Brigade Models Belgians (or Syldavians)

I used to fairly uninterested by the whole "Hammer's Slammers" and air-cushion tanks meme... Without going into why I have a more difficult time suspending my disbelief about that specific technological path, I always found HS tanks aestetics to retro for my sci fi taste...

Too retro for my tastes!

And then came the latest batches of Brigade Models 15mm!

Some of the newest Brigade Models products: three variants of the AmRep APC...

So of course, I had to find them a niche in my imaginary world... I've been toying a lot with Franco-Belgian comic books inspired imagi-nations, like Tintin/Hergé Syldavia and Borduria... In my mind, I came up with quite a few iterations of a war between those two countries:

• The obvious: a fairly logical continuation of "King Ottokar's Sceptre"; an not-early-WW2 Blietzkrieg-style invasion of not-Belgium-Syldavia by not-German-Bordurian...
• And its implied sequel:  Late-WW2 liberation of not-Belgium-Syldavia from the hands not-German-Borduria!
• Various iterations of a (limited) Cold-War-Gone-Hot ranging for the fifties to ultra-modern (well, yeah: the Bordurian mustachist regime might have survived its soviet sponsor).
• And even a Napolenoic prequel involving French-inspired Syldavian and Prussian-inspired Bordurian.

Syldavian M113 in NATO three tone... I probably should figure something a bit
more tactical for the national markings... Black pelican with just a yellow outline?

Basicaly:

• Syldavia = Belgium with a layer of Balkans paint and...
• Borduria = (East) Germany with the same cosmetic layer. 

So back to Brigade Models models... Altough air-cushion tanks have grown on me, I still associate them with "70s/80s in space"! So I wen't digging in the Belgian late-Cold-War orbat...

Like many of its neighbours, Belgium used to gets armoured vehicules from three different sources:

• German MBT (Leopard and its AA, tank destroyer and engineering variants);
• US APC (M113 and variants) and SPG (M108 and M109);
• And UK recon (the CVRT familly).

So here is my Belgian/Syldavian Brigade Models pick (not all models are available in 15mm):

• German Thor MBT, Thor Gatling AA Tank and Fenrir Tank Destroyer;
• AmRep M-41 Baumann APC, including unique Belgian/Syldavian variants like an ATK not-M113-Milan using a US body (the Baumann) and a French missile system (from the EuroFed Tassigny or Catroux missile variants);
• Amrep M-88 Doherty SPG (not available in 15mm);
• And Brithis Hermes light tanks (not available in 15mm, yet?) as not-Scorpion/Scimitar and modded with the Artemis APC turret or some missile turret for not-Spartans and not-Strikers respectively...

APC, MBT, recon tank and SPG of the Syldavian hover-AFV inventory...

Not that I need (but which wargamer actually buy only miniatures he needs?) or intend to model the entire orbat (which is a good think since a couple of the vehicules on my list don't even exist in 15mm!): my scope of choice for 15mm sci fi is about a platoon (usually a rather small one to make room for a couple of vehicles that have nothing to do operating at that level) so I'll try to stick to a single MBT and a couple of APC! But I like making up extensive orbats so that my force doesn't exist in a vacuum...

What about infantry? GZG new Germans look uber-cool and I've been wanting to use them for quite a bit too... But I'd love to had some oversized-beret wearing guys for a Chasseurs Ardennais/Zymylpathian Rangers units... Headswap from Khurasan Sepulvedan Jungle Fighters?

And air support? Belgium fighter aircrafts at the time used to be French Mirage V and US F-16, while our only helos used to be liaison/observation French Alouette II. Something French would be a nice addition to the German-US-UK mix I've got so far... But I'm not too fan of the Caribou...