RFCM

Quote from: martin goddard on January 20, 2024, 02:16:52 PMA good place to raise this topic.

Thank you


martin

Hello Martin,

I'd very much like to hear your thoughts. What do you say to some extras for Poland? I know at least one person who would by them.

"Poland is not yet lost!"

I recently wrote to Martin at Peter Pig with suggestions for packs of figures to "round out" the Square Bashing range for modelling and gaming the 1919-1921 Soviet invasion of Poland (Polish-Soviet War). I hope he will not mind me repeating my notes here. I thought it might be fun to share and disscuss.

The conflict is very well represented by Peter Pig's existing range of figures, but there are a few omissions that are particular to the war that I think would make for colourful additions, namely:

A pack depicting the Lwów Eaglets (Polish boy soldiers) - an iconic element of Poland's wars of the 1918-1920. As well as the famous examples of boys (and even girls and young women) fighting for Poland, there are lots of other uses I can think of for some models of children armed with rifles or pistols: The Battle of Berlin, British Defenders (alongside the Home Guard) in Operation Sea Lion, and Soviet Partisans to name but a few. From the existence of the pack of boy soldiers in the AK-47 Republic range and the Turkish boy soldiers in the Square Bashing range I do not think that the subject matter of child soldiers would be too distasteful for Peter Pig.

A pack including a figure depicting the Priest Ignacy Skorupka - a figure that is rather iconic when talking about The Polish-Soviet War is that of the young Catholic priest Ignacy Skorpuka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_Skorupka) who was killed during fighting in Ossów and who's memory (or martyrdom to some) has become indescribably linked to the Battle of Warsaw and the 'Miracle on the Vistula' and the Polish-Soviet war as a whole. I think he would make a particularly characterful command figure, or, my personal preference; I think he'd make an excellent figure to represent the special 'Poland Forever' order in Square Bashing.

As for working Skorpuka into a normal 8-figure pack, I suggested that he could be packaged with a few of his fellow members of the Polish "Volunteer Army". While Peter Pig offers a good range of partisan-type figures, the volunteers in the 1920 war were rather distinct; many members of the Volunteer Army arrived to the battlefield with nothing but a 'war scythe' (a scythe blade attached to a pole) and dressed in only their civilian clothes.

I think a pack or two of fighting women would also be very welcome: The Polish Voluntary Legion of Women were a particularly notable and distinctive element in the war, striking a particularly interesting appearance in their long skirts and make-do Uniforms. There are also several photos of women manning machine guns in make-do uniforms (including fashionable fur coats) which I think would make for another good pack of figures.

I decided it was time to do the Soviet-Polish war following the release of some good printable 3D models of the unusual armoured vehicles used in the conflict. I would very much like to include all of the figures mentioned above in my project should they become available. I do not believe that any suitable figures are currently available to represent any of them in 15mm scale from any manufacturer.

What's everyone else's thoughts?

"Poland is not yet lost!"