Introducing the Nebelwerfer

The Nebelwerfer, was a multiple-rocket launcher of the German armed forces. It literally means 'fog thrower' because it could be used to fire smoke or even gas shells. It was however mainly used to deliver conventional explosives. Developed during the '20s and '30s, the first production Nebelwerfer was available in 1940. It was towed into place using a PAK carriage. Each tube would fire a rocket that would spin around in the air for extra stability. Its fire control was electric, and it would fire each rocket sequentially over 90 seconds. The rockets were fired in a specific barrel sequence 1-4-6-2-3-5 so that the launcher would not overturn. The rockets would land within a several hundred square meter area. Because of the smoke trail left behind, the crew had to relocate quickly to avoid return fire. Several variations of this weapon were produced with different calibers and range, but the technology did not change much through the end of the war. From what I have read from witness accounts, being on the receiving end could be a nerve-wrecking experience not only because of the wide-area explosive effect, but also because of the loud, screeching sound that made by the rockets.

15 cm NbW 41 - Unknown manufacturer

Approximately 6,000 of these were manufactured along with 5.5 million rockets. It had a range of close to 7km. Another popular variation was the 5-barrel 21 cm NbW 42, which had a range of almost 8km. I got this one along with a batch of toy soldiers that I purchased on eBay. I have no idea who made it and it is the only one I have. For a plastic toy it has decent level of realism. The pivoting stabilizer at the bottom/front can be elevated to put it in the towing position. It came with a couple stickers on the side which you can still see. Maybe someday I will paint it to give it a more realistic look. The figures in this picture are FOV artillery crewmen.

Hanomak German Nebelwerfer 42 with Crew

This is a very well received set from my perspective. I only have one other nebelwerfer in my collection and that one does not have a crew. What's interesting about this one though is that it appears to represent the nebelwerfer 42 which had 5 barrels as opposed to the nebelwerfer 41 which had 6. However, the ammunition being depicted is the one for the nebelwerfer 41. The ammunition for the nebelwerfer 42 had a pointed warhead, as opposed the the phallic shape of the 41's ammo. But given how unusual it is to have such a set, I am not going to get too picky about the ammo mismatch. In addition to the 3 crew men, the set also comes with a sandbag emplacement. I am not a big fan of it. I would have rather had more figures or a lower price point instead of the sandbags. Also, be mindful that the nebelwerfer requires a bit of assembly and gluing, but nothing complicated.

Click here to see a post about Mortars

Click here to see a post about the German 88s

Click here to see a post about the German PAK 40

Introducing the French Infantry

 The latest addition: Publius WW1 Russian Infantry (to be used as WW2 French) at the bottom of the post.

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The performance of the French Army in WWII was a far cry from that of Napoleon's Grande Armée. Nonetheless, they fought throughout the war on several fronts like France, North Africa, Italy, and with different outfits. Their history can be considered in two parts: before and after 1940. Up to the summer of 1940, all their uniform and equipment was issued by the French government and it did not look that different from the what was worn during the First World War. After the armistice of 1940, many French managed to leave France and continued to fight on the Allies' side with uniforms and equipment provided by Britain and the US. Some of these troops however -the ones wearing British battledress- retained their Adrian helmets. French Moroccan troops were issued GI outfits. And then there were the Goumiers, African colonial troops who wore a striped coat on top of their American combat uniforms. All these troops were typically referred to as the Free French, to distinguish them from the French troops that served under the Vichy government that was established after the German occupation, or the French troops that served in the German Army. With all this diversity you would expect to see many different sets of figures out there, but unfortunately there are very few manufacturers of French Infantry troops as seen below.

Marx French Infantry

These are reissued figures based on the original Marx molds. They are wearing original French Infantry outfits. Sometimes when you see them listed online, they are referred to as Free French Infantry, but then they would be wearing British or American outfits, which is not the case with these figures. Faithful to the Marx sculpting style, these figures are slim yet well proportioned and with a nice level of detail.

Expeditionary Force Free French - Assault Section - Part I

I intentionally placed similar poses next to each other for ease of comparison. Subtle differences in the positioning of the legs and arms, and the weapons they carry. Note how the first and fourth men from the left, are based off the same body, and the arms make all the difference. The helmets also make a big difference from how they look as GIs, particularly the officer who is wearing a kepi in this case. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - Assault Section - Part II

Three out of the four bodies are repeats, just with different arms. The new body is the one holding the bar, and smoking a cigar. Again, the arms make a substantial difference. Overall, they have managed to create a good range of figures using this interchangeable system of bodies and arms, without sacrificing much in terms of movement or creating awkward poses. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - HQ Company - Part I

This set has the most diverse poses. They call it the HQ Company, but it also has a few heavy weapons. Note how the office is holding a set of binoculars. You will see that this is a theme that repeats itself quite a bit. Perhaps a bit too much. The bazooka team turned out pretty good. The sniper seems a little too exposed in my opinion. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - HQ Company - Part II

Out of these guys, I really like the flame thrower and the radio man. The rest are good role players to fill the ranks. The bar man is a repeat of the earlier set. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - Defense Section - Part I

This set has a few more kneeling guys with the same base body. I also put them next to each other for ease of comparison. The arms are some of the ones that we have already seen on the standing figures. The officer is similar to one of the earlier ones, but they have given him a pistol this time. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - Defense Section - Part II

And we got a third bar man in this set. I could have used a few more sub MGs and fewer men walking with the rifle across their chest. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - MG Section - Part I

A nice set of figures. The arms of the machine gun team attach in such a way that you can only put them in one position, which helps to make everything line up well. Other poses allow you to rotate the arms as much as you want. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - MG Section - Part II

These are very similar to the previous ones, except for the officer and the rifleman.

The man standing with the rifle across his chest was supposed to be kneeling. The standing man was supposed to be another officer, but I swapped them so I could have a kneeling officer, as seen in the next picture. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - MG Section - Part III

The only thing I don't like about the kneeling officer is that he seems to be pointing his binoculars downwards. So I guess I need to put him on high ground to make it look adequate.

Expeditionary Force Free French - Mortar Section - Part I

These three mortar teams are almost all the same. the only thing that varies is the officer. 

Expeditionary Force Free French - Mortar Section - Part II

This one has a kepi and is holding a sub MG.

Expeditionary Force Free French - Mortar Section - Part III

This one is similar to the first one, but I raised the left arm to give it some variety.

Armies in Plastic French Infantry - Part 1

These AIP guys are actually World War I figures, however given the fact that the French uniform did not change that much during the inter-war period, except for the switch from blue to brown, these guys can pass for WWII French Infantry once they are painted. They are a bit bulkier than the Marx guys, but I think they will blend in well with them once painted.  

 Armies in Plastic French Infantry - Part 2

Note that some of these guys are wearing long coats, but that was also the case with WWII French troops up to the summer of 1940. The Adrian helmet is also the same as the one worn by the Marx figures.

DGN French Infantry - Part I

This is a nice set to have given the scarcity of French infantry figures. The man firing the bazooka is an interesting pose. I don't believe that this weapon existed at the early stages of the war, when the French troops still wore their original uniforms. Nonetheless, it is a welcome addition my the Frech army, as they would otherwise not have such a heavy weapon.

DGN French Infantry - Part II

As you can tell, the poses are also varied and decent. The scale of the weapons is my main concern with them. For instance, look at the size of the Bren gun's magazine, or the grenade that the man on the left is holding.  

