Time for some more Flames of War models. While finishing up my Italian European army, I was looking online for some painting ideas for vehicles for the force. I came across an image of the old Battlefront Lybian infantry pack and that took me to the Gajo painted mini catalog….. Web surfing is a dangerous game!
Looking at the Italian section, I saw Gajo had painted Libyans. Thinking it through, I thought having a force of askari type troops in desert garb would be a nice add to my collection. It would allow me to use some of my Italians in Africa and also give me something for colonial fights. So, the die was caste.
One issue I had with the sets was that they were a mix of troops in turbans and fez. I was only interested in the few (who doesn’t like bright red head gear on their figures!). As such, I reached out to Chris at Gajo and asked him about the mix. Based on the figure options, I ordered a whole bunch of Libyans in fez.
Like all Gajo figures, each is painted using the Foundry style of three color shading. It works well in this scheme, so no additional work is required. One challenge was that I wanted three MMG teams and these are not available. So, I just ordered three extra ATR teams. I trimmed the weapon down and added the loader right next to the gunner. This makes it look like a MMG being fired in a hurry from the ground without the tripod. Problem solved!
I got the figures and organized them into the needed units, mapping the poses the worked best. I then pulled out the FOW bases and sprayed them tan. I then glued all the standing figures to the bases, leaving the laying down figures for later.
As this is a desert force, I decided to try some Vallejo mud pumice as a base. I slowly, but surely, covered all the bases, leaving the boarders uncovered. Once that dried, I used a light desert sand paint to dry brush them up to add depth. The bases were a little bland, so I went back and added so dried tan tufts. I then hit the boarders with tan to clean them up. Finally, some Testors Dull Coat and they are ready to play.
- Manteuffel
If you are painting your own Libyans; the mix of fez and turban in the Battlefront packs offers some nice options. I separated mine out and did my desert Libyans in the turban. The segregated troops with fez, I used as Blackshirts intermixing some figures with Italian regulars to stretch out the look.
Eureka Miniatures also offers a beautiful line of Libyan/East Africans allowing you to add dedicated support units—cavalry, mortars and artillery—in appropriate uniforms to augment or supplant the Battlefield figures, Eureka also has native irregulars to compliment the line.