middle Eastern Command - 50 *
African Irregulars - 100 *
African Irregular Command - 50 *
African Pickup Crew with HMG - 4 *
14.5mm ZPU Truck Mount - 4 *
Modern Pickups - 6 *
T-55 - 3 *
BTR-50 APC - 3 *
BTR-60A APC - 3 *
CMP 3 Ton Trucks - 6 *
AEC Armored Car - 3 *

Old Glory 15s/Battle Honors
ZSU-23-4 Shilka - 1 *
Jeep w/106mm RCL - 2 *

QRF
BTR-40A APC/scout vehicle - 1 *
Ferret Mk 1 armored car - 2 *
Saracen APC - 1 *
Landrover LWB w/Wombat RCL - 1 *

 Peter Pig
Seated Drivers - 6 *
ZPU-4 AA gun - 1 *
ZPU-1 AA gun - 2 *
Gaz Jeep - 1 *
AA Crew - 6 *
75mm RCL - 8*
Dictator character - 1*
Religious Leader character - 1*
BTR-152 - 2 *
Toyota High Suspension - 1 *
Unimog Truck - 2 *
Landrover - 1 *
MG Gunners - 3 *

Rebel Minis
Hostages - 12*
News Crew - 2*
Modern Rioters - 21*
Riot Police - 20*
African Military (berets) - 27*
African Militia - 27*
Modern Police - 22*
Modern Civilians - 21*

Khurasan Miniatures
Galactic Dictator - 1*
Modern Western Civilians (rioters) - 10*

Litko
30x30 bases - 200*
30x40 bases - 25*
40x40 bases - 50*
Wrecked vehicle markers (custom, blue) - 10 *
Wrecked vehicle markers (custom, red) - 10 *
Casualty markers (custom, red) - 30 *
Casualty markers (custom, blue) - 30 *
Pinned Markers - 20 (+10 I already had = 30) *

SnM Stuff
Barbed Wire - 10 meters *

Paper Terrain
15mm Grass Huts - 15 *
Blast markers - 25 *

Nu-Bee
Mi-4 Hip model kit *

Finger and Toe Models
15mm ShantyTown shacks - as many as I feel like printing and assembling*
15mm ShantyTown Shops - as many as I feel like printing and assembling*

The Scene UK
Quad linked 50 cal machine gun - 1 *
Twin linked Gatling gun - 1 *
ML001 (vehicle rocket launcher) - 1 *
Twin linked auto cannon - 1 *

Shapeways
 Transmitter  Pylon - 1 *


Besides all of this, I may or may not use some diecast vehicles I have on hand for the project, once I see what the sizes of the 15mm vehicles are compared to my diecasts.

* - indicates I've already received it. Everything else is waiting to arrive.

A few more arrivals

Today's mail brought a couple of AK-47 related items.

Firstly, a set of diamond needle files ordered off of Amazon for about $16. I realized once I started receiving the figures that I really wasn't supplied for metal files, so I did a quick search on Amazon for highly rated ones and these seemed the best choice for my needs. We'll see how they perform. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0048087RQ

And secondly, my first order of Peter Pig figures direct from Peter Pig arrived (faster than some of my USA orders have). One each of  17-68 75mm Recoil-less Rifles, 17-43 Dictator, and 17-44 Religious Leader. They're remarkably clean sculpts, very nicely done. The Dictator will likely serve as the leader of the MUZ forces, while the Religious Leader will of course lead the MBU.

This evening...or I suppose now it's morning...also saw me finally figure out how to get to the right Peter Pig range on the Brookhurst Hobbies site and get the page to display 100 items instead of the default 10, so I may be forced to order a few more Peter Pig from Brookhurst to test them out now that I'm no longer having to page through all 2000 or so Peter Pig items 10 at a time.

More AK-47 Tinkering

Finger and Toe Models (yes, that's really their name) makes a set of paper buildings in 15mm called Shanty Town, and an expansion with shops, that I picked up in PDF form from RPGNow.com. Friday I decided to print one set out on cardstock, and Saturday I cut out a single shack and folded it to see how much difficulty there was to it. Folding all the slender tabs down turned out to be more of a nuisance than cutting it out, but I managed it. I haven't yet dug up where I put my glue to try gluing it into a finished product, but as long as that part works well, I think I'm going to be reasonably pleased with them.

I also pulled out a Maisto M939, of which I have several I got cheap off Ebay a few years back, and stuck the gun shield and gun from a Roco 105mm howitzer in the cargo bed. At the moment, it's simply wedged in, not glued. The 939 is technically too late a model truck for my needs, but it'll do in a pinch. I'm waiting until the first of the actual 1/100 models arrive to see how they compare in size and decide whether I'll use the diecast with them or not.

