Green army men miniatures?

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

I am intrigued by the forth coming Mars Attacks miniatures from Mantic as I am a fan of the movie. My only problem is the US troops are in modern uniforms and I would always want to game this genre with Green army men style 50s soldiers.

Anyone know someone who make them in 28mm scale? I don't want to use WWII US.

Cheers
fuzzy

[westwaller]

TAG Vietnam range might be a possibility.

Wargames Factory WW2 US apparently have the wrong backpacks for WW2 so technically are suitable for later.

Maybe look at the Eureka Minis 'Pulpitations' range?

[Major_Gilbear]

Well WW2 troops would be okay for two reasons:

1) The US army didn't undergo a significant uniform change from the end of WW2 until the late 50's (1958?), and small detail differences on gaming models are not really noticeable enough to worry about. Even the M1 Garand rifle was still in service until about 1957.

2) Hollywood used army surplus in their films, so were more likely to have slightly out-of-date cast-offs. Thus, if you're going for a B-movie army look, late WW2 up until the early 60's is okay.

The other thing is to try and get Korean War US Army troops, or see if you can get some early Vietnam troops (i.e., when the army still used the M14 rifle). These may require a little conversion like weapon swaps for example, but should be serviceable too.

Given the above, is there any reason why you feel strongly against using WW2 US models?

[NickNascati]

Mongrel mins if still available, did have a range of Col War era troops that included US forces.  I believe they had M14s

[fantail]

Brigade games 314th Federal Defence Force troops from their Atomic Cafe range fit the bill.

[Thargor]

Mantic did some old style US Troopers as part of the Kickstarter, but the uptake wasn't enough for them to produce them.  So they will be sending out Bolt Action US Marines to those that ordered them

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Thanks for the suggestions, the atomic cafe troops look good.
Bolt action have too much "character" if you know what I mean.

I think I have found the ones that should work: wargames factory WWII US.
Fairly straightforward sculpts and painted the right shade of green I think they will work.
I can then Buy some late model Shermans or Pershing tanks for support.



Cheers
Fuzzy

[westwaller]

Yeah they really do have that look don't they?

[NickNascati]

If you are really going to paint them as green army men, you should probably do something about the bases.  Maybe a small circle or card under each foot?

[Vermis]

Those WGF models won't do at all.

All their barrels are straight.

Bolt action have too much "character" if you know what I mean.

After looking them up, yes I do. 

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

Yes I would have to bend the barrels and add odd shaped bases to the figures to complete the green army men effect but I think I am rather going for the B grade US army men so I think I will resist the urge to bend barrels, but I think I will definitely go for the odd shaped bases. I also intend to paint the faces and hands but the uniform will be a generic dark olive green.

Cheers
Fuzzy

[AzSteven]

If you could take late-war WW2 Americans and give them M-14s and different ammo pouches, you would honestly be pretty well set from 1955 up until 1965.  After that you start seeing more and more changes come pretty quickly.  And really as mentioned the Garand was around until 1958 or so.  The M-1 Carbine was pretty much gone from the Army but was still present for vehicle crews and for Air Force security.

The one thing that is a big difference is troops without helmet would often be wearing the 'pillbox' cap like you see Fidel Castro wearing - its very hard to find figures with that, but I have occasionally done FFL kepi headswaps to make it happen.  And the baseball cap came in and replaced the pillbox pretty quickly, so its not like a huge must-have.