Introduction

ICM continues to release the unusual and unexpected; in figure form from ICM we get a set Moroccan Goumier Rifles. The Goumier Rifles began World War Two fighting for the Allied Forces in North Africa, but while seen as French units they fought with all of the Allied Forces in that area of the War. This set of figures is described as being from 1943 and that will place these troops in Italy under US Forces. Moroccan Goumier Rifles have a good record as troops in Italy from what I have read on them; however Italy accused them of a number of atrocities during World War Two.

Contents

This offering from ICM is packaged in their now usual flip top cardboard tray with a separate card lid, at the risk of repeating myself I will say that this packaging should survive all reasonable handling by postal services. Inside the packaging is a single tan sprues packaged in a re-sealable plastic bag and a single sheet of paper covering assembly, contents and painting.

Review

This offering from ICM consists of four figures in relaxed standing poses. The parts are cleanly moulded for the most part; I only observed a small amount of flash on one of the hands. There are of course seam lines present on some parts, but these are not excessive and should be easily cleaned up.

The figures offer an interesting mix of uniform over the four figures. All four figures wear the tribal front fastening long coat, it is worth mentioning at this point that ICM in their painting instructions depict this as a brown colour with light brown vertical stripes, a reference check online will show that there is a lighter colour on both sides of the lighter stripes; this will be a difficult paint job.

The headwear is offered in two options, you can use the tribal headwear which will provide an interesting look, or there are British helmets as an option for all of the figures. I have checked through various online reference and most indicate that the native garb was usually worn with a mix of American uniform and webbing and so I am a little confused by the helmets.

The lower half of the uniform offers a nice mix. Two of the figures are wearing leggings, one with US army boot and the other with sandals. The other two figures are wearing US infantry trousers, gaiters and boots. Three of the figures are wearing early pattern US webbing and the appropriate ammunition pouches for the weapons that have been supplied. All of the figures are provided with water bottles and a nice touch is that one figure is shown drinking from the canteen and the empty water pouch has been supplied.

The weapons supplied with this set consist of;
2 M1 Garand rifles
1 M1 Springfield rifle
1 Thompson machine gun
These weapons have a nice level of detail, but they have not been slide moulded and so the muzzles will need attention to improve them. Despite that only three of the figures have rifles, all four figures have been supplied with bayonets which is good to see. Each of the figures is also equipped with what I believe is a tribal knife/dagger.

The faces of these figures are very nice for injection moulded plastic, I am especially pleased with the two figures that have beards as this aspect has been very well replicated. The hands are quite nice and have reasonable finger detail, the fingers I have learnt from experience will benefit from a scrap between the fingers as that will improve the look further.

Conclusion

ICM has to be one of the best companies for releasing figure sets that I doubt anyone ever expected to see. These Moroccan Goumier Rifles are a great set of figures that if finished well should attract a lot of attention from people who will likely not even be sure what they are. The mouldings are good as they are clean and have good detail. I strongly recommend you pick these figures up if it is an area that is of interest as I suspect it will be a while before we see their like again.