"Assault on Grozny" Topic

Hi all

Me and a friend here in Sweden just started a project to run a 2 player campaign for the first assault on Grozny in 1994.

We bought the TAG russians and some talibans and made a few headswaps with among other GW´s catachan jungle fighters to get some bandana heads.

You can follow the project at my wargaming blog metrobloggen.se/dalauppror

Nice. What rules will you be using?

And how on earth are you going to do the Chechens? The lack of such figures has been bugging me for ages!

happy so see some more 28mm modern gaming

Why nobody produces a 28mm Chechen range I'll never know! More proof that 28mm moderns is both overlooked and underexploited by figure manufacturers!

TMP link

Scale Creep – I presume thats a 'why don't you commission something yourself' point or that you are saying 'its not as easy as you think producing wargames figures'. All I can say is that me and a mate have tried to get figures commissioned and made but just seem to hitting a brick wall.

Alternatively you may be saying 'moderns don't sell or don't sell in enough numbers to make it worthwhile'. Yet I see obscure and unknown conflicts (Rif War for example) being covered. Why not the more well known modern conflicts?

von Paulus:

Sorry – if my link came across as snotty in any way, it was not meant to be. I was honestly trying to be helpful.

In general it takes a significant amount of money to do something like this. Realistically, how many Chechen figures would you need? Let's say a total of 20 but let's also say that's mostly variations. So 10 sculpts plus 10 conversions. Sculpting alone will run you $3000-$4000. And unlike older periods, you won't sell large lots to a single consumer. So the break even is very, very long, especially on stuff they'll only need one of like command and such. Compare that to Napoleonics where I've sold one customer 20 of the same pack of infantry, and 10 of cavalry.

The fact is many of the ranges we have the luxury of enjoying come about because someone makes them expecting to lose money. The SCW, the Rif War, the Carlist Wars, lots of these are done for love not money.

If you want to commission some figures – that is pay for the sculpts and then sell them – I'd be happy to help you out – just contact me off line.

Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin
Owner, Scale Creep Miniatures
ScaleCreep.com
SteelCrush.com
DeepFriedHappyMice.com

Nice looking alternative project , keep posting.

"Compare that to Napoleonics where I've sold one customer 20 of the same pack of infantry, and 10 of cavalry."

Good point, I never really thought about that.

Mark, not snotty but interesting and informed input on what it takes to get something made. Both my mate and I are getting increasingly frustrated by the fact that we want to game certain modern conflicts in 28mm skirmish scale and can't because nobody does the figures. You ask figure manufacturers and either get a 'no, not viable' or a promise that its on the list of things to do which you know will never materialise.

However, I do appreciate the info. As you say, lots of people who commission figures are doing it for the love of the conflict/period and not for any real hope of making mega bucks! It is incredibly tempting to take the idea further when finances allow!

Your best bet will be to find a manufacturer that has something close they could just modify with a new weapon or headgear…

Hi Again

Glad you liked Oskars Russians.

We are not sure about the rules but the first set we will try out are Fast and Dirty, FAD4.0. you can down load it from here: freewebs.com/weaselfierce

For the Chechens I are using theassaultgroup.co.uk Russians, Some Talibans, some Modern Russian Maffia minia AND the 3 Freebee Chechens minis that we got with every blister of TAG minis you bought from their web site…post free:) (This was a month of March offer but if you ask nicely…???)

I hope to have some pictures of the first finished Chechens squad by the begining of this week.

Later today I will have some pictures of Oskars 2nd Russians squad up at my blog: metrobloggen.se/dalauppror

Hi all,

Fun to see this discussion just now. With a friend, we are in the process of studying the possibility of making our own modern figurines. We have some wonderfull sculpting done and are more thinking in a sort of "characters" ranges, completing other existing ranges like TAG or Mongrel. You can see our first green for Modern Russian here
link
We hope to get our first pack out within a few month.
If anybody is interested, drop us an e-mail as we need support :-)
cheminsdefeu@yahoo.fr

I was von Paulus' mate (referred to in the posting above) who tried to get some Chechen-esque figures made, following TAG's current withdrawal from modern releases. I have to agree it has caused nothing but grief, in trying to find a sculptor who would do the subject some justice, whilst trying to avoid treading on other companies sensibilities. I contemplated commissioning a couple of sections worth of miniatures (Russians and Chechens) all in winter kit, circa 1994 in 28mm. In the end I just gave up, as although I think there is a market for these miniatures, no-one seemed to share my enthusiasm (unlike in 20mm where the subject is very well covered). I may re-visit this project one day, as I have so many books and source material that it seems a shame to waste them. Plus it is a subject that I find fasinating and in my opinion would make an excellent skirmish range.

Oh and the idea for such a range was never about making any money, but rather it was because they were miniatures we wanted to see produced. Saying that though I have far too many moderns for my gaming requirements, so some companies have done OK on the back of my credit card!

Very informative thread -- Thank you, Mark, for sharing the information from the manufacturers' point of view.

As an aside: von Paulus, you made me smile by saying:

<< Both my mate and I are getting increasingly frustrated by the fact that we want to game certain modern conflicts in 28mm skirmish scale and can't because nobody does the figures.>>

I feel your pain… but I feel my age, too! I remember being in this hobby 20 years ago, when very little was available outside a very few miniature ranges… I always think I am currently living in the age of abundance!

Adik – been collecting and gaming for a similar amount of time (26 years or thereabouts) and I appreciate your point. However, just because we have more choice now (in certain periods and scales) doesn't mean that we should take our collective foot off the pedal and stop pushing for more or indeed trying to achieve it ourselves. If only I could sculpt :)

Chemins – you've made my day with that figure! Its damn nice and I'd be interested in what you produce. Also, rather than filling the gaps in TAG/Mongrel's ranges why not do your own range? Certainly if you are going down the modern Russians route you ain't stepping on anyone's toes (not that matters) and there is definitely a big gap in the market for a 28mm modern Russians range IMO. I can only hope that you do well and go on to cover other modern periods as well!

Cheminsdefeu – forgot to ask – who sculpted the figure?

"However, just because we have more choice now (in certain periods and scales) doesn't mean that we should take our collective foot off the pedal and stop pushing for more or indeed trying to achieve it ourselves. If only I could sculpt :)"

As a 40 something wargaming grognard meeself I agree to all those sentiments!!!

Cheers
Mark

The sculptor name is Menelay. He is a very gifted Russian guy doing mostly 1/35 scale.

The figures are beautifully painted!

When it comes to figures one can always do a little conversions oneself.

Buy figures and cut off heads and swop them and so on. It usually works very well. Especially for guerillas which usually dont have any specific uniforms. Give them a nice paint scheme and you are done. For chechens maybe add a beard or so?

I have now uppdate my blogg with pictures of my 1st Chechnyan Squad, more pictured of squad 2 and Command comes tomorrow.

metrobloggen.se/dalauppror

Pictures of my 2:nd Chechnyan Squad is up at metrobloggen.se/dalauppror

AAR form our first Assault on Grozny are now up at my blog metrobloggen.se/dalauppror

Dalauppror what bases sizes did you use, as this has long been an interest of mine and I was one of the individuals that helped TAG with the research for the Russians, have you painted any up wearing the helmets as yet..?

Cheers,

Geoff

Hi Geoff

The bases we are using are:
60mm for 3 and the 2 man RPG groups, and the commanders
30mm for single based
40mm for Snipers

Oscar are painting som russians "conscripts" in helmets at the moment, I hope he will be finished by the end of next week…

I´ll let you know then pictures are up at my blog:)