DGN French Infantry - Part III

The prone man firing the machine gun the worst case of how some of the weapons are out of proportion. In this case, the gun is almost as long as the man's body. Partly, this is also because his lower body is shorter than it should be. As far as the bugler, he seems more adequate for a WWI set, which makes me wonder if these guys were copied from a WWI set that I might not be aware of. The uniforms could certainly pass for WWI era dress style. BTW, note that I only have 11 poses. There might be a 12th pose out there, but these are all I got after buying two tubes. 

Starlux US or French Infantry Part I

These guys look like GIs to me, but knowing that French troops also wore US equipment, I don't know if they might have been made to represent French Infantry. Since they were made by Starlux a French firm selling to the French market, I would not be surprised if they are actually representing French soldiers. BTW, I am not sure why the second guy from the right was made of a multi-color plastic. I like the pose though. 

Starlux US or French Infantry Part II

A few more GI looking guys. The uniform color is a bit different and some of them are wearing ties, but the helmet does look American issued. As you can see I only have a subset of the total poses as the man feeding the machine gun belt is missing the machine gunner to partner with. 

Starlux US or French Infantry 45or 50 mm

These are slightly smaller figures than the 54mm guys. I don't know why they would have manufactured figures in two scales so close to each other. These guys show slightly more action than the other two sets. Would have been nice if they had been a bit bigger. 

Starlux French Commandos - Part I

I have seen 10 poses of these, so I know there are at least that many of them. Unfortunately I only managed to get one of them in a batch of mixed figures.

Starlux French Commandos - Part II

Here are two more poses. Again, I found them in a large lot of mixed figures. They are a bit damaged, but it's still clear what the poses were meant to be. With the right parts and a bit of patience and skill I think they could be repaired. 

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part I

The FFL did see action in WWII, but I don't know for sure if they wore this uniform during that conflict. In any case, FFL troopers are always interesting, regardless of the time period. From what I have seen, the FFL figures were released in both green and khaki uniforms.

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part II

Here is one more guy who appears to be from the same set, or at lest the same scale, about 50mm. He looks like he might have been throwing or holding something, but unfortunately it broke off. Given the fact that he came with a green base, I later realized, he was probably not meant to be set in the North African desert... well, he might have to adjust a bit.

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part III

I am actually not sure if these guys are FFL. They are wearing similar headgear, but I think officers in the regular army might have also worn these. Perhaps one of our readers knows better? 

One thing to note is that the man on the right has the tip of his baton (or flag pole?) broken off. 

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part IV

These guys are slightly larger than the previous one. Perhaps somewhere between 54 mm and 60 mm. I really like this set in particular. The MG can be disassembled and rotates freely around the vertical axis. I don't know if the man signaling was originally part of the crew, but he comes in handy.  

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part V

Here are several more poses with quite a bit of variety. Definitely good to have some of those special poses which are less common, such as a flame thrower or a radio man. In addition to them, we also have a decent officer, a grenade man and a funny looking guy running with a sub mg. I say that because we all know that when running we move opposite arms and legs at one time, unlike this guy. 

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part VI

And a few more guys. The guy on the right, obviously was not part of this set given the color of his base, but I grouped him with them based on size. I still don't get it why Starlux made so many different sets. With all the poses across different sets and scales, they could have made very comprehensive contributions in fewer areas. Anyhow, the most interesting guy in this picture is probably the mine sweeper. 

Starlux French Foreign Legion - Part VII

And here we have two mounted officers. One seems to e leading his troops into battle, which I doubt would have actually happened on horse, and the second one is more of a spectator. Both are nice and interesting, as horses by themselves lift figures to a different level. Again, the bases don't fit the desert setting, but I'd like to keep these guys with the rest of the FFL figures that I have, who have tan bases and would fit well in North Africa.

Starlux French Red Berets - Part I

I believe these red berets represent Paratroopers, so in that sense, they very likely they represent post WWII troops, as to my knowledge, the first French para units were created in the mid 50's The poses are a mix of fighting guys and parade poses. I am certainly biased towards the fighting guys. The only one I find a bit odd is the man with the rifle above his head. More than fighting, it looks like he is cheering or beginning to surrender.


Starlux French Red Berets - Part II
Two more parade poses to go with the two other guys on the right of the prior picture.

Starlux French Red Berets - Part III

These guys are slightly larger than the ones in the previous picture. Somewhere in between 54mm and 60mm. The man on the left is operating a flamethrower, although it's not so easy to tell that from the picture. The man on the right is an officer, but he is missing his left hand and I don't really know what he was originally holding. 

Starlux French Red Berets - Part IV

A grenade thrower in a style very similar to the two previous figures, but with enough differences that it makes me wonder if it was part of a different set.

Starlux French Red Berets - Part V

These guys are about 50mm in height. Unfortunately two of them are pretty battered. The one on the left is my favorite one. Not because he is still whole, but I like the pose. It's one that could lead him to engage the enemy at any moment. There's a bit of tension in it. The man aiming is very traditional and the one with his arms raised can't be doing something very useful.

Starlux French Red Berets - Part VI

Here are some other red berets in parade poses. I don't know if the tan uniforms represent a different service branch or just another outfit worn by the French Paras.

 

Timpo French Foreign Legion - Part 1
A set with very few poses. The poses are actually fairly acceptable, although in terms of detail, the faces are not the best. They seem to have been sculpted by the same hand that made the B8A figures. Not sure what period they were meant to represent, but I like the fact that they have equipment which could pass for WWII era, including the white kepi. WWII legionnaires fought in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. They even fought on opposite sides in the Syrian campaign of 1941.

Timpo French Foreign Legion - Part 2

This is a vintage figure. Apparently they came factory painted and you can still see traces of the original colors on this figure. Unfortunately this legionnaire seems to have lost his rifle, but he is still ready to throw a grenade.

Unknown French Foreign Legionnaire

This is another one of those guys who came in a mixed set of figures and you are lucky to run into. He is a bit banged up as you can see by the broken rifle, but even then, has managed to keep most of the factory paint. Unfortunately, there are no indications about who was its manufacturer, so if you happen to know, please leave a comment. 

Crescent WWI British Infantry

This guy is a British WWI figure, but I think that given the puttees, he might pass acceptably enough for a French WWII trooper. The helmet is different but some French guys actually wore British helmets, so I just need to find a few more of his comrades and they will form up a French unit in my army.

Crescent WWI British Infantry - Part II

Here is another guy from the British WWI set. He has more of the original paint on him, although the tip of his bayonet is broken off. If it were not for the gear on his chest, I think he could easily pass for a WWII French Infantry soldier.

Publius WW1 Russian Infantry

Are these guys not a great fit to add to our WW2 French army? I did not realize that the WW1 Russians had worn similar equipment as the French, so I was quite pleased when I saw these guys. Other than the older man on the left, who is wearing a cap that I haven't seen among the French, the other 7 guys can definitely pass for French with their Adrian helmets and puttees. Even the officer could pass, even though he is not wearing the more traditional kepi. In terms of weaponry, one liberty I will have to take is to allow the Lewis machine gun carried by the man in the middle as a piece of WW2 French equipment. While the French did use the Lewis gun during WW1, by WW2 they had phased it out. But I will pretend that this unit hadn't been upgraded yet. What I really like about these figures is the exquisite sculpting and the intense action poses which is something that we do not have in any of the other French sets available. So these will become the cream of the crop of my French army.  

