MLRS

 For my Royal Artillery we now have 2 batteries of these.

Picture via Military vehicles McNab (2003)

ANZAC and Netherlands vs East Germans and Polish, Almeldo Netherlands August 14, 1985

The ANZAC and Dutch have put a fair bit of kit in the wooded section with a section of ploughed fields, made of felt furniture pieces.

Gun buggies are rearing to go up the road note the new entrenchment pieces I made from furniture felt pieces picked up in one of the stores in Sanirjak, Nunavut.

East German, Polish and a small Soviet contingent at the start line

The Polish T-55 regiment readies to advance.

 The NATO offensive continues. While the East Germans and Polish Division push south west, NATO forces are blocking the Warsaw Pact drive. 

The initial Warsaw Pact advance saw them rush into contact. The Warsaw Pact recce units tried to rush into town but were stopped by the Dutch armor and Dutch reservist infantry. 5/7th RAR gun buggies were able to halt the BTR-60s while the Australian Cavalry recce halted the Warsaw Pact infantry rush on the entrenched Milan teams.

Leopards on the way

Canadian War Museum

Canadian War Museum

 I ordered a Battlefront Minatures Leopard 1 set while the Aviation museum curator is selling me 2 sets from Plastic Soldier Company. And after they arrived, I ordered 2 more!

So my NATO forces will be larger for the Canadian, Dutch and Australian force.

After building the first set of 5, I decided that the ten I had to build will become Canadian while the next 10 will be Australian. The box of 5 from Battlefront will become Dutch.

Each set I'm getting has 5 per box so I'm getting 25 tanks in total which will work well when I combine my units together.

Eventually I hope to have each country to have 2 sections of 10  tanks each.

Battlefront Miniatures has also indicated that a new NATO book and a Nordic book should be coming out so I'm going to build up NATO as I've built up my Warsaw Pact forces for a while.

All sets arrived, I didnt get my Gorilla glue so instead, I used rubber cement. 

Currently my Leopard force stands at:

Royal Canadian Dragoons: 1 HQ of 3 C1s with 3 troops of 4 C1s each

1 Australian Armored Regiment 1 HQ of 2 Leopards, 2 troops of 4 Leopards each

Netherlands 1 HQ of 2 Leopards, 1 troop of Leopard 1 of 4 tanks, with Armoured Recce of 2 troops of 2 Leopards 

Soviet, Syrian and Iranian invasion of Turkey!

 Pushing on the Southern front, 

Soviet:

T-72 Battalion 

 Motor Rifle Battalion:

BTR -60 

Iranian:

 T-62 squadron 

Basiji Battalion 

Syria:

Airborne assault Battalion 

NATO 

Turkey:

M-48 tank squadron

M-41 tank squadron

Artillery  

France:

Rapid Reaction Force

USA

Abraham's combat team

From the Iranian, Soviet side

Oddly, Iranian M109 firing on their own origin country, USA

NATO forces pushing across

Turkish and French infantry take on Iranian Basiji Battalion 

Turkish and American Artillery use French helicopters to spot for them.

NATO M109 in plastic

 I was able to order this set off Amazon now that I have a job that I can pay my bills with, I treated myself.

I will do up an article once said kit arrives.

Some basic stuff I'd like to use the kits for are

1 short barrelled M109 as one for the West Germans.

2 Long barrelled M109 for the rest of my armies.

So far I have 

2 for Canada from my Roco collection

4 for the British, the Battlefront Minatures set for Team Yankee metal and resin.

2 for Iran which are actually from a children's toy car set, need to be painted

Netherlands 103 Verkennings Eskadron for 4. Divise

 So I've been doing some research on my Dutch force in team Yankee, and I realized that it's smaller than my Canadian forces 

So basically I have a Recce Battalion made up of a Leopard 1 squadron, which is made of turrets mounted in bushes, with a M113 Light Infantry section. 

Unless I draft in my Belgian Leopard 1s it's pretty small. 

Update:

Since I have been given the chance to teach in Nunavut, I will be able to have the chance to rebuild my NATO forces.

