Like many gamers, I saw many inspiring movies in my youth which impacted my gaming ideas. One such movie was The Wild Geese, 1978, starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore. I’m willing to bet 95% of you reading this have already seen the movie many times – with its iconic ending with the C47 on the airstrip…

So for me, collecting figures for years and putting them into a sorting bin has been the extent of my effort. I am deeply inspired by the Daddy’s Little Men blog on this topic – culminating in a game at Historicon almost a decade ago.

Last month I decided to quickly paint my figures for the mercenaries – having painted to African opposition several years ago. As short post then, to show you the figures I pulled together to be our enduring force of mercenaries.

One small note – I did paint the berets in the khaki drab that the other ranks wore in the movie, but frankly it didn’t show up well in 15mm. I opted to repaint in a brighter green so that they are visible on the tabletop. Somewhere in the bins, I have my C47 ready to go.

These gentlemen number some 104 in total, are now individually based on 20mm Litko round bases with the crew-served weapons on 3/4 x 1 inch bases with rounded corners.

I now have everything I need for the game. I’ve sent off for some additional Peter Pig village huts, but in truth I have many different huts from my Zulu and East African campaigns in hand. It will happen soon and when it does we will see how many of them get to the plane.