Your fate is SeAL-ed

Well please excuse my bad pun but yesterday I finished Eureka´s great set of SeAL minis and I wanted to show them off.

But who are the SeAL´s exactly? Well simply put they are the US Navys contribution to the US inventory of special forces. Their name is both an acronym for their areas of operation (Sea, Air, Land) as well as the well-known mammal that calls the oceans its home.

Between the 8 SeAL teams and DEVGRU there are about 2500 men trained for special operations. Their origins date back to the Underwater Demolition Teams of the second World War. They were founded in 1962 and took part in all major conflicts and operations of the US Military (as well as those unknown). Be it jungle warfare in Vietnam, the freeing of hostages on cruise liners, preparing beachheads by clearing obstacles or just leading the enemy to think that there will be an amphibious landing. They secured Oil Rigs and were part of the fateful convoy in Mogadishu 1993 (something Hollywood seems to have forgotten). It is ironic, that the Mission that made them most famous (Neptunes Spear that killed Osama Bin Laden) was technically not conducted by the SeALs but by the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). DEVGRU is the successor to SeAL Team 6 which was dissolved amidst allegations of fraud and mishandling in the 1980s. While still part of the US Navy it has been under CIA command since 2001 and not JSOC like the other SeAL teams.

So here they are:

SeAL team (DEVGRU)

At first I had thought about painting them in a mix of Multicam and A-TACS camo. Both are en vogue with the SeALs these days. In the end I decided against A-TACS. This type of camo is designed for a very diffuse look and it would not have come out on a 28mm mini. Plus my hypothetical WWIII is set in the middle of the last decade when it had not been on the market.

The dog in the foreground is a Malinoi. They see a lot o use with the SeALs and DEVGRU. I just chose to paint this one with a pattern where the brown goes down the neck. That thing strapped to his back is a camera assembly.

SeAL Malinoi

But this is not the first time I have painted some SeALs. A couple of years ago I already did some, but they were more meant to represent a team deployed on some Tom Clancy style covered operation.

SeAL strike team (Black Ops)

SeAL fire support team (Black Ops)

SeAL fire support team (Black Ops)

The prone sniper is from Devil Dog Designs and the kneeling sniper with the Barrett rifle is from TAG´s SWAT range. All the Rest are from TAG´s SAS range. The minis are nowhere near is nice as the Eureka ones (especially the faces which were quite distorted), but they do their service!

Want more… well I will try to post some Army Delta and an Airforce PJ tomorrow.

EDIT:

After posting this on the Steve Dean Froum, I felt that the photo did not do the minis justice so I took some individual shots:

SeAL team leader

SeAL LMG

SeAL 1

SeAL 2

SeAL 3

SeAL 4

SeAL Dog