I’m a big fan of playing games where the OPFOR has a bit more gear than just a gun and a t-shirt, the type of opponent that causes a genuine threat through more than just force of numbers. That said, there are plenty of occasions where, sometimes, you just need a big block of militiamen to slap on the board and use the risk of being completely outnumbered rather than merely outgunned. The question is where to get the figures, especial when one day you suddenly decide to raise up the whole town against your force.

The good news is that last year, Combat Octopus ran a campaign based on Operation Gothic Serpent, focusing specifically on the Battle of Mogadishu. It didn’t go as well as many would have hoped (we only got the initial sets and a Christmas gift of some RPG gunners), but it did give us eight Somali militiamen among the starter set. The ideal figures for some civilian gunmen. However, as someone whose wargaming interests are (for the moment) more focused on the MENA theatre rather than Central or East Africa, I decided to swap the heads out for the MENA civilian heads we got all the way back in the first few Combat Octopus releases.

Each of the 8 poses can be used in several ways. If you want to get them on the printer, you can use the non-modular version, giving you a fully assembled figure that just needs a head attaching. However, if you’d like to expand your options, each body comes with 3 weapons (two variants of Chinese AK and a G3) and a complete body. But that’s not all – with something like Blender, you can use the digital kitbash pieces (separate torsos and legs) and merge them (thanks to digital models carrying little about pieces colliding through each other). For my first test, I simply went with the fully assembled figures – slap the pre-supported file on the build plate, add one of the MENA heads (and then set its scale to 110% due to it being an older release), tweak final scaling for my collection and we are off to the races.

And then some idiot left them undercoated and sprayed white for a couple of months. As he often does

However, having reached the end of March and seeing them hanging around on my desk, I decided to finally get them painted. And so, attempting to get them painted quickly, I decided to use some of Games Workshop’s Contrast paint. Despite the evangelism of my Regular Opponents (both of whom, coincidentally, also have a much greater painted figure output than I do), I’ve never really bought in on Contrast. It may be in part due to the fact I traditionally prefer to work from a black undercoat (like the old ways) as it means that when you miss something, it looks like it’s been shadowed. However, in more recent times, I’ve started adjusting my undercoat, first drybrushing on white and then spraying white. This has, of course, meant I’ve been able to try playing around with the few contrast paints I have and see how well they work.

To answer – boy, they were quick. It took me a couple of sessions to paint all 8 to completion (where in the past it would take me two sessions to get most of the way through half that much). Most of the figures are done in Contrast, except for the flesh (as I’m yet to find a flesh contrast that I prefer to Cadian Fleshtone + a wash). I did add a wash over the top at the end just to tweak the final look and bring them a little closer to the rest of my collection. The Contrast over a black/grey/white shaded comes out looking close to a base/shade/hightlight although it does look like absolute ass until it dries. It also felt like I had much less control when using it. I do feel that for the masses, where the details don’t have to be perfect, I can see myself using them, but for smaller groups, I’ll stick with my acrylics.

Overall, I really like these guys. I can already see myself preparing another plate for all the variants and seeing as later this year Combat Octopus is releasing some more MENA figures (with the upcoming Freedom Fighters), then I’ll have even more additional heads to vary up the look further. With a few additional tweaks, I could also see some more parts being mixed in to add more weapon systems, such as PKMs or RPKs. For now though, it’s time to get that next plate going so I can fill the streets with OPFOR.

Liked it? Take a second to support Michael Charge on Patreon!