Rapid Fire! Russian Contemporary Wars in 1/72nd scale - Georgian retreat from South Ossetia...

In August 2008, the invasion of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Georgia ended with heavy casualties on the Georgian side. Here a group of Georgian light infantry retreats from South Ossetia under the watchful eye of the Russian victors.

This imaginary scene also has some imaginary models namely the T-64AK which was not present in this conflict. The Russian 58th Army only had T-72 and T-62 in its ranks but this T-64 came out of my modelling desk this week so it had vainly to be shown.

The Georgian Land Rovers are Cararama 1/72nd scale Die-Cast models. I had a box of six hanging around for years. Originally I was planning to use them as British in the Gulf War but they ended being smuggled to the Georgian Army.

The other three are hard top Land Rovers also used by the Georgians in this conflict that I will convert and paint later on. 

I made a number of changes: placed a pair of seated figures on the rear made out of bodies from ESCI US Modern infantry and GreenStuff legs; canvas cover made of Evergreen and GreenStuff and a plastic engine cooling exhaust pipe on the right side. 

The colours are NATO colours which showed the clear interest of Georgia entering this organisation. Fortunately, NATO recognized in time that the Saakashvili leardership was not trustable and declined the Georgian intentions. 

I also tried the tricky camouflage on the uniform of my first Georgian Infantry on these three 82mm mortar stands.

I used bodies and legs of different  ESCI US Infantry and mixed them. These figures are Ok for the modern Georgians as they use much of the NATO equipment given by the peaceful G.W. Bush always eager to wage war in every part of the planet. Included was the M4 rifle which looks like the M16 rifle and thats also why I used ESCI figures for the Georgian Infantry. 

When making the rifle companies I'll use some ESCI Warsaw Pact infantry as Georgians were still using plenty of AK-47.

The T-64AK is based on the standard 1972 model from ModelCollect with a scratch built big antennae as provided for the command tanks. So this model will force me to find another six to field a full battalion for Rapid Fire!

The colours are the MIG modern Russian colours again. The figure is an own cast of an Irregular Miniature figure.

The BMD was present in the Russo-Georgian War of 2008 in the Airborne units.

The Models are S-Models with the usual added crew, antennae and stowage. 

Next: more 2008 Russo-Georgian War for sure as there is a number of stuff on my table and on  the surrounding environment.