Thursday, May 28, 2015

Cuba Libre Overlay

For the upcoming invasion of Cuba.



Western Command
Havana 
1st Airborne Battalion, "Castro's Bodyguard"
-1st Airborne Company
-2nd Airborne Company

2nd Armored Battalion
-78th Tank Company (T-72)
-70th Motorized Rifle Company (BMP-2)

Pinar del Rio 
3rd Infantry Battalion
-27th Infantry Company
-28th Infantry Company
-24th Provincial Militia Company

Cuban Liberation Army
1st Airborne Infantry Battalion - Col Lucastro -Screen Pinar del Rio/La Fe
-A Airborne Company - Capt Olejandro
-B Airborne Company - Capt Banos
-C Airborne Company - Capt DeNostro

3rd Infantry Battalion -Col Galban -Landing Force-La Fe
-1st Marine Company - Capt Benavides
-B Rifle Company - Capt Torrencio
-C Rifle Company - Capt Cruze

4th Infantry Battalion -Col Estavante -Follow on Force- La Fe
-E Rifle Company - Capt Cannastria
-F Rifle Company - Capt Chavez
-1st Air Assault Company - Capt Bronchovio

5th Armored Battalion -Col Colavantes -Follow on Force- La Fe
-1 Troop - Capt Fordesante
-2 Troop - Capt Solar
-3 Troop - Capt Basilone

8th Popular Force Battalion -Col Habanera -Havana
-A Popular Force Company - Capt Welasquez
-B Popular Force Company - Capt Muertosa
-C Popular Force Company - Capt Talamantes

CLA SOF A Sqdn - Capt Stelosavo -Havana
CLA SOF B Sqdn - Capt Villanueva -Pinar Del Rio

Central Command
Cienfuegos 
4th Infantry Battalion
-81st Infantry Company
-84th Infantry Company

5th Territorial Infantry Battalion
-86th Provincial Militia Company
-89th Provincial Militia Company

6th Armored Battalion
-12th Tank Company (T-34)
-242nd Infantry Company

Matanzas 
7th Infantry Battalion
-41st Infantry Company
-43rd Infantry Company
-48th Provincial Militia Company

Cuban Liberation Army
2nd Airborne Infantry Battalion -Col Carreno -Screen Cienfuegos/Bay of Pigs
-E Airborne Company - Capt Halabrio
-F Airborne Company - Capt Guerrero
-G Airborne Company - Capt Cuervesco

6th Infantry Battalion -Col Colvasquez -Landing Force- Bay of Pigs
-A Rifle Company - Capt Pilar-Soto
-B Rifle Company - Capt Rolando
-2nd Marine Company - Capt Spirovales

7th Infantry Battalion -Col Barnejesus -Follow on Force- Bay of Pigs
-E Rifle Company - Capt Michoacana
-2nd Air Assault Company - Capt Wallestre
-G Rifle Company - Capt Cubio

9th Popular Force Battalion -Col Bustamante -Matanzas
-E Popular Force Company - Capt Afflexio
-F Popular Force Company - Capt Ballesteros
-G Popular Force Company - Capt Elias

10th Popular Force Battalion -Col Elias -Jaguey Grande (SW of Colon)
-I Popular Force Company - Capt Ermera
-K Popular Force Company - Capt Fulgencio
-L Popular Force Company - Capt Reynaldo

Eastern Command
Santiago de Cuba 
8th Tank Battalion
-3rd Tank Company (T-55)
-6th Tank Company (T-34)
-9th Tank Company (SU-76)

9th Infantry Battalion
-31st Infantry Company
-32nd Infantry Company
-38th Infantry Company

10th Territorial Infantry Battalion
-84th Provincial Militia Company
-90th Provincial Militia Company

11th Territorial Infantry Battalion
-95th Provincial Militia Company
-97th Provincial Militia Company

Holguin 
Mechanized Task Force 'A' (from elements of the 12th Mechanized Battalion)
-50th Mechanized Company (BTR-60)

13th Infantry Battalion
-54th Infantry Company
-56th Infantry Company
-58th Provincial Militia Company.

