Spectre Miniatures Head To North Korea

Spectre Miniatures have gone across the border into North Korea with two of their latest releases suitable for modern day gaming. The KPA Infantry Squad and North Korean Worker-Peasant Militia sets both contain 10 miniatures and are available as physical or STL purchases.

The Korean People’s Army Ground Force (KPAGF) is the main branch of the Korean People’s Army responsible for land-based military operations. It appears to have recently gone through some efforts of modernisation, meaning they look less like WW2 or Cold War left overs, and slightly more like a modern army - but kitted out in what appears to be very cheap Chinese made nylon ‘tactical’ kit and clothing.

This 10 man squad is organised roughly along the lines of a Russian and Chinese rifle squad, with some differences based on North Korean availability of equipment and training.

They carry Type 88 rifles, which are locally manufactured AK-74 - with a unique foldable stock and magazine. The squad has some automatic support in the form of 2 RPK-74s, with the unique N. korean ‘casket’ magazines, holding an estimated 90 rounds.

N. Korea is still struggling with anti-tank weaponry on the scale we are used to seeing, so two squad members have Rifle Grenades (PGN-60 anti-tank and KGN Fragmentation).

The organisation was founded due to a shortage of troops following the withdrawal of Chinese forces that had participated in the Korean War in April 1958. It was officiailly established with an initial strength of 500,000 members, drawn from workers, farmers, intellectuals, and students.

Initially, members were expected to balance military training with their civilian work. However, in 1962, the policy of arming the entire population lef to an expansion of the organisation to include men ages 18 to 45 and single women aged 18 to 35. This expansion continued: by 1971, the eligible age fot the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Guards was extended to 50, and the target demographic fgor formation included all men and single women aged 17 to 60 who were not assigned to prison guard duties. This structure remains in place today.

These fighters make up a large portion of the man-power available to the North Korean Military. They have little training and are typically equipped with legacy weaponry. They carry a mixture of Type-58, Mosin-Nagants, Type-49, RPG-2, DP-27 and RPDs. Many of them wouldn’t look out of place figthing in the Korean War, with their simple clothing, haversacks and rice bags.

It’s currently estaimated that the North Korean Worker Peasant Red Guards have 5 million personnel - so if you wanted to portray the whole faction you would need half a million sets of this - something I think would make Spectre Miniatures very happy (although may take a while to fulfil and I wouldn’t want to go near your unpainted pile of shame…if you could even fit that many of them in your house).

Images courtesy of Spectre Miniatures.