20mm Modern MCV-80 UK Warrior

In order to compliment my detachment of modern British soldiers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan 20mm games, I have finally completed two Warriors (1/72 plastic kits).  Now I can move some of the British troops around the table-top in Armored Style.

 I painted one up in typical desert/invasion colors.  The other I painted with an interesting camouflage pattern based on an existing Warrior picture I found.  I still have to add some highlighting to both pieces.  

 To make things a little bit more interesting, I've been toying with the idea of using the plastic canvas material (10 squares per inch) to make inexpensive RPG skirts.  There aren't many commercially available options and they are usually made from etched metal and run a small fortune to buy.

I simply cut out the appropriate shapes, and removed some of the vertical ribs (this is the most time consuming part of the process) to give it the horizontal lines that most RPG skirts have.  One sheet cost me $0.99, and should be able to provide enough skirting for all of my vehicles. Look at some existing photographs. (see below)

An existing MCV-80 Warrior in Iraq.

I cut a total of 6 pieces of RPG skirting...one for each side, one for the rear, one for the front, and one for each side of the turret. I added short pieces of square plastic styrene strip to the back of the skirting so that it was offset from the hull by about 3/32". (except for the front piece.)

  

Side View



 The other side.

 The rear.

The front.

Overall, I like the addition of the skirting and may have to add some to my U.S. vehicles.

Plastic Canvas Seven Years War 6mm troops

I'm a big fan of the Age of Reason rules for the Seven years War (SYW).  However, I don't have any miniatures for the time period as members of a past game group had all of the necessary miniatures.

After seeing a few post online, I decided to try my hand at making my own 6mm SYW troops out of plastic canvas (The 'granny' stuff that when stitched with yarn, makes creative tissue box covers and other assorted items.)  The good news is that this same technique can be used really for any type of black powder troops...AWI, Napoleonics, ACW, and etc.

So, here's the results so far.

Here's how the cuts are made to the plastic canvas for the different troop types.

However, I think I'm going to try to make the infantry/crew 2 segments tall instead of only 1 on my next troops.  I'll post again on those results.  

 Here's the type of plastic canvas I use.  It comes in a variety of colors too, so if painting isn't your thing, buy it in the appropriate color for your troops.

 Here's some mock-ups of the artillery.  The Artillery trail, carriage and barrel are plastic canvas. 

The wheels are 1/4" sequins glued to the sides.

 Here are some infantry ranks glued to their bases.

 Here's a closer shot of the infantry.  I used a small nail for a flagstaff and glued on a mini-flag.

 Here are some buildings simply cut from some balsa wood scraps and painted.

Here are some horses and riders mounted for officers.

Here are some of my first completed figures for the Austrian Army.

I plan on completed the armies for all seven major powers for the Age of Reason campaign game.

(Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Ottoman, and Sweden)

 Austrian Cavalry (4 foot rule)

 A close-up of the Austrian Cavalry.

 More Austrian cavalry.

 Austrian Artillery.  Note the four different sizes of guns.  The bases are deeper and the gun carriage is longer as the guns become heavier. Each gun has 4 bases of crew.

 Here are some Austrian Infantry (Militia, Lights, Line, and Guard) with the 4 foot rule.

 A close-up of the Austrian Line Infantry.

A close-up of the Austrian Light Infantry.

I think that once they are painted, based and flocked, they look pretty good when you consider how cheap they were to make.