Camaguey 
Mechanized Task Force 'B' (from elements of the 12th Mechanized Battalion)
-60th Mechanized Company (BTR-60)

14th Infantry Battalion
-60th Infantry Company
-63rd Infantry Company

15th Territorial Infantry Battalion
-65th Provincial Militia Company
-69th Provincial Militia Company

Cuban Liberation Army
CLA UCW (A, B, and C Co) -Col Huistrella -in vicinity of Los Tunas
-A Special Forces Company - Capt Kalabera
-B Special Forces Company - Capt Galban
-C Special Forces Company - Capt Gonzalez

CLA SOF CO - Col Quilveras
CLA SOF C Sqdn - Capt Bosanova -Santiago de Cuba

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

More Forces for Cuba Libre

All,

I've been out of pocket with some other stuff going on, but this past weekend was action-packed with wargaming.  Well, maybe not action packed; I didn't actually get any games in, but I had a veritable orgy of painting, basing, flocking, re-painting, re-basing, and re-flocking, which may sound boring, but stands me in good stead for starting my long neglected project, "Cuba Libre."

Lay your eyes on all the various forces I finished this weekend.  Some I painted from scratch, some I repainted, and some I only re-based.  Most will be used for other things as well, but all listed below will be used for the invasion of Cuba.  That I got so much done in a single weekend is, to me, a tribute to the magic of 10mm ;)

 The whole shebang, all the stuff I finished this weekend.

Box #1: on the right are Pendraken Brits from the Falklands range, on the left are Minifigs USMC from their Modern range (Vietnam era), and at bottom are Minifigs Special Forces.

The command stand for Mademoiselle Thatcher's Green-Eyed Boys.  I'd previously painted these up in some generic, 'universal'-style camouflage and put them on desert bases, but I was never really happy with them, so I went and repainted a bunch of them as Brit Paras (but first they'll serve as CLA Paras).

I have a bunch of the still to re-do; probably do them up as Royal Marines.

More.  I'm trying out a new ways of photographing the troopies, hope you like them.  Here you see a MAG MG, a Sterling, and an SLR all on the same base.  Arseome, eh?

Again.  I mostly hate prone figures, this shows why...

Much better with everyone standing up.

Another.  Sorry for all the pics, but I really like these guys.

A prone Milan team, if you can spot'em.

An individually-based leader/hero type.

Fifty-cal HMG team.  Not my favorite pose, but it'll do.

Sniper team.  Good poses, but the camo works so well I left the base showing quite a bit of dirt.

On to the Vietnam-era Marines by Minifigs.  These have been languishing for years in a back drawer.  I've rearranged the CLA so they will have two companies of Marines, and you're looking at them.  I don't know why I went 'brown-side out' helmet covers, it's certainly not appropriate to the Vietnam era.  But what's more iconic to the USMC than those helmet covers?

Another look: two M-14s (my favorite, and Phil, if you're looking, I'm still patiently waiting Sir), an M-16, and an M-60A1.

M-79 Grenade Launcher on this one.  Still loving the M-14 at bottom ;)

Leader/hero type; only problem is, no heavy weapons, though, since I used the brown-side out helmets, I suppose I could use my WWII stuff!

A look at the Vietnam-era USMC, six rifle stands, a command stand, and a hero.

The Spec Ops troops.  These have been finished for awhile, and I actually played a couple games with them based on pennies.  But they've been languishing since then, so I rebased them for my new favorite rules, 5Core Company Command.  Again, six rifle stands, a command stand, and a hero.

Some steely-eyed killers, Tier 1 and all that...

Speaking of Tiers, my Minifigs Aussies for Vietnam will be my Tier 2 Spec Ops.  Need to get some pics of them.

More SF.

