Reference:
Hmmmh. Could be.
The only thing that seems off is the pouch attached to the top flap. You could attach a pouch below the flap on the above rucks, but not on the flap. Maybe a field mod? Couldn't have been too common. The pouch on the flap kind of looks like a WW2 tropical first aid kit or a purpose built 20 round mag pouch.
Maybe it's a ruck from a US in Nam inspired Jungle Fighters in SPACE kit?
@Steffen Seitter @JTam
If you were referring to the clearly 20th century western style wrapped foot in this pic early as being Warring States Chinese:
FOR THE HUNDERDTH TIME!😤 it is clearly NOT from Warring States China since they wore shoes like this to best of our knowledge:
AND THEY WORE THEM WITH BAGGY PANTS LIKE THIS!😆:
We can even tell that is how they wore them from Terracotta warriors:
And later dynasties of Chinese did not use WW1 style boot wraps either:
Till the Warlord era in the 1920's, likely obtained from Western and Japanese surplus:
What in the name of the Celestial Dragon keeps making you guys think its Warring States China or even anything from pre-20th century Asia? particularly when we have been looking WW1/2 and even Dark Age European pics with feet in shoes and wrappings for the last several months that clearly match that darn foot a thousand times better than anything from pre-20th century Asian history?!🤣 Not to mention I already told you guys here in this thread and on the FB group when it was posted that it’s not anything Asian from before the late Victorian era (which is probably as early as that foot could dated, but its more likely to be from after Queen Vicky and from WW1 or 2).🤣
Moving on as to the Backpack, it also looks vaguely like a Molle bag, though more likely it could be this model of Alice Bag with an added pocket or (since I brought them up again) a modern cheap Chinese counterpart like the A030 in the pic below. I would not count on it being for Death Fields just yet since WA did mention about doing something modern awhile back.
@JTam and@Yronimos Whateley yeah, it could be an ALICE pack but, having humped one for more miles than I care to remember back day (I was a Boonie Rat back before I was a Grumpy Gnome), the pouch on the top flap immediately looked out of place to me. Could be a modeling error, could be intentional but then a fictional bit of kit. Tough to say. Space ’Nam infantry would sell well as Catachan proxies for the GW Imperial Guard crowd.
@Grumpy Gnome Space Nam infantry would only work as proxies for Catachans if WA did what GW did and based them solely on the "oh, so historically accurate" film that inspired the Catachans🤣:
As opposed to say actual photos of the Veitnam war with real soldiers, since the only guy I have seen running around being "Catchcany" was this guy who looks like he might be a Photographer or Journalists:
The Cannon Fodder look more like proper Space ’Nam infantry than the Catchcans jungle fighters ever did🤣. It would be wiser to consider someone else to proxy as the Jungle Fighters, how about aztecs with some updates?
Catachans were inspired by 80/90s action films like Rambo, Commando, Predator, video games like Contra, as well as Vietnam.
I think the basic Catachan look was capturing the stripped down GI in Vietnam in flak jacket.
Now is not wearing a shirt in a jungle a smart move? Generally no. But the US Army was getting ragged as sh*t at the end of the war as a bunch of hippies were drafted in.
I think the movie Platoon was another influence.
Influence of Commando:
Influence of Predator:
@Brian Van De Walker
The shirtless Soldier in the picture looks like a Platoon Leader. Lieutenant rank on the helmet. CAR15 in the lap. Might have his camera to get good shots for his Instagram.
The Soldier on the right has what appears to be a XM148 so this is 1966 or later.
@JTam Right on, brother! You are one excellent researcher.
The backpack's best match so far is to an ALICE pack - but the top pocket is definitely a curve ball.
That might suggest a couple possibilities:
I'm inclined to say that WA has some Vietnam US soldiers vs. VC in the pipeline, and the ALICE pack is a preview for them: that was the number three most popular choice in the March 2020 match-up poll. The number one, number two, and number four choices? Conquistadors vs. Aztecs (already produced!), Maori vs. British 1860s, and Marovingian Franks vs. Sub-Romans (Franks are in production.)
