Warlords new Korean range

[carlos marighela]

From the Wikipedia article on the SKS:
Korean War: limited issue[22]

22.  Rottman, Gordon L. (December 2002). Korean War Order of Battle: United States, United Nations, and Communist Ground, Naval, and Air Forces, 1950-1953. Praeger. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-275-97835-8. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
(My emphasis).

Interesting, even surprising,  given that the wide consensus is that it didn't see any service in the Korean War, the questionable statements of David Hackworth aside (a man well known for spicing his tales). Odd given that as a fairly recent bit of kit, you would have expected it to have been trumpeted for propaganda purposes by the UN forces and almost certainly featured in training bulletins on enemy weapons.

Doubly so, given that there seems not to be a single, dated and documented photo of one being used in said conflict. Plenty of photos of captured weapons for the period in question and yet no SKS.

Triply surprising, given the GI's penchant for bringing home trophy weapons and yet it seems there's no extant examples that can be traced to Korea.

Who knows? Maybe there were SKS carbines used there but if they were it would appear to have been in minute quantities with such a negligible impact that nobody has remarked upon it.  Here's the point though. For a representative model of Korean People's Army troops for the Korean War it's a fucking odd choice. It would be like arming a quarter of your Vietcong with Mp-44s or MG-34s, although the difference here is that both have well documented and reliably dated photographic evidence of their, albeit minor, use by the Communist forces in Vietnam. I suspect that Warlord probably looked at the First Corps  28mm Korean range, saw the SKS and went "Right we better have one of those!" .

For what it's worth I doubt Voldemort Games Korean War will poison the well for any other Korean ranges. I say this because I think it most unlikely that there will be any more ranges. Modern warfare is a niche topic to start with. Korea is problematic for a variety of reasons. In the popular mind* it's WW1 with WW2 weapons and to be honest for most of the war that's not far off the truth.  Just look how popular post 1914 Great War ranges in 28mm have been.  28mm is probably not teh best scale to stage Chinese, human wave style attacks, the other popular trope of Korea, unless you have a bloody large budget. If anything it's probably a war better suited to bigger scale representations and smaller scale figures but horses for courses.

For manufacturers most of the shiny toys can be gleaned from existing WW2 ranges. .  In fact if I was going to do Korea I'd probably use Empress' GI s and appropriately modified late war Brits. Even the Chinese can be made from various WW2 ranges with a little effort, at least the winter clad ones. Unlike Vietnam, there's really not a lot that's new or needed and after the retreat from the Yalu and the move to positional warfare, not much call for tanks and other AFVs.

As for Vietnam and existing ranges, I suspect you will find that the surge in popularity of the conflict this year is almost wholly down to the quality of the figures and the research that's gone into them. If people were satisfied with existing ranges, then I doubt there would have been the market.

* Given that there is any popular consciousness of Korea beyond MASH.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

@Carlos, I have not read the source (and have read little about Korea in general - Campaign 328 being my only book on the period).

As you say, limited issue could mean many things, what it probably does not mean is issued to line infantry.

I would have hoped that when Warlord did their research, they had actually read the reference material (there is the suspicion that they got as far as the SKS entry in the Wikipedia article).

As for Vietnam and existing ranges, I suspect you will find that the surge in popularity of the conflict this year is almost wholly down to the quality of the figures and the research that's gone into them. If people were satisfied with existing ranges, then I doubt there would have been the market.

I wholeheartedly agree, Vietnam was not a period that interested me (Campaign 4 being the only book I had read).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalResearchFailure

[FreakyFenton]

I suspect that Warlord probably looked at the First Corps  28mm Korean range, saw the SKS and went "Right we better have one of those!" .

I reckon they looked at the old Men at Arms No.174: The Korean War 1950 to 1953. Plate A shows a KPA soldier aiming with an SKS. As is common, Warlord does look to Osprey for poses/weapons/faces on their models, as was evident with their old German metals and a few other lines.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

But in 1/50 scale?

of course.

[jaytee]

Some astonishing spoilt moaning in here from the button counters.

They are toy soldiers.

[Rich H]

To be fair it's not button counting it's rifle ID that's the problem

I find it dissapointing when something which has clearly had so much effort put into producing it is wrong when it could so easily have been right.

[commissarmoody]

Toy solders you say? I will just play with these meeples over here then. already painted and I can play any era or rule set. Fantasy, historical, sci-fi done. 
But really, I Will wait tell I see them in person before I spend my limited funds or time on them. Already got the book on order so there is that.

[evil_steve]

There are memoirs from Veterans and museum exhibits that say the SKS was there.  While one can point to research that shows SKSs probably weren't there or were at the very least exceedingly rare, the existence of authoritative sources stating the opposite means we can give warlord the benefit of the doubt.  They didn't make a mistake, they simply followed an interpretation of the historical record at variance with yours.
Look, they made a product range for an underserved market and, before the stuff is even on store shelves it's being bashed for an error that any gamer can fix with a nail file.  It's easy to criticize others' work, it's not nearly so easy to produce and create a product line.  I understand the importance of accuracy, but let's put it into context and see the whole range (including the book) before getting on their case over a debatable error.

[commissarmoody]

And as I said, if that fails. I am sure they will work fine for the 60's Dmz border conflict.

[JamesValentine]

It's humorous to see some of the attitudes on this thread. Some people really hate Warlord yeah?

I usually just look at the pics. skip the convo and post whatever I feel at the end regardless of whats said beforehand.
Too much tosh 

on this I can't say much.
looks cool but I know little about the Korean war.
like the tank though. not mind painting one up.

[carlos marighela]

Some astonishing spoilt moaning in here from the button counters.

They are toy soldiers.

Yes sweety, they are, I think all (most?) of us get that * and whether we choose to purchase them or not comes down personal preference. It’s that whole consumer thingy. I’m not seeking to dictate what you or others choose to buy, in fact I don’t especially care, I don’t know you and naturally enough, horses for courses.

The ad hominem attack doesn’t exactly warm you to me. It’s been a relatively civilised discussion to date.

* Whether it comes as a revelation to you is something I won’t opine upon. 

[evil_steve]

Unsubstantiated or ad hominem attacks detract from almost any conversation. 

[FramFramson]

I guess? I've definitely seen better however.

I appreciate that the Warlord MASH figures at least pass the crucial muster of "recognizable likenesses", which is a surprisingly high bar even for really good sculptors. The bodies could certainly use work, but I was able to readily identify every single figure, so credit to the sculptor there.

Also, I certainly approve of the choice for Hawkeye's, erm, uniform.

[Panaldi]

Is it just me or could the movie "71: Into the Fire" be Warlords main source of information about the North Koreans?

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/71:_Into_the_Fire

[88D]

Is it just me or could the movie "71: Into the Fire" be Warlords main source of information about the North Koreans?

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/71:_Into_the_Fire

Most likely from the bearded nork officer (pretty decent likeness tbh) if only they had also watched the front line and brotherhood (no sks's )