"Techno is moving to modern infantry" (official)

[Sunray]

Well there it is.  The long night starved of reinforcements is over.  The Head Shed has spoken.

But where does Phil start ?

Three things shape demand for modern figures .  The first two are internal to Pendraken.

First, the demand created by existing figure ranges .

Secondly, demand created by existing AFVs , soft skins and APCs.

Thirdly, the demand stimulated by what is appearing in other  manufacturer's ranges.

Based on this hypnosis I would suggest the following:

1.  Finish off the Falklands with a nice senior officer command group.  The squaddie with the binoculars from the mortar group has been promoted way beyond his ability.  An OC looking at his watch perhaps ?  I love that old Airfix Para command figure.

2.  Thanks to Phil, Pendraken have the best range of Brits 1960s-1980s bar none.   They could be well served with Warsaw Pact opponents from the same era, but just how popular is the Cold War ?  The response to this thread will provide some market research.

3. Based on the existing AFVs , we could see sales soar in a Korean War infantry range. Especially if there were sculpted in a generic manner to allow other Third World applications.   The Brits for example could double as late WW2 commandos in smocks and Denisons.  North and South Koreans in summer gear with soft field caps. See IMEX set 530.  Boy,  just made for African bush wars and Latin American revolutions.   There is always one such conflict somewhere.

4. And then we have the Arab- Israeli  wars.  Is the  gap in the market is up to 1966- 1973 ?  That's where the big actions were.
   Arabs in soft caps, Russian helmets, AK47s and light equipment would be a  dream. Israelis with FN and Uzi could moonlight as Brundeswehr  - and  no, its impossible to tell an FN  from a H & K in 10mm.

I could dream on.   But I still have a shed full of Paras to paint up in 1970 pattern Denison.  The last true discrete para smock before everything went boring DPM.   

[d_Guy]

Based on this hypnosis...

Either you are the victim of a beastly auto-correct feature or you are truly on to a way to influence the production on new figures!

[Techno]

 

You .........cannot ..........hypothesis........me....... 

Cheers - Phil 

[Sandinista]

I heard it through the bassline he was moving to 18th century Ottomans...

Cheers
Ian

[Sunray]

      SORRY !!! Correction "Hypothesis " - lesson never type a thread whilst under the influence of Hennessy XO.   Without spell check I would have spotted it.


Seriously...if that is possible - what's the forum's mind on Techno's modern infantry challenge ?

[Ithoriel]

Seriously...if that is possible - what's the forum's mind on Techno's modern infantry challenge ?

That it should be postponed for as long as possible so he can get on and sculpt things I might actually buy?

OK, that's maybe not as serious as you were hoping for

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

The three obviousd ones are :

Correct the British Falkland's helmets - which were NOT the Brodie soup plate.....

Convert the Argtines to have M16's and M60's gives US up to 83/4

Warsaw pact, including womble suits....

IanS

[Ace of Spades]

Hmmm... Cold War is something I've always been interested in so that is definitely something worth considering; my area of interest would then be Warsaw-Pact versus Western European troops; preferably Germans/US but since that would mean a big increase in new vehicles I can understand it's not something that is going to happen soon...
Arab-Israeli; yes please! (wallet moans; 'no please...')

Cheers,
Rob

[fsn]

Do we define "Modern" as post 1945?

The major conflicts of time (as perceived in Western psyche) would be the Viet Nam war, the Arab-Israeli wars and the Iraq/Afghanistan debacles. I would also add the Korean War.

There is however, the imagination strand, for example the 1984 Soviet Invasion of West Germany and the 2nd Korean War. 

Then there's those nastly little scraps fought at low level - bush wars in Africa, uprisings in Palestine, IRA, Malaya, Somalia.

Fortunately for Pendraken  the big kit for the last 70 years can be divided into three major camps - Soviet, American and Western European. (No I'm not forgetting the Chinese, but most wars recently have been fought with the arms from the big 3.) Pendraken has made a good start on these. Yes, we can all point out some gaps, but as long as you're not in the "yeah, but the Egyptians used square filler caps on their T62s not round ones" camp, there's quite a lot to be going on with up to 1980 or so.

The infantry though, are a bit different. A British soldier in Korea 1952 is different from one in Suez 1956, and different again from Malaya, Falklands, Iraq, etc, etc.

So do we (the sultanas in the Pendraken curry sauce) have to be a little more forgiving? Could there be a generic Warsaw Pact figure that could serve 1960-1990? (I chose these dates randomly.) Could that figure, AK47 armed, be used for Egyptians in 1967, and dare I say it 1973? Could those figures (say with berets) be used as Iraqis from the Iran-Iraq war?

I'm definitely not going to pick up Pendraken because I can't use a generic WarPac figure for an Egyptian because the bayonet is too short. I'll make do with a paint job and if necessary, I'll do a bit of converting. I still have some banana oil around somewhere.

So for me the list would be:

• Korean War
• WarPac / Egyptians
• Israeli

I would also mentally stop at 1985 (or slightly before). There's some big stuff needed before we can think about more modern wars (Chieftain, Challenger, M1 etc)

[paulr]

Do we define "Modern" as post 1945?

<snip>

So for me the list would be:

• Korean War
• WarPac / Egyptians
• Israeli

I would also mentally stop at 1985 (or slightly before). There's some big stuff needed before we can think about more modern wars (Chieftain, Challenger, M1 etc)

A well reasoned post FSN
or should I say Milord Oik

[Techno]

Whatever they turn out to be...... (And I don't know exactly what Sir has in mind, yet.....So don't ask me !  )

I'm genuinely looking forward to making them. 

(And I know a lot of you will help, as well.)

Cheers - Phil

[Matt J]

FSN is right 

Korean and Arab/Isreali wars for me.

Matt

[paulr]

FSN is right 

A statement you don't see often

[fsn]

[paulr]