The Indonesian Confrontation 1962-66

I've decided to postpone my 15mm Lion Rampant project for the moment, as I just don't have the time to paint up two retinues, even if they only consist of  fifty or so figures each. I don't want to start something I can't finish in a sensible timescale, so it's time for a more realistic Plan B for February. I'll definately be back on the Lion Rampant project later in the year but, in the meantime, it's something completely different!

A long while back I started to think about a post-war skirmish project, based on the Malayan Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation. This was spurred on by the excellent Inkerman Castings / Britannia Miniatures range of 28mm figures that are now carried by Grubby Tanks. However, having parked 28mm for the foreseeable future, I'm now going in a 15mm direction.

To speed things up, I'm going to make use of the 1960's British AFV's that I based up for my AK47 colonial settlers army in the summer holidays a couple of years ago. These had been parked in the 'to do' box, so will now be re-allocated to the Far East. I have a couple of QRF Saracens, a Saladin and three Ferrets, along with a pair of Bedford lorries, all of which are useable for Borneo or Malaya.

The infantry will be provided from the packs of Peter Pig AK47 professionals that I bought at Warfare in November. These are perfect for Borneo, although I'd really like some figures with Sterlings as well as the SLR's. I'm going to base up and paint a couple of sections, using individual bases for skirmish level games, so only twenty or thirty figures will be needed.

I haven't worked out the figures for the Indonesian army and guerillas yet but they will be from the Peter Pig AK47, Vietnam and WW2 ranges. The AK47 Hardened Militia or headswapped WW2 US Marines would be pretty good as Indonesian regulars, with some Vietcong or AK47 militia as the irregular forces. I've ordered the relevant Osprey for the Indonesian Confrontation, so some background reading will no doubt help to sort out the requirements.

I'm looking forward to this mini-project for next month and hope to actually get started pretty soon. It will be good to get back to some painting, even if I have to squeeze it into the limited time I have available. I'm leaning toward Borneo rather than Malaya at the moment but will be doing some relevant research over the next few weeks in order to check out all the possibilties.