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Differences!

The WW2 New Zealander figures are up & looking good! Can't wait to get them! I know a lot of people, especially the perfectionists at PSR, complain about the unrealistic head gear manufacturers choose for soldiers from different countries, but I applaud it! Warfare in the 20th & 21st centuries has equipped soldiers in very similar uniforms so that it's a waste of time to make soldiers from a variety of countries! Armies, equipped by super powers make this even worse! HAT even admitted that their WW1 Canadians were only so named to recognize Canada's participation in the Great War! As Canadian troops were outfitted in British uniforms & gear! That is why I say; "BRAVO!" to companies like Strelets for making figs with hats & helmets that may or may not have ever seen the front lines, BUT at least now you can line up you troops & know who is who! You don't have to have ranks of the same looking soldiers & say; "OK, these are New Zealanders. & these are South Africans. & these are Australians." etc! Great job guys! Ignore the purists & keep up the good work!

Re: Differences!

Not a (Purist) whatsoever! But to some proper attire is important. I'm sure most wouldn't send the Old Guard into battle wearing a kilt. When creating a scenario it is not unreasonable to want to have headgear or uniforms to be as realistic as possible.That's all. Best Regards! Cappy

Re: Differences!

While both understanding and accepting why Strelets chose to put the NZ guys in soft hats, they are not what I would like to see as a trend. Over the last decade or more there has been countless debates on this forum and the others dedicated to 1/72 plastic figures, about accuracy and most wanting to see it reflected in any new figures produced. I will probably not buy this set because of it, but I would buy a set that accurately depicted NZ troops for either North Africa or Italy in WW2. Accepting designed and deliberate inaccuracies is a slippery slope, I have waited a life time for some of the figures we now have available, it requires so little more effort to make them right, why would you not ?

Re: Differences!

Cappy, I'm not either, obviously, but I do love to see interesting, distinctive & different figure sets! I am not a kook who would ever want to see old Guard in kilts, but is a hat so horrifyingly difficult to accept if all other equipment is correct? I mean really?

Re: Differences!

I don't know...that one figure with the large ax like weapon and old fashioned Russian clothing looks suspiciously inaccurate to me

Re: Differences!

Good one Colin!

Re: Differences!

Alan, then all you are asking for is a same old same old British infantry set! Where is the fun in that? It's a hat! Mix them in with a bunch of Brits & they will look no more odd than the Aussies do with their "Digger!" Bottom line, these are toys! No matter what you say, they are TOYS! & toys are supposed to be fun! PSR had a coronary over Waterloo 1815's Roger's Rangers because they were too Hollywood! I loved them because they were distinctive! Not just another set of miltia in civilian clothes! Nobody complains (except me) when we have 9 gazillion sets of WW2 Germans because in the fall of 1943 they made their puttees 1" wider or in the spring of 1941 they changed the pocket flap on the tunic! Reach down & draw out your deeply buried childish imagination, put your stuffed shirt in your closet for awhile & have a little fun!

It's a trend only because Strelets has the foresight to not want to keep banging out cookie cutter sets in wargamer friendly colors like every other company has capitulated (ie: SOLD OUT!) into doing!

BRAVO STRELETS! There are still plenty of fun people left in this hobby who will happily buy your New Zealanders, South African & any others you deem fit to produce!

These sets will have their place! Everybody complained about Airfix's WW1 US infantry, mainly because of the hats & yet, had IMEX made their Pancho Villa set(s?), these guys would have been perfectly welcome!

Re: Differences!

Bert, love your enthusiasm, but the fun for me is having it look right, and looking right is for each of us to a point subjective, enjoy your New Zealanders

Re: Differences!

Thanks Alan! I will, to be sure! Not sure how old you are, but I fell in love with these little guys almost 50 years ago. I guess I'm a bit of a romantic when it comes to them. I've always refused to use soldiers to represent something they weren't (ie: Napoleonic French for Alamo Mexicans) & have held out for what I want. I don't paint. I'm not that skilled or patient, plus at my age, the hands & eyes just won't get it done. That is why I'm so hostile about plastic colors & despise lazy overly vocal wargamers for coercing manufacturers into making all soldiers in tan & gray! I also find PSR more amusing than informative because of their overly critical self righteous attitudes. I've subscribed to Military History magazine for 30 years & have read many book on the subject. So I'm smart enough to know Hollywood romanticizes & plays with history to suit them! It doesn't stop me from wanting Spencer Tracy's Roger's Rangers & John Wayne's colorful Alamo just to name a couple. & that is why "Montana/Mounty" hatted Kiwis & silly looking pith helmet wearing Boers will be welcomed with open arms in my army! I truly hope you enjoy & have fun with your correct (& very boring! ) steel helmet wearing commonwealth armies! Take care!

Right Hat Wrong War

Would perhaps have been better to include the lemon squeezer as part of a WW1 NZ infantry Gallipoli set where it would be perfectly at home....

dont see a problem with a few figures in a set for WW2....

On the other hand at least you now have plenty of hats/heads for WW1 conversions for Gallipoli...



Re: Right Hat Wrong War

Easy, no problem.

Take 10 boxes of Airfix 8th Army.
Take 4 boxes of HaT British Heavy Weapons.
Take 2 boxes of Strelets New Zealand.

Remove the heads from one box of New Zealand troops and put those heads on randomly selected Airfix and HaT figures. Put the Airfix and HaT heads on the headless Strelets New Zealand guys.

Co-mingle the various guys together and you have a New Zealand battalion for the Desert with the vast majority wearing the standard uniform with helmet and yet just enough with the lemon squeezer to give the impression of a unique New Zealand force.

Head swaps are quick and easy, I do them all the time and I am not much of a conversion guy. I have explained it a couple times on my blog and will explain it here if anyone is interested.

As for painting, I usually just paint figures an overall color so the unit matches.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Re: Right Hat Wrong War

Mike kinda beat me to it but headswapping seems the answer - perhaps Strelets might like to consider building that into their sets and supplying a set of alternative helmetted heads, so that people don't have a to butcher a whole set of unfortunate figures. Call me squeamish but I always hate cutting the heads off figures, it's as though the headless figures have been denied their destiny! (I know,I know they are only bits of plastic, but being sane was never a particular requirement of this hobby).