X19A2 Hard Suits

 

Wargames Atlantic have released three hard plastic kits for the Golden Dragon Marcher: Empires At War game. The game appears to be a Weird War 2 variant, though the participants are currently unclear. The three kits are all for American forces.

The only one that interested me is the X19A2 Badger hard suit.

The kit (for four suits) is in a standard sized box.

There are four sprues (each sprue building one hard suit) and one large base sprue.

There is a set of full colour decals included.

There are no instructions included, but there are some on the Wargames Atlantic site here.

Looking at the instructions, they are quite complicated, this does allow the individual suits to be posed, but they are not in general articulated.

Tales of the City: Sentry Duty

Being in the army is not just about the comfort of ceremonial duties in the capital, or the bright lights and temptations of The City. Sometimes it is sentry duty. In the rain. In the jungle.

Besides being the last line defending the rest of the country from the less salubrious denizens of the City, the army is responsible for guarding the borders, and (for suitable considerations) protecting operations and installations around the country.

Units are assigned to border regions for three months rotation, depending on the size and the level of the perceived threat there can be between three and five platoons at any one base. At any one time there is one platoon coming to the end of their assignment and one just beginning.

When protecting commercial installations, normally a single platoon is assigned. There is normally a two week overlap between the current and the next platoon so the new platoon can be shown the ropes.

Three months is viewed by High Command as being long enough to gain useful knowledge of the locality and locals but short enough that the opportunities for corruption are limited. As previously mentioned the army has a very low tolerance for corruption, and the penalties are strict.

The figure is from the Gringo's 40 Early Vietnam GI in poncho range and is the GI defending figure.

The trousers are Citadel Snot Womble Green, the poncho Citadel Death World Forest. Boots are Citadel Steel Legion Drab. The helmet is Citadel Death Korps Drab. Camo is Steel Legion Drab, Snot Womble Green and Death Korps Drab.

The furniture on the M14 is the latest Citadel Mournfang Brown. Metal work is Vallejo Black highlighted with Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Hummer - 3D print

At Colours 2025 there was a stand selling 3D prints. According to the floor plan it was Modular Worlds, but there is only an Etsy link, so I cannot confirm that.

It has very similar proportions to the Empress HMMWV model.

It is likely to end up as State operated vehicle.

They also had an XR3i model.

This does look as though it has been flattened a bit.

Western Forces HMMWV Weapons Carrier

 Civil War was a 2024 Action Adventure film written and directed by Alex Garland set in a dystopian future.

The film follows four journalists travelling across a country riven by civil war.

One of the secessionist movements is called Western Forces. 

This is a Western Forces HMMWV weapons carrier fitted with a protected turret and M2 HMG.

The model is from Empress (bought at Salute 2025).

The spare wheel carrier is made from Evergreen square and rectangular section plastic rod. The aerial is brass rod with an Evergreen plastic tube as the base.

Have you spotted the mistake yet?

The stars are five inch ones from Rubico 1/56 scale transfer sets.

This is where I went wrong.

I checked that the turret did not intersect with the smoke dischargers (from Spectre) before gluing them in place. The problem was I had missed that the gun shield is a lot further forward and will sweep through the dischargers.

M48A3 continued

 So here is the story so far.

The M48A3 has gained a mascot, a TTCombat teddy bear. It has also had some additional armour in the form of track attached to the turret.

It has also gained a bandoleer of water bottles hung on one of the aerial posts (and the three aerials). Note also the deflector for the cupola machine gun to prevent it hitting the searchlight (the teddy bear has no such protection).

Note where I have badly replaced the left rear mudguard, this will be tidied with some Milliput.

Now to add some additional stowage on the engine deck and tidy up the jerry cans.

More on the M48A3

 This is a better shot of the heating exhaust (and the second hole that needs filling.

Test placement of a set of track links on the right hand turret size.

And on the left hand side of the turret.

As you can see, the left hand side should take the supplied track links without fouling the hull.

Some additional stowage.

Empress M48A3 Patton MBT

 Some more WIP shots of the Empress M48A3