Interest in Generic Troops and Western Civilians: Modern 28mm

[Nimrod]

Would be nice to have ethnic heads for this range, beside western.  Some Asian, Middle eastern and African heads will be very useful, well at least for me.

[gimzod]

Female soldiers are definitely going to happen when I do the IDF. I may consider doing a stretch goal for female insurgents, though.

It was female brits and Americans I was after but they sound good as well.

[arget8]

Nimrod: I was actually planning on doing separate heads for the insurgents to expand the utility of the militia range.

gimzod: Female Brits and Americans may also be a possibility in the near future if things work out as I have seen a demand for them that Empress or Eureka have yet to satisfy.

[carlos marighela]

Have a look at the Eureka SAT swappets and also the Hasslefree Modern troopers. Both of these are excellent ideas allowing maximum variation from a few dollies, allowing for separate heads and weapons in the case of Hasslefree and separate poses, heads and weapons in the case of the Eureka SWAT.

If you did a range of figures in standard US style BDUs with the old M1956/ M1967/ ALICE style load bearing equipment, you'd have a substantial portion of the world's forces done from the 1970s. Add old style Kevlar pots, berets, boonie hats and the old US M1 steel pot  as head options. Give them weapon options of M16, G-3, FAL and Galil and you now have fantastic variety. In similar vein add M-60, FN MAG and MG-3.

As a second subtype add some torsos or figures with BDU style blouses and chest rig. Same head options, maybe supplemented by a Soviet M40 or M60 steel helmet and add standard Warpac weaponry. AKM, Romanian AKM, RPGs, RPKs etc, etc.

Mix and match between the two main body types with all the different weapons variants and head variants and you'd cover most of what is currently missing.

Hopefully Ebob is quicker at commission work than he is at completing his own lines. Best to stipulate that he need to match existing ranges in terms of figure size too.

Good luck!

[commissarmoody]

Also good ideas, but lets not get to crazy.   

[carlos marighela]

Also good ideas, but lets not get to crazy.   

Maybe but all I'm suggesting is three or four basic figures with weapons and head choices. And for that you could cover a lot of ground.

[julesav]

I'd like to see figures for the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars. I'd also like to see figures with G3 rifles and MG3s for Saudi, Iran and Central/South American states.

[Earther]

FWIW, I like Carlos's idea. There's definitely a lot of mileage in that. 

So, yeah, do that.

[arget8]

I agree, if I am going to make these generic, I want them to be able to function for as many nations as possible. That is why they will have separate heads (K-pot, steel-pot, various others). I also plan on having them being sculpted without arms and having different arms sculpted on with different weapons. This will allow the generic bodies, which will look like most nations that wear load bearing vests and body armor with BDU style fatigues, to work for most developed militaries in the world with a simple sculpting of different arms holding whatever weapon. This will massively decrease costs for me by making the most expensive part of the sculpt (body) to be used with several ranges (with AK's, M4, G3, etc.) My planned separate heads will allow me to make them even more variable so I can make a range of Poles with K-pots and AK's or a range of Congolese with berets, M1 steel pots, and Ak's.

Gunnar

[Elk101]

Anything that could make reasonable Vietnamese People's Army would work for me! It sounds like a big task but generic troops would likely prove popular.

[arget8]

So I did some research on current service weapons and this is what I came up with. I found that AK's, G3's, and M4/M16 variants would provide the most value if I were creating generic troops. I haven't researched helmets for all these nations yet, but since I plan on having them separate, it shouldn't be a constraint. The real issue will be finding the most prolific body armor. If anyone happens to know where I can find info on helmets and body armor in current service easier I would be eternally grateful.

Asterisk (*) means that it is not the only service rifle in use in this country or that I was unable to completely verify without deeper research.

AK47 and Variant Clone Users:
Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh*, Belarus, Cambodia, Czech Republic (being replaced), Egypt, Ethiopia*, Georgia* (Reserves),  Hungary, Iran*, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon*, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nigeria*, Pakistan*, Saudi Arabia*, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Sudan*, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela*, Vietnam (to be replaced by the Galil ACE), Zimbabwe*

G3 and Variant Users:
Afghanistan*, Albania*, Bangladesh*, Brunei*, Chad*, Chile (HK33)*, Cyprus*, El Salvador, Estonia*, Ethiopia*, Greece (Hellenic Army only), Iran*, Kenya, Lebanon*, Latvia (National Guard), Mexico (scheduled to be replaced by 2018), Myanmar*, Nigeria*, Pakistan*, Peru*, Portugal*, Saudi Arabia*, Sudan*, Sweden (Only Home Guard), Thailand* (HK33), Turkey* (Replaced by 2016), UAE*, Zimbabwe*