Finally, sometime in the future there is also supposed to be a Pegasus Hobbies French Infantry set , representing 1940 French Army figures. They released this set in 1/72 scale several years ago. At the time I emailed Pegasus Hobbies asking about the possibility of a 1/32 release and they expressed that there was a good chance that it might happen, so keep your fingers crossed so that we might have some nice additions to the ranks of the French. Pictures of the figures in 1/72 look really good, so I am really looking forward to them!

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

Click here to take a look at WWII Vehicles by Country

Click here to check out more French Troops

Click here to see a post on the Gurkhas, who fought next to the Free French at Monte Cassino.

Introducing the German Infantry

 The latest addition: Hanomak  German PAK 40 with Crew at the bottom of the post.

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This post is a consolidation of several German Infantry posts I had previously made. It probably needs a bit more editing, but at least for now it provides a central location to see all the German Infantry figures made by all manufacturers.

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One downside of trying to assemble larger units is that most of the time you end up having to deploy multiple guys with the same pose in order to make your numbers. That is still the case for most countries/branches of the service that participated in WWII. In recent years, a series of new sets have improved the situation for American GIs and for Soviet Infantry. However the ones that have really made it possible for me to get to my magic number have been the German Infantry. A company -100 strong- of unique poses. All painted in the same style to blend them into a single unit. Note that I avoided pre-painted figures and figures that had winter uniforms or cammo smocks. I also tried to stick to 'action/battle' poses, therefore you won't see any marching guys or dead guys. Lastly, I did not want to have more than 10 prone figures. The chosen ones are featured below, grouped by manufacturer.

Conte Collectibles German Infantry Set 1 

Conte Collectibles German Infantry Set 2 - First Half

Note that Conte introduced plug-in arms which allows the creation of new poses by just exchanging the weapon/accessory. In the case above, the guy with the MG-42 is the same figure as the guy with the phone.

Conte Collectibles German Infantry Set 2 - Second Half

Again, by using pluggable arms, I was able to create four figures out of two base running guys.

Conte Collectibles German Infantry Set 3

Airfix German Infantry

Airfix Afrika Korps

Here I borrowed figures from a different 'branch of service', but once they are painted they look like German Infantry, which I guess is what they actually were. 

BMC German Infantry

Classic Toy Soldiers German Infantry - Part I

Classic Toy Soldiers German Infantry - Part II

ESCI German Infantry

Marx German Infantry - Part I

Marx German Infantry - Part II

Matchbox German Infantry

Note that to the right there is a bazooka/panzerschreck guy which to my knowledge is not part of the original set. It came in a bucket of clones, but it must be based on Matchbox figures as the sculpting and all his equipment is just like the other guys'.

Matchbox Afrika Korps

Again, here I borrowed from another 'service branch', but they look like normal infantry...

MPC German Infantry

These guys are not my favorite. A bit too stiff for my taste, but I included some of their poses so that they would be represented.

Revell Afrika Korps (left) & Reproductions of Marx 6" figures (middle, right)

Same branch story with the Revell guy. The manufacturer of the 54mm versions of the 6" Marx guys is unclear to me. I bought them advertised as SWTS figures (Steve Weston Toy Soldiers), but I have not been able to confirm that claim. He does not mention them on his web site.

The whole unit.

In the pictures above I described all the German Infantry poses that I have already painted. Those pictures left out some poses that I decided not to paint. Below are the missing poses from the sets shown above.

MPC German Infantry

The prone guy was left out because I had set myself a limit of 10 prone figures, and he was on the longer/taller side. The guy on the left did not seem like he would fit well on a war-game. He would fit better in a football game asking for the ball to be thrown at him. The guy on the right got disqualified because of his sculpting. He looks like a 2-D figure.

Marx German Infantry Marching Soldier

This guy did not make it simply because he would not be of much use in a war-game where you want more action/fighting poses. But I do like him. I actually plan on painting him and about 49 other marching guys that I have been collecting to make a nice parade scene at some point.

BMC German Infantry MG Team

This machine gun team was cut because of similar reasons as the MPC prone guy. I already had 10 prone figures and these were the least well sculpted of them all. Even to take this picture I had to find an angle that would make them look a bit better.

BMC Dead German

At the time I painted all the other German figures I thought that there was not much use for a dead guy on a war-game. Since I started working on this blog however, I have come to realize that these poses would make the posts with battle scenes more realistic, so now I wish I had painted them. I guess I will get to it at some point.

Conte Dead German

Same story here. Good sculpting by Conte. Even their dead guys look good.

Marx Dead German

The last of the three casualties.

The following pictures are all the German Infantry sets that I have acquired after I posted the ones above.

Atlantic German Infantry - Part 1

This set reminds me of the Airfix poses. The guys are a bit thinner, but many of them are in very similar positions. Note that the prone guy on the left is supposed to be operating a machine gun, but I bought these on eBay his machine gun was missing. Maybe that's why nobody outbid me! I've got a few other MGs as among my loose accessories, so eventually, when I paint them I will provide him with a weapon.

Atlantic German Infantry - Part 2

The prone guy throwing a grenade is a good idea, but the figure is not well balanced, so you need to prop him up a bit from the front if you want to avoid having his feet stick up in the air. A little rock or tree stump will do the trick. In this picture I used his neighbor's foot.

Dulcop German Infantry - Part 1

These guys were hard to come by. In fact I only managed to get 7 out of the 8 poses. The guy who is firing from the kneeling position is missing. A few of the poses resemble Airfix a little bit. Perhaps what I like the most is the variety of weapons.

Dulcop German Infantry - Part 2

There are a couple of funny details though. Not how some men seem to be sculpted in a different scale. Also, the helmet on the guy on the left. Was that meant to be a paratrooper helmet or did they just did not sculpt the edge well enough? Anyhow, a nice set to round up your collection.

Dulcop German Infantry - Part 3

This is the last man in the set. He came in a different plastic. Not just the color, but it is also harder and feels a bit easier to break. If not for the color, he seems to have been cast from an original mold. As you can see, he is a typical pose in most infantry sets. His carbine seems to be a bit small, but other than that he is a solid guy. 

Lido German Infantry - Part 1

These guys are pretty rare. The poses are fairly decent and a bit less common. There are a couple other poses out there that I am trying to get my hands on. The three with color on them were painted by a previous owner, but they used to come in plain grey. The guy on the right is operating a flamethrower. The original figure used to have a flame at the tip, but this one is missing it.

Lido German Infantry - Part 2

Here is a close up of the two guys in their original color. As you can see, they are well detailed, down to the facial expressions. The main thing that jumps out as being a bit off is the machine gun that the man on the left is holding. 

Lido German Infantry Hong Kong Clones - Part I

I recently found the whole set of Lido Germans. They are not originals, but at least I got all 8 poses. 

One of the 'new' poses is the second guy from the right. Not my favorite one though. He is about to throw a grenade, but he is in a very awkward position, and the grenade is not even German.  

Lido German Infantry Hong Kong Clones - Part II

The other two new poses are the ones on the left. Another grenade thrower -with a real German grenade and a man engaged in hand to hand combat. These two are much better and round up the set nicely.

Lido German Infantry Hong Kong Clones - Part III

Since they are clones, I wanted to show them next to the original figures to show the difference in size. Since the molds are generated from actual figures, some shrinkage is inevitable as you can appreciate from the picture.

Trojan German Infantry

This is another scarce set. They appear to have been produced factory-painted, although as you can see, not with the most accurate color scheme. The level of detail is not as good as what you would expect from original figures. They almost feel like clones. Maybe they are and I just got duped when I bought them!

