Troop A, 1st Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment

This is the first force I'm assembling for Paradox. Paradox uses roughly 10mm scale miniatures; I've distorted the scale on vehicles for visual appearance and economy of material use.

We have here a platoon-level mechanized unit from the Tennessee Army National Guard circa 2023, the 'present day' in Paradox. The current active roster includes:
1 M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle (Platoon HQ variant)
2 Mechanized Infantry squads, four fireteams total
2 M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles
1 M3351 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (General Tactical Vehicles model) with LRAS3 RSTA system
1 dismounted Cavalry Scout reconnaissance team
1 F-35D Lightning II (Arkansas Air National Guard)
I've gone with a slightly reduced platoon for balance purposes; I'll probably bump the unit up to a full platoon in a few weeks.

Three M2A3s. The vehicle on the far right is the platoon commander's vehicle, distinguished by the antenna on the right side of its turret. None of the Bradleys are painted; they'll receive a three-color woodland scheme like the JLTV. In the Paradox timeline, the US withdrew from Afghanistan by 2018 and was more concerned about Europe and the Pacific Rim. Equipment went to a paint scheme more appropriate for the Cold War than the War on Terror.

These guys are a detachment from Troop L, 3-278 Armored Cavalry. They have been assigned to provide reconnaissance and target-acquisition support for the Bradley platoon and its attendant air support

The infantry are painted in my best impression of the MultiCam pattern, and equipped with M4 carbines. As Army National Guard, they have not received the new LSAT/Masada rifle that the active-duty troops are beginning to re-equip with. M203 grenade launchers have been replaced by the M320.
(Yes, I know the squad designated marksman on the left lost his head. New England flashing back in time to 1791 can do that to a guy.)
As per US Army organization of mechanized infantry squads, each squad is divided into two fireteams. One fireteam is equipped with an FGM-148 Javelin launcher with two rounds; the other has the squad's Designated Marksman, armed with an M4 with improved optics.

As for the F-35D, I'm still sculpting it, but the aircraft will probably be finished by sometime tonight. It will be painted in markings based on those the Arkansas ANG used on its F-16s before transitioning to A-10s. The D-model is a hypothetical two-seat variant for strike, recon, and Airborne Forward Air Control (FAC). It has mostly replaced the A-10 in the Paradox timeline. Arkansas has the only squadron that remained in the present timeline. Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky most of Texas, almost all of North Carolina, most of South Carolina, western Virginia and southern West Virginia, south Missouri, and the northern parts of the Deep Southern states are in the present (2023) timeline.

(All units are sculpted from Super Sculpey oven-bake clay and painted with whatever stuff I happened to have on hand.)

Welcome!

If you've come across my blog, you probably have at least a passing interest in miniature wargaming. As you'd expect from the title, this blog is dedicated to unconventional gaming.

By unconventional gaming, I'm not simply referring to wargaming of unconventional/irregular warfare such as the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Mexico, and other countries. I'm talking about an attempt to fundamentally change- shatter, even- design paradigms inherent in most commercial wargames currently in print. One of the best mediums to do so is space wargaming. We're all familiar with the traditional Star Wars-style space battles, where fighters maneuver as if in-atmosphere, visible lasers are everywhere, nobody bothers with missiles or point-defense, that sort of thing. It's incredibly interesting to completely reexamine this and design a wargaming system to give a more accurate model of what we could reasonably expect to see in a hypothetical interstellar war.

However, space isn't the only medium with substantial room for exploration and experimentation. I've been fiddling with a cross-era system called Paradox that strives to model combat at the platoon and company level from the sixteenth century to the late twenty-first. It is designed with a strong focus on narrative elements, and as an examination of progress (or lack thereof) in warfare.

A bit about me; I've been into miniature wargaming since fifth grade, when I heard about Warhammer 40k through an article on terrain building in a DIY magazine. I've since moved far, far away from WH40k thanks to Games Workshop's terrible customer relations and ethics, and prefer third-party games or, above all, writing my own rules. I almost exclusively sculpt my own miniatures, with the exception of some 1:72 vehicles and figures from various hobby shops I occasionally fiddle around with. I live in the southern United States, and enjoy writing, wargaming (of course!) and robotics. With some fishing and country music thrown in. I'm also one of the most conservative people you're likely to meet.