Latest Figure News

Some good news to share on the 20mm figure front. First, Elheim are now stocking Wartime Miniatures ranges. I'm pleased for Matt that these will be available in the UK at a reasonable price. Matt did what he could to offset the strong Aus $ vs the pound and set shipping charges; and I take my hat off to him for that, but they still proved too rich for me in the end.

 Wartime Miniatures

Two of the packs in the photo above will now allow me to furnish a platoon in true Call of Duty: Modern Warfare style. Which if you play the game, you'll know that the Ruskies have more RPDs, RPGs, SVDs than AKs.

Next up, Rolf of Liberation Miniatures has announced a new set of 70's-80's Russians in body armour (with covered helmets). I really like the look of them.  These may well become the bulk of my Alcovian regular army forces. No details on availability yet, (I'll keep pushing Rolf) but worth waiting for.

 Liberation Minis (RH Models)

Finally, a little late in announcing due to my health issues, but still well worth highlighting that Shaun at S&S Models has completely remoulded and repackaged his classic Modern Russian Motor Rifles and VDV figures.

 S&S Models

The sculpts are characterful with a wide range of poses and get this, for the Motor Rifles at least, Shaun wants to ensure that you can build an entire company with command, support and heavy weapons. Something I can only applaud.

Cheers
Mark
  

Soldatskaya Smekalka

Before I pack away Krozny Kravac I think one more game based on the Seize & Secure scenario from BATTLEFIELD EVOLUTION: MODERN COMBAT might just be fun and a natural follow up to the action fought this week.

SEIZE & SECURE: A tactically important landmark is being fought over by two armies. Whoever gains the upper hand for just a
few hours will gain an advantage over the entire region
that will be difficult to challenge.....

With that on the cards, I feel inspired to finish some conversions this weekend. Maff gave me his unpainted Under Fire Miniatures'  MVD/OMON troops. I had started taking the heads off and replacing them with the standard helmeted heads from some Platoon 20 Modern Russians. Enthusiasm had petered out previously as these Platoon 20 heads have proved to be the toughest to remove to date.

All this effort is to round out a couple of squads of National Alcovian Army (NAA) regular style forces with the Under Fire MVD/OMON troops. Mostly 'cause I just like the poses.

Cheers
Mark
  

Under Fire Miniatures: Modern Russians

Contacted Bill at Under Fire Miniatures earlier this week regarding his range of Ultra Modern Russians.

Georgians in 'Fritz' helmets are in the pipeline and more Russians in 'combat' poses will be available later in the year.

Under Fire's Russians are 1/72 rather than what I would recognise as '20mm'. They are a good half to full head taller than RH Models/Liberation Miiniatures and similar ranges. The figure's heads themselves are smaller which gives the figures a more gangly look about them. Still, some good posing if lacking in 'warry' poses. The 6B7-1L helmet looks particularly good but the faces on the guys with 'OMON' helmets can lack detail.

I bought a pack each of ModRus7 (Mortar and AT14 ATGM) and ModRus8 (SPG-9 Recoiless Rifle and AGS-17 Plamya automatic grenade launcher) all lovely models and each weapon is a kit in it's own right.I felt these could stand alone regardless of minis I end up using.

Like Winter of '79, what was supposed to be a discrete project is growing arms and legs. Again like Winter of '79, my initial intention was to use Combat Miniatures (ex-Hotspur) from Stonewall Figures as the principal protagonists but have been let down in both cases by the poor casting of the miniatures.

Under Fire Miniatures have all been well cast and I like the clean lines of the sculpting - what Craig at Critical Mass Games would call a "painters' miniature". Ideally I'd like to see the range increase with a mix of weapons for both standard troopers and MVD/OMON to allow me to build a full platoon before I would seriously consider these for more than fireteam sized skirmishes.

Cheers
Mark

Wartime Ultra Modern Russians; A Personal Review

A couple of posts ago I wrote about Wartime Miniatures new Modern Russians. Things have been on hold waiting for them as they would dictate which of all the modern and ultra-modern miniatures on the market would become my principal focus.

