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Multiple Warsaw Pact Nations Combi Kit

  • JTam

    @Grumpy Gnome started a great thread on "Cold Warriors" here.  

    https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/44387/suggested-new-range-cold-warriors

     

    BattleFront's Team Yankee "Red Dawn" Expansion is *Mugatu* "So Hot right now!"

     

    This amazing project for Cold War Bolt Action is floating around:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/boltaction/comments/zv4yav/bolt_action_cold_war_new_version_available/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

     

    Long story short....  Man some Cold War 28mm plastics would be awesome.

    It occured to me recently that there is a great deal of similarity between the uniforms and equipment of the various Warsaw Pact Nations.

    Seems to me a single kit could make two or three of the above. 

    One course of action would be a Polish/Hungarian kit and a second Romanian/Czechoslovakian kit.  

    Alternatively maybe a Polish/Hungarian kit and sell Romanian and Czechoslovakian upgrade sprues. 

    Alternatively maybe a Polish/Hungarian kit and sell Romanian and Czechoslovakian STLs.  

    Lots of ways to slice the pie but leverage the commonality in uniforms and helmets.  

     

  • JTam

    You would need at least one or two rogatywka heads for the Poles 

  • MD

    There's potential RPG sales here too. Twilight: 2000 is undergoing a small revival, plus anything set in the 80's (earlier than that it's different enough to need other kits).

  • John Wilson

    Also useful for Stalker/Metro/Zona Alfa style games, if it includes some gasmask head options.

     

  • JTam

    @Mark Dewis 

    Equipment and uniforms didn't change much from the '60s through '80s for either side really.  

  • JTam

    Side note these Under Fire Miniatures 28mm NVA are amazing.  This is how to do it right:

    I need to pick some of these up.  Buy now or cry later sometimes.

    I didn't add East Germans to the above combo kit matrix as the sleeve pockets and distinct helmets mean they probably need their own kit.  As the best fighting force in the Warsaw pact they deserve it anyway.  

  • MD

    @JTam on the NATO side the biggest visual difference was probably the introduction of the PASGT helmet and vest in the early 80's. 

    But yeah, on the Soviet side the gear is much the same throughout. At 28mm scale (and to honest at almost any miniatures scale) the AK-47, AKM and AK-74 are indistinguishable. The latter's polymer magazines and furniture are painting matters, not sculpting ones.

  • JTam

    A Cold War Soviet kit should have AKMs and AK-74s as they are fairly distinctive from each other if you know what you are looking for.  Large compensator and straighter, slab side magazines on the 74.  The wood furniture is slightly different as well... groove on the buttstock on the 74.  Triangle folders are AK-74S only.  Underfolders are AKMS only.  

    But the Warsaw Pact Nations pretty much stuck to 7.62x39 (AKM variants) the whole time.  The Polish and Romanians only came out with 5.45 weapons (Not licensed AK-74s, homegrown solutions in 5.45) really late in the game.  Pretty much just in time for the collapse.  

  • MD

    @JTam are you saying you can identify which rifle those Under Fire Miniatures minis are carrying just from the sculpts? Including calibre?

  • JTam

    @Mark Dewis 

    Sure.  

    The big give aways are the muzzle device and the magazines.  

    The MPi-KM (AKM equivalent/7.62x39) weapons have the tiny slant brakes and "ribbed" "banana" curved magazines.

    The MPi-K74 has a much larger and complex compensator and straighter, slab-sided magazines.

    Unlike some other countries both their 7.62x39 and 5.45 weapons use the same buttstocks.  This is also a good indicator with some of the other countries.  

    (Note the "banana" curve of the 7.62 magazines and the relatively straight 5.45 magazines).

    It's worth noting the Germans didn't start producing 5.45 weapons until 1985 so not too many got fielded before the collapse/reunification.

     

  • JTam

    Under Fire Miniatures did a good job modeling the differences:

    NVA Soldier with a 7.62x39 MPi-KM.

    Soviet Soldier with a 5.45 AKS-74.  

    Note the differences between magazines and muzzle devices.

    Note they even modeled the horizontal groove on the buttstock.  This was only on the 5.45 weapons.  

     

     

     

    Great attention to detail.

  • JTam

    Now is the is an AKM close enough to stand in for an AK74 for most people?  Probably. 

    It's annoying if you actually know the weapons though.

    But again, I don't think it's much of an issue.  The Warsaw Pact minis should have 7.62x39 weapons as that covers almost the entirety of the Cold War for them.  The Soviets should probably have both 5.45 and 7.62x29 weapons included.  If I HAD to choose I would put in the 5.45 as that's Team Yankee/Red Dawn time frame.

  • JTam

    @Grumpy Gnome

    Is this you?:

    https://underfireminiatures.co.uk/product-category/28mm-online-store/

    0 likes
  • GM

    @JTam Nice  very nice detailing.

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