The bit 2021 survey results suggest some other possibilities for the pack - YMMV on how much more likely these might be, but none of them strongly suggest modified ALICE packs to me:
As for the wrapped leg:
I've seen that SOMEWHERE before, but I really can't place where I've seen it! I don't THINK it's medieval European, it's definitely not Chinese, I suggested Samurai the last time I mentioned it but that's not right. But, I can't put my finger on where I've seen it. The oddly-tied bow at the top, cuff on the boot, and the laced shoe/boot seem like they would be strong clues, though! That shoe almost looks modern in style... I'm more inclined now to say that that leg is from an early 20th Century soldier, but I can't really find a good match for that bow anywhere. The combination of laced boot/shoe with puttees like that isn't very far from from Japanese or Chinese combatants in the Sino-Japanese War or WWII (for example), but it's not far off from lots of uniforms from the early 20th Century, I expect.
The wheel on the right almost reminded me of a very large chainsaw (lol - maybe, I thought, a 40k-style power armor weapon?), but it's definitely part of a tracked vehicle - it looks like part of the same track in this snippet, next to what looks like a robot/mech/power-armor foot:
I think @Brian Van De Walker 's guess of an L3/35 (an interwar/WWII-era Italian tankette) looks to me like it might be on the money.
The Catachans thing was new to me before I joined the forum here, but now that I've seen them in discussions here and elsewhere, I'm pretty solidly convinced that the aesthetic was drawn from '80s-era, cocaine-fueled, cartoonishly macho action films with body-builders and pro wrestlers with heavy weaponry fist-fighting alien bugs in jungles. Read: Predator, Rambo, Aliens, Starship Troopers, and the like, dialed up to to a 40k-style 11 where necessary. I haven't seen anything to change my mind about that yet.
@Yronimos Whateley
The ALICE pack isn't a bad piece of kit for Apocalypse Survivors. It's not sexy, but it's rugged and gets it done. You can also ditch/stow the bag and use the frame to carry unwieldy stuff like Jerry Cans, ammo cans, parts of animals, etc.
EDIT: A real ALICE pack is suitable for the Apocalypse. Not a Chinese Communist knock off.
@Grumpy Gnome
Thanks Brother!
@Yronimos Whateley
Ah, that's why 40K is so popular. It's the best because it goes to 11.
Sneak peak for 18 FEB 22.
Perhaps a head wearing a coif on the right?
Ikko-Ikki?
Looks like the Headgear of a Japanese Buddistic Monks of the Sengoku Period.
@Brian Van De Walker
The ribbon looks asiatic. What brings you on the idea it's "Dark Age European". I also don't know any earls 20th Century Uniforms with such a large ribbon.
This week's definitely seems unfinished. I think there is detail missing that would make it more obvious.
Looks like we've got Russians suitable for a few turn-of-the-century wars confirmed, plus these intriguing teasers:
A uniform with a kind of a cool sci-fi look to it, and South Park's Kenny, all grown up! ;)
Actually, I'm guessing we've got someone in some sort of protective NBC suit - looks like sci-fi and post-apocalyptic gamers might have some more cool stuff in the pipeline?
@Steffen Seitter
Went to look for Sengoku period monk headgear.... fell down the rabbit hole of the the Komuso Monks....
A (Russian?) dude with an ushenka-style hat and a magnificent mustache, and a...?
The Release Schedule says we have five secrets in a mystery status, one secret in file prep (roughly halfway through production), three existing range sets (presumably the same line) in file prep (again roughly halfway through production), two 0200 (licensed WWII) sets (including a completed set of the classic baddies, Germans, and a mystery set of their opponents in the final stages of production), in addition to the freshly-revealed Early 20th Century Japanese and Russians (who we're seeing a lot of hints for in the rendered images in this thread!) and WA's first Moderns Set (which I'm sure has also been teased a couple times by now!) which are nearly halfway through production.
The newsletter often contains other hints of what WA has in progress, including occassional hints of where WA's sculptors are going next (none this week, but in the past the hints have suggested the genres that are currently on the table), and the team's mood (this week, they are "gassy"!)
