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  4. Gurkhas a very "Birtish" Icon.

Gurkhas a very "Birtish" Icon.

  • GM

    For over 200 years a group of very special people have fought along side the army of  Britain and given this country a life time of service, "The Gurkhas". The first time was a very honorable fight against us, that resulted in a mutual admiration and respect. They first fought for the British crown in 1815, The Nusseree Batallion later became the 1st King George V`s own "Gurkha Rifles . Famous for their blade the Kukri, the "Gurkhas" were first modelled in 1/32nd scale, in 1976 by Airfix, and re-released again in 2018.

    To me after my dads regiment the "Coldstream Guards", the "Gurkhas are in my mind the most deserving of any soldiers to be chosen by Wargames Atlantic to be given the "New Ooh-Rah Treatment" and I think that they would be a fine addition to their figure ranges. So here we are, I`m putting them out to you on this forum would you like to see "Gurkhas made by "WA" what recon, do we deserve them, "Hell yes we do" . Cheers all Geoff.

  • GM

  • GM

  • GM

  • MD

    I think whether done as historical or Death Fields, Ghurkas are best done as an expansion sprue since they really just need heads and Kukri to distinguish them from British troops, as the above pictures show.

    They would be a good head option for the Mutiny range (as with Senegalese in the WW1 French kit), since they were one of the units that remained loyal.

  • GM

    @Mark Dewis Not to be taken as an insult, as these guys are larger than life, but i think they are smaller in stature on average, as in Rubicons Marine and Vietcong. So althought their are some very tall Gurkhas, if WW2 were picked to produce a set or even now it would benifite from a full set.

    Would a full set done as mixed time periods, give a real blend of value and style for these Iconic soldiers.

    Watching the Queens funeral the other day I was really suprised by the major height differances in the "Guards", and no longer are our armed forces "One height",  a facter that few Companys seem to realise.  Helmets and rifles are the same, the flesh and blood is much differant.

  • MD

    @Geoff Maybury I take the point, but relative height depends a lot on era. The average British soldier in the 19th C was about 5'5", only a couple of inches taller than an average Gurkha at 5'3". It's more dramatic in modern times as the Nepalese have only gone up about one inch in average height, while Britons have gone up about 5"-6".

    The Gurkha: World's Toughest Soldier

    Gurkha Recruitment & Selection Overview – Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute

    There are ways of varying model heights if you really want that, especially with plastics. A two inch height difference at 28mm scale is roughly a millimetre. You can add or remove that from the beltline, especially on models with seperate legs and torsos, without too much fuss. Mixing and matching parts from different manufacturers also helps. 

  • MD

    This is an interesting article, too:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31023270

    Recruitment minimum height of 5' 3" was increased to 5' 6" (average male height of the time) in September 1914 in an attempt to cope with the flood of volunteers. By November they were back to 5' 3", then dropped it to 5' 2" by July 1915 as the need for recruits grew. 

  • GM

    @Mark Dewis Great find,dam good article, love the officers biger cough, cough. and that Devils for fighting, sumed up nicely by todays infantry ,man saying no issues at 5` 3".  Loved it like your idea of the waist line add for height,still need the set first.

  • MD

    Yeah. I'd say your best hope from WGA is likely in the Mutiny range. There *might* be head-and-kukri options in WW1-2 sprues, though I suspect the Sikhs and Australians might get preference. 

    Actually, plastic 28mm slouch hats would not go astray. Useful for more than just Australians - Colonial Germans and South Africans wore them. 

  • PL

    I strongly support you, Dewis Jauna. Slouch hats and "lemon squeezer" (or trooper) hats would be welcome in the figurine world. There would be so many possibilities* !

    *ie. : Australians, "Kiwis", South African regulars and irregulars (Boers), Canadian MP, US Soldiers around WWI, State troopers, Rough Riders, German colonial troopers, Gurkhas...

    ...and even French soldiers in Indochina and Algeria. My father, NCO and radio operator in the Sahara (Colomb-Béchar, In Salah, Reggane), spent also three years (57-60) with a bush hat on his head !

  • MD

    I only noticed yesterday that Warlord do have some plastic Commonwealth head options on their 8th army and Commonwealth sprues. Sikhs, Hindus, Tams, slouch hats (though without the side pinned up... but that's rarely done in the field anyway - more of a parade option).

     

  • GM

    @Mark Dewis Mark do these scale nicely with ours could I get my Drowned Earth Malita from them they look great.?

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  • MD

    I don't have those sprues, but do have some Warlord GI's I could test on. AFAIK all the Bolt Action range mixes and matches pretty well.

    Perry also do Desert Rats if you're mostly after shorts and rolled up sleeves, though theirs have the head and torso as one piece, with separate hat options (like their ACW range). Their rifles are a little more robust looking and don't have bayonets fixed:

     

    If you look closely there are six "Long Range Desert Patrol" type heads on the sprue as well.

