{"id":10243,"date":"2018-05-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10243"},"modified":"2021-10-29T02:59:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T01:59:33","slug":"technicals-improvised-weapon-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/23\/technicals-improvised-weapon-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Technicals – Improvised Weapon Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

While writing Friday’s post I realised, except for a brief mention, I haven’t actually talked about some of the wierder weapons available from Spectre and how I had assembled them ready for hot-swapping into the technicals. Seeing as they don’t fit into either of the themes of the next two posts, and as a midweek treat, here is a quick post covering how the insurgents now have a bit of long range firepower thanks to the rocket pod and the BMP turret systems.<\/p>\n

\n

We’ll start with the rocket pod. As seen in a few conflict zones around the world, irregular forces struggle\u00a0 to maintain attack helicopters in a civil war situation due to lack of pilots and supply networks. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, many groups re-purpose the under wing rocket pods – flipped upside down, mounted to a frame and put into service as bootleg MRLS system.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

The rocket pod from Spectre comes in two pieces – the rocket pod itself and a support frame. This frame is designed to clip into the rack behind the cab on the technicals, making for a simple and easy installation if you don’t mind it being a permanent fixture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

To make it hotswappable, I had to make sure it didn’t require a connection to the bar behind the cab to stand up right. The pod could still rest on it but the main support had to be on the hotswappable part. In Version 1, I clipped off the front of the Spectre supplied frame to make it easy to attach the rocket pod and (because I was lazy) I simply stuck a piece of plasticard to the frame to hold it upright. Although it worked, it really didn’t look very good. So I went back to the cutting board.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Version 2 of the mounting was to tear off the original single piece mount (you can still see the gluing point on the bottom of the base) and redo it with two pieces placed just underneath the pod to give it support. This looks a lot sturdier while still looking like something someone threw together in a garage. The paint job was then applied – really simple job of Russian Green uniform and grey followed up by a Agrax wash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Honestly, this is a weird piece of kit. It does scream “irregular forces” like almost no other (except maybe the BMP turret). I’m also not sure about how often I’ll be using it in a direct fire role, instead I can see it being used mostly as an objective or scenery as we saw in the first game using it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Speaking of the BMP turret<\/a>, I think I need to look at it in a bit more detail. In the original impression article<\/a>, I really only covered what it was like when it arrived including the basics on how it goes together. I haven’t shown off the rest of the work I have done on it to get it ready for the table.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

First up, a problem I encountered. Using the frame as intended (resting on the rear wheel arches) meant that the turret did not fit on top of the gunner preventing it from working properly. Even removing the hotswap base portion didn’t give enough extra space. So in order to get this ready for wargaming, I was going to have to do some tweaks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

My solution? Build a frame work as part of the base to raise the metalwork up slightly, giving plenty of clearance between the top of the gunners head and the turret. Being in a rush, I threw this together with a bit of give so I could work out the correct height and then come back to fix it. As you might spot, I didn’t go back and fix it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

And here is in its full painted (and heavily washed) glory today. The turret is painted the same colour as my other Bazistan vehicles to make it look like it’s been stripped off a regime vehicle. I actually ended up painting the gunner in situ so he’s colour scheme is a little simplistic compared to some of the other technical crews.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

There is a certain amount of love amongst the local club when this vehicle appears on the board and it’s been christened “Tiny Tank”. As you might guess, it inevitably end ups on fire or blown up by an actual tank. On the other hand, the recoiless rifle in the turret can be pretty handy to pump out explosive rounds, either against lightly armoured vehicles (like Humvees or other technicals) or infantry dug in to cover. I have in the past used it with some extra armour to represent the turret<\/p>\n

I am tempted to go back and tweak the framework to reduce the height slightly and make it the gunner isn’t exposed from the front. I’m also looking at adding some side armour to metalwork in order to project the gunner from side shots, as well as adding somewhere to stick militia slogans onto.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Overall both these weapons are a neat addition to any insurgent force. You get add a bit more firepower, able to level the playing field against better trained forces. You also get some kit that is exclusively suitable for an insurgent force, really helping it to look like a group of fighters in desperate times. After reading the Osprey book on Technicals<\/a>, I’m already looking at some other slightly odd weapon setups to extend the rag-tag look.<\/p>\n

Come back on Friday to see some more Technical weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While writing Friday’s post I realised, except for a brief mention, I haven’t actually talked about some of the wierder weapons available from Spectre and how I had assembled them ready for hot-swapping into the technicals. Seeing as they don’t fit into either of the themes of the next two posts, and as a midweek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1093,1006,903],"tags":[954,905,1044,955,926],"class_list":["post-10243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-technical","category-wargaming","tag-modern-wargaming","tag-spectre-miniatures","tag-technicals","tag-ultramodern-wargaming","tag-wargaming"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Michael Charge","author_link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/author\/chargedog\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005643-scaled.jpg","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005643-scaled.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Features<\/a>","Technical<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Features<\/span>","Technical<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Modern Wargaming<\/a>","Spectre Miniatures<\/a>","Technicals<\/a>","Ultramodern Wargaming<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Modern Wargaming<\/span>","Spectre Miniatures<\/span>","Technicals<\/span>","Ultramodern Wargaming<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 23\/05\/2018","modified":"Updated on 29\/10\/2021"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 23\/05\/2018 12:00 pm","modified":"Updated on 29\/10\/2021 2:59 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-29,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvEn5-2Fd","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5173,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/01\/technical-notes-a-primer\/","url_meta":{"origin":10243,"position":0},"title":"Technical Notes: A Primer","author":"Michael Charge","date":"01\/02\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Intro With the recent release of Spectre's comprehensive range of Technicals and weapon systems, it's never been a better time to be a militia warlord on the tabletop. This primer is designed to fill you in on these increasingly common vehicles and their role on the tabletop. I'll cover some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/800xdo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/800xdo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/800xdo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/800xdo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5266,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/03\/06\/technicals-heavy-ammunition\/","url_meta":{"origin":10243,"position":1},"title":"Technicals – Heavy Ammunition","author":"Michael Charge","date":"06\/03\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As mentioned in my previous post on the Spectre technicals, I hadn't picked up all the weapons. As part of my cartel order, I put on two more weapons ready to give the bad guys something else to handle my Challenger 2 or other armoured vehicles. The common thing between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_20170305_214526-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_20170305_214526-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_20170305_214526-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10046,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/25\/technicals-bravo-equipment\/","url_meta":{"origin":10243,"position":2},"title":"Technicals – Bravo Equipment","author":"Michael Charge","date":"25\/05\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, time to go back to old faithful. It's safe to say that writing about pickups with guns has been pretty successful so far. This time, I'm taking a look at three new pieces of gear designed for the more modern of the technical models offered by Spectre, Technical Bravo.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_20180521_005709-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6436,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/08\/21\/wargaming-week-21082017\/","url_meta":{"origin":10243,"position":3},"title":"Wargaming Week 21\/08\/2017","author":"Michael Charge","date":"21\/08\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s start, covering the 14th of August through to the 20th of August. BLOG STUFF Last week was the first of the two post weeks! It ended up working quite well, with Wednesday's post covered the MENA releases and Friday's post covered the new SF Technicals. I was wanting to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wargaming"","block_context":{"text":"Wargaming","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/wargaming\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_20170817_203357-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9844,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/28\/wargaming-week-28-05-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":10243,"position":4},"title":"Wargaming Week 28\/05\/2018","author":"Michael Charge","date":"28\/05\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s start this Wargaming Week, covering the 21st through to the 27th of May. 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