Classic Toy Soldiers German Medical Team - Part 1

This is a recently released set from CTS. It contains a mixture of medics and casualties. It is nicely detailed and when painted they will blend very well with other German figures, such as Conte's. The only thing to criticize about these figures is the shape of some of the helmets, which seem to have a softer edge than expected -like the kneeling guy's helmet.

Classic Toy Soldiers German Medical Team - Part 2

Here you have one more casualty -who does not seem to need any more medical attention, a man carrying a stretcher and a presumed prisoner. Not sure what the prisoner has to do with the medical team, but since these are all non-fighting poses, I can see how he fits in in that respect. Overall a nice set from CTS who will go very well with the FOV ambulance.

Classic Toy Soldiers Artillery Crew - Part 1

CTS just released a set that was sorely missing: an artillery crew. Italeri had also produced a PAK 40 with crew, but you had to buy them as a set, so you could not really staff any artillery pieces purchased without a crew. Well, now you can. The set comes with an observer/officer and two loaders.

Classic Toy Soldiers Artillery Crew - Part 2

This crew can also be deployed to serve an 88 gun. They look equally good and the size of the shell might be more in line with an 88.

21st Century Toys German Infantry - Part 1

21st Century Toys released several series of German Infantry over 8 or 10 years. Some of them were released with their playsets. Unfortunately I did not keep track of what figures came with each set, but I have tried to group them in the pictures by the paint scheme used, which should not be that different from how they were grouped when they were released. Overall, 21C Toys did a nice job with the sculpting and paint work. The first series though were made of a plastic that was a bit brittle and some of the weapons would break, but that was improved in the later series.

21st Century Toys German Infantry - Part 2

The only thing I don't like about these figures is that the men come glued to the base and sometimes they glued them way off-balance as you can see in a couple of the guys in this picture. I suppose you can try to fix that yourself, but I have not wanted to risk breaking them by trying to pull them apart from the base.

21st Century Toys German Infantry - Part 3

While some of these guys are not action/combat poses, they come handy for scenes where you need some guys in guard duty. Forces of Valor has released some accessories that are ideal for road blocks and go very well with some of these guys.

21st Century Toys German Infantry - Part 4

This was among the last and best series released by 21C. Note that the base is different and also the quality of the painting and even the sculpting is improved. The base for the prone guy is a bit too bulky for my taste and forces you to set him in an urban setting, but the nice thing is that the figure can be removed from the base, so you get the best of both worlds.

21st Century Toys German Infantry - A conversion

This is a guy that came with along with a building I bought. It's put together well enough that I think it deserves a spot on the page. It's really just the lower body from one guy with the upper body from another, but it turned out nicely.

21C Toys German Infantry PAK crew

These are some nice figures to staff your PAK or most other small caliber artillery pieces in your armies. The sculpting is of the same quality as the later 21C sets, which means that they are well proportioned and detailed. In terms of the poses, I definitely like the guy holding the shell, but the other two are very similar. It would have been good if one of them was posed as if more actively operating the equipment. Anyhow, I am still glad I came across them. I did not know they existed back when 21C was in production. 

First Gear German Infantry

These are new production figures of the old Britains Deetail figures. They only make six poses and they have given them bases with round corners. The uniform is painted grey which makes more sense to me than the blue of the originals.

Britains Deetail German Infantry - Part 1

These are the original figures. I have placed them in the same order as the new First Gear guys for ease of comparison. As I said, I am not sure why they gave them blue uniforms, but I still like them. There is something special about these old figures with a heavy, metal base that makes them just cool to have.

  

Britains Deetail German Infantry - Part 2

Here are a few more poses. Note that some of these guys were manufactured in two parts, with arms that can move up and down, but can also come apart. That can sometimes be a problem and some of the guys that you can buy second-hand are sometimes missing arms. Note that a few of these guys still retain some of the stickers on the side of their helmets. A couple of rare poses are the guy with the flamethrower and the guy marching.

Britains Deetail German Infantry - A few modifications

Now, here is a more common pose. Unfortunately most of the guys I have in this pose are missing their weapon, which in the original seems to be an anti-tank rifle. So I have given these guys a variety of weapons/accessories and tried to make something good out of the situation.

Britains Deetail German Infantry - Mortar Set

Here is another nice set. The mortar can actually 'fire' mortar shells. It has a small spring inside and a little lever on the back that compresses it so that when it is released, the shell is fired. Unfortunately I do not have any of the shells that came with it, but you can improvise your own kind of shells and have some fun lobbing some shells at the opposing army.

Forces of Valor German Infantry - Part 1

These are the first series of FOV German Infantry. The paint job on the figures is very realistic and the poses depict a decent level of action. The sculpting is on the bulkier side, particularly when it comes to details like hands and facial expressions. The bases are also detachable and they constantly come off.

Forces of Valor German Infantry - Part 2

This is the most recent set of FOV German Infantry. They still have the same detachable base system, but the sculpting of hands and faces has improved. This set comes with a nice MG mounted on a tripod. The plastic for the MG however is really flexible and you will need to spend some time straightening it with hot water. Hopefully it stays that way, as mine hasn't.

Forces of Valor German Infantry - Part 3

These were actually released before the previous set, but as you can see, they are not meant for battle, but rather for some specific diorama scenes. The sculpting of these guys is actually better than that of their other figures. You can tell that they were made by the same people that sculpt the guys that come with the FOV vehicles.

Starlux 60 mm German Infantry - Part I

I was pleasantly surprised by this set. My first set of Starlux figures. The poses are 60 mm in scale, but are really close enough in size to 54mm that they blend quite well with the rest of the 1/32 guys. The sculpting is nice and detailed, and the poses well balanced and proportioned. Quite surprising for the time when they were made. My only complaint is the paint job. I am not sure if this is how they were painted at the factory or if the previous owner gave them a touch up. Particularly the faces/eyes are a bit odd.

Starlux 60 mm German Infantry - Part II

Here are two more figures that I recently found. Unfortunately one of them had the rifle tip broken, but they are still quite nice and match the other guys perfectly. I like the stance of the man on the right. He really looks ready for some action.

Starlux 60 mm German Infantry - Part III

Here are a few more guys. By now I am starting to realize a manufacturing pattern used by Starlux. If you pay attention, the manufactured the bodies and arms separately and then they glued different arms to different bodies to create a large combination of figures. Conte used the same approach with his first set of Germans.

Starlux 60 mm German Infantry - Part IV

A not very common pose is the one carrying the anti tank rifle.

And we also have an officer wearing a field cap.

Starlux 60 mm German Infantry - Part V

Another kneeling man. Not sure what he was holding on his left arm, as it has come off. 

Starlux German Marching Band - Part I

These are just three poses. I just thought I'd let you see how they look from the other angle. I don't know how many there were in the original set, but I'd bet there must be more. These will probably go well marching with the Marx guys, as they are also stepping forward with the left foot and are the same scale. I might also combine them with the Atlantic SA set which come with flag and standards, although those are lifting the right foot.

Starlux German Marching Band - Part II 

Three additional poses and a second version of the officer, this time with the unbroken scabbard. Of these, poses, I have to say that hands down, the best pose is the flag bearer. A very good find which will add a lot visually to the parade scene. 

Elite Command German Infantry

This is a set of 4 metal figures representing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and some of his infantrymen. Compared to other metal figures, like King and Country and so on, they are not as nice. In fact, I bought them thinking that they were plastic figures as that is the focus of my collection. As far as the resemblance with Rommel, I think it requires a bit of imagination to get there. 

