Thursday, 9 February 2012

Mystery Mechanised Brigade

Just a quick post to prove I've not been completely idle!  Currently approaching completion on the painting table is this 6mm brigade - would anyone care to try identifying it?  Photos of the finished unit will follow soon...

Added 09/02/2012 - So far we have European,  but not French, Spanish, Greek, Turkish or German.  As an added clue, this represents a unit from the 1980s....
Added 09/02/2012 at 1525 - Not Portuguese, Cypriot, Israeli or Chilean either!  The tanks are M-60A1, the artillery M-109.  The APCs are not M113...

Well done to Giano for working out that these chaps are in fact Austrians.  
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32 comments:

  1. Don M9 February 2012 at 09:13

    My guess by the mix of US and West German kit, it's Spain.

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  2. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 09:14

    Don M
    Good effort, but no cigar. No German kit as such....

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  3. Paul9 February 2012 at 09:54

    My guess is Turkey. M60's and ACV-AIFV.

    The M109's though are a puzzle,I didnt think were used by them.

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  4. Giano9 February 2012 at 11:05

    I'll try... are they french?

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  5. Greek_Geek9 February 2012 at 11:50

    French? Those look like some AMX variants.

    Dimitri

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  6. Hugh Walter9 February 2012 at 12:05

    Turkey or Greece? The little SPG's make it look a little like French Frogs from France, but they'd have Napoleon MBT's...

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  7. Jon Yuengling9 February 2012 at 13:39

    I would say IDF if they were not green

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  8. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 13:45

    Paul
    Another commendable effort but still somewhat wide of the mark.

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  9. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 13:46

    Giano
    Not French either...

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  10. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 13:46

    Greek Geek
    Wrong again - but for the right reasons!

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  11. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 13:48

    Maverick Collecting
    'Fraid not. AT least everyone is on the right continent (Europe...)

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  12. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 13:52

    Jon
    Indeed - a bit too verdant for the IDF!

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  13. Paddy9 February 2012 at 14:55

    Why do I think it is a Portugese Mechanised Infantry Brigade? That matches the M60s and M109s - but possibly not the APCs which don't look like M113s to me. Unless they are not M113s OR AIFVs but are M-557s instead.

    That'll do me - PORTUGAL!

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  14. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 15:00

    Paddy
    An interesting thought (and I must build such a unit), but I think Portuguese M60s were still a distant dream in the 1980s....

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  15. Martin Rapier9 February 2012 at 15:10

    Could they be....Chilean?

    I can't make out the national insignia, but they were users of AMX.

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  16. Martin Rapier9 February 2012 at 15:13

    The only other one I can think of is Cyprus, but they may have to return those big scary tanks to Greece at some point.

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  17. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 15:20

    Martin Rapier
    Remind me which bit of Europe Chile is in....
    Sorry - two guesses but both wrong!

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  18. Giano9 February 2012 at 15:28

    Austria? the roundels match , and also the tanks at a closer look may indeed be M-60 (and not amx-30 as I tought earlier).
    The light tanks seem amx-13, but I heard also austrians produced an improved version of that light tank.

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  19. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 15:32

    Giano
    Well done - they are indeed Austrians! The markings which have ruined your eyesight are vague representations of the Austrian roundel.

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  20. Giano9 February 2012 at 16:00

    Yupp! the roundels are good enough, if you consider the scale. I couldn't do any better in /72 scale!
    I like this kind of quiz, when I was a teen I played such games with friends, we showed each other photos of military vehicles and tried to guess.
    That also reminds me of those little metal tanks and planes they sold in the late '80-early '90s. They were more or less 6mm scale, and I had quite a few of them. can't remember the manufacturer though.

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  21. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 16:07

    Giano
    These toys are mostly GHQ and CinC. Other 6mm makers include Heroics & Ros, Skytrex, Irregular and Scotia - do these names ring any bells?

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  22. Giano9 February 2012 at 16:17

    A quick googling solved my question. those I had were kennet parker toys, pre-painted die cast with plastic parts.
    they didn't depict anything real, just funny stuff (two-guns tanks, helicopters as big as a carrier, mammoth tanks).
    some things (planes and regular tanks) were quite beliavable though, and could be used in alternate history scenarios.
    oh well, I just remember having a lot of fun with them as a kid.

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  23. peter9 February 2012 at 17:09

    I didn't knew the Austrian had such a small army! :-D

    I like them Tim. Very nice work!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

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  24. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 18:03

    Peter
    i think their army was a bit bigger, but a brigade is as much of it as I'm likely to need in this scale. Probably...

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  25. Martin Rapier9 February 2012 at 20:48

    You are a cruel man Mr Gow. I shall look forward to rolling over those chaps with my trusty Motor Rifle regiments.

    One brigade will be plenty for that!

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  26. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 21:18

    Martin Rapier
    I do seem to have led you all a merry dance!

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  27. Paddy9 February 2012 at 21:21

    OK Tim - I'll ask the $64,000 question. I've tried to Google "great Austrian military victories of the 1980s" to no avail. So.......why?

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  28. Tim Gow9 February 2012 at 21:32

    Paddy
    Either the link to the website you were trying to find is down, or I'm a bit obsessed with the Cold War.... As to why Austrians? Hell, why not?

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  29. Don M9 February 2012 at 23:56

    Austrians,that explains the MANN trucks....that's what threw me....)

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  30. Paul10 February 2012 at 00:19

    Good skill Giano, I never would have got this puzzle.

    10 points to Tim for the puzzle!

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  31. Tim Gow10 February 2012 at 07:41

    Don M
    Ah, but are they trucks MANs or OAFs (built by MAN's Austrian subsiduary)?

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  32. Tim Gow10 February 2012 at 07:42

    Paul
    I may have to find another bizarre combination of models to quiz you on.

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