1:32 Iraqi Insurgents and other modern "enemies" (1 Viewer)

[marksable]

Hey everyone. I'm new both to the forum and to collecting as well. Although this is my third post this morning.

I just started collecting Forces of Valor and Figarti modern toy soldiers. Part of the reason I hesitated for so long were that until I found Figarti, I'd only seen U.S and U.K. weapons and figures in 1:32 scale. While nice for display, there were never opposing forces for them. I assumed that had to do with the politically touchy issue of making, say, Al Qaeda toy soldiers.

I have two questions. One, does anyone know if Figarti plans on releasing more "opponents" for Modern U.S. Forces. They could be Iraqi or Afghan insurgents, Republican Guard units from the first gulf war...even modern Russian or Chinese equipment. I understand that, with many figures manufactured in China, they might not be thrilled at producing "enemy soldiers" for foreign consumption. But one would think that they'd make their own military toys for domestic consumption.

(I'm defining modern for the purposes of this question as anything post-Vietnam to today).

My second question - and this might be the wrong forum for it - but is there someplace else besides Figarti where I might find, for lack of a better word, "bad guys" to fight my modern Marine and Army Units in 1:32 scale. Again, the closest I've come is an Iraqi T-72 tank.

I did try searching old threads, but didn't come across anything - perhaps I didn't use the right search terms. But I can't be the only person who's thought of this.

Any insight into these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Wraith]

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum!
I'm glad there's another 'Modern' collector, there aren't too many of us, probably why there's the shortage of available figures.

It sounds like you've covered most of the bases in terms of manufacturers, but there are a couple more I can point you towards.

Fields of Conflict did a small range of modern Iraq war figures, including a set of 3 Iraqi troops. They are 1/32, matt finish, poses, detail and painting are only so so, but it will bulk out a small group of baddies. They were released in 2003, so you may have to search around for them, but they should be pretty cheap.

If you are prepared to take on unpainted plastic, there is a set of 4 1/32 Afghans which are pretty cool. They are a bit squat in proportions, but they look good enough.

I know Fubar (on the forum here) who is a dab hand at conversions, painting, dios, sculpting, casting....in fact I don't think there's anything he doesn't do....is looking at cutting up some of the old modern Airfix and Esci sets, to see if he can get some modern day enemy troops out of them. I'll be watching with interest.

There's not a huge amount else out there to my knowledge, unless you're happy converting other figures.

I'll get some photos of those 2 sets I was talking about, put on a bit later.

Cheers
Simon

 

[Wraith]

Just realised, I've totally missed your first question.

Rick from Figarti, or maybe Clive (Lurchio) might be able to give a clue, but they have said that the Iraq war line will be continuing with the occasional add on set, so I don't think it's completely finished, but I guess the sets will be only trickle released. I'm with you, I'd love to see some more insurgents.

Simon

 

[JPB]

Welcome to the forum

JPB

 

[PanzerIII]

Hi Mark

Welcome to the Forum.

Steve Weston Plastic Soldiers in UK, sells a set of 4 Afghan Fighters made in Russia £ 5.00 for the Set.

You could maybe also use the Original Britains Deetail Arabs, easily avalible on ebay.

Regards

 

[marksable]

Thanks everyone. I'm not ready to start painting figures just yet. Wraith - scouring the internet, I found one set of the 3 Field of Conflict toy soldiers on ebay Malyasia (although sold from the UK). I think it was 37 GBP, which I'm guessing is about double in American dollars (haven't been to the UK in a decade, when it was "only" about a 1.5:1 exchange rate. With the price that high, I just have to decide whether or not it's worth buying them or just doubling up on the Figarti insurgents. I just got my Figarti's today and haven't opened them.

Forces of Valor, if they're still around next year...I'd love if they made a set of an Iraqi unit. They make a line that seems geared more towards the younger set, who might actually play with them. I wonder who U.S. modern soldiers are supposed to fight. Each other?


I didn't realize that there were so few modern collectors until I went to the major US toy soldier sites and saw that the hobby was very WWII and Civil War dominated.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Welcome aboard! A few years ago K&C made some really cool modern bad uy sets, including a hull down (burried to the deck of the hull) Iraqi T-72 Tank, some Iraqi republican guards in fighting and dying positions, and Afghani/Al Quieda insurgents, including a set depicting the (as yet imaginary) capture of Osama Bin Laden. K&C also did U.S. and British modern forces, including a cool U.S. Army Ranger Hum Vee with a captured Afghani. These are hard to come by, and usually pretty expensive on e-bay, but if you can find them, they are great.

 

[chalklands]

Hi,
Actually the 'dug in' tank, a set of British, a set of Americans and Republican Guard Military Police are still available to buy on the K&C.com website. Look under 'Special Forces' in the product catalogue section.

Pete

 

[chalklands]

Whoops, just looked, no Americans. Sorry.

 

[marksable]

Welcome aboard! A few years ago K&C made some really cool modern bad uy sets, including a hull down (burried to the deck of the hull) Iraqi T-72 Tank, some Iraqi republican guards in fighting and dying positions, and Afghani/Al Quieda insurgents, including a set depicting the (as yet imaginary) capture of Osama Bin Laden. K&C also did U.S. and British modern forces, including a cool U.S. Army Ranger Hum Vee with a captured Afghani. These are hard to come by, and usually pretty expensive on e-bay, but if you can find them, they are great.

Thanks...I had seen the King and Country figures, but opted against them because my other figures are 1/32. I don't know how much of a difference I'd notice between 1:30 and 1:32...but didn't want to spend that much money to find out.

Also..the busted T-72...FOV made a bunch of dioramas that had a busted Iraqi tank in it, so the K&C Iraq forces didn't intrigue me as much.

On the other hand, I was very impressed by K&C's Afghanistan set. There was among other things, a cave complex with Osama Bin Laden. I might have bought that (or even still buy it), but inlike K&C's Iraqi Special Forces set the Afghan set seems impossible to find stateside. It's a shame...the cave complex alone looked cool enough to justify a purchase.

 

[Wraith]

Thanks...I had seen the King and Country figures, but opted against them because my other figures are 1/32. I don't know how much of a difference I'd notice between 1:30 and 1:32...but didn't want to spend that much money to find out.

Also..the busted T-72...FOV made a bunch of dioramas that had a busted Iraqi tank in it, so the K&C Iraq forces didn't intrigue me as much.

On the other hand, I was very impressed by K&C's Afghanistan set. There was among other things, a cave complex with Osama Bin Laden. I might have bought that (or even still buy it), but inlike K&C's Iraqi Special Forces set the Afghan set seems impossible to find stateside. It's a shame...the cave complex alone looked cool enough to justify a purchase.

Mark,

there's not too much difference between the Figarti and K&C figures.

The K&C figures are a little 'fuller', but for my mind could be used quite happily alongside each other.

Panzer has already posted the plastic Afghan figures I was talking about. The Fields of Conflict set is below:

As I said, only so-so poses and sculpting, and I'll be giving them a repaint soon.
Scale wise, here's one next to a Figarti Marine

A little smaller, but not drastically so.

There are also a couple sets (of 3) each for Brit Infantry and US Marines. Had to get the Brits, also due for a repaint, first 3 poses are not bad:

Second three poses, not so good,

Simon