We've otherwise got the following sets which are waiting for an official announcement of release any time now, or which have already been announced or officially previewed already: Space Brits for Death Fields, Boxers, Afghan Cavalry, a few Imperial Conquest India Rebellion sets (a couple British sets and an Indian Sepoy set or two), Cannon Fodder 2 (WA's first female set), Iron Core Valkir (only about halfway through production), a couple Dark Ages sets (Goths, Goth Army Builders, Late Roman Legionaries, Late Roman Army Builders, Franks), a couple WWI sets (French and German machine gun teams, British), Fantasy Trolls and Death Fields(?) Landsknecht Ogres, a couple Napoleonic sets (a "Three-Up" Napoleonic set, Russians, Spanish), a Farm Animals set, some Conquistador cavalry, and a few ancients sets (Chinese and Egyptians).
You might beable to use this list to read between the lines to figure out what the three unnamed sets for an existing range might be for: that list covers a few Death Fields, Imperial Conquests, Blood Oaths, Decline and Fall, Blood Oaths, Napoleon's Wars, and Great War sets, and only one Renaissance set. There would be only one or two World Ablaze sets if you count the 0200 sets, and only one Iron Core set (though it seems the production of the licensed Iron Core line have been planned to be limited, so I'm guessing we won't see many Iron Core sets announced.) That suggests possibly WWII or Renaissance, but doesn't rule out any particular range - where do you think the "3 Sets for Existing Range" fit in?
Among the more mysterious entries on the production schedule are the long-running references to an "Old Guard Army Builder" set that has gotten little (if any) official fanfare yet (I can't even tell what era this is meant to be for, it seems to be one of WA's first American subjects, with the name referring to one of the US's oldest army units, which might cover anything from the 18th century, to moderns, even up to Death Fields! Most of the Army Builder sets so far have been for either ancient/Dark Ages figures, or Napoleonics...), and an "Alternate Scale Test" (which might be any subject, presumably something that WA has already been done before, and probably not something in a radically different scale - perhaps a difference between 28mm and 1/56th scale or Heroic proportions, or possibly one of WA's first experiments with one of the popular smaller gaming scales, like 15mm, 1/72, etc....)
Wargames Atlantic are keeping pretty busy!
@Yronimos Whateley
Great breakdown and analysis of upcoming releases.
I assumed the Old Guard was the French Old Guard.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Guard_(France)
I love Merica, but I'm not sure what the point of an American Old Guard set would be .
You're almost certainly right about the French Old Guard - I can't quite make heads or tails of how an American Old Guard might work, but - being unfamiliar with both the American and French Old Guard alike - I had some vague impression of something Napoleonic in the back of my head that I couldn't quite place, but the American Old Guard was the only result that kept appearing in any superficial web searches I tried running to refresh my memory, so I assumed I was imagining things with that Napoleonic impression!
A French Napoleonic set fits in MUCH better with WA's product catalogue, and would be far less mysterious :D Otherwise, I could only guess an American Old Guard to be some sort of extremely niche first step into an AWI set, which seemed weird and eccentric even by WA's standards!
Any idea what the odd object to the right of that latest sneak-peek might be? Looks like a pack of some sort to me, maybe a mess kit or gas mask bag, but I have to admit it doesn't look familiar to me at all!
@Yronimos Whateley
Per your last question:
I'm not sure, but it appears to be ribbed for someone's pleasure.
Or it's Shai-hulud.
Or it's a cosmonaut's cuff.
4 MAR 22:
Could be a De Lisle Carbine. I would guess for Commando types in 02 Hundred Hours.
https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/58250/02-hundred-hours
If that is a De Lisle Carbine it looks like the barrel is too low on relation to the shroud.
You have to be wary because there were/are numeorus post war clones built. But it looks like "authentic" war time De Lisles muzzles where either centered or at the top of the shroud.
The front sight post looks undersized as well.
Unless we are actually looking at a large silenced pistol. In which case I'll be quite now.
Well it looks like the answer to the great leg ribbon debate of 2022 might have been in front of our eyes the whole time:
https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/new-range-warring-states
Enhance, Enhance, Enhance.
Sneak Peak - 11 MAR 22
Ho*y Cr*p. Is that some sort of 20th Century plastic cavalry? Is it finally happening?
Is the rider holding a lance?
@JTam I'll go with Cossacks.
@Christopher Tyrer
I'm not sure Cossacks were big on the bedroll at the front of the saddle.
A lot of other cavalry did have the forward bedroll:
https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/58080/which-ww2-cavalry
But the lance narrows it down a bit.
