Mounted Amazons

The 1/72nd scale Modern Amazons come on two sets, infantry and cavalry. 

The mounted figures come with fantastical animals that are very well done, a unicorn, velociraptor, large deer, lion, and tiger.  I gave them the unicorns, but I have repurposed the other animals.

I combed through the American Indian horses from Imex and Revell to give them new horses.

Big horses, and little horses.

I think these work better for Amazons.
 

Japanese Paratroopers

The Japanese had both Army and Navy Paratroopers in World War Two.  The ones above are Japanese Army Paratroopers.

These are Japanese Navy Paratropers.

The Japanese did use paratroopers in combat in the Pacific during World War Two.

Japanese Navy Paratroopers took part in the battles on the Dutch East Indies in 1942 with two operations one with over 800 men and the other one was just over 600 men.

The Army Paratroopers also participated in operations in the Dutch East Indies and later in December 1944 in the Philippines.  Like many paratroopers they suffered from high casualties and lack of numbers and transport.  They staying operational in the Philippines until the end of the war in small numbers.
 

Riflemen, Machine Gunners

M14 rifleman walking.  Note the smoke grenades on the back.

M14 rifleman running.

M14 rifleman shooting.  Good action poses in these sets.

Loader for the bazooka man.  Note the backpack rack for bazooka shells.

Machine gun ammo bearer.

M60 machine gun.  I like the nice variety of weapons that this set has, so you can field a well equipped platoon of troops without having to get metal figures to fill in spots.
 

Eagle Games Colonial

Eagle Games Colonial 1/72nd scale figures.

These are ACW, American Civil War figures with horses from I think, Strelets.

A couple friends gave me some surplus 1/72nd scale horses, mostly Napoleonic era, without riders, and I am using them to make units using Eagle Games riders.  Eagle Games figure sets don't include horses, you have to buy them separately.  They are excellent horses, but only one pose.

Troops with cork helmets are colonial era.  I use them as Americans, they are rather generic.

Eagle Games horses have come in gray, black, and brown, but the gray have not been available for a long time.

Eagle Games artillery are the same in the two ACW sets and the Colonial set.  Carriage and barrel are one piece and then two separate wheels.
 

US Army Infantry Vietnam

Orion has been doing a range of Vietnam War soldiers.  This is the most recent one I have obtained.  It is US Army Infantry, middle war.  This would place them at about 1965 to about 1970.  The M16 entered service in 1964 and made it to Vietnam in 1965.  In a couple years the M16 had replaced the M14 series as the standard service rifle for the US Army.

The first few shipments of the M16 rifles were shipped without cleaning rods, someone seemed to think it was self-cleaning and did not need a cleaning rod.  As a result, the rifles would jam and it could be difficult to remove an expended casing.  The ammunition that was issued was different from that used in testing and was more prone to creating carbon build up, resulting in jammed rifles.  Once this was sorted out the weapons served well for the next 50 years, but it started with a poor reputation.  I used them many times in the Army, never in combat, I served mostly in peacetime, and found it accurate and reliable.

US Army Infantry walked most short to intermediate distances and carried lots of gear with them.

These figures have very little flash, and are well animated.  They have a nice selection of weapons for the average squad.  You get three of each pose shown on this sprue and one each of the command sprue, not shown in this posting.
 

Horses In Brown and Black

Eagle Games made board games with 1/72nd scale plastic figures as the game pieces.

Eventually they discontinued the practice but in the meantime they released the various figures to buy separately. 

Their horses are very durable, stand up well and are one piece.  I never understood why Airfix needed two piece horses with a separate base.  Those were maddening for a kid to try and get to stay together and not much better for an old guy.

The only drawback to Eagle Games horses was they only had one pose of horse.

The horses have a saddle and European style tack and gear.

They fit Airfix riders very well and I have also cut off the saddles and used them as draft horses.  They came in brown, black, and gray with 48 identical horses of all the same color and pose in the box.  This figure is the "Arab" from one of the Eagle Games figure sets.
 

US Local Militia

French Guards Chasseurs by Strelets in 1/72nd scale for the Napoleonic Wars.

The set has a dozen horses and rides and three people on foot including two women.

A pretty interesting collection of troops, mostly just sitting around on their horses.

Blue plastic with no flash.  Well molded and nicely detailed.

Since I don't do Napoleonic Wars I got these to use as the 1st Troop of Cleveland, Ohio, and The 2nd Troop of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the Post-Civil War militia troops.

My plan is to use them as local militia for the 1898 War of the Worlds, even though these particular units were disbanded by then.  I figure as vast as the US was there could have been troops as a local militia in those day uniformed like these troops.  Some of the colorful uniformed militia and National Guard troops existed into the Second World war, so my plan is to have token numbers of these kinds of colorful troops as HQ and perhaps a troop or platoon of cavalry or infantry.  They will function for at least 1898 and probably even 1918 and 1938.  Many cities had units like this that were as much social groups as military groups and could be deployed in combat or riot control or emergencies.  Mostly they rode in parades and other society functions.  Still some were called to the colors at the Spanish-American War, WWI and even WWII.  These types of units went out of fashion after WWII.  Maintaining horses was expensive and after a Second World War and the Federalizing of the National Guard most states no longer maintained state or local militias.  After 9/11 some states once again formed State Militias, even California has one that is armed and uniformed as light infantry.
 

British WWI Tropical by HaT Industry

With only eight poses this set might seem like it is lacking a lot of poses.

But in WWI the short pants were not always worn.

So in tropical combat these guys could have a few head swaps with the Hat Set 8177 WWI British Heavy Weapons, although the gas mask should also be trimmed away.

Or use some of the Airfix WWII 8th Army figures in shorts with head swaps, they are not that much different.

These are all good action poses with no wasted troops in the group.

I only got a few boxes and I figure for the small skirmishes fought in Africa that's enough.
 

Grease Gun

 

Running with the Grease Gun.

The SMG is well done I think.

Standing with the Grease Gun.

Tank crews would sometimes dismount and scout ahead on foot to avoid ambush.  They also had to stand guard at night or when halted so having the SMG was helpful.

Fire off a magazine and then get back to the tank.

A great action packed pose.