Cold War Era Manufacturers (20mm).

[Brummie]

Here is a list for all the 20mm Modern and Ultra Modern miniatures out there. Now, at least on this forum I feel there is a certain prejudice against anything that isn't 28mm. However for something like Moderns/Ultra moderns, unless your attempting to pull of something of an RPG (or include aliens and zombies) 28mm just isn't worth bothering with, it doesn't have the variety that 20mm has. Thus I believe it is my mission today to utterly overwhelm you 28mm heathens with the -real- scale for this genre.

20mm Miniatures:

http://www.elhiemfigures.com
Elhiem Miniatures is currently producing the 'official licensed miniatures' for Ambush Alley's Games, Force on Force. Elhiem concentrates mostly on 20mm Cold War and Ultra Modern, though he also produces his own small range of WW2, Sci Fi and Zombie Apocalypse and Pulp stuff in the same scale. Many of what he has available can be used for other roles as well, for instance the Cold War West Germans (which can be used as Cold War Dutch, Norwegians etc) can also be used as Modern Iranians and Second Line Saudi Arabian troops.

Cold War:West Germans, Nato Riflemen, Cold War British (some in NBC suits), Early/Mid Late Cold War Americans. East Germans/NVA, Soviet VDV, Troops and NBC/Hazmet troopers. Also produces Vietnam War French, Americans, South Vietnamese and Vietcong. Also some Isreali Defense Force trooops. India and Pakistani soldiers (also useful for Modern Indian Police and Modern Pakistani army).

Modern/UltraModern: U.S troops for Somalia/Desert Storm, Iraq War/Early Afghanistan Americans and British, 2009/2010+ Americans and British, U.S Marines, S.A.S/American Special Forces, Delta Team. Iraqis; including Vader helm Fedayeen, Infantry, Baath Party/Police fighters. Taliban (also useful as Yemeni and Xinjiang insurgents), Middle Eastern Insurgents (Iraq, Arab uprisings etc)  and Generic Arabs, which can be used as Iraqis, Middle Eastern Commando's, Saudis etc. Somalians (rioters, gunmen etc) and Generic Africans. There are also some Generic special forces in the form of contractors/Western women fighters armed with an array of various weapons. ISAF and the West: Modern Irish Defence Forces.

Elhiem also sell some Modern U.S Police, Generic S.W.A.T,

Upcoming/Soon to be released: Modern French, Modern Italians. In the works are also Modern Danish and German army, as well as in the future Modern Russian forces.

http://wartimeminiatures.com
Wartime miniatures is an Australian based company, for those in U.K/Europe you can purchase Wartime products from Elhiem. Wartimes range is much smaller but contains some very useful and unique pieces nonetheless.

Wartime produces Afghan Civilians, as well as a number of Afghan/Middle East insurgents. Wartime is one of a few companies that do Modern Russians, and the only company making Modern Australians with a Bushmaster to boot! He also makes Special forces troops, which though generic are more geared to Australian SAS. He also produces Modern U.S troops (2009+) all of which are compatible with Elhiem forces (the two co-operated on gun castings).

http://www.underfireminiatures.com
Under Fire miniatures are a more recent edition (by a few years or so) to the 20mm Moderns scene, I believe the person who sculpts for Under Fire is the same who sculpts for Empress moderns. However these figures are of excellent quality and match pretty well with more recent Elhiem figs (they used to be 2mm higher, but this recently has changed). Underfire now also stock Vepa Miniatures range of Ultra Moderns!

http://vepaminiatures.com/[/b]]http://vepaminiatures.com/ Vepa Miniatures are a new company on the block selling an excellent range of Ultra Modern U.S soldiers and Special Forces, as well as a number of packs for the Mid-late Arab-Israeli Conflicts. Vepa miniatures will be expanding into other Post War/Ultra Modern subjects at a later date and will expand on its current ranges. Figures are of course highly compatible with other ranges (the sculptor is the same as the one commissioned to create figures for Underfire). Underfire miniatures is the U.K stockist.

Under Fire produces British troops for 2003-2009 as well as Ultra Modern Brits for the 2010+ period in full Osprey armour (whereas I believe Elhiems 2009/2010 troops are for the troops that haven't made the full transition). Some superb Modern Russians, U.K Modern Police, Afghans (both Taliban and Army) are all available, although these latter ranges (Russians aside) are not very big, they are still very useful, and the A.N.A troops could be used as Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanian, Generic African etc. For Cold War, a small range of Vietnam War figs, and figs for the Rhodesian Bush Wars, and Israeli wars are available. [/i]

http://www.shqminiatures.co.uk
SHQ produce a very limited range of Gulf War Iraqis and British. They also produce some Vietnamese war stuff.

http://sandsmodelsshop.com/
SandsModels produces a huge range of WW2, Cold War and Modern vehicles. Many are currently being remade, since before hand the kits were often prone to having resin bubbles. S&S produce vehicles you will simply not find anywhere else in 20mm, such as the Swedish CV90, the Finnish Patria wheeled APC right down to New Zealands version of the LAV3  and the Chinese Type 99 MBT. The Range is huge, and constantly expanding with new vehicles like the U.S army MATV, the Olifant or the Russian Vodnik to be released. However be warned, production for all the various vehicles is based upon demand, and if a vehicle has not attracted much attention it is likely there will be limited numbers of, or it will take time to make.