They arrived Tuesday/Wednesday this week. Two weeks after Matt posted them. Here are my thoughts:

Overall I really like their style of sculpting and level of detail, with one or two exceptions, but I'll come to these. The figures are in proportion with very realistic poses which feel like men in action, rather than posed shop dollies. Their size matches well with RH Models (a big bonus). Faces? OK and many are hidden by masks. Weapons are a delight, being sturdy without being chunky. The metal is good quality as evidenced by every single weapon being bent at least 90-180 degrees when I got them, but they sraightened out OK.

MR01 Command Pack

Leader: I like the movement and energy in this figure.
Sparks: The radioman is bareheaded and very well executed but standing bolt upright as if he's commentating at the dog races.Nice touch is that he's got one ear covered with his hand which mirrors my experience.
Sniper: Excellent figure. Absolutely beautiful.

MR02 Fireteam

3 figures are really good. One, on the extreme right in the photo on the website, is a disaster. He's different size, sculpt style, smaller head and helmet that makes him look like a child head on adult shoulders and just completely wrong. He looks like a Modern Aussie figure roughly knocked up in 5 minutes to look Russian. I even emailed Matt to ask why he was wearing a Fritz helmet. Apparently it's supposed to be one of the K6 models or even ZSh1 helmet. Believe me it's as good as a Fritz. You can stretch your imagination to believe it's a 6B7, nah, doesn't work for me, it's a Fritz. This figure lets down a cracking range because of course you'll end up with one in every Fireteam pack. I really cannot believe the sculptor has any self respect, respect for his client or more importantly, respect for us as purchasers to have included this miniature in the range.

MR03 Fireteam 2

The kneeling figure is a bit rough and again looks like it had a Modern Australian miniature provenance, but still usable because he's hunched up. The standing miniature is out of place. Ruins the story of the pack. Crouching or braced reaching for a mag. - great - standing idly - no. This is a personal foible of mine. I don't want miniatures in a 'combat' pack who are opening a tin of Chicken Supreme, fumbling for their mobile which has just gone off or walking the dog. Produce a separate pack (like Under Fire Miniatures) and give me the choice! My initial impression was that he was sculpted with a K6 helmet but looking more closely it's probably a ZSH1.

The standing firing guy wearing bandana is lovely.  Best figure in the pack. Pure Spetznaz or nasty bastard.

MR04  Support Weapons

There are 5 figures in this pack. 2 RPGs, 2 PKM and a RPK. The RPGs and firing machine gunners are all very nice figures. The weakest figure is probably the running machine gunner but at least he has a separate machine gun (great for conversions).

Summing Up

The range feels like a bunch of Ultramodern Russians from recent conflicts. The best will paint well and I will favour them over and above any of the other ranges I own. However the range remains tainted by that one figure in MR02.

I appreciate the mix of headdress as it means you don't have to buy extra packs to mix and match. On the majority of figures, the Modern Soviet helmets look right on the money, the weapons are bang on and poses are magnificent. A lot of 15mm Sci Fi sculptors could learn from the best of this range.

However, one mini is a disaster and a couple that come in as also rans. I've had an email correspondence over the past few day with Matt so this isn't behind his back. The attempts at 'Sphera' helmets are just that. Luckily RH Models and Under Fire Miniatures come to the rescue here. What I do like is that the 'basic' helmet is the M68 pattern, subtely different enough from the M60(40) and evident on figures such as the Platoon Leader and kneeling RPG gunner. Good touch.

I accept that my personal taste and expectations are not the same as everyone else's. Will I buy more? Where do my plans for 2 full platoons plus a squad of Spetznaz stand? Well, jury's out. They are coming in at around a £1 each for 20mm with shipping on top. Are they worth it? Some are in my opinion but I'm not prepared to pay £1 and shipping for the 'also rans' as well. 

Cheers
Mark

Proof!

Just a quick post showing folks that Crisis in Alcovia is more than just vaporware. I've got a good 50+ Liberation miniatures from RH Models in the works.

