Medical care for soldiers has varied enormously through the ages, but by the 20th century it was well organised and usually able to cope with the demands placed upon it. Atlantic produced several medical sets for their Modern range, and this one brings together all the personnel, some of which are seen in other sets as well.
The first few figures seen above are concerned with evacuation of wounded from the battlefield. They are intended to be placed together to create little groups, as can be seen here. They fit together fairly well, considering this sort of exercise is very difficult to sculpt correctly, though on balance we prefer the Esci method whereby the figures are moulded together as one piece. There seems no advantage in having the patient separate from the stretcher, except that he can also be used as a casualty lying on the battlefield, or perhaps in a hospital bed. There seems no particular purpose to the first two figures on the middle row, except that the first man has a bandaged head and is therefore walking wounded.
While the first two rows show medics and casualties, the bottom row is mostly about the medical professionals. The first figure is an army chaplain, and next to him is a doctor, apparent by his long coat and stethoscope. The doctor is very unusual in that he has been sculpted wearing glasses, but his stethoscope is much too long, particularly the ear part. Next to him are three nurses, two of which are nuns.
The soldiers are generic soldiers that could serve in most armies of the time, and the medical staff are even more flexible, with the nuns in particular being usable for a wide range of periods. While the medics are clearly busy going about their business, the doctor and nurses have little action about them, which is a pity as they are nice figures with fair detail. Most of the soldiers are carrying weapons and have tiny pistol holsters (including the stretcher bearers, which cannot be right), but all are otherwise without kit, which might be understandable for the casualties but is very surprising for the rest. Like most Atlantic figures they are quite thin, which works well for the women, though better than many in the range. Our review sample exhibited no flash and was mercifully free of mould marks.
As we have said, many of these figures could be used for many scenarios, and with a decent level of detail and some fair poses, this is possibly one of the most worthwhile of the Atlantic Modern range.