Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

If you've had the endurance to wade through my previous posts ( here and here ) you'll know I've wanted to game the Algerian War for a long, long time.  The main blocker has been that apart from the Elhiem French paras, there's no specific range of figures, particularly for the Armée de libération nationale (ALN). This year I'm committed to getting on with this project.  I reviewed my books, studied what's online and took a look through my existing 20mm collection and I was pleasantly surprised how much was usable.   First are these Liberation Miniatures Moroccans bought for the French in Indo-China.  They're perfect for ALN, dressed as they are in French M47 uniforms and armed with MAS36 rifles and Thompson M1A1 SMGs.  With their small North African style turbans they don't need any work apart from refinishing the bases. Next up are these Battlefield Miniatures WW2 Moroccan Goums.  These were bought long ago to use as French Moroccan troops for ...

Part 1 of this rambling story told of how I had first become interested in the French Indo-China and Algerian Wars.  We'd left it where I had moved onto other periods specifically late World War 2 Eastern Front.   We're now into the early 2000's.  I'd been very focused on building up a collection of 1/76th WW2 figures.  True to form I went off on a tangent after discovering the splendid 1/6th action figures from Dragon and started collecting these.  It wasn't long before I started kitbashing FIC and Algerian figures using WW2 items.  Now the Internet proved useful and I was procuring from all over. This had given me an outlet for my interest but I still was yet to wargame the period.  Then a couple of things happened around the same time at the end of 2005.  A local hobby shop opened and I found a Matchbox 1/76th M24 and then I discovered Liberation Miniatures.  Praise be!  Liberation did a specific Indo-China range.  Not...