Miniatures: Helicopters

The current issue (7)  of the Helicopter Magazine partwork comes complete with a very useful 1/72nd pre-painted Westland Wessex HU.5 the Royal Navy troop transporter (so ideal for getting your Marines into battle). I think it could also do duty as a HC.2 with an RAF repaint. At £7.99 this is really good value.

Earlier issues of the magazine came with a Westland Sea King that could be used as a Westland Commando troop carrier and a wonderful Chinook HC2, both worth getting hold of, even if they probably need a repaint, as they were in service for the late eighties.

News: Royalist Frontline Collapses

2nd February 1989: The Royalist army fell back under the onslaught of the Republican's Operation Hammer with Panzerbrigade 12 "Oberpfalz" leading Republican troops into Cambridge and the 3e Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes seizing Mildenhall airport before being relieved by the advancing 3e Régiment de Chasseurs and 4th Tank Regiment.

The Royalist Government appealed to the United Nations over the intervention of France and Germany in an internal conflict, but a US sponsored resolution was vetoed by France. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar expressed his disappointment in the escalating conflict and urged the US and France to concentrate their efforts on instigating a ceasefire rather than fuelling the conflict.

News: European Volunteers Aid Republicans

31st January 1989: The Republicans launched Operation Hammer, a massive counter-attack against the Royalist forces poised to invest London. In complete secrecy the Republican government had integrated 'volunteer' units from the Armée de Terre and Bundeswehr into their army, enjoying complete surprise against the Royalists as a three prong attack was launched in the early hours of the 29th January.

The French 1re Division Blindée, 2e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine and 92e Régiment d'Infanterie
smashed through the Royalist line west of St Albans swinging east between Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City enveloping the Royalist King’s Own Royal Border Regiment.

In the centre the 3rd Tank Regiment and the Hampshire Regiment pushed north up the M11 corridor towards Harlow engaging in heavy fighting with the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and the Green Howards.

Meanwhile the Luftlandebrigade 26 "Saarland"and Force d'Action Rapide were landed at Hawk Hill near Battlesbridge to cut off the retreat of the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, itself forced back by Republican units, including the Jägerbataillon 291 and Light Infantry, that had landed at Leigh-on-Sea.

News: Blackout To Be Lifted

29th January 1989: Home Secretary Peter Taaffe has announced that the recently imposed news blackout across the British Republic will be lifted within the next 48 hours...