Kitech AH-1G Huey Cobra

A couple of years ago I brought two Kitech Helicopters, a AH-1G and a Mil 24 Hind, because they were very cheap. So cheap in fact I thought that they were crap and would sit on the shelf forever. After now needing some helio airpower I have decided to finally do something about them. First up will be the AH-1G as it is needed to take down some NK armour. Not the correct model for 1985 but close enough.

So it came as a pleasant surprise to actually open the box and find a single spure of parts that were, to my eye anyway, quite decent if simple. After further googling I have come to the conclusion that it is a copy of the old monogram kit, which isn't half bad. So that is this weekends project sorted. I can see that painting the crew will probably take longer than the construction.

Invasion! Action on the DMZ

First up on our Korea 1985 game saw the Invasion of the South by the NK at a ROK Battalion held sector of the DMZ. Above on the left is the ROK line and along the right the NK side.

ROK/Allied Forces consisted of 1 Battalion ROK Light Infantry minus the Weapons Company on the line, with 1 Company of a US Mech Infantry Battalion, 1 Company of Armour (M48 MBT), and 1 Battery of ROK Artillery (M101A1 105mm) in reserve. The ROK Infantry were deployed on the DMZ line platoon elements, for a Battalion to be spread this far apart it will always be hard to keep the line intact.

NK Forces enjoyed a nice three or four to one advantage here as they were able to deploy 2 Battalions of Armour (T72, T55 in one Battalion, and T34/85 in a ‘C’ class Battalion), 1 Battalion of Regular Infantry, 1 Battalion of Airborne Infantry, and two ‘C’ class trained Battalions. In addition the NK Forces had 1 Battalion of Artillery as support.
Things looked a little grim for me as the ROK Commander…Above a Battalion of T34/85 shows their hand and begins to advance along with Infantry support.
NK also had a two turn advantage in movement and those sneaky blighters had tunnels that could deploy both Armour and Infantry right in the middle of the DMZ. Visions of Larry Bonds novel are quite acceptable when planning.

Al and I had discussed this scenario a few times, so it was up to me to make the best of the situation as we had always known that an overrun of the ROK line was probably unavoidable.

Al started out by crossing his C Class trained Infantry across the DMZ in two thrusts, with one being supported by the T34/85 battalion. The DMZ being quite open let me roll a good spotting score before they got to far advanced, I was also in the luck as the a Company of NK Infantry and one Company of Armour managed to fail on morale due to the heavily mined approaches to the South’s Main line of Resistance (MLR). With about one third of this first attack out of the way I managed to concentrate a barrage of arty on a complete Company wave, decimating it in the process leaving only a Battalion of NK Infantry and two Companies of Armour actually making it to my line. Round one to the South.

In my next turn I managed to move my Armour from reserve an activated my US Mech Infantry Coy to move onto the centre of the line as it had started to buckle under the pressure. For my M113 borne Infantry it was just in time as Al’s remaining T34/85 Companies overran the MLR and started to outflank my centre. M113’s are very soft targets at the best of times so they managed to get out just in the nick of time. Again my arty played a nice roll and more NK Infantry were worn down, however in a gritty piece of fighting two Platoons of my Infantry from D Coy were surrounded and only one managed to break out with the other being wiped out.

I started to move my remaining Infantry on the left hand flank towards the centre onto a hill which I had planned to become an island of resistance, this went well although the NK Infantry was starting to consolidate at the base. In a bold move Al’s Airborne Battalion (above)arrived onto the field landing at the base of the hill that I was pinning all my hopes on, however although the drop was successful in hitting the drop zone most of his three Companies worth of Platoons landed being pinned. My remaining platoons engaged and again scored some impressive casualties on the NK’s however it was now apparent my island was about to be swallowed. Round two to Al’s NK scoundrels

T34/85's pushing past the Airborne Troops. Could they hold?

Al’s two T34/85 Companies were by now in range of the 90mm Guns from my M48’s and it was an unpleasant surprise that Al’s first salvo at my Company wiped out the leading Platoon. In a retort the other two M48 Platoons avenged themselves destroying two of Al’s T34/85 Platoons while dug in troops from the hill above sent anti tank missiles through the top armour of another Platoon with ease

T34's burning, although outclassed by the ROK M48's they could still pack a surprise.

The left hill above was one of my major strongholds...Or so I thought.

85mm HEAT rounds still pack a punch.

At the base of the hill Al’s NK airborne troops came out of being pinned and assaulted the hill and my two remaining M48 Platoons with RPG fire, I was lucky to survive the encounter and without Infantry support available to flush the Para’s out and decided to retire them from the battle

Regular Infantry explode out of a tunnel.

Again just as I believed the battle to be turning my way a T72 company and Battalion of Motorized Regular Infantry smashed their way out of a tunnel on my right flank destroying all hopes of reinforcing the centre hill. My US Mech Coy de bussed and started to assault NK Forces at the right flank and with the .50 Cals from the tracks in support inflicted some serious damage. Quick thinking from my troops already dug in on the line saw a volley of anti tank missiles destroy two Platoons worth of T72’s while the Command Platoon failed a morale test and was sent back over to the NK line to re organize themselves.