Polish Lancers? (That would be AWESOME!)
Maybe. But who knows, it could be Bulldog Space Brit cavalry for all I know.
First off - great catch on the Warring States Chinese being the set behind the Great Ribbon Mystery - hats off to everyone who called that one early! I thought that the Chinese had been ruled out, always fun to see the pieces come together in the end! :)
Second, I'm never an expert, especially on cavalry, and I suppose things don't change very much between different armies from the Victorian era to the early 20th Century, but every little detail I've compared in that preview render of the saddle looks like a great match to that (Polish?) cavalry illustration - I think that's right on target, too!
I'm sure the little hatchets like the one in the renders to the left of the saddle span a great deal of history and geography, but to me, combined with the sleeve on the arm (maybe buckskin?) and shoes above it (moccasins?), it suggests a Wild West style tomahawk, for maybe a Native American tribe, or some frontiersmen? Might be wishful thinking, but some Wild West sets would be awesome :)
@Yronimos Whateley
I think you might be onto something there!
@JTam I think that you maybe closer to the ball park than me.
Just did a little research via Google 8 we can rule out German uhlans too.
Found this about Cossack horse furniture:
The sneak peak horse furniture has the bedroll up front and what appears to be a saddle bag to the aft. I don't this was an uncommon configuration. And like Yronimos Whateley said, it probably was a configuration that could be found for a 100 years. But it does seem like a good match for WW2 Polish cavalry.
Yes, it is looking very likely to be WW2 Polish Cavalry.
If I was going to buy WW2 Cavalry, I would prefer them to be dismounted rather than mounted but with my WW1 Eastern front head on, I would love some German, Austro-Hungarian & of course, Russian mounted cavalry!
Sneak peak from 18 MAR 22:
The right thing looks like it might be more of the wolf / warg? posted earlier:
The thing on the left is very interesting. Sci Fi or Fantasy monster cavalry of some sort?
Surely a dinosaur of some kind?
The ear looks different, and appears to be lower on the head. It looks like a werewolf from an 80's movie. Or like a White Lion of Chrace, with the pointed humanoid ears.
the one on the left is a mount of some kind.
The mount vaguely reminds me of the things Nazguls ride.
My first reaction for the one on the right was also "Oh, more of the warg!" But yes: the ear does look different, as does the... fur? Scales? Flames? The further away from the ear you go, the less similar the texture looks. And we don't see much of the pose, but it seems a bit odd as well - it's not quite shaped like a wolf. The ear for sure looks more elven or goblin than canine. Interesting! I wonder if the warg's design has been elaborated into something a little more outre and fantastic? Maybe there are multiple options for the warg's face? And we can't rule out two different creatures....
The picture on the left might have been an armored horse, but the more I look at it, the more alien it looks, too - the shoulder joint(?) in the lower-right corner is very odd, the neck is strange, and the jawline on the left is quite un-horselike. I'm guessing we've got our first sci-fi cavalry mount? Or perhaps the second fantasy cavalry mount, following the goblin spiders.
Interestingly, the texture is rather smooth on what seems to be its skin... no scales, for example, that would suggest a reptile of some sort, no feathers, no obvious fur or hair... seems like if the skin isn't smooth, then its a fine texture like a horse's coat of hair/fur, perhaps, or like a komodo dragon's skin from a distance (though on a closer look, there's certainly a distinctive texture on a komodo dragon!)
Those Nazgul beasts are always awesome - they would make great mounts for cavalry of some sort!
I can't tell if the thing on the left is winged, but I think we're definitely looking at something alien from modern earth in both pictures: sci-fi and fantasy cavalry, and maybe of a sort that nobody else is doing!
Pretty exciting stuff :)
"...Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good time in Dallas with all that stuff!"
- Maj. T.J. "King" Kong, Doctor Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb
Looks like more stuff for at least one moderns set, matching the description from the Release Schedule for a "First Moderns Set", currently in Final Parts Check? The weapons involved don't look like they're for any sort of unified national army - presumably this would be a more generic modern army set, or more likely special forces, mercenaries, or "freedom fighters", militia or other paramilitary. The weapons seem peculiarly modern or even futuristic, compared to the A.L.I.C.E. pack from a few sneak peaks back, which I believe hasn't been current issue for a few decades... that doesn't necessarily make it from a different set (though I have to assume it is), but if it is part of the same set as these modern weapons, the broad range of nationalities represented by the weapons combined with the broad span of time reprsented by the combination of weapons with the pack seems to make for a weirdly broad set, which is not necessarily a bad thing (I'd be interested in it), though it would certainly make for a strange and non-specific set!