Armies in Plastic WWI German Infantry - Part I

Lastly, if for some reason you find that you don't have enough German Infantry options you can always throw in some late WWI guys. These already had steel helmets. The only thing that is noticeably outdated is the use of the puttees up to the knee. Most WWII German soldiers used ankle puttees during the second half of the war when leather became scarce and jackboots were no longer manufactured. But I have seen one picture of a WWII officer wearing puttees up to the knee, so that opens the door for these guys!

Armies in Plastic WWI German Infantry - Part II

As you can see, the AIP figures are not the most detailed -for instance, the faces look a little plain. The poses in some cases do not show enough movement for my taste, or the movement does not 'flow' as is the case with the grenade man on the right. Still, they are good enough if you need to add extra manpower to your unit.

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry - Part I

Here is a sample of Timpo Swoppets German Infantry figures. A bit hard to find, particularly with helmets and weapons. As you can see, some of the poses are better than others. I personally prefer the three guys in the middle over the two on the sides which are leaning in a bit of an unusual way. 

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry - Part II

A couple more guys. The only new thing in this picture is the torso of the man throwing the [missing] grenade. The other torso and the two sets of legs were already depicted in the previous picture, but nonetheless, the nice thing about the swoppet system is that you can recombine them to create new poses as is the case with the man on the right. 

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry - Part III

A more complete grenade thrower and the officer's upper body as a rifleman.

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry Mortar

I am quite happy with the state that this set is in. All parts seem to be there, including helmets, and as you can see, it was a fairly decent set. In addition to the actual mortar and its crew, it also comes with a few extra shells and a detachable bush which can be swapped for another plant of your choice :-). A nice addition to the collection.

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry Series 1 - Part I

Initially I thought these guys were German paras due to the shape of the helmet. Later I learned that they were the first attempt from Timpo to make German Swoppets. They are basically the same figures as the GIs, but cast in shades of Grey. There are supposed to be 7 of them, and I can actually count 7 distinct torsos and 7 sets of legs, but I don't know which were originally attached to which.  

Timpo Swoppets German Infantry Series 1 - Part II

As you can see, some of these guys would barely be able to see with those oversized helmets. 

I must admit that I am very happy that they gave it another try at making Germans, as Series 1 was not their best work. And I still think they might be better suited as paras being used as regular infantry.

Speedwell German Infantry - Part I

These are not quite 54mm. They are at the most 50mm in size. They are very rare and therefore a bit pricey. At the same time, the sculpting is nothing extraordinary. The poses are a bit stiff and the level of detail is not quite there. Also n terms of the color scheme that they came painted in, it is also a bit unusual. Perhaps they could be used as Afrika Korps troopers.  

Speedwell German Infantry - Part II

Here are a few more poses. From what I've heard, I am still missing one additional pose: an officer with a moveable arm holding binoculars Note that these guys have different head gear. The man on the right seems to be wearing a paratrooper helmet. Again, the poses are a bit stiff.

Speedwell German Infantry - Part III

Here is the man at the far right of the prior picture, this time in the AK color scheme. I think I like him better like this. 

Speedwell German Infantry - Part IV

And here is the commander. Unfortunately, missing an arm. You can tell that it was not resting at the waist as there is no hand left behind, but based on the rest of the body, it could not have been doing something very exciting. Or maybe he was doing the nazi salute and that's why someone chopped it off?  

Cherilea 60mm German Infantry

These are old Cheriela DAK figures, cast in darker colors to represent regular German Infantry. As you can tell there must have been multiple iterations based on the colors represented. One thing to note is that even if they are cast in darker tones, the laced up boots and the officer's (Rommel?) shorts still give away the fact that they were originally sculpted as Afrika Korps figures. In terms of the sculpting, it is well done in terms of the posing and the level of detail. There are two more poses in the set. One wounded man crawling and another one charging forward.

DGN German Infantry - Part I

This is one of the weakest sets. The figures are under scale and the detail is not what it could be. For instance, the shape of the helmets is definitely not the distinctive German style. While they did try to add the ledge at the bottom, it did not turn out quite right. The bipod on the kneeling machine gunner is also quite large and the barrel a bit short. 

DGN German Infantry - Part II

Here you can also see how some of the figures are quite short, particularly the grenade thrower. The mortar man also poses a bit of a challenge when it comes to getting him to stand straight and not fall over.

DGN German Infantry - Part III

These are the best poses when it comes to head gear I think. Only the sub mgs are a bit on the larger side. Other than that, these figures are fairly decent. This is another set for which I only have 11 poses.

Dragon German Infantry - Approach to Stalingrad

These are the basic 4 poses. There is a 5th pose with each set which is much harder to find. Seems like they intentionally produced it in smaller quantities to make it a more appealing collectible. As you can see, the figures are very well detailed and the paint work is done quite nicely. I bought these guys as a set of 12 figures which had 3 of each pose. 

Dragon German Infantry - Barbarossa 1941

The weapons and the bases have to be glued to the figures. As you can see, some of the bases have a slight grade on them and might make the figure seem like it is not standing straight. Also the thickness of the bases is not ideal in my opinion. These guys do not depict much action, but other sets do have poses in fighting poses.

Dragon German Infantry - Winter Combat - Part I

Here's another nice set from Dragon. It is missing one of the basic figures -the man aiming his sub MG from a standing position- as well as the 'special' pose -each set has a pose that is only present about 2% of the time-. I have to say that I really like the detail, the quality of the sculpting and even the paint job. I am still not a big fan of the bulky bases. Will probably replace them at some point. One thing to note though is that the bayonet attached to the waist is a bit brittle. As I was inserting the men to their bases one of them broke off just from me holding the figure a bit tightly.

Dragon German Infantry - Winter Combat - Part II

I managed to find the fourth guy of the basic poses in the Winter Combat set. Another very well done figure by Dragon. One interesting thing is the lighter color for his leather subMG magazine pouches. It's possible that was done intentionally for cammo purposes. Now I just need some Siberian troops to go against these guys!

Dragon German Infantry - Krakhov 1943 

This time I managed to get my hands on all five poses of the set. To my surprise, the fifth 'special', & rare pose is just one of the other poses in a different paint scheme. He is the second one from the left, wearing the cammo smock. Again, as with the other sets from Dragon, the detail is really nice. The poses could use a bit more action, but they are still a notch better than just marching or standing guys. At least these guys have their weapons ready. About the bases, I won't say anything anymore.

Elastolin 70mm German Infantry - Part I

These are some Elastolin combat/action poses. Note how even though they are supposed to be action poses, many of them tend to be standing fairly straight. 

Elastolin 70mm German Infantry - Part II

The two guys in the middle are the ones displaying the most movement. Other than the straight bodies, the figures are fairly nice. The fact that they come factory painted/molded in colors is a nice plus. I certainly hope I can get my hands on a few more. 

Elastolin 70mm German Infantry - Part III

BTW, you can tell that they were sculpted by a different hand than the parade poses as they are a bit thinner. I tried placing the marching guys from this picture next to the Elastolin parade figures and you can certainly tell the difference. 

Elastolin 70mm German Infantry - Part IV

The spotter will make a good complement to either the machine gunner or the sniper, as the sniper does not have a scope on his rifle. 

