Hello.
I have Dragons modern marines set and plane on using them in a small vignette.It will be from the early stages of the war and show the 4 soldiers in a small room (probably in a city) with a dead Iraqi sniper laying next to the window.
I just have a few questions.

1st I know the solders uniforms are from the beginning of the war so could the Iraqi still be dressed like an insurgent or would I need to use one in an Iraqi military uniform? If the later anyone know where I can find a figure for it? I can try doing some conversions on it but I’ve never tried before so I would prefer something simple.

2nd What is a common sniper rifle used in Iraq? And also would it make sense to have a RPG-7 sitting next to the window?

3rd I heard its easy to convert the marines into Army soldiers and was wondering what would need to be changed to do so?

And the last question. Anyone know where I can find pictures of the insides on Iraqi building?

thanks.

The Dragon Marines are a decent kit but require some serious work.

1) You could go either way. Most likely civilian clothes are the way to go; most of the wonderful folks we encountered were dressed in civvies. Check out Warriors' 'Dead Insurgents' kit for a couple of, well, dead insurgents.

2) The Dragunov 7.92mm sniper rifle was the one sniper rifle I personally saw and picked up. Besides that, it was a pretty common weapon that was easily acquired, so you can't go wrong using it. You can find some of them in numerous Dragon Soviet kits and in the Dragon AK-47 weapons kit. An RPG sitting next to him is up to you.

3) The Dragon Marines arent tough to convert. They are actually easy to convert to Army troops. Simple additions of some M-4's instead of M-16's and adding the American flag patch to their right shoulders will help.

Hope this helps.

-Stephen

1. Uniforms--You could dress the figure pretty much any way. You can dress it in an Iraqi military uniform, the black commonly worn by the fedayeen or civilian clothes. All were seen by me while I was there from May 2003 to July 2004.

2. Sniper weapon--The soviet designed SVD was the predominant sniper weapon during the OIF 1.

3. The differences between Army and Marines are:
Uniform colors/styles
Body armor colors/styles varied
Weapons are pretty similar. M4's weren't in wide spread use by Marines until late in OIF 1 from what I understand.

I'm sure others will chime in also.

Warriors dead insurgants would be the one to go for, I havent got a pic of them handy to show you, but ive got a set of them and one guy is slumped against a wall, he would look great against the opposite wall of a window etc to give the impression he was shot and then fell backwards etc.

I guess some snipers would also of used an ak-47, thats what the VC sniper used in 'Full metal jacket' (not OIF I know but stil...)

I would avoid basing anything on a movie. Most real snipers in Vietnam used the Dragunov SVD or the old bolt Moisin Nagant. There was a tendency to call any aimed fire 'sniper fire', but that's a mistake. There is a difference between a sniper and someone who takes pot shots out of a window. Sort of like calling those two murderers in Washington 'snipers'.

If you want to depict a real modern sniper, model him with a scoped rifle. There are scoped AKs in use, but they are rare outside special forces.

Thanks guys.

I’ve seen the Dead Insurgents set by warrior but am thinking about picking up a set by Verlinden of 2 dead insurgents called insurgents Iraq. If any of you have used this kit I would appreciate any info on it.

I agree the AK-47 dosn’t make the greatest weapon for a sniper.
I’ll give him the Dragunov with a scope.

Whilst I dont have verlindens latest set of dead insurgants, I do have their set of two dead Taliban and the biggest problem with these is they are rather large-more 1/32 scale. The latest verlidnen figs are not out yet as they are due for June release, the warriors ones are pretty good and about the same price really.

Although the AK-47 isn't the prefered weapon of a sniper I wonder if it was more common in the Iraq War than using the Soviet sniper rifle.

What defines a sniper to a trained sniper?

Although I was not there so I would have to defer to the forum members that WERE there.

What was more common for an insurgent sniper to use... the draganov or the AK?