"Mood: Terrible. Threes, that is!" - Wargames Atlantic, on their third birthday. Happy birthday, Wargames Atlantic! :)
Looks like:
PKM
Maybe Dragunov. M14 in chassis
M249 SAW (Older configuration). M4.
Possible HK pistol. (45?) AK47
Tavor
Interesting that they went with the original gangster type 1 or 2 AK47.
@JTam The armoured steed on the left could easily just be a horse for a 15th-16th Century set like the Conquistador Cavalry.
The furry neck with ear still looks like a Wolf, or it could be a bat with the greater definition of the inner ear. If it is a wolf, I hope it's not a Giant Wolf/Wargs set to mount the WGA Goblins on, because that is a tired old trope that has already been done to death by Games Workshop and more recently Oathmark. Werewolves would be an obvious and more interesting alternative, though it would be good if the heads for them would be interchangeable with different human bodies to make Werewolves from different periods, such as Dark Ages Werewolves for use in Darklands-themed gaming.
@Caratacus
I'm not a "biologist" but if that's a "horse" it is a post nuclear apocalypse one.
@Yronimos Whateley@JTam
Yes it clearly demonstrates that it is NOT warring states at all since the only thing the warring states feet have in common with the mystery previewed mini foot is that they both have ribbons and they are completely different styles of ribbon knots at that in a diffrent spot. They look nothing alike, are you just teaming up to annoy me.🤣
The mystery preview foot is pretty clearly in a puttee warp form the earlier half of 20th century, (which threw me off into dark ages europe at first since the Franks and Vikings wore similar puttee bindings). Frankly I think it was either for something we already know about in the pipline from that time (maybe WW1 British), something else WW1 (likely some faction with a wide array of puttees like the serbs), 1920-30's Warlord Chinese, or even something in 0200 or WW2 related since they where still in wide use.
Likewise I would wager the hatchet is for 0200 since the other thing in that picture is a pair shoes attached to same molded on base as the minis previewed for 0200 had that we have seen for it thus far. Plus I can't think of any fur trappers or Amerindian tribe's that added an under head weight to thier tomahawks to earn sprue spot in such a set, could see a US commando character using a custom one though.
That armored beasty thing does look like it might be a dragon's neck of some sort and what’s more I think it might match with the earlier previews of some sort of spiked backed beast. Yeah it is not a horse. mount for the lizardmen?
Maybe the guns its 3rd world troops, though it could be a generic assault team set that could be used for modern and cyberpunk, and while some of them look sci-fi, I agree with JTam pretty sure those are all currentl makes. Of course this could also be a 1/35 separate weapons pack for the “scale test set”, I kid but it would be hilarious.🤣
@Caratacus Yeah the one thing could be a giant bat monster, the ear looks right for it.
A post-apocalyptic mutant horse and giant bat-thing sound awesome to me :D
I'm pretty sure it's not a horse - at least, not any sort of horse from this earth. I thought at first that it might have been a new render of the proposed generic modular fantasy/historical armored horses that WGA polled us over several months ago, but the shoulder, neck, and jaw look completely un-horselike and alien. I don't think it's based on any earthly mammal or reptile. I'm guessing it's a sci-fi or fantasy beast of some sort - the Nazghul-thing is as good a guess as any, I think.
I think we're more likely to see those Warg-riding goblins than we are werewolves: WGA polled us on what fantasy Wargs should look like, and it's a safe bet that at least one of the pictures we're seeing are exactly that. I don't think both are from the same creature, though - either WGA is making modular wargs with different styles of heads, or those are two different sets. I dont think we're seeing a werewolf, since it definitely doesn't look like a wolf's ear... I wonder if one is a Warg, the other a Gnoll? Dire-bat cavalry sounds cool, but then I try to work out how a box of such cavalry might work in a tabletop game, from sprue to table to wargame, and it gets a bit hard for me to see how it would work. Unannounced/unteased gnolls, I can see working. Modular wargs with different heads, I can see working, depending on how much room for extra heads is on the sprue. A dramatic resculpt of the warg between previews, I can also see. And, werewolves don't seem impossible, even if that ear doesn't look very wolf-like (I suppose it does look sort of goblin-like, though! Maybe the newer picture is a warg, and the older one a more generic fantasy wolf, or even werewolf, presumably for a different set?)