Elastolin Swoppet

I found this guy by chance. I did not know that Elastolin had released a line of swoppet figures. Unfortunately, I don't have his original weapon, but I hope I can find him something that is not too undersized for him among my assortment of 1/32 weaponry. Also, the colors could be better, but compared to other swoppet figures from other manufacturers, they are not any worse. Anyhow, an interesting and unique figure. I hope to run into the rest of his squad at some point. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Assault Section - Part I

This assault section contains a good number of automatic weapons. Particularly well suited for the task is the man firing the Sturmgewehr 44. It's also an interesting touch to have a man firing an MG 42 off the hip. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Assault Section - Part II

The rest of the section is armed with rifles with fixed bayonets in case the assault runs into close quarter combat. The bayonets are a bit tricky to glue as there's not much contact surface to work with, but with a strong glue, they stay in place just fine. There's an extra bayonet for the man firing, but I chose to leave that one off. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Defense Section - Part I

As you might agree, the most interesting pose in this section is the standing machine gunner, particularly because of the tripod. Note also that instead of having the ammo fed by a belt, it has a drum attached to it. A really nice pose. The officer is a variation of the officer in the assault section, with different arms. The man on the left with the assault rifle is also nicely done. The ammo carrier is OK. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Defense Section - Part II

As you would expect with a defense section, there are also some guys crouching. Based off the same base body, they have managed to create four poses. The man on the left is actually a sniper. the man on the right has a grenade launcher attached to its rifle. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - HQ Section - Part I

The HQ section has a few additional heavy weapons. The panzerschreck team is another well done couple poses. There's also a phone operator, which is based on the same body as the man with the panzerschreck. The man with the assault rifle is a repeat of the one in the defense section.

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - HQ Section - Part II

The rest of the section gives us another standing machine gunner (yes!), a panzerpfaust, another sniper, another ammo carrier, and yet another officer, with the same arms as the one from the defense section, which I've posed differently to create some variety.

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - MG Section - Part I

This section features another superb couple poses operating the machine gun, and the MG itself. You get two of these in the set. You also get two of the crouching poses on the left. Rounding up the set are three men leading the teams. One is the officer shown here. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - MG Section - Part II

Then there are also two other officers (NCOs?) wearing helmets and also holding binoculars. 

I posed one with the binoculars at eye level. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - MG Section - Part III

The other one I posed with lowered arms. He could be tapping the shoulder of one of the machine gunners or simply signaling to cease fire. 

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Mortar Section - Part I

The mortar section is also very well done. One thing to point out about the mortar teams as well as the machine gunners is that their arms are manufactured very precisely so that they can only be attached in a specific position, which is very helpful so that they line up just the right way, as the left and right arms need to meet in just the right place. Many of the other guys allow you to rotate the arms and pose them at any angle that you wish.

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Mortar Section - Part II

This set also comes with three different officers/NCOs and just as I did with the MG section, I've posed them slightly differently to create some variety,

Expeditionary Force German Infantry - Mortar Section - Part III

A frontal view of the mortar, as well as the last officer with binoculars at eye level. 

Expeditionary Force Late War German Infantry - Part I

These guys are smaller than the first set of Germans, but they are still larger than 'big 1/32' scale. 

Each set has 9 figures, and I purchased 2 sets so that I could assemble a greater variety of poses by combining different arms/weapons, heads, and bodies. In this picture I meant to display the figures I assembled with the base body that's stepping forward with the left foot. Only afterwards did I notice that there two base bodies in this picture. The differences are very subtle, mostly in the tunic, and one has a grenade tucked in the belt. I would have preferred to see more noticeable differences in the placement of the feet. Setting that aside, as you can see, I was able to make quite a few poses with them. Sometimes just rotating the head a bit give the figure a different attitude. 

Expeditionary Force Late War German Infantry - Part II

These are the poses I was able to assemble with the base body that is stepping forward with the right foot. Again, thanks to the variety in weapons and heads, you can get a good range of fighting poses from a grenade thrower, to a panzerfauster (a late war weapon), a charging man, a firing man, etc.  BTW, another sign that these are late war Germans is the absence of jackboots, and also the prevalence of cammo tunics and helmet covers.  

Expeditionary Force Late War German Infantry - Part III

These last batch is also stepping forward with the left foot. The two on the right side of the picture are using the same base body as as the first batch. The 4 on the left are using the last type of base body, which has the back foot pointing forward instead of sideways. Again, a more pronounced difference in the base body would have been preferred. The set came without one of the heads, so for now the guy on the far left is headless. Expeditionary Force will be shipping it to me with my next order. All in all, I like the set's range of arms/weapons and heads, but the base bodies could have been a bit more interesting and diverse. 

Forces of Valor German Winter Troops

These guys actually came as 'accessories' for the tanks. They were not released as a figure set. Because they were meant to ride/fight from a tank, I had to customize a couple of them. for instance, the man on the right, would be sitting on a tank, but I made him sit on a box handing out panzerpfausts. The man on the left was supposed to be standing on the tank firing a machinegun, so I made him stand on a box, and fire a panzerschreck. Overall, a nice set of figures, with a nice degree of action in them. I will have to paint a few more Germans with winter outfits to complement them. I will also add bases to the other two to make them more stable. 

Mars German Elite Infantry (Winter Dress)

This is another good set. A nice set of poses, with authentic looking winter gear. Maybe one less kneeling pose, in exchange for a prone guy would have been a good call, but still a nice set for which there were not many options previously. The only other figures that I recall, which would go well with these are the four 1/35 Dragon Can.Do German winter combat troops and the four  miscellaneous German winter troops which came with some of the FOV vehicles shown above. So these will augment that squad nicely. Fortunately, the size of these 1/32 figures is not too big, so they will all blend well.

Mars German Night Hunters

This is a very unique set. First of its kind as far as I am aware of. Before Mars made it, I wasn't even aware that the German military had fielded such 'Nachtjäger' units. What makes them special is that they were equipped with infrared lights that enabled them to 'see' the enemy in the dark. A huge advantage at the time. The equipment was a bit bulky due to the batteries that it required and had to be carried as a backpack. Not all the figures are equipped this way, which allows you to mix some of these guys with other regular 'daylight fighting' units. My only criticism about this set is that some figures have their arms tucked in so closely to their bodies that it distorts their size. I understand that the sculptor is trying to account for the challenges involved in manufacturing, by trying to eliminate the empty space between the arms and the body so that the figures can be released from the mold, but in some cases it really impacts the pose, like the guy in the middle of the picture. Even so, another nice and special set from Mars. Keep them coming!

Plastic Platoon German Infantry - Battle for Leningrad, Winter 1941

These guys look like they are going through a rough winter, but at least they have coats. The officer is definitely not freezing. The details like the scarf wrapped around the head, and the helmets wrapped in white sheets give these figures a very authentic winter fighting look. Particularly nice in this set is the two man team operating what appears to be an MG 34. Very well done. Probably the best German winter troops that have been made. 

Plastic Platoon German Infantry - Stalingrad, 1942

As is customary, Plastic Platoon has treated us to another beautiful set. And while German Infantry is a set that has been made many times before, I love to have them in a set of this level of quality and detail, and in fact, I wish there were more poses to go with them. You can tell that these guys are still in the early stages of the Stalingrad campaign, at the end of summer when it still made sense to roll up your sleeves while fighting. As far as the type of poses, other than the wounded guy who is having to defend himself, the other guys do not seem to be under much pressure. Another clue that this was still early in the campaign, before things got bad for them. The highlight of this set is probably the mortar team. 