S&S also produce figures for the Dutch Army (a first) the German army, as well as figures for African, Middle East militias/soldiers. Although the quality is perhaps not as good as the above companies, they're still decent.

http://www.mutineerminiatures.com/
Mutineer produce Generic African militias, leaning more towards a 'religious' character, with Christian and Muslim Militias.

http://www.britannia-miniatures.com
Little intro required, produces a nice range for Brits in Afghanistan, Afghans etc. Understandably mail times with Britannia may be slow, as the company is still going through reorganisation.

http://www.skytrex.com/
Skytrex produce a nice range of metal modern vehicles. Though mostly for Cold War there are some Ultra Modern pieces. They are the only company I know that do an LAV mortar variant. Can be pricey.

http://www.rhmodels.com/
Wide range of various figures, lots of Generics, nice quality but a pain in the arse to order, some folks on ebay sell a limited amount of them, but thats about it. Lots of different types of insurgents, such as Chechens, PLO etc, though I'm unsure if for the majority of figures using Russian/soviet tech all the body poses are the same, only the head gear differs.

http://www.thehobbyden.com/
Another producer of 20mm Modern and Cold War vehicles, sells a wide range of civilian transport/technicals as well as items you can't find elsehwere like the Shorland armoured car, Snow Trac snowmobile, and the Irish Army Ford F-350 SORV. Hobbyden recently bought the rights to the MMS range.

http://mjfigures.co.uk/
MJ figures are a fast expanding company which produces (for the first time!) Modern Georgian infantry for 2008 South Ossetian War. These figures are of an excellent quality and far exceed the previous stuff (which is still good). However one of the finest products this company sells (IMO) is within its small range of vehicles. MJ figures Jackal is purely the best model of that vehicle I have seen, as its Coyote (which I believe is a first).

They also do some very wierd and wonderful Sci Fi stuff in 20mm, loosely based on Dune....


Your biggest friend for vehicles mind is without a doubt is Ebay. Altaya, Easy Models, and Fabbri produce all sorts of vehicles that again don't exist elsewhere, are hard to get a hold of, or are expensive, such as the Italian Centauro A-T vehicle. But also things like the BMD-2, T-90 MBT, Leclerc, Leopard 2a3 etc. There are also lots of cheap helicopters and jets out there if you know where to look in 1/72nd. Most importantly, for the most part they are cheap, its also worth checking out Modelzone, since they sell a lot of vehicles from Altaya etc on the cheap (I bought 3 Leopards for £12 at my local).

[The Travelling Man]

Mate, Hobby Den picked up the MMS range of Cold War moderns (gorgeous MTLBs, BMPs, BTRs, BMDs etc) rather than Milicast who are still going strong in WW2 1/76.

You might also want to mention Caesar plastics who do several boxes including Iraqi insurgents, generic mujahideen and Somali style militia, modern US, Brits, Germans and Israelis plus a couple of boxes of SOF with more to come.  They fit reasonably well with Elhiem and are pretty good for plastics.

[Brummie]

Mate, Hobby Den picked up the MMS range of Cold War moderns (gorgeous MTLBs, BMPs, BTRs, BMDs etc) rather than Milicast who are still going strong in WW2 1/76.

You might also want to mention Caesar plastics who do several boxes including Iraqi insurgents, generic mujahideen and Somali style militia, modern US, Brits, Germans and Israelis plus a couple of boxes of SOF with more to come.  They fit reasonably well with Elhiem and are pretty good for plastics.

I couldn't quite figure it out whether it was MMS or Milicast but I did know it had an M at the start. And yes they are nice, I own some! I probably should have asked the fella in charge but it never dawned on me. But its been modified.

As for Caesar, I didn't add them because they're plastic soldiers. Personally (though I own some Caesar figs) i've never been compelled to use them. There are some useful pieces though, but I was primarily keeping to people who were making 20mm metal/resin figs targeting the actual wargaming side. However if its thought of as worthwhile enough I could add plastic manufacturers to the list.

[Ragnar]

Platoon 20 modern range

http://shop.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/modern-wars-52-c.asp

[sandsmodels]

thanks brummie for the s&s advert.
any one wanting to see the range can see almost all of them here:-
http://s513.photobucket.com/albums/t339/sandsmodels/
and we have a 'new projects' section with the soon to be released models on it:-
http://s513.photobucket.com/albums/t339/sandsmodels/new%20projects/
if anyone wnats a price lits please just email me
sales@sandsmodels.com
and i will send one as soon as possible in pdf.
thanks
shaun

[Brummie]

http://vepaminiatures.com/ has now been added to the list!

[cp models]

We have a couple of Falkalands sets in 20mm

Mark

[sundayhero]

hi,


Any advises on 20mm modern (2000+) french troops ?  I found the eilhem, caesar minis. The RH minis seems too complex to order.


Thank you !

[v_lazy_dragon]

Platoon 20 do Gulf War era French troops, although I'm afraid I don't know how the uniform has evolved since then?

[Earther]

Note: The Platoon 20 First Gulf War/Desert Storm French are wearing shemagh head scarfs/keffiyeh, not helmets. Found that one out the hard way…

[sundayhero]

Thanks


Platoon20 minis doesn't fit my needs. I'm searching for modern troops, like these ones :

http://quickreactionforce.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=440_496_555_725&products_id=7800


sadly in 15mm. But with very modern loadout (like the FAMAS FELIN weapon).

[Earther]

Elhiem is your best bet I think.

[sundayhero]

I ordered a lot of elhiem minis (a few insurgents to test, but especially modern french, an entire french version of platoon organization). I'm wondering on how they mix with Caesar plastic minis, especially militia and french modern.

THe caesar french modern are interesting for the heavy weapons they have, and the militia will bring me a few more figures useable for my current afghan and mali purpose army, but also typical african militia (somalian pirates, for example).


Thank you for your help.

[BillK]

Seems you're missing Force20 Fine Scale Miniatures available at TableTopScale.com or thru Elheim and The Hobby Den.

Cheers,
Bill

wip of the latest Force20 offering... Five-0.

[Earther]

They're nice! How do they scale up with Elhiem, Liberation etc.?