Staff’s Favourite Figures: US Airborne Medic

With such a vast range of miniatures to choose from, representing thousands of years of military history quite aside from forays into science-fiction and fantasy, it is quite a daunting prospect to select just one as a favourite. Nevertheless, we posed the question to Design Studio Publishing Manager, Darron Bowley, who told us why his favourite figure is a humble Bolt Action US Airborne Medic.

Darron: “My favourite Warlord miniature? That’s tough as there are quite a few I like: the plastic M5 Stuart is a great tank model, some of the Pike & Shotte commander models are beautiful, and the Judge Dredd vs Judge Death special edition miniature (exclusively available free with the I Am the Law Starter Set only on the Warlord Webstore -ed.) captures the enmity between the two protagonists perfectly. However, my favourite must be the US Airborne medic from the US Airborne Support Group (1943–44).

I’m a huge fan of the Band of Brothers TV show and the first Bolt Action army I collected was inspired by the exploits of the US Airborne shown in the series. Wanting to be a little contrary, I based it around the 82nd Airborne Division rather than the 101st, allowing them to fight in battles all the way from Africa, through Italy and D-Day, and on to Holland and the Battle of the Bulge.

The whole 1943–44 US Airborne range is full of excellent sculpts, but what I like about the medic model (directly inspired by the portrayal of Eugene G. “Doc” Roe in the series) in particular is the attention to detail and the story it tells. He’s carrying a helmet stuffed full of medical supplies; an improvised necessity of the battlefield hastily assembled in an emergency. The tilt of his run shows his urgency in reaching his fallen comrades and the concern on his face speaks volumes of the human cost of war. The fact that he uses his helmet to carry aid rather than protect his own head shows the selflessness of combat medics everywhere. There is an animation and dynamism to the miniature that, to me, really brings it alive.

Man, just talking about this miniature wants me to get my 82nd Airborne army out and into battle once again – I’m sure there’ll be plenty of action to keep my medic busy!”