2019 - 2020 Wish List for Modern, '47, WWII Micro Armor

[panzergator]

Deleted duplicate

[pmskaar]

To stay on topic here - Is there anyone else out there interested in Cold War infantry?

I have heard from Redleg so far. I know many of you like ultra-modern but how about infantry for the period 1960 - 1985/90?

Is there any interest in Korean War infantry such as North Korean, Chinese, American, British etc.?

Is there any interest in infantry for the Cold War era from other countries than what I listed in my earlier post?

Thanks!

Pete

[Cav Dog]

I've been requesting AIW infantry for the 67 & 73 wars as well as Korean War US heavy weapons, Koreans and Chinese. Would also like SADF and insurgents suitable for Angolan Civil War. So yeah I'm m with you. Brits, W Germans Soviets would be nice too.

[pmskaar]

Okay

So we have some votes for Cold War infantry types from Redleg and Cav Dog. Is there anyone else out there interested in infantry for this period?

Thanks!

Pete

[panzergator]

Don't use 'm, don't buy 'm, BUT the line needs figures for wargaming. Probably need Brits, Germans, French, Canadians, as well as U.S. and Russians - a lot of work to do. The era was significant enough to warrant the product line.

[pmskaar]

Thanks Panzergator! So right now we have 4 votes for more Cold War infantry types. There are definitely a lot of gaps to be filled here from Korea all the way to the end of the Cold War around 1990 or so.

Thanks!

Pete

[redleg]

When I think of the Cold War I tend to think about the 70s and 80s. I never really thought about the Korean War...would infantry for that war differ significantly from the WW2 infantry? I would be interested in Korean War infantry too.

[Nepty]

I would like to see more WW 2 Japanese.

1. 47mm Antitank gun

2. Type 96 150mm Howitzer with prime mover, Japanese Artillery Infantry

3. Kate Torpedo Bomber, Oscar fighter

4. Antiaircraft guns 20mm to 75mm

These items would surely make a balanced Japanese army.

[panzergator]

redleg, the Cold War started soon after the end of WWII. You must remember that the Russians wanted the Allies out of Berlin. Although tension over currency, stripping eastern Germany of industrial assets, economic issues began very soon, the blockade preventing traffic between the West and Berlin really overtly kicked it off- 1949-50, the Berlin Airlift.

There are some really interesting iterations of wargames possible in the 50s and 60s with different equipment and organization. Think the Pentomic division, M48 tanks with only a 70-mile operating range, M103s vs Stalin tanks, Davy Crocketts, etc. Suppose Elvis was involved... LOL. He served in 1-32 Armor in Friedberg around 1960. You have to do a little research. Divisional organization was a bit different then.

[pmskaar]

I consider the Cold War to have started in 45/46 although the Berlin Blockade of 1948 and the Berlin Airlift really kicked it off. I consider the end of the Cold War to be in 1990 right after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Based on what I hear on this and other forums, some seem to believe that the only interesting fights in a Cold War gone hot would have happened in 1985 and beyond. I think part of this is due to many just want to play with the later "cool' toys like the T-80 and M-1.

There were actually many possible potential flash points in time that might have precipitated a shooting war. Here are just a few possibilities.

1. 1945 - The Patton Fantasy Scenario where Patton gets his way and heads East. Maybe not real likely but interesting. What do you do with all those recently demobilized German soldiers anyway?

2. 1948. - Berlin Airlift.

3. 1950-53 Korean War escalates into larger conflict.

4. 1956 - Hungarian Uprising gets larger with some of the other Eastern European countries staging their own uprisings and then NATO involvement. Also in 1956 you had the Suez ** CENSORED ** thing going on about the same time.

5. 1960-62 - Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis. Both of these could have gotten much larger potentially.

6. 1968 - Czech Uprising.

7. 1973 - Things get larger due to the Yom Kippur War.

8. 1979 - I had heard when I was in the Army that some in the military thought this might be Russia's best chance. Then you had Iran and Afghanistan going on as well.

9. 1983 - Reforger 83. I have heard there was some miscommunication between NATO and Warsaw Pact that might have triggered a War.

10. 1985+ - Russia and the Warsaw Pact are increasingly desperate as things start to go bad. This is what I call the one last shot scenario.

As you can see, there were lots of potential trigger points that could have caused the Cold War to go hot. There is quite a potential of different equipment involved as well from WWII all the way to the earlier versions of todays tanks, APCs, IFVs and aircraft.

[panzergator]

I agree with all of those trigger points. I was in Germany in '56 with my dad. My mom helped process Hungarian refugees in Stuttgart. My dad was still on active duty during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was a duty officer at Fort Knox the night the 73 war began. I was in Germany again in 83, when the Russians believed Reforger might be a prep to attack.

I was merely pointing out that the Cold War began before the 70s-80s period you mentioned and could provide interesting challenges before that. Kennedy's visit to Germany would have been an interesting time for a Russian attack, as well as the U2 shhotdown.

[CG2]

You could add a full amphibious invasion of Cuba in 1962 to that list to keep the Marines happy.....

[BenfromBrooklyn]

Polish crisis of 1981- Solidarity, Lech Walesa, Martial Law, Soviet troop mobilization.

Things could have gone a lot worse- a general eastern Europe uprising, Soviet repression, NATO intervention.

It would make for interesting scenarios, with NATO on the strategic offense and Warsaw Pact units switching allegiances at opportune moments.

[pmskaar]

Ben, that is another possible trigger point that could have caused the Cold War to go hot. I was actually stationed in Germany from 1981 to 1985 as a armor captain in 3rd Armored Division so I was there when some of these things went down. Fortunately for me they did not escalate.

Back in the mid 1970s, as part of my subscription to Strategy and Tactics magazine from SPI, I received a copy of "Revolt in the East" which was a small magazine game that postulated a revolt or series of revolts within the Warsaw Pact countries and the Soviet efforts to squash them before they got too far. There was definitely a possibility of NATO intervention to assist the rebels. I played it a couple of times and thought it was okay.

[Begemot]

For what it's worth -

I too would very much like to see Soviet Motor Rifle troops with the knee boots and NO backpacks.

Whatever the Modern Soviet infantry are in GHQ's W68 packs, they aren't Motor Rifle infantry. You aren't getting into or out of a BMP with a backpack in any timely fashion. Motor Rifle infantry was the bulk of the Soviet infantry forces during the Cold War period, even up to the end. They were also present in this uniform in Afghanistan.

It is a curious thing to have a line of models depicting a period that doesn't include the most common types used in that period.