I rather like that they went with an old-school AK-47 in that set, even if a newer AKM or something might have fit the rest of what we're seeing in that render a little better.
Regarding that leg wrap - yeah, OK - it's not as good a match for the warring states as I remember. But, I don't think we ever found a convincing match from an early 21st century army, either - and I tried comparing it to a lot of armies, both obvious and exotic. Seem like WWI and WWII American, British, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Belgian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Greek, Serbian/etc., Filipino, ANZAC, and several other options looked (to my eye) no closer than the Warring States Chinese do.
Of course, my eyes/memory keep fooling me on this, and also when I was looking really closely, I didn't thoroughly rule out an 18th century or interwar or other possibility that skirts just outside the apparent WWI scope, but unless someone can produce a better match for a historical uniform or a more revealing render that reveals a seemingly obvious explanation (perhaps something exaggerated by heroic sculpting?), I'm beginning to wonder if maybe we're looking at another ahistorical set - maybe a Death Fields or even Classic Fantasy faction of some sort?
@Yronimos Whateley
Well, all the WW1-WW2 options you mentioned looked much closer to my eye than Warring States China. As it stands the only per 20th century Asian culture it might conceivably be for given the wrapped style puttee is the Tang Dynasty maybe, and frankly that seems highly unlikely given the shoe lacing and the fact that the Tang Dynasty’s military history is an extremely obscure topic at this point in western circles (the big events I know about involved the Abbasid Empire, internal issues, and its intervention in late 3 kingdoms period Korea). Though I suppose Blood Oaths era Chinese might have an appeal for those wanting to play against Steppe nomads and Arabs with something other Europeans.
Suppose it could be classic fantasy or Death Fields.
@Yronimos Whateley Gods I really hope they don't make either Wolf Riders for their Goblins or Gnolls - the former has been done technically three times by GW (the old Goblin Wolf Riders set for Warhammer Fantasy and two separate sets of Warg Riders for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, both for the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game) and once by North Star for Oathmark, and North Star have also a perfectly fine set of plastic Gnolls for Frostgrave. It'd be a real waste of Wargames Atlantic's talent to see them make their own sets for concepts that have already been made by other companies in plastic many times over.
That's also why I'm not impressed at the rumours of the Halfling Cavalry being in production, Mantic have already released those ridiculous-looking English Setter-riders for their range, I'd rather not see WA jump on the Halfling bandwagon as well in an effort to compete with them. Their talent is better off being applied to concepts that are different and new, at least in plastic anyway. That way they can exploit niches that other manufacturers haven't thought of.
Also Gnolls are Hyena-men, those heads don't look like Hyenas. Those pics are definitely previewing something wolfy. I pray to the Gods that it's human-size werewolves, for something different and not previously seen in plastic.
@Caratacus - I think Wargames Atlantic was the company who started the halfling bandwagon: I'm pretty sure WGA's halfling set was released long before Mantic's. The previews I've seen of WGA's halfling cavalry were on ponies, which I really REALLY prefer to dogs. Overdone or not, the goblin warg-riders at least had some history with Tolkien's novel The Hobbit - the hobbit dog-rider thing in contrast just seems to be miniature manufacturers copying each other.
The Wargames Atlantic Warg poll where you can give your preferences on the subject: "Giant Wolves/Wargs?" (For my tastes, I'd prefer the demonic "black dogs" of English folklore, possessed by goblin spirits rather than literally ridden by goblins, but my tastes are a bit eccentric!)
Halfling Cavalry teaser pictures, courtesy of @John Eveson in the "Upcoming sets you really want..." thread, and the photos apparently originally appeared in 'Miniature Wargames' Jan 2021 (issue 453), where they were teased last year but don't seem to have been referred to since:
I'm going to guess that these Halfling cavalry are either one of the "Secret" sets yet to be revealed, or (more than likely) they've been put on hold for Wargames Atlantic to work out how their modular horses will work, or maybe both.
