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.  

32 comments:

Don M said...

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

Tim Gow said...

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

Paul said...

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

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

Giano said...

I'll try... are they french?

Greek_Geek said...

French? Those look like some AMX variants.

Dimitri

Hugh Walter said...

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

Jon Yuengling said...

I would say IDF if they were not green

Tim Gow said...

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

Tim Gow said...

Giano
Not French either...

Tim Gow said...

Greek Geek
Wrong again - but for the right reasons!

Tim Gow said...

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

Tim Gow said...

Jon
Indeed - a bit too verdant for the IDF!

Paddy said...

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!

Tim Gow said...

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

Martin Rapier said...

Could they be....Chilean?

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

Martin Rapier said...

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.

Tim Gow said...

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

Giano said...

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.

Tim Gow said...

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

Giano said...

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.

Tim Gow said...

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

Giano said...

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.

peter said...

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/

Tim Gow said...

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...

Martin Rapier said...

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!

Tim Gow said...

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

Paddy said...

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?

Tim Gow said...

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?

Don M said...

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

Paul said...

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

10 points to Tim for the puzzle!

Tim Gow said...

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

Tim Gow said...

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