November 2020 - AMERICAN PRAETORIANS

Enemy of My Enemy Chapter 1

Night was falling fast over the rugged hills as Shamil Mashadov took a knee under the short, scrubby pine and looked back at his little strike force. The fifty men were strung along the side of the mountain behind him, following the narrow goat path in single file. They blended in well, especially as the light failed. Much of that was thanks to the brand-new camouflage that the Emir had gotten them; the pixelated tan and green was every bit as effective as the American OCP, particularly amid the scrub and short trees of Paktika Province. Most of the men behind him, except for Dilawar Safi, his Pashtun guide, were fellow Chechens, warriors of the Aswad al Islam. They were a long way from home, but what they would do tonight would be worth it. Turning back toward their objective, he lowered the night vision goggles mounted to his helmet and scanned the valley below. The Americans had said that they would be gone from this part of Afghanistan months before, but, infuriatingly, they still had yet to withdraw. Tonight, Mashadov and his brothers would teach the infidels that they should have fled long ago. He lifted the encrypted Russian

The Guns of “Enemy of My Enemy”

It is that time again. Brannigan’s Blackhearts is back with Enemy of My Enemy, so that means a guns post. And since this one goes down in Azerbaijan, there’s a lot of Eastern Bloc weapons. (Also, because of the difficulty in finding good, royalty-free images of some of these guns, I’ll be embedding videos about them for the most part.) Shamil Mashadov and his Aswad al Islam brethren are armed with AK-203s in the beginning. The 200 series AKs are improvements on the 100 series, the 203 being specifically chambered in 7.62x39mm, and currently entering service with the Indian Army. Apparently, the Russian Army decided to forego the 200 series in favor of the AK-12 and AK-15, which are somewhat more expensive. They’re also carrying RPG-26s to use on the guard towers around their target. Specialist Owens is manning an M240B in one of those guard towers. Once the Blackhearts get on the ground, the weapons the Spetsnaz loan them–at least to begin with–are bog-standard AK-103s. The Spetsnaz don’t use them, but since the Blackhearts are–as always–supposed to be deniable, they get the 103s. Like the improved 203 that the Chechens use, the 103 is chambered in 7.62×39. This is a longer video, For the