This week's sneak-peek from behind the curtain:
That certainly looks like some modern bitz to me, almost certainly to go with the rifles previewed earlier - interestingly, the boonie hats wouldn't look out of place with that A.L.I.C.E. pack render even further back for e.g. Vietnam, but the helmeted heads look quite a bit more modern (and I can't tell if they are Military, or SWAT, or what.) The caps might look right at home on SWAT, too, or on civilians. Between these heads, the pack, and the modern weapons, it seems like an eccentric collection of modern bits ranging from the late 20th Century to today, and maybe the near-future, without, as near as I can tell, pointing to any specific army. If those three renders were for the same set, it's an interesting one to me, and surely one that will lend itself well to a lot of modern and sci-fi projects!
@Brian Van De Walker - Don't get me wrong - you're right about it not being Warring States: my memory was playing tricks on me when I compared some preview renders of the Warring States to the rendered puttees/leg-wraps. And you're probably right about them being from the early 20th century - I'm going to go on a limb and say they're for Japanese officers for the upcoming Japanese set, though they could just as easily be for pretty much any other 20th century set: I haven't seen anything that looks like a satisfying match for that render. It's that combination of the bow under the knee, the cuff at the ankle, the heavy shoe laces, and the wide wraps: I haven't seen all four in the same place yet, and maybe that's due to some liberties having to be taken for "heroic scale" sculpting.
THAT said, I looked around a bit yesterday after I started wondering if maybe they're for a Death Fields set, which got me wondering if maybe they're for the (as yet unpreviewed, I think) Landsknecht Ogres, and it seems that sort of leg-wrap and shoe/boot combination is older than I thought - I've been seeing all sorts of "medieval" and Renaissance Fair costumes and illustrations that look pretty darned close to that render, too. Nothing that I'd call an exact match, either, but some of the examples I saw looked surprisingly modern (which might well be a result of the Renaissance Fair costume anachronism-stew!)
You're probably right about an early 20th century set, and as near as I can tell my Japanese officer guess is as likely as anything from that era that WGA hasn't already released, but I'm going to have to admit I called that one too early and it's still too early to call it "definitely" anything - it's still open season for guesses ranging from medieval Europe to just about anywhere in the world in the mid-20th century, with room for something more exotic (such as Death Fields!) I don't THINK it's the Landsknecht Ogres, either, but even that would be a closer guess than Warring States, I'm afraid.
Now, Blood Oaths Chinese sounds like a really interesting set, and one I wouldn't have thought of! I have a feeling nothing like that is even on Wargames Atlantic's radar at the moment, but I for one would be begging WGA to "take my money, please", just for the fantasy gaming possibilities alone (it's a nice relief from the "generic medieval European" fantasy cliche, and a subject that surely hasn't been covered in 28mm plastic before!)
@Yronimos Whateley
Boonies (top row) remain popular with military forces today. The sunglasses/eye protection being worn make the heads a better fit for the modern era than Vietnam. If it was Vietnam they would probably be wearing aviators, but generally it was considered a bad idea to wear sunglasses on patrol as it made it harder to see trip wires.
The middle row is "high cut" modern helmets. Centered on the front of the helmet is the mount for their night vision devices. The things on the side are picatinny rails theoritically for adding white lights, red lights, etc., but mostly to look cool. They seem to be wearing noise cancelling ear protection / comms as well. This style of helmet is getting near universal at this point. Americans, Russians, Poles, you name it, troops can be found with them. SWAT as well.
The last row is ball caps. Beloved by "operators," military contractors, mall ninjas, and Joe's that can't stay in uniform alike. Stick your favorite go faster morale patch on the front velcro to express yourself.
I don't know, looks like Fishing hats, Beer Helmets (the beer bits aren't glued on yet) and truckee hats to me. My guess is that we're going to get a redneck Death Fields army.
@Red Bee
LOL. Battlefield success guaranteed by their "Git ere done" mind set.
Considering the previous sneak peek showed us a broad collection of guns. My bet is on private military contractors. Such a kit will likely have some big potential, rather than sticking with a specific nation. So a good way to test the waters. Looking forward to this one anyways, been interested in Zona Alfa or a modern Crossfire game.