The quick camera phone snap shows the larger group of hat and camouflage fatigue wearing Russians with AKs. The gents with the green stuff are a bunch of figures wearing what look like civilian coats and M40 helmets, carrying AK-47s. The green stuff I'm adding to make them each a little more unique with scarves, pouches, backpacks, a beard and even a couple of puffy jackets and vests. I'll give more detailed looks at them when I have a chance to take some quality pics.

I still need to figure out a way to get a spotlight for a Trumpeter T-55 model. The darned thing doesn't come with one.

-Eli

What Miniatures to Use?

One of the things that made me decide to do this project in 20mm instead of my usual scale of 15mm was the availability of miniatures for the setting. 15mm has a good selection of miniatures up to the 80s but that is where the selection begins to thin out. Now, if I wanted to wait a few years, I'm sure 15mm would catch up to 20mm, but I don't want to wait.

It is clear that for this project, Liberation Miniatures through Rolf Hedges is the way to go. This line is full of Russian, Balkan and generic insurgents. This gives me a well-stocked pallet for the three main forces involved in the Alcovian Civil War. I have yet to get my hands on many of the codes but the figures I have seen all look nice and gives me a good idea of what to expect.

It should be obvious that the RUS codes are the starting point. Most of Alcovia's military forces on both sides of the conflict will be armed much like late 20th century Russians. For most of the troops, I'll likely go with a combination of "H" codes (M40 helmets). I can mix in a smattering of other code variants like the "B" (forage cap), "D" (fur cap), and "J' (leather jump cap) codes for variety. There are also some "V" (netted helmets) codes in the specialist figs that would be cool. I'll avoid berets and bush hats for regular army forces. The standard selection of Russian hardware will prevale here - AKs, RPKs, RPGs, etc.

For National Alcovian Army (NAA) elite Lifeguard units, I'll be going with the ultra-modern Russian figures. Because I like variety and that campaign look, I'll likely mix and match various headgear in the same unit. I will likely avoid the "S" codes as they are the newest Russian headgear and likely too modern, even for Alcovia's favored units.

Alcovian People's Army (APA) forces will likely use the same codes as the lesser NAA forces but with more variety mixed in to show that they will have been fighting with less support and tighter supply lines. The SER, CRO and EER codes could be mixed in for that added volunteer look. For these units, I can mix in a few odd weapons on the alternate codes to show that BYOG (bring your own gun) volunteer look.

For the Alcovian Liberation Front (ALF) is made up almost entirely of militias and militant activist cells as well as some hired guns. The Urban Terror Range (URB) is perfect being mostly fighters in civilian gear with a variety of equipment. These along with figures from the Multipurpose (MUL) range, armed with light kit, webbing and Russian style weapons, and perhaps even a smattering of figures from the PLO, Insurgent (INS/STS), Arab Militia (ARA) lines for added variety and to show the mutli-ethnicity of some of militias fighting (Iquenistan, etc).

Liberation has such a wide variety of figures that I am sure that I could even extend some of the variety by adding in figures from other AK-armed ranges like the African or even non-AK armed figures representing mercenaries and militias armed with black market weapons.

I do have some helmeted Russians that are wearing no tactical gear, carrying a bread bag sort of satchel that I am trying to figure out a use for. I had been considering using them as police, but even the poorest police in the world these days have tactical gear. I wonder if I could model web gear onto them?

Anyhow, this should give you an idea of where I'm going with the figures here.

Take care,

-Eli

First Minis Arrive!

Hello All,

I just received my very first Liberation minis. These also happen to be my very first 20mm metal figures.

These were purchased through one of the special offers that RH Models runs and included figures from a couple of ranges, all falling into the Eastern European troops category.

Both lots were excellent and arrived nicely packed (in recycled packaging I might add). The figures were were well cast with only a couple of bent barrels which I simply marked off to shipping stress. The metal on the figs is good quality though and the barrels bent back into place and retained their integrity.

I can't really say too much on pose variety as these were mixed lots. The lots I received had a lot of moving and standing poses but not very many shooting poses.

Overall, a very satisfactory first foray into the realm of 20mm. I will be ordering more, definitely.

-Eli