Plastic Platoon German 'Hunters and Prey' - Stalingrad, 1942

Here's another nice set from Plastic Platoon depicting German snipers as well as some of the German men who would be likely targets of the opposing Soviet snipers. The poses are highly reminiscent of the characters in the movie Enemy at the Gates, where you see Vasily Zaitsev and his fellow snipers take out German soldiers doing things like laying down phone cable, going on a food run, or the officer taking a shower... The set also contains a military policeman, which is might be a first in my collection. The sculpting and detail on the figures is exquisite, as usual. The equipment on the back of the soldiers is quite elaborate, and I also like how the officer has been sculpted a bit overweight, hinting at the inequities in the distribution of supplies, particularly at this time of the Stalingrad siege. The wrapping on the seated sniper's rifle is also very well done. All in all a great set to complement the ones that came before. 

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part I

Given that I like my figures to be in action/fighting poses, the figures I selected do not include any guys standing guard or just walking. This first set are guys running into battle. Note that the range of weapons represented is quite nice. I really like the guy carrying the panzerschreck rockets on his back, and also the guy carrying the panzerschreck itself. One thing I should have noticed is that most of these guys seem to be running with the right foot forward. I should have taken advantage of the ability to mirror the figures to get some more stepping forward with the left foot. Also interesting is the guy who seems to have just taken a bullet and is crumpling down. Not a big fan of casualty poses given their limited use, but this one can still be part of a charging unit, which is why I ordered it.

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part II

Here's another batch of men advancing. Only one guy is running forward -again, leading with the right foot. The rest are being a bit more cautious. I should also add that once these figures are painted, they look really nice. I have not painted any myself, but a FB buddy -Emil- has and the color brings out a lot of the details that otherwise fades a bit in the plain resin finish. Speira mentioned that even just priming them will do a lot to bring out the details. 

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part III

This batch is mostly firing from a standing position, plus the ammo handler for the panzerschreck. One thing that caught me a bit by surprise is that the machine gunner seems to be firing at a low angle. I suppose he could be used on top of a Normandy beach bluff, firing down on the D-Day landings, or on the second level of a Berlin building trying to hold back the Soviets. In general I prefer my firing poses to shoot at the same level that they stand as that is less limiting, but we'll find a good firing location for this guy. 

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part IV

This last batch are my crouching poses. Good for defensive actions, where it's better to take cover and/or make yourself a smaller target. I find the grenade thrower a bit interesting. Most grenade men, are usually in the throwing position, but it makes sense that before throwing, they ought to spend some time contemplating what would be the most effective way to throw it, or simply waiting for a gap in the opposing fire to make their move. There are two other poses that I like here because they are not fully kneeling. I can see how these guys might be switching between standing/firing and crouching, or maybe they simply want to maintain a small profile while they fire on the go. All in all, a very nice batch of figures.

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part V

A few more German Infantry figures to supplement the platoon. Most notable here are the mortar team and the rifle grenade man. The prone machine gunner is also handy, although a pose that is easier to come by in other sets. And then there's the guy advancing with the MG at the waist. That one is a more unique pose. 

Speira Miniatures German Infantry - Part VI

And a few more heavy weapons. The MG team just needs some sandbags or a short wall to make it all work well together. The rest of the squad is ready to lend some support to their flame thrower buddy as he sets off on his mission. What's interesting about this batch is that all of them are wearing late war puttees, except for the flamethrower guy who is wearing some very nice leather boots.

Hanomak German Infantry Officer

  Hanomak has produced a few extra figures that you can purchase separately. This is a German officer who is surrendering. H is nicely detailed, wearing gloves, spectacles, and his briefcase is lying at his feet. Note that he is also wearing a Y-harness, typically worn by the infantry men to attach and carry their kit/gear. So maybe this guy was a frontline officer, but he looks a bit too polished to me. More like a staff officer who would hang out at the rear, where he would not need to carry around a kit. What do you think? There are three other individual poses that I did not buy. All of them are German casualty figures (one of them a Mountain Troop), lying flat on the ground, too neatly for how you would expect a body to fall, so I took a pass.

Hanomak German Penal Battalion

Hanomak's interpretation of a penal battalion seems to be one in which troops would be heavily engaged in hand-to-hand combat. As you can see, several of these guys are fighting with knives and one of them is even wielding a wrench. I do find it odd though that one of them would be carrying his knapsack at that time. My favorite man in this set is the machine gunner, although we'll need to find the right wall/foxhole/sandbag position to place him so that he can rest the MG. The other two figures are not my favorite ones. The officer's pose and his attitude do not match that of the other figures. You'd expect that if the men are engaged in heavy fighting, the officer would be directing the action and most likely also participating in the fighting. And then there's the casualty figure. I've never been a big fan of those guys. I'd much rather get another action pose.

Plastic Platoon German Infantry Goliath Crew - Summer Uniform

This set represents a Goliath and its crew. The Goliath was essentially a tracked, mobile mine that could be operated remotely. Plastic Platoon came up with a set that contains two such crews. This is the one with summer/non-winter uniforms. As far as I recall, only Revell had produced a Goliath with one operator as part of its set of combat engineers. The figures are nicely done as usual and the officer is done in such a way that he could easily be deployed in other missions without the Goliath. 

Plastic Platoon German Infantry Goliath Crew - Winter Uniform

This is the second half of the set. The main difference is that the crew is wearing long coats. Similarly to the summer crew, the officer, who seems to be intensely engaged, could be easily deployed to coordinate other missions. The Goliath itself comes in four pieces that can be snapped together relatively easily. I suppose that if you want you can glue them together, but in my case that was not necessary. All in all this set scores high both on uniqueness and sculpting detail. 

Plastic Platoon German Infantry MG Crew - Summer Uniform

These guys are half of the MG set. Similarly to the Goliath set, one crew is wearing summer uniforms and the other one is dressed up for the winter. Besides that, the MGs are also a bit different, at least the bases. For instance, this base contains some urban rubble, including a metal beam, which makes it well suited for a setting such as Stalingrad. Some will like this level of detail, but others will likely think that this constrains the set unnecessarily to a specific setting. In my case, I do have a few buildings like that, so they will fit just fine once they are painted. As usual, the figures are very nicely detailed, so this is a MG team that is worth incorporating into my army.

Plastic Platoon German Infantry MG Crew - Winter Uniform

The other MG team is bundled up for winter operations. In addition to the long coats, you can tell that they are wearing other layers underneath. A nice detail is the cloth cover (typically white) on the man firing the gun. Another nice detail is the fact that you can see his corporal insignia on the sleeve of his coat. Lastly, another detail that sets Plastic Platoon's sculpting apart is how he also has the collar of his coat turned up for a bit of extra protection against the wind. A great addition to my unit of German winter troops!

Mars German Tank Hunters

This is a highly specialized set focused on infantry anti-tank tactics. It comes with a nice variety of weapons, including land mines, panzerschrecks (with and without shield), a panzerpfaust, a panzerknacker (hollow charge), and even an improvised bundle of potato mashers. The one weapon that is missing is the anti-tank rifle (panzerbüchse), probably because it fell out of favor by mid-war as armor thickness increased. But still it might have been a good thing to have one instead of three panzerschrecks. I actually don't know if these guys would have been deployed as an independent unit or if they are simply a set meant to represent the range of options used for this purpose. I think I will sprinkle them across my other German infantry units rather than have them all as one.

