Review - Figures, Elhiem 20mm, Cold War British

Elhiem figures released their Cold War British Range last year. I think this is one of the more comprehensive figure ranges for Cold War British on the market. The figures are presented in 58 pattern webbing, with respirators cases and without large packs and Bergens. They carry SLR and GPMG and are warring well scrimed Combat Helmet Mark 4s.  They cover the British Infantry effectively from the 60's through to the 90s.  The introduction of the Mk 6 helmet, SA 80, LAW 80 and PLCE occured between 1987 - 1990.  This makes them ideal for NATO British Mechanised and Armoured Infantry but they will  also work for the Falklands and Northern Ireland.

The figures are reasonably chunky and can easily be mixed with the Britannia and Liberation ranges. Mine all arrived in fine shape being well cast with minimal flash so clean up is done in next to no time.  As usual Matts attention to detail on weapons, uniforms and equipment is excellent there is a degree of variety in the webbing and some really great figures as with all Matt's ranges the posing of the figures is always very life like.    As an added bonus Elhiem Figures service and turn around on orders is also first class.

As most of the figures I have finished have been diced up to man trenches Iain R from the Guild kindly gave me permission to use some of the pictures of figures from his collection to illustrate this post. His very talented interpretation of Matts lovely sculpts really illustrate what can be achieved with this range.  If you like Iains work he posts regularly on two blogs and he is well worth following for the quality of his work, his blogs are:

• Bobinantes Boreales which he pens with two other gamers from North of the border
• Watching Paint Dry

Having lived through this I really think that Matt has captured the look and feel for the period very well.  The Infantry platoon is well catered for with packs containing patrolling and skirmishing figures.  The patrolling figures provide a complete section within a single pack, whilst in the skirmishing set the rifle and gun groups are in separate packs.

The range includes Section and Platoon Weapons primarily from two packs one with a 3 man gun group with GPMG deployed in the light role and the other containing a Light Mortar, Carl Gustav, 66mm anti tank rocket and Blowpipe MANPAD. The inclusion of the light mortar and Blow Pipe with the 66mm and Carl Gustarv mean you will probably end up with a few spares.

The Platoon HQ pack contains a Medic with a day sack and SMG, a Signaller with a Clansman 351, an officer with a map and an SLR equipped figure with a CWS, which is one of my favourites.

An OP and special optics pack provides a Radio operator an Observation Officer and two SLR equipped soldiers with trilux sites useful for Northern Ireland. I think the Radio operator is also particularly well done a beautiful figure.

As well as a comprehensive representation of the Platoon and its support weapons Matt has also covered all the battalion support weapons with the exception of the Sniper Rifle.  The Support weapons all come with three man crews.

I really like what Matt has done with the Milan team in particular and have bought a large number for my army as I intend to represent a 24 or 6 Airmobile battalion at some stage.  The Milan is equipped with the MIRA thermal sight which I believe is post 1982, the weapon system is also available without MIRA in the NATO sets.

The other two figures are either involved in reloading or observing with Binoculars, no other weapons are carried so you can get away with using them post 1990, a head swap for a Mk 6 Helmet and some Green stuff around the webbing would be a fairly straight forward conversion.

The GPMG in the SF Set is a work of art as is the tripod although mine got somewhat butchered as I wanted to do it in the low mount for use from a trench.  The range is rounded out with an 81mm Mortar Team and the patrolling section in NBC kit.   As I said at the start a very comprehensive range,  one that provides just about everything you will need for a cold war British army and is very evocative of the period. 

Thanks to Iain for the use of his pictures and Matt for creating such a great range.

Related Posts of interest:

  

ORBAT 1980s British Battle Group, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Painting British Army DPM

Review - Figures 20mm, Elhiem Cold War Soviets in NBC

Elhiem Figures Cold War NATO Range

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Cold Wargammer Hobby News - Autumn 2013

Well if the Summer was hot on the release front the Autumn has been bubbling along nicely as well,  a large amount of Cold War goodness has flowed out from a lot of the usual subjects.  Its been a great 3 months for the blog as well, thanks for all the support, we went through 150,000 hits and cracked the 10,000 hits in a month ceiling, so without further adoo on with the show.

Figures

Elhiem

Matt has had a busy few months at Elhiem Figures with a number of excellent Ultra Modern and WW2 releases but the pack that got me going are these babies:

Cold War Soviet Weapons, these look like a great addition to Matts Soviet Cold War Range and really start to round it out providing a SA7/14 operator, RPG-26 and Dragunov sniper rifle, depending on the detail of the soviet organisation you are creating and the time fram of your orbat will depend on how many you need, suffice to say for the late 80s units you need a lot.  Not yet up on his web site but hopefully not too long to wait now.