Here I removed my M113’s as well after I lost the remaining Platoon holding the hill, and therefore my tracks were open to attack from the rear. Pushed off the Hill the 4 remaining Platoons from C and D Companies moved without haste to the rear of the battle to regroup. Round Three Draw.

T72's burn in the background, as seen from the ROK arty possie. Superb support was given from this Battery.

The next two moves saw the appearance of another Battalion of NK Infantry along with Al’s arty battalion from the tunnel on the right flank, the choice presented itself of whether I bracket the guns and tractors or the Infantry. After some indecision Al urged me that the biggest threat would come from the swarm of green at the base of the hill rather than guns in tow, so acting on his advice my 105’s broke up the NK attack with ease. The NK arty would have to wait.
With the bulk of my force still intact I decided to withdraw from the MLR. By staying on the line with the left flank wide open all I was doing was pin pricking Al’s NK’s. And of course while the NK forces were still advancing out of the tunnels I was being threatened with envelopment.

So we left it there, my Battalion Group had been in contact with the evil NK force for six hours and had stood up to most threats, but the sheer numbers had swayed the battle Al’s way.

ROK/US Losses
60 KIA
10 WIA
1 Platoon M48 MBT

NK Losses
600 KIA
200 WIA
3 Platoons T34/85 Tanks
2 Platoons T72 MBT

A costly victory to NK forces, but in terms of assets recovered by my ROK/US Forces a withdrawal rather than a defeat.

Lessons learned, ATGM are vital to defensive operations and can stop an armoured attack without close Infantry support in their tracks.

Airborne Forces probably need to be dropped out further from the actual attack to give themselves time to reorganize before being committed.

Trained troops need at least a three or four to one advantage in numbers when attacking experienced troops, dug in on an emplaced line.

Good control of arty is just as essential as good dice throwing, pick your targets wisely.

A great game will some good company, cheers Al.

Korea 1985: It's WAR!!!!

As some of you will no doubt have noticed, I have been modelling quite a bit of 1980’s material over the last few months, this is not some sort of mid life crisis, or a cry for help, but rather a campaign project that Al (from http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.com/) have been developing since the start of the year.

The project revolves around a fictional 1985 Cold War Invasion of the Republic of South Korea (ROK), by the North (NK). In essence the Third Korean War (There was a second border type conflict in the late 60’s).
Our plan is to war-game certain Units throughout the fictional conflict, and build in reinforcements and losses that affect the Units and Sub-Units value on the field. We plan to have a game at least once a week (Plans rarely survive contact) and continue until the matter is resolved.
We see at least seven Phases of the Conflict.

1. Surprise Invasion of the South by the NK.
2. Withdrawal of ROK/Allied Forces down the peninsular
3. Defence of Seoul and other major industrial or populated areas.
4. Deadlock.
5. Reinforcement.
6. Offensive operations by the South/Allied Forces.
7. Destruction of NK forces in the field.

We plan to game at least one of each phases presented and in some cases more, and have in fact gamed a crossing of the DMZ yesterday. Given that both of us were still a little quiet from ANZAC Day the day before we managed to sort out a few problems quite quickly and an enjoyable first game was had. Bootneck forgot his camera so you will have to take my side of the story as gospel.

Rules used are Command Decision Modern and in some cases we bend them to make it a little quicker or easier. Rivet counters beware! In some cases we don’t have the models or correct stuff, we could not give a toss about it, to us it’s about the game rather than a chunk of metal.

Next Post “DMZ Invasion”

M577 Command Post Scratchbuild Complete

It has been MERDC centre here as I have been on quite a vehicle painting roll over the last few days. Decals applied to the M557. It will serve as a US Mech Infantry Battalion HQ track.
Wash completed and the metal looks less shiny now. I suppose I could have added some black for the track pads, but stuff it I have had enough.

Figures are of course ESCI Modern US Infantry, still available from MARS. These dudes are my Battalion Command stand.

I have apart from repainting my M48 Company, just completed painting another 5 M113's so apart from a few Infantry still to base, finished an entire US Mech Bn.

As seen through a second generation Red Night scope. Again many thanks Gerard.

M48 Repaints

Up at sparrows fart, to get some armour available for my ROK/US forces. I have a number of old ESCI/Italeri M48's that were in a OD scheme, however by the 1970's these had been repainted to MERDC. Three tanks will give me a full company, and I have one and a half more to construct...I opened one box and the lower hull was missing, hence the half.
Start of the MERDC, I always try to use the instructions of real articles if possible. Paint by numbers here.

I decided not to remove the skull and diamond markings just to add some interest.

One of the M48's is the 90mm version which will be the Coy HQ tank. ROK still use the M48 as does a few other NATO Countries. I like them, as they have some moxie to the shape.

M577 Command Post Scratchbuild Update

I tackled some minor additions to the scratchbuild M577, as it looked a little naked. Added spare tracks, road wheel, jerrican and barbed wire roll to the front. I also added smoke dischargers as well.
To the rear I added a cable reel and tent extension poles up top.
So onto the painting in classic MERDC scheme of course, I start off with Olive Drab for the base.

