Evil Bear Wargames

[Andrew_McGuire]

I’m only just discovering manufacturers of Ultramodern - i.e. 21st century - figures and vehicles, other than Empress and Spectre, as I’m considering building some forces for games loosely based on recent / current / potential conflicts.

Evil Bear is one of the producers whose name I’ve encountered in relation to both miniatures and rules (OSC). However the most recent blog or forum posts I’ve seen relating to their products are at least three years old. YouTube is similarly lacking in recent content and the URL I found - evilbearwargames.com - appears to be defunct. All of this leads me to fear that the company may have expired.

If anyone is so minded, it would be appreciated if responses might also include names and contact details for other manufacturers covering this period to aid my exploration. The only others I can think of at the moment beyond those previously mentioned are Dishdash Games and Elhiem. In terms of scale I’m considering both 28 mm and 20 mm.

[Ash]

There is a Facebook page, that was updated in January:

https://www.facebook.com/evilbearwargames/

[Andrew_McGuire]

Thank you. That’s reassuring in terms of the company’s continued existence but as I don’t have a FB account I’m unable to delve further. The page shows the URL I was aware of which still leads to the ‘internal server error’ text I’ve been encountering.

[Ash]

Their message from Jan 1st:

"Happy new year folks
Remember to write 2021 on stuff
As regards stuff the Uk has now entered a new trade agreement, Ive seen a lot of people asking questions and confusion,
I’m going to give it a month to settle down and sort it self out before making a judgment but I don’t feel it will have any huge effect (I hope)
2020 plans didn’t go to plan for us as for many  but this is not a bad thing. To be fair for evil bear plans have not gone to plan since
2018 😕 .
One project is currently about 2 months behind but background is set up.
I have a message in my inbox but face book won’t let me open it !
Any messages please send to evilbearwargames@gmail.com
Oh and I got a new job at beginning of December so can now eat and eventually get back to funding evil bear "

[Will Bailie]

If anyone is so minded, it would be appreciated if responses might also include names and contact details for other manufacturers covering this period to aid my exploration.

For 28mm, Eureka Miniatures is the most obviously missing from your list.  They have an extensive selection of modern figures, including civilians as well as regular and irregular forces, for NATO, Australia, Afghanistan, Africa and more.  Available directly from Australia https://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126_150&sort=3a or from their distributors in US https://eurekaminusa.com/ or UK https://www.eurekaminuk.com/

Modern Canadian figures are available from Full Battle Rattle miniatures:  https://fullbattlerattleminiatures.com/

The Assault Group has a pretty wide selection of ultra-modern figures as well:  https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/ultra-modern/

There are other options as well, hopefully some other folks will jump in with their favourite suppliers.

On second thought, however, it's worth mentioning that you're likely to find a better selection for things like vehicles in 20mm, and in general prices will be lower.  I've on ocasion contemplated whether I should have gone with 20mm from the start, but I'm committed to 28mm now, and am not inclined to start over.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Thank you to both respondents. I have actually emailed Evil Bear and it hasn’t bounced back so I may get a response in due course.

As for other ranges, I overlooked Eureka, which I was aware of, but didn’t know about the others. I’m probably going to collect US troops to start with as my little reading has dealt with their ops, so far large scale ones. (I’ve just started Bing West’s No True Glory on Fallujah, and have previously read House to House, the memoir of the infantry sergeant who cleared a building of doped-up insurgents single-handed in that battle, eventually down to his knife. It’s truly stomach-churning stuff, but that’s the reality of combat. I probably won’t simulate these actions specifically,  due not least to the moral qualms near present day warfare raises, though if I’m honest I wonder what real difference this makes when the inspiration is so obvious.)

As for scale, 20 mm would make sense as I will be starting pretty much from scratch. All I currently have from the present century are a couple of Dragon 1/72 prebuilt models, an Abrams and LAV-25, I think, which have not been removed from their boxes because of concerns about their vulnerability to breakage (it never ends well in my experience, as a mangled HMMV, among others, will attest). I also have some unbuilt plastic kits ranging from the old Hasegawa M1 to the apparently state of the art Flyhawk M1A2 SEP which is probably even beyond my abilities to construct, let alone be suited to game with.

I have no figures at all. 20 mm offers the possibility of using plastic figures, but from what I can tell there are accuracy and sculpting issues with most ranges, including Caesar. The militia / insurgent types shouldn’t suffer from accuracy concerns so much, but the poses of some I’ve seen reviewed leave a lot to be desired, as does the sculpting in at least some areas, particularly the weapons. I’m not keen on buying a box of which only half the figures are usable.

My plans remain fluid, however, and I’d welcome further suggestions.

[Ash]

if you're after 20mm militia with Soviet type weapons have a look at Under Fire miniatures:

https://underfireminiatures.co.uk/product-category/modern-militia/

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I do hope that Evil Bear does return, I would like some more FoxHounds.


And I might have some Panthers converted for the Russians.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Re Underfire: this range is totally new to me, and looks very good. I was thinking of a Middle Eastern setting to begin with, but there’s no reason to stick with that.

[commissarmoody]

If you doing 20mn modern, I suggest checking out elhiem.
https://www.elhiem.co.uk/

[Andrew_McGuire]

Thank you, Commissar, but Elhiem was the one 20 mm range I had been aware of, and is looking like the front runner at present. I’ve been alerted to Under Fire and - indirectly - Stan Johansen, and have also remembered the Xan range from Empress. (I take it these are all meant to be Americans, though there is no identification on the site). I had hoped Eureka might have 20 mm as well as 28mm moderns, but apparently not.

What all these ranges signally lack as far as I can see is vehicles, which I can’t do without. I can hardly believe there are no resin models of contemporary tanks, IFVs, weapon & troop carriers, etc. There is an abundance of plastic kits, but I have my doubts about their ability to withstand the rigours of gaming, at least at my hands.

[Andrew_McGuire]

In my continuing explorations I’ve encountered some further 1/72 & 20 mm ranges which have been around for some time but had escaped my notice. Cpl Overby’s Motor Pool is a range of resin vehicles and upgrades to plastic kits from the US for both WWII and modern periods. I discovered it through a Humvee I saw on eBay.

As for 20mm figures I encountered the name Liberation Miniatures which includes a fair sized range of 21st century US, allies & opponents. These are sold through a UK seller called RH Models, whose website appears to be active, though how much so is difficult to determine, with the latest update I noticed being ten years old, though there appears to be a Face Book page which may be more up to date. The figures are only illustrated in a gallery section. The images are very small and low resolution so quality is difficult to determine. They also sell Easy Model die-casts, with which I am not familiar.

Does anyone have experience with either of these companies and is able to comment on their respective products?

[Ash]

What all these ranges signally lack as far as I can see is vehicles, which I can’t do without. I can hardly believe there are no resin models of contemporary tanks, IFVs, weapon & troop carriers, etc. There is an abundance of plastic kits, but I have my doubts about their ability to withstand the rigours of gaming, at least at my hands.

Have a look at S&S for 20mm vehicles

https://sandsmodels.com/product-category/172-20mm-post-war-modern-vehicles/

[Andrew_McGuire]

I will indeed, thank you.