Speira Miniatures German Winter Infantry - Part I

I got these guys mostly because of their outfits. I like how they are all bundled up for the cold weather of the eastern front (or maybe they are part of the Ardennes offensive?). I also like how there a some guys who are taller/shorter than the others, as it happens in real life. But I wasn't thrilled about the fact that most of them are simply walking or standing around. Other than the poses, the sculpting is fairly nice, well proportioned, with good level of detail -look at those folds in the clothing, the scarves around their heads, and the leather of the boots. These guys are also in Big 1/32 scale, which makes them feel pretty solid.

Speira Miniatures German Winter Infantry - Part II

The mix of weaponry across the 10 figures is also adequate. There are a couple of heavy MGs, 3 subMGs, one officer with a pistol, and three rifle men. And then you also have a bit of variety in the head gear, with couple of them wearing caps instead of helmets, or some of them wearing the cap under their hood of their jacket, and many of them wearing heavy mittens - I guess you had to take those off to be able to pull the trigger. The best pose of them all is the guy on the far right who is charging forward while getting ready to fire his subMG. 

Plastic Platoon German Winter Infantry

And speaking of German winter troops, Plastic Platoon has recently come up with this really nice set! The level of detail on these figures is exquisite. You can even see the fleece lining on the hood of the coats, and you can make out the helmets' insignia. The uniforms are all very authentic, the thickness of the figures is consistent with all the layers of clothing they are wearing, and the captured subMG is a nice touch. The most interesting pieces in this set are the two guys making up the MG team. The reason for that is that the MG itself, along with the hands of the man firing have been sculpted attached to the man where the MG is resting. This means that when you assemble them together, you really need to make sure they line up perfectly. Luckily they do. The other implication is that you can never deploy them separately, unless you took the time to perform some delicate conversions. Another great set from Plastic Platoon!

Plastic Platoon German Winter Infantry Kharkov - Set 2

These guys are a good follow up complement to the previous set. The winter gear is just right. I really like the details like the sheepskin on the inside of some of the coats, or the cloth wrapped around their heads. Another interesting detail is the guy wearing the cap with the ear flaps. Initially I couldn't tell if that was a German or a Soviet cap, but upon closer inspection I realized that it has a German eagle insignia on the front. In terms of poses, I usually prefer fighting poses over wounded guys, but in this case, since these are part of the second set, I am OK with this wounded pose, particularly because it goes well with the medic moving towards him with the bag. Interestingly enough, the medic is holding a pistol just in case. The pose I like the most is the man exchanging the magazine. We don't get many of these, so it is a nice touch. The two other guys, are just good, solid firing poses. Overall a nice set.

Plastic Platoon German Infantry, Battle of Kursk

In retrospective, if these guys represent the units from the Kursk offensive, I should have probably placed them among countryside scenery when I took the pictures, but then again, these guys could fit in any other battle scenario. Note that this is a seven piece set, which is nice. My favorite pose is probably the prone grenade thrower. It resembles a picture I've seen multiple times, taken at ground level and looking slightly upwards towards the face/chest of the man throwing the grenade. If you know which one I am referring to, leave a comment. My least favorite pose has to be the man who just got shot. The way that he is falling feels a bit stiff to me. The other poses are all good action poses, and the man with the wounded/bandaged head adds a nice bit of realism.

Plastic Platoon German Infantry, Battle of Berlin

These guys will go well with the Volkssturm as they make a last effort to prevent the inevitable fall of Berlin. The first interesting bit is the presence of an Indian soldier, likely from the Indian Legion recruited from British POWs. This guy had to fight to the end or face tough consequences if captured. Another thing that they did well is the bases. I know that some folks find them too bulky or constraining in terms of the scene where the men can be used, but in this case, I find them quite appropriate. One of them is standing next to a grandfather clock, and another one is standing next to a broken gramophone, not to mention the several sections of brick wall. The weapons are all good choices for urban fighting, with a panzerpfaust and a panzerschreck, plus other automatic weapons. And similarly to the Soviet guy in the Kursk set, we have a guy handing over his ammo pouches with sub machinegun magazines to a Kamerad. Overall, a good, intense set. 

Hanomak German Infantry 45th Division - Part I

These guys are certainly a unique set. The only other German troops in a raft that I am aware of are the ones that came with the Revell Combat Engineers. These guys can now join them in their river crossing. About the figures themselves, all three fit very well in the contours of the raft. The raft itself feels a bit narrow. They could have probably made it a bit wider and allowed a fourth man to sit in the middle. But I am not complaining. Definitely a nice addition to the German troops!

Hanomak German Infantry 45th Division - Part II

These are the other three figures in the set. I am not sure what they have to do with the raft. We already have enough firing rifle men, or prone guys. And I don't care much about dead poses. So I would have been happier with another raft and a slightly different crew. Or just the raft and crew at half the price. But well, sometimes you have to get some filler figures to get the special ones. 

Hanomak German PAK 40 Gun with Crew

This is a nice set overall. It includes the PAK, the crew and even the sand bags/wall protection. The gun came in several pieces which have to be put together. It does require a good glue to do so, but once it's put together it will stay nicely in place. The crew comes with two loaders, a gunner, and one officer. You can place them in a variety of configurations, although the gunner needs to be sitting and I could not find many places for him to sit while being able to reach the gun. You also get an ammo box which will give the loaders a focal point in your scene. About the wall, I think I would have preferred just the sandbags. The wooden wings seem to be cut off too abruptly and leaves you feeling as though it should be part of a larger trench. Not a big deal and definitely a nice set. 

Plastic Platoon German Winter Infantry Mortar Team

Here we have a 4-man mortar team in winter uniform to complement the two other sets of 'Kharkov' winter German infantry. Even though Plastic Platoon has produced other sets of winter infantry, like the Leningrad set, the thick parkas were not available until the second half of the war, so the Kharkov guys are definitely a better match for these guys. In terms of detail, I like how a couple of these guys have tears in their parkas. Could they be caused by bullets that went between their legs? If so, these guys are some lucky Landser! Another interesting detail is how the officer in charge is doing his best to protect his ears even though he only has one hand free to do so. A good set overall which will provide a very welcome heavy weapons support to my German winter troops!

Hanomak German and Soviet Infantry 'Confrontation' Set

Sets in which figures can't be set up on their own are not my favorite as they limit their usefulness. These guys however seem useful for hand to hand combat scenes and there aren't that many figures like these available. What's most interesting about these guys is that there are two pairs in which there's a Soviet guy stabbing a German and their knives can actually fit into a cavity in the Germans' bodies. In terms of the sculpting, I think that the German man standing on the right, seems to relaxed and straight for the situation that he finds himself in. In that situation he would be leaning forward with bent knees and perhaps his torso also writhing in pain towards his left as he just got stabbed. More like the German guy on the left side who is responding more realistically to the blade sliding into his gut. The guys in the fistfight are fairly decent, although I also think that the Soviet feels a bit stiff. He could be swinging his upper body more.  

Hanomak German PAK 36 with Crew

Another nice set from Hanomak. Both the figures and the gun are nicely detailed. You can see the clearly see the helmet emblems on the crew as well as the hinges and rivets on the gun shield. The gun itself comes in several pieces that must be glued together. I glued everything except for the barrel piece to the carriage so that it can still rotate left and right. In terms of the crew, the firing man is sculpted just right so that he can have his arms around the carriage and the breech. The other two guys are really solid. And this might seem minor, but I am happy that the caliber of the ammo being held by the loader fits the weapon. Sometimes you get gun crews where that's not quite right. A good unit to provide more firepower to your early war German armies. 

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Click here to check out other German Troops

Click here to see a post of the German company in action.

Here are some pictures of German Paratroops in action.

Here you can see German Waffen SS in action.