Black Dog

Israeli Tank Crew, nice addition to the black dog range and useful for those of you interested in AIW not sure if these hit the time zone for cold war, as I am no a massive expert on what the well dressed israleli tank crew should be waring.

Models

S&S, 

Shaun at S&S continues to produce at a ridiculous rate when you think over the last few months he has brought out these and a fair number of additions to the WW2 Range as well as a new range of figures for modern Africa.

The BV 206 is great for NATO's Northern Flank with the Royal Marines or AMF(L) battalions, his 1.2 ton land rover is also useful in this context, although potentially a mite chilly for the Northern flank for the cabriolet version

The M42 looks like a really excellent model from the photos on Shauns site works for early cold war Germans and right through to the end of the period on the Southern flank with the Greeks and the Turks.

The HS30 is a very unusual wagon, useful for early cold war germans (in the days before M113 and Marder) Produced under licence by Hanomag and Henschel and known in german service as the Schutzenpanzer SPZ 12-3, command, artillery op TOW, Milan and Morter Carrier versions were developed.  Produced from 1958 -1962, started being replaced by Marder from 1970 although the Germans still had some 758 in service in 1973.  Only used by Germany

Shaun's last offer of the autumn period is this very tidy Gamma Goat, useful for US Airborne

on top of all that Shaun has finally got with the information age and set S&S up with a web shop superb

Hobbey Den

Brian at the Hobbey Den knocked out this very nifty and much needed BTR 40 which fills a bit of a gap in the market the only other one to my knowledge being by Liberation

He has also knocked up this rather handy trench

However the big news is that Mat 'O' War is back which is truly brilliant news, fantastic wargaming mat I have had two for over 5 years now and they are as good as the day they were bought. Seen in action below during the Waidhaus Gap game this summer.

ACE

As ever with ACE good news and bad the good news is a BMD 2, the bad is that the recently re released BMP2 seems to have cleared off the shelves already, which is a pity as having built a few now I can state they were a fantastic improvement on the last version.

Airfix

Airfix dropped the Harrier GR3, a really good model bit pricy, recently reviewed on the blog by yours truly.  With a picture blow just for good measure.  The review post is here

Italetri

They announced the Leopard 1 A4 release in the summer but have done that a few times and not delivered but its now in the stores, looks like I'll be able to finish the Canadians after all.

Vallejo

Vallejo seem to have been quite busy with a range of washes and textured paints, have yet to try any myself or come across anyone else who has.

Books

Tankograd

If your an NVA fan or interested in the BTR 50 and its derivatives this might be right up your street, probably a little focused for most of the wargaming community.

WWW.

Dimanoeverdatenbank

on the Web the return of the massively useful M136 web site I'll update the links on the blog at some stage, they also have a face book page, very handy. Now retitled Military Dateabase or more expressively Dimanoeverdatenbank, either way a superb photo reference of exercises in germany since the 70's

CWG on Facebook

and whilst I am on the Web you can still follow us on Facebook, insane ramblings along with products and links to stuff of interest to the Modern Wargaming community, 66 followers currently and keen to make a 100!

The Winter Magazine

Winter is I suppose one of my favourite times of the year, the long nights and Christmas holiday's make for a lot of Hobby time, which is always good news. I have a few interesting projects on the go which should ensure a reasonable degree of content for the winter magazine which should include.

• The final Instalments of the Waidhause Gap
• A new scenario Passing the Baton, which pitches 1 Br Corps against 1st German Front from GSFG.
• Orbat and TTP articles around Northags deployment, and NATO air Land Battle
• Completion of some long standing British Projects

and as its nearly December, have a good one - not sure what the Soviets did about Christmas

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Cold Wargamer Hobby News - Summer 2013

Well it's been a great summer for Cold War Gamers, with a lot of useful models and figures being released as ever the focus has been with the usual suspects in the modern gaming space, Elhiem, S&S and Hobby Den but with some notable releases from a range of plastic vehicle manufacturers as well.

Figures

Elhiem

Elhiem figures completed and released there British Cold War figures with SLR, and I must admit to having snapped up a quantity, I'll produce a more detailed review once I have painted them up. Matt has come up with a very comprehensive range which is just what is needed in this space.

