Finishing up Iron Maiden

Don’t you just love that feeling when you put the last touch of paint on a model and you know your work is done? It is a rare feeling since we always seem to be expanding our collections, however with the lower model count in Team Yankee I was able to finish off my forces from Iron Maiden and I think I will be set for the time being. Maybe it is one of the things I like about TY is that once you finish your core 100 point force, you do not have the need to keep adding models, I think between this and ability that you can take more than one formation adds to the games allure. My last article detailed my building and paining my Chieftains, FV 432s, Rapiers, and of course the infantry. I was left with building the Lynx helicopters and the recce vehicles for my force which were the last to be released.

I wanted to cover the Lynx for the article because I do not think these guys were be making it on many lists I plan to make. I think it’s a neat to have the choppers in the game, however AAA is just so good I do not think these guys will not have a long life span.

The models themselves are easy to build and I found out that you can make your models so they can be either the transport or HELARM versions by not gluing the missile launcher into the bracket that attaches to the fuselage of the Lynx. They actually fit in snuggly so you have options. I used the same paining techniques I mentioned in my first unboxing article, however I added some Deep Blue paint with some gloss for the windows.

While I was painting these guys, my order from Battlefront’s Vietnam sale came in and I painted the M577 to use either as the formation command vehicle for a M-113 list from the Panzertruppen booklet or as an artillery spotter. I had so many MG3 MGs and spare crewman that making it “Look” German was pretty easy. 

 Next up was the Scimitar/Scorpion box which comes with 4 spures.  This kit gives you the option to make each model one of the two variants.

I wanted to have the ability to have both as an option so I got creative with magnets.  Let me rephrase that: very, very small magnets! 

Since the only difference is the gun, I was able to clip away part of the cannon mount on the gun that was just the right size for the magnet.

In the turret I scratched out a groove and placed two of the magnets facing where the gun’s magnets would be on the other side of the turret.

These guns fit snugly anyway, so it worked out nicely.

I also placed a magnet in the bottom of the turret and inside the hull. These models were very easy to build and come with a ton of stowage you can use on your other models (not if you are going them last however).

Next came the Spartan/Swingfire set. This kit gives you the ability to make 4 different variants of the vehicle. The troop carrier, Blowpipe, Swingfire, or Milan missile carrier.  I knew I would never really use the Blowpipes since I love the Rapier, and my goal was to field the Recce list since I wanted the Swingfire shooters in my force so I nixed making the Blowpipe version. I found that making the other 3 version in a modular fashion was pretty simple.

The Swingfire has its own unique rear deck and rear so I glued just these two parts together, and did the same for the closed hatch rear deck which can be used for both the troop carrier and the Milan shooter. 

The Milan missile variant just puts a launcher on the closed hatch on the rear deck, so a magnet in the launcher and underneath the rear deck did the trick. 

 I did NOT glue any of these top decks or rears to the chassis, they fit nice and securely.

Both of these kits must be the smallest plastic models I have ever seen, however they look nice once built. The over-sized crew man figure is still an issue with these kits.

I know I wrote about my proposed Iron Maiden lists in a few articles and it seems to change over time.  While I love the Swingfire missile platoon in the Recce list, making a formation just to get this platoon is a waste. 

 The plan was to make a list where I take only two Scorpion/Scimitars in each of the mandatory platoons; this is crazy, lose one vehicle and check each game turn to see if the platoon stays.  The other bad thing about this list is that you need two Spartans for the command element which bumps my Swingfire platoon down to two models. So I am nixing taking this formation in my force and I am settling on a two formation force for a 100 point game.

Formation 1: Tank Company

1x HQ Chieftain (6 Pts)
A Troop 3 x Chieftains (18 Pts)
B Troop 3 x Chieftains (18 Pts)
C Troop 3 x Chieftains (18 Pts)
Swingfire Troop 3 x Vehicles (6 Pts)
Recce Troop 4 x Scorpions
The changes are the extra Swingfire and adding the recce here to make 4 platoons in this formation. These guys come out to 70 Points.

Formation 2: Infantry

1 x HQ (1 Pt)
Full Infantry Platoon with 2 extra Milan teams (9 Pts)
Full Infantry Platoon with 2 extra Milan teams (9 Pts)
Spartan Mobile Milan Section 4 x Spartans (4 Points)
Mortar Section: 2 x Mortars, 1 Point
Some changes here too.  I went with the Spartans instead of the 4 x Milan teams. I could go either way, but I want to use the Spartan’s somewhere since I did buy them, and now I do not have to buy more vehicles. I also can take two mortars to kill that extra point I have now. This formation comes out to 24 points for a total of 94 between the two.

6 Points gives me room for a full Rapier section, 100 points, list done.

I am excited to see how this list does and when I play it I will try to fill you in on how it went.

So this is my last in a series of what seems like hundreds of articles on Iron Maiden, I will see you in 2017 when we can talk about Volks-Armee.

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