One of my long standing quirks as a wargamer is that I really like desert armies—in all settings. That includes the modern setting. What makes up a desert army today?

Well, what we tend to view as “Insurgents.” It feels almost uncomfortable to say but much like medieval Arab forces, insurgents are just genuinely enjoyable to paint. It’s a great change of pace from traditional army uniforms and they paint up very quickly, to immediate effect. It’s satisfying. These thirty models took me two afternoons to power through.

The sculpts come from White Dragon Miniatures, a now defunct manufacturer. I bought them years ago now and they’ve sat on the shelf taunting me this whole time. The sculpts are excellent, with great poses and just the right amount of detail to provide color without bogging down. They’re really great.

These will serve as the bad guys for my Haywire campaign with my son. This will allow me to use my existing stock of militia models to serve as local operators for our team and make the enemy forces feel a little more cohesive.

I’ll be pairing them with a new set of operators for us, which I’m still painting. I have quite a few existing models for moderns, but this game encourages a few more unique sculpts, so I took the opportunity to print off some files I’ve had sitting around. I am, once again, floored by how enjoyable painting modern minis can be. The outfits aren’t ostentatious and the uniforms are consistently quick and easy, which leads to getting models on tabletop quickly. Always satisfying.

We’ll see how far I take this sprint. I’ve got some civilians to paint up as well, and I’ve got a few cartel members sitting in my cart as I consider if I have sufficient terrain and OPFOR assets in my collection to play the full Haywire narrative campaign, not just the first third which takes place in Bazikistan. Work and school are about to pick up, so I’m not holding my breath, but it’s such a great looking campaign that I really hope I can find the time.

As always: time is the enemy of any passionate hobbyist. One day, I’ll retire… God help my basement storage when that happens.