I also put in an order for one set each of 15mm Grass Huts  and Blast Markers from PaperTerrain.com, who are currently having a sale. I'm curious to see if they'll work well for me.

More Recent Arrivals

I've recently added to my wargaming library the excellent Wargames Compendium by Henry Hyde. I've read chunks of it, but far from all of it, and found it just as good as I expected. Henry has a love for the hobby that comes through clearly, and a wealth of knowledge available both in his own brain and in his many contacts.

To give me some inspiration in painting up the new troops, I picked up Modern African Wars (2) : Angola and Mozambique 1961-74 (Men-At-Arms Series, 202) from Osprey. I've only really skimmed a bit of the text, since the war itself is not of great interest to me, but may go back later to gain more knowledge and flavor from the conflict. I may later pick up the volumes on the Algerian War and the Indonesian Confrontation from the same series.

Noble Knight carries some of the Rebel Miniatures figures, but not all of the line, and several of them are out of stock, so I ended up ordering part of what I wanted from them and part directly from Rebel Miniatures. Noble Knight also used the wrong photo on their Modern Police, so I thought I was getting Riot Police from them and turned out to be getting regular officers without the riot gear. I picked up a pack each of African Militia and African Military, the mistaken pack of Modern Police, and a pack of Modern Civilians. Today's mail brought the figures direct from Rebel Minis, comprised of 1 pack each of Riot Police, Modern Rioters, Hostages, and News Crew w/Robber. Yesterday's mail brought a tiny order from Khurasan Miniatures as well, comprised of one pack of Modern Civilians (despite the innocuous name, these are running and shouting and provided with bricks and molotovs as optional weapons) and one of "Galactic Dictator and Techno-Ninja." I really only needed the Galactic Dictator, a woman with long flowing hair and a suitably ornate military uniform, complete with frilled epaulettes, medal, and eye patch. I haven't decided what I'll use her for, but when I noticed her, I knew I needed one.

The AK-47 Republic Rules require both armies to be formed of exactly 5 units, but allow for each side to have one optional sixth unit of "Unarmed Militia", which means not so much unarmed as not equipped with military weaponry. They can still have knives, bats, pistols, bricks, molotov cocktails, and other such implements common to violent mobs. Under normal circumstances, this unit is required to always be off-board as a reinforcement unit that dices for arrival. However, I have it in mind to set up a scenario with the rioters as the cult's "Unarmed Militia" and the riot police as the government's "unarmed militia" and start both on the board in a confrontation, with military units of both sides responding to the eruption of violence.

The other arrival in today's mail was a set of bases from Litko Aero. A lot of 30x30, the standard AK-47 base size, and smaller quantites of 40x40 (towed weapons and tanks), and 30x40 (cavalry and possibly trucks, technicals, etc). The 30x40 may end up being superfluous, because I'm no longer sure if the vehicles will fit on them. I'll have to wait and make my decision once the vehicles arrive.

I'm still waiting for arrival of figures and vehicles from Peter Pig, Old Glory (via Warweb and Old Glory 15s), and QRF (via Scale Creep Miniatures); Barbed wire from SnM Stuff; some markers/tokens from Litko; and a set of needle files from Amazon.

AK-47 Flags

I found a free online flag creator and decided to see if I could generate flags for Kinyonga and the cult that I was happy with. Below are my results. You can find the generator at http://flag-designer.appspot.com/#d=10&c1=1&c2=4&c3=0&o=4&c4=0&s=0&c5=2

For inspiration and to be sure I didn't directly copy an existing flag, I used this site that shows all the African flags on a single screen: http://www.mapsofworld.com/flags/africa.html

Kinyongan National Flag

A classic tricolor with the victor's laurel on the left. This the national flag of Kinyonga created after they evicted the settles. Papa Noote's wife sewed the first such flag by hand, and it flew over the capital for a time before being placed on display in a sealed glass case in the Presidential Palace.

Church of the Enlightened Flag

The Church of the Enlightened has taken the national flag and changed the colors, as well as replacing the victor's laurel with the golden keys of knowledge. Sky blue is the holy color for the cult, and is likely to feature in most if not all of their uniforms. You can't be killed when wearing the holy color if you are righteous enough. Perhaps the casualties didn't donate enough to the treasury or had too much unholiness in their family line to overcome. It is believed among the faithful that the Grand Bishop's wife, Grand Sister Naomi, washed a national flag seven times in a washboard tub blessed by the Grand Bishop to remove its uncleanness, and when she withdrew it the seventh time, the holy blue stripe and new color and symbol of the triangle were found upon it.