FN-FAL and Variant Users:
Argentina*, Bolivia*, Cyprus*, Fiji*, Greece* (Reserve Units), Malta*, Myanmar*, Nigeria*, Peru*, Tunisia* (Border Guards), Venezuela*, Zimbabwe*

Galil and Variant Users:
Bahamas (Special Forces only), Bolivia*, Colombia, Estonia*, Portugal (Paratroops), South Africa, Tonga

M16 and Variant Users:
Afghanistan*, Argentina (Marines), Bahamas, Bangladesh (Special Forces), Bolivia*, Bosnia, Brazil (Marines), Brunei*, Cambodia* (Reserves), Canada (Diemaco C7), China* (Limited use of CQ-A), Egypt*, Fiji*, Greece* (Navy and Special Forces), Iraq*, Jamaica*, South Korea* (Reserves), Lebanon*, Liberia, Mexico* (Marines), Monaco*, Nepal*, Philippines*, Singapore* (Being replaced by SAR-21), Sri Lanka*, Sudan*, Thailand* (being replaced by TAR-21), Tonga*, Turkey* (Being replaced by MKEK MPT)

M4 and Variant Users:
Afghanistan*(Special Forces), Bahamas*, Bangladesh* (Special Forces Officers), Bolivia*, Bahrain, Brazil* (Special Forces), Brunei*, Canada* (Diemaco C8), Chile* (Special Forces), Taiwan*, Czech Republic* (Special Forces), Georgia*, Germany* (Special Forces), Greece* (Special Forces), Hungary* (Special Forces), India* (Special Forces), Indonesia (Special Forces), Italy* (Special Forces), Jamaica*, Japan* (Special Forces), Jordan*, Kenya*, Lebanon*, Malaysia*, Monaco*, Netherlands* (Diemaco C8), Philippines*, Saudi Arabia*, Serbia* (Special Forces), Thailand*, Tonga*, Tunisia* (Special Forces), Turkey* (Special Forces),


Thanks,

Gunnar

[DeltaBravo]

Don't forget LMGs - eg Minimis, FN-Mag, IMI Negev

For helmets, a K-Pot, an Israeli Orlite, a British Mk6 helmet and a French style helmet would cover most African armies I think.  Plus berets, bush hats etc.

I don't know how accurate the wiki page is on helmets, but it has a list of modern ones and some users:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_helmet#Current

In Africa, body armour seems a hodge podge from pictures I've looked at.  You get British ECBA (eg Kenya, Uganda), French equivalent (eg Burundi) and locally made efforts.  Best bet is to Google UN/African Union troops.  The US PASGT style seems pretty prevalent outside of Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personnel_Armor_System_for_Ground_Troops#Military). 
 

[zemjw]

I'd like figures that can be used for Falling Skies type games (the humans, not the aliens ) or any near future post apoc setting. Weapons and uniforms would be contemporary, but very much pieced together.

The Falling Skies militia forces are very diverse in terms of uniforms and weapons, so a mixture of military kit with civilian clothing would be useful. I like the idea of separate arms, but hopefully it will be better than the WGF survivors sets. In theory their arms are interchangable, but in reality the body types and clothing options mean that only a few arms work with each type.

There is definitely a gap in the marker for the sort of figures you're proposing, so I really hope it works out.

[georgec]

If anyone happens to know where I can find info on helmets and body armor in current service easier I would be eternally grateful.

I have this book so I can recommend it, lots of excellent photo coverage although the US and UK sections do make up 90% of the content.  Might not be so much of a problem as the US has been the 'fashion setter' in this area.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Body-Armour-Martin-Brayley/dp/1847972489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421316903&sr=1-1&keywords=modern+body+armour

When I looked for the above I saw the same author has written this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tin-Hats-Composite-Helmets-Collectors/dp/1847970249/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

I haven't seen this before but the preview looks good.  So I bought one!

Edit....   B&gger, as i went though the 'check out' I saw he also does one on camouflage, so that went in the basket too...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camouflage-Uniforms-International-Combat-1940-2010/dp/1847971377/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

[carlos marighela]

Body armour is by no means universal, in fact beyond  developed nations with sizeable budgets, it's still really not that common. Even some of those armies that do possess it eschew it for reasons of climate and for certain types of operation. If you model troops wearing it, you will tend to limit the time frame of your range.

If you are looking at doing arms with M16s then do look at doing the earlier model M16A1 there are still quite a few M16A1s floating around and again it opens the time frame and thus the utility of your range.