Jihad Enough?

As the year draws to an end grown men and juveniles eagerly wait to see what, if any, lumps of  metal they might get as Christmas presents. Dining room tables have to be cleared and as a result the hobby slows down as gamers and collectors twiddle their thumbs looking back at the previous gaming year. At 6mil mansions the boy Slug and are have reached a couple of major stages of ongoing projects. This is the Jihadistan project where we’ve put the final touches to the fundamental forces, Terry Taliban, Harry Haji, Micky Mujahadeen etc.

First up is this wonderful captured BTR. It’s a bit more 80’s Afghanistan than the ultra-modern this project is all about, but it shall play it’s part. I can’t claim any credit for this is any way, it’s part of a purchase I made from Uncle Crouchie.

It’s a lovely piece and beautifully painted in a peacock pattern by the man himself.

The whole thing was based on a photo from the conflict and Uncle Crouchie has replicated it perfectly. Originally I couldn’t find a copy of the photo to show you the connection, so thanks to Lowtardog who shared it with me via LAF.

I’m thrilled with this and reckon it’s the best vehicle in my entire collection, but of course you can’t just have a stolen BTR.

Here’s my second Technical but lucky for us all the photos are better than they were when I finished the first one way back in September.

These feature several Stan Johansen miniatures, the driver and the gunner and loader. The latter pair which have been slightly modified so they don’t appear as the same figures on different models.  The sitting RPGer is by Empress.  The one thing I will avoid in future is keeping the windscreen. It’s a severe discomfort in the posterior which I could have well done without. Vehicles look fine without it.

The vehicle is a boot fair find, costing a whopping 25 pence, and is a pullback and go. There has been a temptation to do this, typically from the Slug, but I have a vision of the thing shooting across the table and smashing into the wall and showering to the floor as a few hundred pieces. So we still don’t know what it might look like.

This picture gives you an idea of the detail in the back, since taking it I’ve gone back and put spent .50 cal shells on the floor to the right of the gun in the space. It looks much better but I doubt I’ll take another photo of it, so you’ll either have to take my word for it or use your imagination.

Here’s the third and final Technical, again using an diecast toy which has to be taken apart to be worked and painted, as well as having a few pieces discarded. The driver and spotter are both Stan Johansen, the other two Empress.

This one is a mortar carrier, the mortar coming from a 1/76th spares box.

It’s worked well and taken a fair amount of detail without getting too crowded.

The driver piece is average, but the addition of an AK on the passenger seat and a book on the dashboard helps to lift it. It’s interesting to see how some pieces, when photographed and blown up larger than the reality look really rough, like the driver.

You need a few miniatures as well, and here’s the bulk of our hoarde. A mix of TAG, Empress and Johansen, totalling just over sixty pieces. About half of them painted by either me or the Slug, and the other half painted by Uncle Crouchie and bought from him. A most welcome boost to the forces.

Here’s a few more who didn’t make the first photo, combines they’ll be imposing daft religious laws on a table near me soon.

The only other thing I figured we needed where some civilians, these all being Johansen.

So that’s the Jihadist done and dusted, although there are some goats still in the pipeline, but aside from that there’s not another single figure to paint for this project unless I get some for Christmas.

Tags: 28mm, afghanistan, Crouchie, diecast, Empress Miniatures, figures, gaming, iraq, jihad, jihadi, Jihadistan, miniatures, model, modelling, modern, painting, Stan Johnasen, technical, technicals, The Assault Group, vehicles, wargaming