In addition and newly sculpted this month but yet to be released are a set of 4 Soviet NCOs, which look like an attractive edition to the existing range of Cold War Soviets.

I also believe he has intentions to expand his Canadian Range which has got my mind back on the 4CMBG trail.

Models

S&S

S&S continue to produce at a frenetic rate in addition they have at last managed to put together a web shop where you can buy direct on line, though with these guys it never hurts to chat about what your after.

Recent Models mastered include for the US army an M6A3 and for a variety of armies the M88A1 recovery vehicle.

In addition the UK range continues to expand with a couple of 1 Tonne Land Rovers, and an FV 432 with a Fox Turret enabeling all those with an obsession for painting grey and blue squares on tanks to have a bash at the Berlin Brigade.

The momentous event is the peak turret which according to Shaun will fit either his FV432 or the Britania one.  If you get a variant with the mortar hatches closed I assume this will need some fileing and filling.  The same turret was used on Saxon so it has a variety of uses.

Hobby Den

A few I have missed from Hobby Den include this M47 Patton useful in the client state and minor nations categories.

This German M113G Beobachtungspanzer, or artillery Observation wagon.

Another rather attractive little runner was this British Recce Land Rover.

US M151 with TOW, very nice for 70's US, a variety of European Nations or indeed the Israelies.

and a very lovley M113

S Models

S Models, a recent arrival on the scene have pushed out a couple of interesting releases with a 2 pack quick build BMP 1 and a Sheridan. The BMP provides an excellent alternative to the ACE BMP 1 and I'll be taking a closer look at this kit, hopefully in the next few months. The Sheridan fills the gap vacated by the airfix kit and together with S&S's, Hobby Den's and Elhiem's US Cold War offerings is starting to make a 20mm early 80s late 70s US Cold War forces far more viable.

There BMP Came out in time for the Spring news but I was so over whelmed with releases from S&S that it didn't really get a look in, so a little late, but if you have missed it worth a look.  They come two to a box and Brian at the HobbeyDen is stocking them

ACE. The Big news this summer is the re - release of the ACE BMP 2 this time with Rubber tracks which could dramatically improve the build time and effort, but then again may just introduce some problems of their own, should allow me to finish my late Cold War Soviet BMP MRR.

The BMP 1 re release a month or so ago is similarly re tooled and has also moved to rubber tracks according to the ACE web site

Revell

Revell have just released a T 90, not to much Cold War there I hear you cry, but the base vehicle if it can be built without the ERA should provide a good T-72B, here's hoping they have created the kit in a way that allows that to be achieved. T-90 started being deployed around 1993 as the T-72 BU so could be part of those late Cold War bear resurgent scenarios. According to the post this will hit the streets in September.

Revelle T-90 Release

Italeri

Italeri are reporting that they are re releasing the Leopard 1 A4 which they reported they were going to do a couple of years ago.

Italeri Facebook Timeline

Black Dog

Black Dog, at the more expensive end of the spectrum black dog have released an M109A2 which at €34 is probably not for the Wargames table

Armorama report release of Black Dog M109A2

Decals

Bison

Bison Decals released a nice set of decals for 1/72 T60 and T55 for Czecheslovakia in 1968.

The Web

The Autumn Cold War Gamer "Magazine"

The Autumn Magazine, will be focusing on the AAR for the Storming The Waidause Gap, completing the Soviet Air Assault story and starting to look at some NATO force building.  The NATO posts should include 4CMBG and its units and sub units, as I get started on the building of my Canadian battle Group which has been a project in waiting for sometime, along with working up the Orbats for the next evolution of my UK forces.

Cold War Gamer on Face Book

As I mentioned in the last edition of Cold War Gammer I now have an active Facebook page which as a micro blog offers a bunch of news as it happens covering:

• new releases,
• upcoming posts, in this Blog and the Dragon Rising
• Links to my work in progress posts on the guild forum
• posts of note from blog sites covering the cold war and ultra modern period.

Together with links to a wide range of pages relevant to the contents of the two blogs. Take a look

Scale Mates

Also worth a look on the web if you have not already found it is the scale mates site. Which is a great modelling resource pulling together a variety of Internet feeds to provide fairly comprehensive information based on searches for the kits or vehicles your looking for including;

• Other a Kits
• After Market accessories
• Pricing and links to on line retailers

And a really great find the model shop tool, all up a great site.

 If you have any cold wargaming product news that you would like to share drop me a line at coldwargamer@gmail.com

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