The leader/hero.

My Pendraken Argentinians have been done for a bit, but needed some more heavy weapons, so here they are.  I've got a .50 cal MG, a .30 cal MMG (from the French Indochina range), two Milan teams (assistant is Pendraken but the shooters are from Minifigs), and two redone Blowpipes (took the assistants off and gave them to the Milans).

.50-cal HMG.  I really like the sculpt.

Again.

The M1919 MMG.

Again.

Milan ATGM.

Again.

Down the center are some Minifigs WarPac Special Forces types, which I'll use as various bad guy elites and paramilitaries.  There's a command stand, 6 rifle stands, two MMG stands (Pendraken Brit SFMGs from the Falklands range), two AT5 Spandrel ATGMs, two 82mm mortars, two SA7 SAMs, and three leader/hero types.

One of the rifle teams.  I'm real happy with the way these turned out, but the pics aren't the best.  They're all wearing black masks, and I don't know if you can tell, but most of them are wearing green gloves (never tried that before, but I like it).

Back side; 3 of the 4 have RPG-16s or 22s.

More, trying to show off the masks.

MGs, Brits from the Pendraken Falklands range.

Again.

Spandrel ATGM.

Again.

Leader/hero type.

The command stand, with only three figures.  I'm doing this a lot now for forces that don't have 'real' command-type figures.

My Pendraken US from the Vietnam range.  Command, nine rifles, an 81mm mortar, a .50 cal MG (from the Pendraken Argentinians), a .30 cal MG (won't use for Vietnam, unless ARVN, just Cuba Libre, from Pendraken French Indochina Range), and a TOW ATGM (which is from Minifigs).

Some rifles, you've seen these before, I used them for my "In Country" campaign, based on pennies.  With these now on bases, I'm looking at revisiting my "In Country" campaign at company level.

Backsides.  Good looking stuff, they've been working out.

The mortar team.

The .50 cal HMG team.

.30 cal MMG.

TOW ATGM.

These are my "Irregulars," to be good guys or bad guys as necessary.  They are from Pendraken's Falklands range, both British SAS and Argentinian Commandos mixed together for the rifles, and heavy weapons provided by Pendraken's NVA, VC, and Vietminh.  Command stand, 11 rifle stands, two light MG teams, one HMG team, one 82mm mortar team, and three RPG teams.

One of the rifle stands.

Reverse.

An LMG team: LMG is NVA, SMG is Vietminh.

Mortar team: both guys are NVA, don't know where the mortar came from.

Pendraken NVA 12.7mm HMG team.

Again.

RPG team, with Pendraken VC RPG and Vietminh SMG (I really, really like the SMG sculpt, very different, and you can definitively make out that it's a Thompson SMG).

Again.

Lastly we have some Islamic extremists from Minifigs; a pretty small force of only four rifle stands and a leader/hero.  I kind of threw these in at the last minute; my overall war plan for Cuba Libre is that there is enmity between the newly liberated Cuba and Iran, so I think these will be some IRGC guys that were in Cuba (as guests of the Castro brothers) when the CLA invasion occurred.

A look at a rifle team.

Again.

The leader/hero.

Another look, where you can see his Uzi.

And an early Father's Day from the wife: I'm always looking to upgrade my terrain, and we got these off a gentlemen in the UK.  They're 15mm, but I always use 15mm terrain with my 10mm guys.

Another look.  I love them, much better than anything I could have done.  Watch out Panda, I'm coming for ya!  Yeah right, my table will never look that good, but I do what I can.

Another.

And one more.

So, that's what I got done, and I'm just about ready for Cuba Libre to kick off, just need to do some more admin work.  I've also got a very interesting project going on with the War Panda and Weasel, but I'll leave that to them to tell the world, and I'm still waiting for Ivan (Weasel) to put out his Napoleonic rules, and KG Klink is still ongoing, so stay tuned, there's sure to be more coming out.

V/R,
Jack