Noddy Suits

Throughout the Cold War, the threat of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare was taken very seriously. Any picture of the British soldier in 'Noddy suit' and respirator remains a chilling reminder of those days.

Elhiem have just released BAOR 2,  a 20mm Cold War British infantry section in full NBC protective kit including S6 respirator. The figures are based on the previously released BAOR 1 pack. Nice poses, the NBC gear this time round gives them additional character. 

 Elhiem Figures: BAOR 2

So how useful are these minis in Winter of '79? Surely they are best left for British 1 Corps in NORTHAG or defending an RAF Leuchars from WarPact VDV? Well, I  say if you want troops who represent the faceless authority of the government in areas where there is open rebellion and civil war, these are it. They make a great juxtaposition to opposition forces in more regular British Army combat uniforms.

OK, so the NBC overshoes are a bit of overkill, agreed, but we can largely go into squint mode. Combat chic was popular in the early '80's and I remember young people wearing the 'Noddy suit' smocks as fashionable (go figure) items of outdoors wear. As a quick and easy way to uniform a citizen militia though, possibly not a bad choice either as the 'Noddy suits' are worn over normal clothing.

And if you are put off painting DPM, then the 'Noddy suit' is your deliverance young man. You can even 'speed paint' your Toms in a grey-green colour all over, followed by black respirator, gloves and boots. That just leaves the olive webbing and weapons. Add some colour by giving the weapons wooden stocks and drybrushing the hessian strips mid and light khaki. Done.

A wonderful flashback, plus immensely useful for TW2000 and Zombie games, so definitely on my shopping list.


Cheers
Mark