Cold War Gamer Hobby News - Spring/Summer 2014

This post is a little late for Spring and a little early for the Summer, when I first looked at writing a Spring News post the news was definitely looking thin having delayed the post by a couple of months things have picked up a little.  To tell the truth it was not just about a lack of material, motivation came into play as well.  I tend to do less in the summer generally and spend the time reading and sitting in the sun rather than gaming and there has been a fair bit of sun this Summer. I will hopefully be getting back into the blog swing again as we move in to Autumn so with any luck you can look forward to one or two more posts this month.

Model Collect

Model collect have rapidly become one of my favourite suppliers having produced a good range of T-72 variants early in the year they have now started to roll out the T-64 series of vehicles which are significantly under represented in model form and have really limited the opportunity to represent elements of GSFG that would have come into contact with BAOR so great news.  In addition they have now created their own distribution capability in the UK reducing time to deliver. So good news all-round.

The releases include the T-64 Mod 1972, mod 1975 and mod 1981 both now available to order from their web site for £11 a shot.  These are currently shown under the T-64 section of the web site rather than the unassembled models.

The have also increased the scope of the T-72 range the T-72B with ERA is now released. A T-72BA mod 1990 with the second generation Kontact 5 ERA has been added to the T-72B1 with ERA on the pre order list.

In the pipeline are a T-64 BV (The one I am after) and a BMP3 which is a little late for the period but deployable if you want an early 90s Bear Resurgent Scenario.  Also in the pipeline are ranges for the T-80, T-62 and T-54, very exciting.  If your interested in how the kits build and the detail of the kit try these links.

Model collect on Henk of Holland

Mini AFV T-72B with ERA Completed

Mini AFV T-72B with ERA Build

Mini AFV T-72B with ERA Review

S&S

S&S Have slowed some what on the production of Cold War vehicles although they have added a couple of new models to the shop catalogue these include the British Warrior Recovery variant, the US M60A3, a remastered US M939a and a WW2 vintage Weasel which is very useful if you game French Indo China in 20mm.

Warrior Recovery

M60A3

Weasel 

M939a

The Warrior from the photos looks like one of their best kits yet and its good to see another Weasel on the Market.  Hopefully we'll see a bunch more releases from Shaun over the winter.

Ace

nothing new released by ace but news that they have a BTR-70 in the pipeline, which has popped up on the projects part of their web site.  Their models have been improving as well the re released BMP2 being a significant improvement on earlier kits, so lets hope this follows the trend.

Fabri

Fabri who manufacture pre built kits for a variety of armour magazines have popped out a couple of gems recently in the form of a 2S7 , now depending on how you collect and game these may not be that useful to you.  For me I like to represent off board artillery and I like to represent the array of assets that might be available to bring fire to bear on an objective and in the counter battery game.  So for me these Army and Front level assets are useful :)

Eaglemoss

Eagle Moss have produced a very useful BM 27 Uragan, I have bought two already and very nice they are, less useful but lovely to look at is their MAZ 535A, just not sure what to do with it.  Any suggestions put on the face book page :)

BM27 Uragan

MAZ 535 A

Siberia Models

A large range of Diecasts can now be sourced through Siberia models using Pay pal, I have not used them myself yet but the range of models stocked looks tempting and less hit and miss than trying to source through eBay.  I must admit the last time I thought of using them I didn't because PayPal was not supported so will be giving them a go in the near future.

Hobbyden

Brian at the Hobby den has recently released a BTR 70 and very nice it looks too.  I have on my to do list a BTR based unit and this now means that the BTR 60, 70 and 80 are all readily accessible for the project.

Elhiem

Matt at Elhiem figures has also continued his prolific rate of production although many of his more recent offers are more suited to Dragon Rising Bear Resurgent Scenarios he has included some very useful US in NBC suits primarily focused at Gulf War 1 but good for Cold War and is extending the Cold War British and Soviet Ranges.  Of Note are the Armed Police/RUC good for Winter of '79 and Northern Ireland.

Soviet ZPU Gun Crew

Skirmishing British Cold War

RUC/Police

US in MOPP Suits with Respirators

In addition to this lot Matt has also knocked out a fairly wide range of civilians covering Africa,  Afghanistan and Europe, aimed at a variety of gaming genres from Pulp to Zombie, most are suitable for a variety of Cold War conflicts from the Soviet Engagement in Afghanistan through the South African and Rhodesian Bush Wars to terrorist actions in Western Europe characteristic of the period.  A little too much to cover for this post so I will probably cover them in a separate review.

Eureka

Eureka Miniatures have produced some excellent figure ranges in 28mm, not a scale I normally cover but having purchased the Two Fat Lardies, Chain of Command rules, one I am becoming more interested in primarily for platoon level actions.  The figures released by Eureka include a very useful Bush War range and some excellent Cold War Russians.

RAR

Cold War Soviet

The painted figures are by Ash from the Lead Adventure Forum.  They have also released an Allouette 3 K Car so rapidly creating all you need to cover a Rhodesian Fire Force.

Allouette 3 K Car

Underfire

In 20mm Underfire miniatures have also been pumping out a range of Rhodesian Bush wars figures covering both Greys Scouts, the Rhodesian African Rifles and the Rhodesian Light Infantry.

Of interest Underfire are talking about the expansion of these ranges and the addition of a BAOR Cold War range, hopefully these will be slightly later than the existing ranges with PLCE, SA80 and Mk 4 Helmets, that would be exciting.

Facebook

Bizarrely I now have more followers on face book than I have on the Blog, but if you want to pick up on stuff as its found and or published across a range of Cold War and Modern Wargaming topics it continues to provide a useful and focused feed of information.

The Autumn Magazine

A lot of projects were stalled over the Spring and Summer period by the excellent weather, work and life in general.  The Autumn will I hope see me progress the Mechanised Wheeled elements of my British force and some minor vehicle additions to the existing collection that will let me deploy an armoured battle group for this years Modern Game which is currently scheduled for December.  Other than that I need to get on with a number of Soviet Artillery and Air components and complete my third Motor Rifle Battalion.  As ever I am hit by the war gamers dilemma, more projects than time.