The African Campaign Gets Reinforcements

I am currently designing and painting in preparation for a campaign set in a fictional country of modern day Africa.  My fictional country is based very closely on Mali and the recent/on-going French intervention there.

The name of my country is "The Democratic Republic of Moa" or "DRM".  Located near present day Mali, Moa is a poor country governed by corrupt and greedy politicians who are focused more on their Swiss bank accounts than on the proper governance of their country.  The DRM is currently under attack from the north by several factions including several Islamic Rebel groups seeking to overthrow the government and establish a fundamentalist Islamic Theocracy in Moa.  Not all of the political and religious aims of these groups coincide, however, and this leads to conflict amongst the groups as well as with the DRM government troops.  There is a strong UN presence in Moa and Canadian troops are currently trying to occupy a buffer zone between DRM government troops and rebel groups in order to prevent civilian casualties.  The UN Regional Commissioner is currently in DRM trying to broker a ceasefire to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the current fighting.  In the southern part of the country, a warlord has formed his followers into a fledgling army and is moving to cut off government control of the Moa River.  The Moa River is a key part of the nation's economy and DRM troops are trying to re-establish their control of the waterway and keep what little commerce happens in Moa going.  France and Great Britain have publicly stated their support of the government of DRM's president Seliki Mumbato.  While he is not the ideal leader for the country, he is all they have right now and it is unacceptable to the EU and other "Western Interests" to have the DRM turned into another training haven for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).  Western units are attempting to bolster DRM government forces while training new units to take over the fight.  The French have the largest contingent in Moa.  They concentrate most of their combat elements in the north while the British have accepted responsibility for the southern half of the country and the Moa River.  All of this makes for great evening news footage and there is a large contingent of journalist throughout the region, giving UN troops and western commanders even more to consider.

More about the DRM and the back story later.

One of the groups fighting in Moa is the "White Sheiks" Islamic rebels.  Backed by Saudi financial interests, the White Sheiks are relatively well supplied with weapons and vehicles.  They are part of the AQIM uprising and as such regularly clash with DRM government forces and their western allies.  Here are a couple of quick pictures of the current White Sheik contingent.

The White Sheiks currently have two platoons and a section of "engineers" in their infantry forces.

The "White Mullah" (kneeling figure left part of the picture) is the military and spiritual leader of the White Sheiks forces.  He is reputed to be the nephew of a high ranking Saudi politician, but his face has never been photographed!

Hope you enjoy the story and the photos.  I will be posting more in the near future.