As of January 2023 the Dutch now have

1 battery M109 sp guns (2)

Leopard 1 

The Dutch need

Leopard 2 squadron 

The carriers

M113

And recce

So, yeah need to build the whole force 

Kit bit bash with M548

I figured that with the ravages of war and the need for more equipment, many engineers would be taking gear they had and changing it into something different. The Anti-tank bits above could be camoflaged as cargo carriers but could easily have the weapons systems mounted when needed.

Always need more Recce or fire support vehicles. lots of machine guns

 

Generic NATO infantry

 Around 2001, while I was living in the Tokyo area, I was able to acquire several ROCO Minitanks kits. One of them was the Infantry pack they made.

I've painted them over the years in Nato green and based them according to the NATO units I was building.

Another set I picked up was the Preiser Railroad Minatures West German figures set which likewise I painted as I needed.

With the Preiser kit, I painted and began to base them as Argentine forces, but have decided to redo them as generic, they can go back to the Falklands later to fight my 1/72 British or they may get involved in a 15mm battles there.

Most of the NATO figures are using G3 Rifles with the MG3 in support. Only one seems to be using an M60.

I'll get them up here when I get home 

Tet Offensive, South Vietnam 1968

 I'm going to be working on scenarios for Vietnam with this campaign in mind. I have the figure, and equipment. I will be using Battlefront Minatures NAM rules and cards, but will be using most of my 1/72 figures and kits.

Stay tuned

above shot is representitive of the 40,000 Canadian men who went to volunteer with US forces in South East Asia

NATO Recce jeeps or Anti-tank

Canadian Forces UNPROFOR Iltis which was shot up, both crew survived

 

Landrover with a TOW gunner, a MG3 armed mutt and a TOW Mutt.

Either in Europe or on the desert plain got ya covered

Generic NATO M113s

 

These can either be Belgians or Dutch or extra Canadian 

Originally they were packaged as Oil Wars Israeli but my NATO forces needed some more transport 

They may also be found in the army of Iran, 

I'm going to keep them with a basic paint job.

interior, a bit blurry from the sun

NATO painting

 So, since the cold winter is upon us in Nova Scotia, I'm going to try and get my NATO troops and equipment up to scratch with some paint.

Some figures haven't seen any in 20 years so I suppose I should crack on.

Presently on my que are the German Panzergrenadiers from Revell Germany sets of the early 1990s. 

Also, I am going to give my French a touch up, but more importantly is to get the equipment properly painted and decals on.

The other NATO contingents will also get some well deserved attention.

Pictures to follow 

NATO: France 19eme Groupment de Chasseurs

 

The Chasseurs are light infantry mounted in AMX-10P IFV. 

I've built the unit up in 4 carriers. The 5th carrier from the kit is for the still FOO.

There is an HQ section, and 3 carriers with the rest of the section.

Witherspoon the decals provided, these will become one of the Units with battle honors from fighting in North Africa in the 1940s

I had hoped to have some with Napoleonic battle honors but Cest La Vie

NATO and Warsaw Pact reinforcements May 2020

I've been able to catch up on my Bill's and it's my birthday so I was able to get a few more units for my armies.

I've had these for a year but I can't remember if I posted them

 i got a second M113 kit but haven't taken a shot of the box

My French are getting put together 

 the extra turrets are now a Dutch Leopard 1s Squadron in cover 

France: a Squadron of AMX-30 tanks

 and a Squadron of Gazelle helicopters and a battery of 155mm guns
West Germany: an M113 Squadron for a reservist Panzergrenadier battalion
Soviet Union: a Squadron of T-64 tanks

 and

Anti-aircraft 

Anti-tank  squadron.

The French guns I shall probably model in cover as the hulls will be tanks.

Additional bits from the M113 kits will also be made up

Brundenwher Panzergrenadier Battalion reservists in M113s

m113 mortars getting some foilage

Covering Force: Queens own Dragoon Guards vs 81st Soviet Recce Battn

The sun rises on the Queens Dragoon Guards hold a West German country side

From the book Iron Maiden (Battlefront Minatures)

the sun rises on a West German village

The sun rises over a West German villagethe Scimitar section takes on the Soviet Recce troops

a lone T-72 holds the objective.

T-72 is doing better than expected.

Soviets hold the objective by their fingernails, forcing the British to fall back. The Soviet advance can continue.