    Perry do sell variant head sprues in metal as well.

     

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    Brother, the Ghurkas are indeed a legendary unit, that has any real fighting man's respect.

    Hanging in BN Headquarters:

     

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    https://wargamesatlantic.com/pages/atlantic-digital

    (What is VSF?  Victorian Science Fiction?)

  • William Ings

    @JTam Victorian Science Fiction.

  • GM

    @JTam Haven`t a clue, and slightly miffed they are to be digital, with no prices still as yet for us none printers. Could not belive the Patron system (Tribes) was limited to 500, thats probably not even Us Brits,  yet alone you and the rest of the world.

  • GM

    @William Ings Thank you typed that quicker than my one finger aproach.

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    I think it's 500 "early birds." I doubt they'll limit the number of subscribers. 

    I'm just glad they plan to sell physical prints at some point.  

    And this does open the door to some stuff that just wasn't particularly practical in plastic... Like characters.  

    It is of course disappointing that some of the sneak peaks we were drooling over are just STLs for now.... But such is life.

  • BVD

    Well there is no guarantee that they won’t go to plastic eventually, also I blame the outrageous FB complainers wanting the Australian hat that didn’t really get used till well into the 20th century instead of the historically accurate and rather steam punky 19th century bellhop style hats for WA’s “let’s do them as an STL first and see how they do” decision.

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  • GM

    @JTam Feast your eyes on these little gems, Rubicon brought these machines so we can buy these type of items. They willnever sell STL`s.

  • GM

    Spares, plus command and support will be printed.

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  • GM

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  • GM

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  • GM

    The only limitation is lifestyle the money in your pocket, if you can offord them then you can buy them everyone is equal. The playing field is level and wargaming not a multitier project. Cheers "Brother"@JTam  

  • JTam

    Siocast is more or less "traditional" resin miniatures right?

    So Runicon prototypes with 3D printing and then manufactures resin miniatures?

  • MD

    @JTam No. It's a thermoplastic injection (though I think a different type than HIPS) using flexible molds:

    https://www.siocast.com/

    Reaper Bones is a similar idea, but I do not know if it's the same plastic.

    The price of producing metal moulds has fallen in any case, originally due to computer guided machining. It used to require a dude with a pantograph and a lot of patience to transfer the 3-up master to the steel block. Now the metal masters themselves can be printed out with little to no machining. Still not a cheap process, but I can see the various cheaper moulding ideas losing traction because of it.

  • William Ings

    @JTam Brent of Goobertown gives a rundown of Siocast in this video.

    https://youtu.be/RMLdgF2nMSc

    I've never worked with it myself, but it is gaining traction. I think I've read that WGA plans to remain solely a plastic company, but you never know. It could work for solo characters.

  • MD

    From the looks of it, I could see it displacing resin and *maybe* metal.

    But not to put too fine a point on it, metal is pretty easy to cast and just needs a master figure, silicone rubber and tin (which is very much the simplest of the materials to recyle into new figures).

    For bigger companies that have already invested in HIPS production it's probably not worth adding a second way of making plastic, using a different proprietry material. Seems a bit rubbery too. Too much flex could prove an issue with minis that are actually being used, too.

  • GM

    @JTam More like a plastic to feel not really bendy don`t know the techs of it ,However the results speak for themselves they have had 21/2 years+ to practice and get the retail right these are the new reatail machines. A lot of their wonderfull metals will now revert to this material. Eg,  

  • GM

  • JTam

    Thanks All.  I now have a Minors in Siocast.

  • MD

    @JTam a lot of us prefer Victorian Science Fiction (VSF) as a term instead of Steampunk. And for that matter, if the setting is more in line with Wells and Verne (such as Space:1889) and avoids the punky elements of Steampunk while holding onto the historical elements more, it's a more accurate term.

    But it must be admitted there is much crossover between VSF and Steampunk. What might be commonplace steam tech in a Steampunk setting might be a unique artifact in a more VSF one.

    In either case, expect dirgibles and pith helmets 😉

  • GM

    @Mark Dewis @JTam Did you both like our "The Nevers"  Eileen and myself found it refeshingly different  now waiting for the second series. 

  • ADC

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Robida

    This one was a precursor of VSF, some ideas could be borrowed from his works.

  • JTam

    @Geoff Maybury 

    Looked it (The Nevers) up.  Looks interesting, but I don't have HBO.

  • JTam

    @Alessio De Carolis 

    Quite the visionary.

    It looks like at least one his books was translated into English and is available now:

    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/electric-life-albert-robida/1115472174?ean=2940149000081#

     

    They all thought we would have flying cars by now.

    On the other hand, few predicted what we got.  Magic little hand held boxes that answer useless trivia questions and let us watch porn wherever we are.  Pros and cons I suppose.

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