AK-47 Republic Update & review

Now that I am almost finished with the Cuban forces I feel that a review of the figures is in order. The figures that I am using to build my army are exclusively from Old Glory I picked them from the Post WW II range. I built the army using one bag of African Irregulars  (CDMOD-09), one bag of African Irregulars Command and support (CDMOD-10) for the militia and part of the Regulars and for the balance of the Regulars and the Professionals I used one bag each of Mid-East Regulars w/AK-47s and Mid-East Regulars Command and support (CDMOD-05 and CDMOD-06 respectively), The tanks and APCs were T-54s and T-55s (PW-702 anf PW-703) and the BMP-60s were (PW-742A and B- open and closed top) while the technicals are pick-ups from the modern range (CDMV-01) with African crews ( CDMODC-03). The artillery I used Russian 76mm guns (CD-407) from the WWII range with kidnapped mortar crews acting as gunners. I got them all from Grandiosity  for under $150.00US. 



Perhaps the most representative figure is the Irregular with an AK-47, this is the image that springs to minds from countless newcasts covering the era and was the bulk of the fighting forces. The Old Glory models for the troopers and command are well executed and generally well posed, I would have been happier with a couple of more poses but these mix up nicely. In the Command/Support pack you get a mix of Officers and heavy weapons, those being RPGs, mortars and squad automatic weapons. These fit well with my intended organization (although I seemed to have a lot of the fellow talking casually on the R/T). Mine are based for AK-47 Republic and are thus three to a 30mm x 30mm base.

For the regular troops I used a mix of the better equipped irregulars and the sloppier looking Mid-East Regulars. For command I used the regulars figures as they would be representing Cuban "advisors".

The professionals were represented by the Mid-East Regulars infantry and command, they give a good selection of poses and weapons. I used the Mid-East figures as there are no dedicated figures for Africans in the Old Glory range and they were both being by the USSR so the equipment would be the same. Photos that I have found of the Cubans deployed overseas showed that once they got near combat they adopted a very relaxed dress code so I painted them slightly different from one another and popped in an odd militia figure here and there.

I pulled a command figure that looked suitably dramatic for the Commander in Chief and used some professionals as the bodyguard. They were painted in a rather garish style to make them instantly recognizable on the tabletop.

I do like this range of figures, they are well-cast with little flash and good animation of the poses. The price from warweb.com  is darned near unbeatable. The tanks are not the best the market has to offer with prominent mold lines across the turrets, but at the price I am willing to do a bit of file-work. Here is the force as it now stands;