Redbox

http://theredbox.com.ua/catalog.htm

Redbox are making a new set of Boxer figures for the Boxer Rebellion. They have a line on the box that thanks Arlin Tawzer. Most of you never heard of him, but he is a GIANT in the hobby. He has a huge collection and is very influential in the Army Men business.

I will love getting these new Redbox figures. They will serve alongside the Orion Boxers and a few other Chinese figures that I have already. The Boxers will serve not only as Boxers against my American Army but will also serve as Chinese irregulars alongside my Caesar Chinese WWII Army against my various Japanese figures.

The other news is that Redbox are making Gangster figures. These are perfect for playing Cops & Robbers wargames. I have always wanted Gangsters. They will also work for various armed conflicts. Most people don't realize that in the 1920's and 1930's there were several armed conflicts that could have flared almost to the level of civil war. Miners, unions, racial groups, Communists, big business all fielded large numbers of men to fight each other. These guys will be perfect for that.

M114

Another one of my US Army Cold War supply units. The Gamma Goat served in the US Army for about 20 years, from about 1969 to about 1989. It was a very loud vehicle, but it could go almost anywhere; it could even swim, a little.

My makeshift halftrack in the Gamma Goat box.

Gamma Goats had a cargo and a shelter version. The shelter was usually some kind of communications gear.

The little tan vehicles are the M114. It is like a mini-M113. They were used for reconnaissance in the Cold War. The concept was that they would replace the Jeep. A small unarmed vehicle was not suited for Atomic Warfare.

Most M114 carried either a .50 caliber machine gun or a 20mm cannon. The vehicle had some mechanical problems and did not serve long. From what I have heard, when they were running, they were well liked.

Surplus Bits

This is a mystery halftrack.

Years ago I purchased a collection of used Roco and this was one of them. The guy was using it as part of his Afrika Korps. One look at that US Army truck cab and M41 type tracks and running gear told me that was not going to happen in MY army.

This is one of those strange little vehicles that you sometimes get when you buy a used collection. It is a conglomeration of at least two different vehicles. I don't know who make the tank tracks, they are not Roco.

This reminds me of the sort of vehicle the rear echelon types put together after some major combat when they have plenty of parts, lots of time and not much to do with either. So they make something out of the junk.

This is not a bad little vehicle. I have done similar things myself with surplus bits.

Bulldozer

Another toy store find. This little bulldozer was in the set with the previous two and a half ton truck.

Another drug store find. When shopping for anything, keep a hobby eye out for potential hobby stuff.

The US Army has probably used just about every type of bulldozer ever made. They buy them under American contracts and even buy them locally in other nations.

Engineer equipment like this can be used to equip your engineer forces . Any small Hot Wheels or Matchbox bulldozer can work, and they only cost a buck.

Trucks

I got this duece and a half at the drug store. It came with a bunch of other items, Jeep, bulldozer, and troops.

It has a nice camoflague job, but the wheels need painting.

It was really cheap. This is a good example of the kinds of items to look for when out shopping at dollar stores, drug stores, toy stores.

Here is the cheapo truck with a Roco two and a half ton truck.

The two and a half ton truck was built by several companies. During the Viet Nam War commerical heavy trucks from Japan were used by the US Army and ARVN. I plan on using a couple of these trucks for that. I got this truck several years ago, and wish I had gotten more.

Roco Artillery

Self-propelled artillery takes a huge number of supply vehicles.

Artillery also needs communication vehicles and command vehicles.

A group of M577s fit together as the fire direction center.

Each M578 vehicle tows and M10 ammo trailer.

This is one of my modern US Army artillery battalions. Roco Minitanks make up all the vehicles in this collection.

VW Bug

Busch makes a military version of the VW Beetle. This is it! In HO 1/87th scale.

This little car is complete with panzer gray paint job and cross markings on the doors.

The VW was used by the German Army all during WWII. They were kept in production after the war and used by the Occupation Troops too.

Shown here with their Propaganda Car and a Roco Kubelwagen.

These are some nice little kits and I highly recommend them if you collect WWII German vehicles.

More Martians

Bag o' Martians! More Martians! Coming October 2010! There is also a rumor that they will release some other Martian item later this year, more if I find out more!


http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/

I got an email from Twilight Creations that says their Martians figures will be sold separately. The figures will be out in October of this year! That's great news. These Martians figures are great for War of the Worlds scenarios and for Mars Attacks! games and even for other space related games.

