I hope this info does indeed convince Strelets that a proper set
of WW1 Bulgarians is needed. Thank you Alex for this comprehensive
description. It would be great to see Strelets cover all the Balkans Armies
also with artillery and cavalry.

Thank you for your support Duncan!

Years ago I had the same conversation with HaT on a similar topic: the French Napoleonic Guard Chasseurs and the Nassau infantry. At first he said that a paintjob was all that was required to transform them from existing sets (Old Guard to Guard Chasseurs and French infantry to Nassauers). He felt the details were too minimal to warrant their own sets.

Years later he produced both, with the result that the Nassauers became one of the fastest selling sets he had ever done.... Strelets also produced the Guard Chasseurs.

Let's hope they listened indeed!! :-)

Happy Monday
Cheers
Alex

Early war French infantry done in bright red.

Le pantaloons rouge: C'est La France!

I'd still like to see more colonial troops, especially French Colonials; Moroccans, Algerians, Senagalise, etc. These would make colorful additions to go with the numerous British & German Colonials. Of course, done in early war style before helmets. I want the Fez's & other native head wear.

Chechia

What I hope for are early war cavalries for France and Austro-Hungary. Their mounted opponents Strelets has already done. What would still be missing in the german cavalry line are the Jaeger zu Pferd with their unique helmets.

Definitely need early war French and Austrian cavalries. That's at least six sets right there, maybe more if you want to do things like mounted MG sections for each as separate units.

As for Jaeger zu Pferde, you can use Strelets German cuirassiers since helmets at this scale are pretty much indistinguishable. Oddly enough there is no Strelets set of plain old German dragoons for the early war period when they would be more useful than the late war guys. The most realistic use for those charging late war dragoons would in post-war urban combat against The Spartacists or other German Reds.

Dear Samogon, I do disagree with the use of Strelets cuirassiers for the above. The cuirassiers have the high heavy cavarly boots, not used by the Jaegers. The specific Pickelhaube of Jaegers, with longer guard along the back of the neck, is far more distinguishable in 1/72 than the Negroid features you ask for in the subsequent posting. Let's not forget that the WWII british helmets Mk II and III, differ much less than those german helmets, and yet you can easily identify them in 1/72.

Ok, I agree with you there - more distinctive German (and Austro-Hungarian and French and maybe even Belgian, Romanian, Serbian or Bulgarian) cavalry sets for the non-trench portions of the Great War would be great! Imagine a mixed set of Belgian lancers, light dragoons and guides in their busbies, some of them standing firing and some mounted.

Even late war Senegalese would great in combat poses but with noticeably African facial features. Their fighting style emphasized infiltration and then a quick rush with the bayonet so the set would be well suited for the more dramatic Strelets style than just a bunch of guys on their bellies firing their rifles.

Fun fact about the Senegalese - most were not from Senegal itself but rather Mali and Niger. Also, after 1915-1916 Winter the French GQG pulled them out of the line for the next two winters of the war and stationed them on the Riviera for rest and refitting. The solders could not handle a Northern a French winter and morale plummeted among the troops until they were pulled back to warmer climes. if the war continued into 1919 as anticipated, the French Army on the Western Front would have been around 25% colonial troops in the spring, with the Senegalese forming about half that number and the others mostly Algerians and Tunisians.

The Desert can be cold as well:

"We did not hamper ourselves with led-camels. The men carried with them a hundred rounds of ammunition and a rifle, or else two men would be an "automatic" team, dividing the gun and its drums between them. They slept as they were, in their riding cloaks, and fared well enough till the winter of 1917-1918, which caught us on the five-thousand-foot hills of Edom behind the Dead Sea. Then we lost many men and camels frozen to death, or trapped in the snow, which lay over all the high lands in deep drifts for weeks, while we vainly appealed to Egypt for tents and boots and blankets. In reply we were advised that Arabia was a tropical country!"

http://www.telstudies.org/writings/works/articles_essays/1920_evolution_of_a_revolt.shtml

We need more artillery guns. There are heavy British, American and a single German Set but no French, Austrian and so on...

Dear Misteredd

Cannons are in pipeline.
Best regards,

Strelets

Very intersting and tantalising comments

Having all the heavy weapons sets I have found this range top rate. The last two howitzers - 9.2" and the German one were really excellent with the figures getting better all the time. The 'staff officer' from the 9.2" figure was one of the best figures from any company.

Is it time to produce a few medium pieces with crew? For my money it would be the British 60pdr - widely used (also Middle East) and also used by the Americans and Russians red /white. AND IT'S NOT AVAILABLE IN 1/72 in plastic.

For the French the Canon de 155mm GPF (yes there is an expensive model which is over complicated) would be the obvious choice as the ACE 155mm howitzers are not bad (although the WW2 version never materialised). However, please casual dress as their gunner often were photographed in such dress.

Just a thought! I do not do ACW or Nappies but would it be viable to produce some of the artillery pieces of these periods and the appropiate crews?

Another artillery piece of interest that is not currently available is the QF 3.7-inch mountain howitzer. Widely used from 1917 -1945 with commonweath troops. With a little thought it could be a very intresting model as it could be broken down and moved by mules.

Great for WW1 middle East and just about everywhere WW2. would go great with the Burma figures.

Canon de 155 L Mle 1877 and Canon de 120mm Mle1878 either or both..

http://rosalielebel75.franceserv.com/artillerie/canonbange155L.JPG

Oh, yeah! Couldn't this be used for the Boer War and Boxer Rebellion, too!

Yep Boer war to Finland and beyond

Would also add to these excellent suggestions the canon de 105mm Schneider Mle 1913 which served not only in WW1 but was also the principal gun of the French Army in 1940. It was exported widely between the wars to Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and Belgium.

For the Austro-Hungarian Army the 149mm Skoda Model 14 Howitzer would be a great addition.
It was also used by Turkey.

Excellent suggestion.

Plus, another vote for artillery crews.

The old French artillery pieces suggested in this thread would be my third choice. Useful, given how long they were used, and produced in substantial numbers. Regards, Pa

This Gun was originally designed for the Russian Army by Schneider as the Putilov(built by)107mm M10, adopted by the French as the Schneider 105L M13 TR, and in Italy as the Ansaldo(built) 105/28 M13...
Not to forget guns supplied to other nationalitys which were numerous, what should be remembered though is many underwent motorised conversion bettween the wars but this can be done with a different set of wheels supplied for that version.

What about generic supply troops that could we used for most troops ?
Including pack animals with interchangeable loads,the troops could be carrying boxes containers sacks poles etc
Even generic medical would be useful