Template lists for new Modern ranges

[Leon]

We're going to be expanding our post-war/modern offering soon to cover the Arab-Israeli conflicts and then onwards into the Cold War with US, Soviets, etc.  To get these ranges up and running we're hoping to use a basic skeleton template of what's needed, which can then be tweaked a little for each conflict/nation along the way.  This would be: infantry in the usual poses, mortar teams, LMGs, HMG teams, bazooka/launchers, officers and radio ops.  The hope is that this will also provide a nice selection of proxy figures for other nations.

Below is the rough idea of our Arab-Israeli ranges, so have a look and see if there's anything you think we've missed.  Remember that this is a core range so we're looking for the essentials to begin with!

Israelis (1973)
IDF1   Advancing with FN FAL rifle (2 poses)
IDF2   Advancing with AK47
IDF3   Advancing with FN (GPMG) and No2 with ammo belts
IDF4   Standing, firing FN FAL rifle
IDF5   Standing, firing Uzi from waist
IDF6   Kneeling, firing rifle
IDF7   Prone, firing FN (GPMG and No2)
IDF8   FN FAL bipod team
IDF9   FN GPMG in tripod team
IDF10   Light mortar team with slung Uzi
IDF11   Medium mortar team with slung Uzi
IDF12   .50cal HMG team
IDF13   RPG-7 team
IDF14   Blincidide bazooka team
IDF15   Rifle grenadier
IDF16   Radio operator
IDF17   Officers x 2 (1 x field and 1 x staff)
IDF18   Tank commander
Artillery crews x 4

Egyptians (Waistcoat type)
EGP1   Advancing with AK47 (2 poses)
EGP2   Advancing with Kalashnikov
EGP3   Advancing with RPD machine gun
EGP4   Standing, firing AK47
EGP5   Standing, firing Port Said SMG (2 poses)
EGP6   Kneeling, firing AK47
EGP7   Kneeling, firing Port Said SMG
EGP8   Prone RPD machine gun team
EGP9   Light mortar team
EGP10   MMG team (SG-43 Goryunov)
EGP11   Sagger team
EGP12   RPG-7 team
EGP13   Sapper/Engineer team
EGP14   Radio operator
EGP15   Officers x 2 (1 x field and 1 x staff)
EGP16   Tank commander
EGP17   Little wooden cart - unique to assault infantry
Artillery crews x 4
 
Syrians (shirt tails out)
SRN1   Advancing with AK47 (2 poses, one in beret)
SRN2   Advancing RPD (2 poses, one in beret)
SRN3   Standing, firing AK47
SRN4   Kneeling, firing AK47
SRN5   Prone RPD machine gun team
SRN6   Light mortar team
SRN7   HMG team
SRN8   Sagger team
SRN9   RPG-7 team (one in beret)
SRN10   Sapper/Engineer team
SRN11   Radio operator
SRN12   Officers x 2
SRN13   Tank commander
Artillery crews x 4

[fsn]

 

Great stuff!

Thank you for the MGs being prone (boo!) and advancing (huzzah!).

[mad lemmey]

Sounds fun.

[ianrs54]

Advancing LMG teams would be useful as well, always looks a bit odd with all the standing riflemen and a prone MG team. For 73 the Syrians and Egyptians are virtually identical, and make good proxies for Soviets.

[sean66]

The Uzi was mainly used by support troops (Artillerymen, tankers and rear echelon troops.
frontline use was mostly with the elite troops.
good selection of troops.
Regards
Sean

[Chad]

Why just 73 or is 67 fully covered?

[Orcs]

Can we add a generic "technical"  pick up with the agility to mount assorted weapons on it, ie HMG, Recoiless rifle.

If some of the figures were in caps or bare headed, they could be used for all sorts of conflicts

[Matt J]

Tank commanders/crew.

Cheers

Matt

[John Cook]

I think 'Blincidid bazooka team' should be 'Blindicide bazooka team'

I suggest changing "Prone RPDM machine gun team" to "Prone RPD light machine gun team".  Where you see 'M' as part of the nomenclature of Soviet small arms it means 'modernised'.  The RPDM is a later modernised version of the 'RPD'.  'RPD' is the generic and much better known name for this family of LMGs, unless you want to be very specific and very technical indeed.  For all intents and purposes all versions of the RDP are indistinguishable.

I also agree with the comments about prone LMG teams.  My own preference, if I can only have one pose, is for moving teams but in an ideal world I like to have both.

Change "HMG team- Groyunov?" to "SG-43 Goryunov medium machine gun".  The Goryunov is not a HMG but a MMG.

If you want a Soviet HMG equivalent to the .50 Browning, you need a DShK 12.7mm heavy machine gun.

Finally, Egyptians used the East German helmet as well as the Soviet one.

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

Greetings

Excellent!

Arab/Soviet bloc:

 -  I suspect SA-7 Grail, though plentiful in 1973, may not be deployed in the front lines?
 -  I don’t know the  extent to which the Soviet SG-43 was being replaced by the PK pre-1973. But post Middle East you’ll need PK(M)s in light and tripod role. 
 -  Semi related point that as yet there would be no  RPKs in 1973 but again once you move onto Soviet these will be needed.  The template figures seem good though.
 - The Syrians need a Sagger team I think. 

Israeli:

No thoughts so far.

Regards

Edward

[sultanbev]

Each Israeli squad had 2x FN FAL heavy barrel with bipod as squad automatic weapon, so you'd need those as well as the FN-MAG teams.
Besides the Blindicide 83mm, the IDF also used RPG-7, 3.5" M20 and a home-built version called the 82mm Marnat. However all appear to look pretty much the same (apart from the RPG-7 obviously) - a long stove pipe with a distinct shield, so you'd probably get away with one model in 10mm.

Regarding Uzi in front line use, the paras and mechanised infantry had a high proportion of them per squad, so are a legit inclusion. Later in the 1973 war some IDF units were solely equipped with Soviet small arms, AK47, RPD, RPG-7, so they are too all legit inclusions.

The Egyptian sappers used Soviet 50mm mortars for mineclearing, so I presume that is what is meant by their light mortar teams.
Didn't thye have backpack flame throwers too?

You might want to add anti-tank gun crews for all sides, especially the arabs.
And 82mm B10 recoilless rifles for the arabs.

Thumbs up for the advancing LMG teams from me too!

And don't forget the Jordanians.....

[sultanbev]

Some good photos for poses of IDF bazooka teams on this thread:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://bukvoed.livejournal.com/273945.html

Mark

[Sunray]

Some good photos for poses of IDF bazooka teams on this thread:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://bukvoed.livejournal.com/273945.html

Mark

Thanks Mark. Appreciated.   James