Science fiction wargames is a great way to re-use your historical collection. Get a few of your favorite science fiction vehicles, a few hundred of the Martians! and have them fight your Earthmen historical armies. The interesting thing is your Martians can be weak, strong, easy to kill, hard to kill and their Earthling opponents won't know until well into the game. It is the not knowing that is so hard on the mind of the Earth player.

Devise hit rules for your Martians, but don't show the Earth player what they are. Don't tell the Earth man what kind of armor the Martians have because the Martians are an unknown quantity. Players play a very different game when they don't have any idea how good the enemy is!

Fulda Gap Traffic Jam

My Cold War collection would not be complete without a few Russian hordes to oppose my American Army. Here the Petner Panzer T-72 sits next to a Tomy T-34/85 II, the post war version of the T-34.

Time magazine ran an article a few years after the first T-72 tanks were displayed in public. They showed a low silhouette version with a self loading, unmanned turret, called the FST, the Follow-on Soviet Tank. I built one based on their artists conception drawing.

The venerable Roco T-44 sits here in the corner, and the bright green tanks are the Armourtec T-62 tank. The Russians never threw anything away and often older tanks were kept in service as Category Three units, police or just kept in storage. Sometimes they were pulled out of storage and placed along the border as bunkers, dug into the ground to provide a line of defense. Other times the turrets were removed and they served as towing vehicles for damaged tanks.

A few support vehicles round out this unit. Supply trucks, artillery towing tractors, fuel tankers, are all part of the needs of a modern army.

A pretty impressive line up of Soviet equipment. It's too bad that Petner Panzers and Armourtec never really got off the ground. Their products were not perfect, but were great first efforts. Fidelis Models probably has some of these gems in stock. When Armourtec when out of business the models passed on to Petner. He spend some significant amount of money to improve the kit, and there are a few of the new ones in my collection too, but that's another box.

Cars and Trucks

Part of my collection includes cars to populate modern cities. They are from just about every little car company out there that made HO scale vehicles.

Fleeing refugees, fifth columns of saboteurs, or even irregular forces can all use civilian cars and trucks.

We have even played games of cops and robbers and they naturally need transportation.

Praline, Busch, Tomy, Roco, Wiking, Eko and many other companies made them. Model railroad shops are the best places for finding car collections, but toy shops and even Walmart have them sometimes.

I even have a small selection of Presidential limousines and a Rolls Royce.

M48 Tank

This is an HO scale die cast M48 tank. I got it at a toy store years ago, but they still appear now and again.

It is a later production version than the Roco Minitank. Roco makes one with the original engine, but later they were given the same engine as the M60 series tanks, and that made them have the raised engine deck as seen here.

Before the paint was stripped off, this was a pretty good vehicle but the paint was so heavy it obscured some of the details. The tracks were rubber and did not look good.

I replaced the tracks with Roco tracks from the spares box.

I will probably upgun some of these with the 105 mm gun found on late production M48 series tanks and perhaps a new cupola. Plenty of work to do.

Ykreol Germans

Prone Ykreol guys from the Winter German set. The undercuts are amazing!

This set has some really interesting poses, I plan on getting a bunch of these guys to supplement several of my Caesar sets.

Some Caesar Miniatures standing and kneeling figures with the Ykreol soldiers.

Size and equipment and even style wise these sets work well together.

A Caesar German Paratrooper with two Ykreol figures.

http://www.ykreol.com/miniboites.html

Caesar Winter Germans Ykreol

YKRIP14 - SOLDATS ALLEMANDS. RUSSIE - 1944 This is the new set from Ykreol.

http://www.ykreol.com/miniboites.html

These two are my favorites in the set. One guy with wire cutters and one with a land mine. He can be clearing the mines or laying the mine. Some of this set are wearing caps and some have the hood up over helmets.

These are World War Two Germans who are in winter dress, all are in prone poses. They are very similar to the Caesar Winter Germans set.

There are ten poses in the set. They include prone men with a variety of gear and weapons. Several will work for engineers too. On the end we see a man with an entrenching tool and the other end a man with an ammo box. The ammo box guy would work for a machine gun loader for a prone or even kneeling figure.

These three include a man with a rifle, one with a knife and one with a hand grenade. There are ten poses, all prone. They are flash free, and made of a nice soft plastic. The figures design is similar to the old Mir line of figures, but unlike Mir, these guys are plastic, not resin and very nicely detailed.

I like this set and I certainly intend to get some more of them. If you have the Caesar Winter Germans, then you really need some of these guys to round out the set.