Dragunovs were very common during the unvasion. An Ak-47 would also work. As stated above, not all "snipers" are actually snipers. A dude with an AK who takes pop-shots is not nececarrily a sniper, but can be effective at pinning down a squad. Either way would work. Also, all sorts of weapons wer used by the Iraqi Army, Saddam Fedeyen, and Insurgents. I found British Enfields with manufacture date of 1936 on them over there. Couple Russian PPSs from teh '50s too, among more modern RPKs, AKs, SKS, etc. You name it, it was there.

Rob I’m not sure if we’ll talking about the same set or not.
Over at greatmodels they list the “Insurgents Iraq” kit by Verlinden as being in stock.
It shows the 2 insurgents laying in the dirt wearing jeans and black jackets. One of them has an RPG and I think the other has a gun but there pictures to small for me to make it out.
Sorry you can’t link to items on there site or I would.
Is this the new set your talking about or is it really supposed to be the an Afghanistan set? If thats the case I’ll go ahead and get the Warriors set.

EagleSmack I also wasn’t there but from what I’ve gathered from research it appears that it would be more common for some one “aiming and firing” to be using an AK-47 or similar weapon (I believe the AK-74 may be more common) but a sniper (my opinion is usually some one more skilled in marksmen ship who will attempt to pick off important targets.) Will be more interested in a weapon with better accuracy and aiming potential.
As I said this could be wrong and may not be exactly what the military calls such things. And I would be verry interested in hearing what the military does in fact consider as a sniper.

As for my project its rather simple. I would prefer a more sniper based weapon to make it look more as if the enemy was trying to “snipe” targets from the window and wasn’t just some enemy that happened to be in the room when the Americans entered.

Not to repeat what everyone else has said, but from my observations, the most predominantly used sniper rifle in OIF was the Dragonuv. However, I have seen other differant sniper rifles in use both in actual pictures with insurgents and pictures of captured weapons cahce's. One in particular that sticks in my mind is what appears to be some strange AK varient. It's barrel is longer then the normal AK, has a short magazine, but a solid wood stock and differant scope then the Dragunov. I know this rifle is in Dragons AK weapons part 2 kit, but I dont have it in front of me to tell you the name of it. Either one would be a safe bet.

Modern day snipers are all (almost without exception) trained for a specific role which is their MOS (or its equivalent). This role is to kill high value enemy personnel with aimed fire. With the arrival of high-calibre precision rifles there is an additional role of destroying high-value equipment. Certain armies (like the IDF) even deferentiate between the two categories of sniping. There is a secondary role of reconaissance. These roles are best (but not always) carried out at long range.

Certain armies also have a section or platoon sharpshooter. This is not an MOS, but a regular infantryman with additional training. His role is to deliver precision fire in support of his immediate small unit when needed, unlike the sniper who might support a battalion or brigade. The sharpshooter is more likely to carry a scoped semi-auto or auto rather than the dedicated sniper's long bolt.

As I said before, there is a modern tendency (on a battlefield dominated by volume of fire) to attribute any aimed single shots to snipers. The insurgent or soldier who uses his assault rifle to fire single shots is NOT a sniper (though he may be trying to be one). Movies and thrillers have added to this so that people even termed those guys the Beltway 'Snipers'.

Sniping is a military occupational speciality, just as being a signaller or a mortarman is an MOS. You wouldn't call anyone who talked into a radio a signaller, yeah?

Sorry for the detailed trip, but you guys asked :-) .

Jacob, here are some Iraqi snipers and their weapons.

Dragunov SVD:


Long-barrelled AK:

Thanks Dave that will be a big help.

There military guidelines may differ, but I would imagine the Dragonov would be more for "snipers" while the long-barreled Kalashnikova would better fit the concept of the "marksman/designated marksman". While still something to consider if it is an army sniper, it is really just a technicality, either one would work.

If the sniper is an insurgent, dont worry about how it will look. They are well known for using whatever they can get their hands on. You could use basically any mass produced gun in the world and still have it look ok. I have seen photos of insurgents and weapons caches with variants of the AK, G-36, MP-5, M-16, M-4, M-14, and even old Enfields, Springfields, Mosin-Nagants, And even once or twice an M1 Garrand, or M1 Carbine.