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.

Tales of the City: The Army

The Army has managed to avoid the issues of armies of other states in the region, they have kept out of the internal politics of the country, and are not subject to the corruption that often plagues regional armies.

The standard infantry rifle is the M1 Garand rifle, though some units are receiving M16 rifles.

Specialists and NCOs are often equipped with Thompson SMGs or M3 Grease Guns.

Squad support weapons include the Browning Automatic Rifle, and rarely the M60 GPMG.

Ng's story

Pinned down behind the statue plinth, Ng thought back to the optimistic briefing yesterday.

Their leader had come to them with the contract, escort a package from a warehouse down to the docks. No fuss, no hassle. To ensure that, the contract paid for two technicals with machine guns, both with driver, navigator, gunner and loader, plus four guards with the package in a pick up.

No sane group would interfere with such a well armed convoy for such a "low value" package, the precautions were just to expedite the delivery.

The collection went without any problems and the three vehicles had made good time. Maybe that should have been the first warning.

The plan was to swap the lead vehicle at Gustav Square, the largest open space on the route.

Just as the second technical entered the square, the first one was hit, throwing the gunner to the road.

The pick up with the package jumped as it was hit, the bonnet popping open. Simultaneously realising they were a sitting duck, all four of them had leapt from the load bed, trying to spot the firer.

The second technical lurched to a halt as one of the front tires burst, throwing the gunner forward.

Ng noticed the plume of dust from a distant building (he was sure it was a hotel of some kind) and shouted at his colleagues to fire at it. The machine gunner began spraying rounds toward the hotel.

They thought the threat was eliminated when there was an answering burst of smoke and flame on the rooftop.

Celebration was cut short when a smoke grenade burst in the load bed of the second technical. and they came under fire from the buildings behind them.

This is the first Gringo's 40 NVA figure I have assembled and painted. They are noticeably taller and chunkier than the Empress NVA, they are large compared to the Empress US Marines.

But they are nice figures if you want figures with Soviet era weapons, so this is what I am using them for.

This particular figure had a damaged sling, possibly caused by a bent barrel, so a bit of a repair was made using GreenStuff