Persian Gulf Wars: Iraqi Republican Guard

Howdie.

I am riding a wave of activity (which will soon run out of steam, I am afraid)... and have hurriedly finished my platoon of Iraqi Republican Guard.

These are all Liberation Miniatures, 20mm, and painted more for the late 80's early 90's with the dark dull green uniforms.  I was really REALLY tempted to paint these guys in various "duck hunter" style camo, but argued myself into the more homogenous look you used to see on TV footage.  I still feel these are useful for the entire set of Gulf Wars, from 1980 through 2003.

I can field 4x squads of 7 men, each with 1x RPK and 1x RPG-7, or 3x squads of 10 easily, or whatever.  I also have a few command type models (including radios) and a platoon marksman armed with an SVD.  I have a 4th RPK gunner, who is not very useful on his own... but I might decide to get a couple more RPKs, and more RPGs, to do "double support fire teams" in each squad (2x AT options and 2x LMG options).  Also, might get some PK gunners.

You see them backed by their "normal" support, T-72s.  These are 5 Unimax diecast vehicles, which I bought years ago (except for one that I obtained in a lot purchase sometime last year).  I painted one of the T-72s with a camo to match some of the other vehicles I have, like the trio of BMP-1s (which can serve as the IFV for these Republican Guard).  Also, the re-done T-72 can easily serve as a "command" vehicle as it stands out.

The T-72s are "dedicated" Iraqi vehicles.  They could potentially serve other middle eastern armies (even the Iranians), but won't work for my Cold War Soviets.  So they and the trio of K-63s will always be showing up with my Iraqis.  The BMP-1s are great vehicles, serving the Iraqis in various wars, or the Soviets in Afghanistan or Eastern Europe.... these were a good purchase, and I have gotten a lot of use out of them.

the ear muff looking things are radio headphones, they don't show up too well in the photo

Because I decided to keep the Republican Guard painted in this uniform, using identical colors to some of the Iraqi "regulars" I painted earlier this week, I get to do a little mix and match as needed...

So I suddenly can field separate formations, or mixed formations, and it will still work visually.  Also, now I may not need to buy additional RPGs or LMGs for either force, I can just "borrow" them from each other.  I could get some heavier weapons, with crews in berets, but I probably would get more crews in helmets.  I have not painted specific unit insignia on the helmets (like those red triangles you frequently see), to let them be a little more "generic".  Once I mix in a few miniatures in the maroon berets, they look like Republican Guard anyway...

Speaking of berets, I was asking around for verification on what color berets the Republican Guard had.  I always associated the red berets with them... but there were plenty of guys running around in black berets too.  I never found a 100% correct answer, so I went with the advice that Troop of Shewe gave me... paint them, post them, and within minutes people will tell you if they are wrong !  Ha ha, he is probably right, but I feel pretty good with the red berets.

Unfortunately, it is likely to be a bit longer until I finish up the next platoon of troops, I will be busy for a couple of weeks (probably).  But I definitely need something, with TWO platoons of Iraqis, and plenty of vehicle support, there is no way I can't find someone to attack.

Until next time, watch the berms.