Then add Humbrol number 30 Dark Green for the main botches

The Humbrol number 83 Matt Ochre for the light swirls in the pattern.

For the Black swirls in the pattern I use Matt Black 33 again from Humbrol, also add the rubber tread for the road wheels as well.

And some minor finishing up work, tracks, white cross on jerrican, and barbed wire. A black wash will come later to tone down the metallic parts, and then add some dirt to the tracks and hull.

M577 Command Post Scratchbuild

Al has a good friend, Gerard Davey who is the master of scratchbuilding (http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.com/2011/03/davey-collection-2.html ) and a short time ago he asked if there was anything I could do for me. Well I was short a M557, and you cannot get them in 1/72 plastics, and also my attempt would resemble a box on a M113, so I sent him via Al a JB Models M113 FSV kit for a base and some other odd ends. Here is the result a couple of weeks later..
To say I am rapt would understate my feelings. It is a pure gem! Really good detail and the shape is perfect. So here's to Gerard and Al, fantastic stuff and on the workbench now for finishing.

1980's NZ M101 105mm Guns

I have a week off work due to the slow down with the earthquake, so I have ripped into a couple of ROCO M101 guns to make a Kiwi 105mm Battery for operations in Al and myselfs 80's themed wargaming series.
NZ version of Desert MERDC again, which places the dark yellow as the base.

Nice little pieces and much better than my scatchbuilt ones, which incidentally will arm my ROK forces.

Now onto some crew stands...The tractors will be NZ Unimogs, and these are under preparation.

AT-3 Sagger

Quick post showing my hotch potch AT-3 Sagger Platoon stands for my Red 1980's Battalions. The nose is not quite right but I think it has the general feel of the weapon. The missile itself is a old AIM-9B Sidewinder cut down on a small box.

The 9K11 Malyutka (Russian: Малютка; little one, NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is an MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank guided missile developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided missile of the Soviet Union and is probably the most widely produced ATGM of all time—with Soviet production peaking at 25,000 missiles a year during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition copies of the missile have been manufactured under various names by at least five countries.

1980's RM Commandos Anti Tank Platoon

I finished off this Platoon stand and so my Support Company for this 1980's Commando is complete. The Milan is from the Modern Germans from Revell as is the loader. The operator is from Revells Modern British and is rather poor,but usable.

Nice asset to have in your Infantry Battalion, and it is quite portable to boot.

Damn stumpy legs!

1980's RM Commandos SFMG Platoon

Finished the Sustained Fire Machine Gun Platoon, which was a major feature of Light Infantry Battalions back in the 80's. Both figures are Revell's stumpy Modern British Infantry. The L7 GPMG is quite well done here and it is a nice addition to the set. Quite happy with the wash this time as it seems to work more with Brit DPM rather than the brighter Kiwi cloth.

Mates

Just a short post regarding the status of mates. I have a few good mates that share my warped sense of style and fondness with the plastic soldier hobby. I guess I am quite lucky in this fact that I have them, being in your 40's and playing with little plastic army men is not every ones cup of tea, and you could be right in thinking that we are bloomin idiots. Of course sometimes we are.

My three good mates in this regard are Phil (Chintz), Dave (Spanky) and Al (Bootneck), that fact that they all have nicknames should not be taken lightly as they are blokes and real blokes have nicknames relating to some aspect of their persona.

Phil (Chintz) popped in last weekend as he was over for his Grandmothers Funeral, she was 94 so she had a reasonable innings I think. He had asked me if there was anything I wanted from the big smoke before he came over so I asked for a few packets of ESCI Spetnaz that still haunts Acorn Models damaged store in Christchurch, no worries for him and he came over for a few hours and talked plastic. Chintz never comments on my blog but rather sends a email or text on something he likes. So we had a good yak and he put his paws on a few items he wanted to see in the flesh. It was Chintz who got me into wargaming back in the day at high school and although he has a massive collection in his own right he finds trouble finding the time to really get into it. His day will come.

Dave (Spanky) on the other hand is a machine when it comes to production, although he has a tendency to work with static 1/35th scale for alot of the time. Whatever rocks your boat I suppose. On the other hand when he does do the real scale (1/72 or 1/76) the results are beautiful. Again Dave showed up in the 80's at high school and many good times were spent in his garage with his nicely painted collection, of which a Bridge to far was faithfully recreated many times. Dave has always been keen to flick items that are no use to him over to me, and for that I thank him.

Bootneck (Al) is a more recent addition to the pack and has been a real inspiration and motivator into me pulling my finger and getting projects done. Al also shares my love for Beer which is always welcome and cigarettes which as we all know is a dying art. One of the great things about Al is his tendency to call a spade a spade, which is nice and refreshing and sometimes what I need. He also loves to chuck various bits and bobs my way and this works both ways to some extent.

Al popped around last night and was in fine form, he drunk my Ale, swore quite a bit, smoked up a storm and gave me some good feedback on some work I had been doing. The cook also likes Bootneck, even though sometimes she has no idea what we are talking (swearing) about.

So there it is a thank you to three mates, Cheers fella's.