Review; Airfix WWI German Infantry 1/72 Plastic Soldiers Hät Figures Miniatures World War One

A truly super classic, one of the best sets from Airfix, from the deep and muddy trenches of the Somme comes the German WW1 Infantry!!!

The Box

Looks like a comic strip from the 1930s. It looks like you are going to have some very skinny soldiers like the  1st release of WW2 German Soldiers. Lucky that at those times there were windows in the boxes so you saw what you were really getting. 

Now comes the classic box, the one most used. Full of life you must say, although in the illustration they wear cloth covers on their helmets, which none of the soldier does. It is different from the typical illustration, but I really miss seeing more of the actual soldiers you are getting, you see better the British soldier than the Germans you are buying!

Finally, as an alternative, we can see at the artwork of Hat, which during some time were the only producers of this set. Frankly, in my opinion one of the worst artworks of plastic soldier history, it looks like a medieval miniature representation of WW1.

The Figures; representing the first and most iconic of the German Infantry at WW1, with the spiked helmet. 

These figures differ from nearly all other Airfix sets, as they are very chubby and fat looking, maybe only like the British WW2 Paratroopers. This makes them look very different and unique. The range of poses is simply impressive. 20 different poses makes me wish all sets where like this one!

It is a very fun set too, really it has everything you could ask for. A man surrendering, a casualty, a soldier with a rocket launcher (which, although not widespread, is historically correct), the commander, which has been fantastically portrayed, Airfix nailed the Prussian nobility of this man, and the medical staff carrying a wounded man.

It is also, one of the few sets which has two men about to hit with their rifles, and at least one of them, looks mighty strange. (although you could think this as being a bit stupid and unrealistic, during WW1 it was very common that weapons got stuck by poor ammunition cartridge quality, and terrible, desperate hand fights with rifles and bayonets went on both on the forests and trenches).

The grenade thrower has a beautiful greek athletic pose, and it seems that it will throw his grenade at any moment. The other men might be a bit static, but then again, it was mainly a defensive war, so no complaints either in this aspect. 

The casualty one must admit it looks quite strange, at least it is different than the usual casualties given. As it is strange also the prone man looking at his left side.

The machine gun team is a must in any German WW1 set (who could imagine a set without a Maxim gun?), and maybe the most weak spot in this set. The three men seems to be discuting on how to operate the machine gun, or the rise on the prices of frankfurters. None of them seems to be really in combat, and the Maxim is poorly done, and it is very small and puny (and it has huge tendency to get lost as it doesn't fit well either). And you could that three men are unnecesary for such activity.

Figure Production; The figures are the examples of the best figures picked up from various sets I've been amassing through lots purchased from the internet, and sadly there is many qualities to be found. It looks as if the first sets were very nice, without no flash and very crisp, but as production went on, you can find some examples with astounding quantities of flash, making it one of the worst Airfix in this respect. Also, some soldiers ended up losing their feet on the mud! as you can look at the grenade thrower, or the man hitting with his rifle, one of their foots is completely invisible, while there are some examples where this doesn't happen so clearly. Also, some soldiers end up with reduced spikes on their helmets. However, I've had some modern reissues on my hands and these doesn't look so bad, so maybe the problem now has been reduced.

Veredict; All in all, my favourite German WW1 Infantry, and my favourite set amongs the other Airfix WW1 sets. Possibly, even my favourite WW1 set from any manufacturers.... at a dirt cheap price, and being easily available on the shops and internet, I can't see any reason you shouldn't get this set. Possibly the Airfix set which better has survived the passage of time. 

I curiously discovered these soldiers as "WW2 Romanians", as I bought a bootleg set back in my childhood years. Of course, I inmediately realized these were really WW1 Germans for the spiked helmets, no matter I was 6 years old :) . (I suppose they were labelled as such as the shape of the helmet was slightly similar). The bootleg version were very much smaller than the originals, which made them more similar to the other Airfix sets, and they came in a nice yellow and orange-pinkish colour.

First Entry update; Arab Cavalry

I have added a new pic to the first entry, showing another way of painting the Italeri Arab Cavalry by Miniaturas Aconcagua, giving them a very dark and modern movie appearance; 

MEDIEVAL RUSSIAN (or UKRAINIAN) - LW (or Metch/EVO), Middle Ages 1/72 Figures Miniatures

We proceed onto the 5th review, this time, a weird and obscure set, the LW Medieval Russians (so obscure that is also sold with another name, Medieval Ukrainian Army, by Metch, and also sold by EVO)

Here is the original box;

And the Metch one;

If the quality of the box art is proportional to the figures' quality, then you know what to expect in the next lines of this review. The first image is not bad although it seems ancient and is not very appealing ,and the second one (the one I bought) you have to be 5 minutes guessing what you are really buying, only to find out that it is impossible if you don't open the box, adding to it that it was just a sloppy printed ordinary paper glued with paper glue, I don't know why I really bought them.  

This is what there is inside the small box;

SCULPTING - 4.0 out of 10

I am sorry that the image isn't good enough, hope the painted pics at the bottom can give you a better idea. These are a sort of Strelets wargaming figures, very stubby and quite fat. But these also have huge long noses (yes, it isn't a typo, I have said noses!). All the same you could say that they are better than the worst Strelets sets, because at least they retain the proportions (more or less).

Another curiosity, is that this set is directly (and without any doubt) copying two poses, concretely the horses, because the first is a Esci horse modified with a bit of armour, which makes the rider seem gigantic and is actually taller than the horse! and a Zvezda Mongol horse with two added sacks (and without the stand, and they don't stand on their own, so you either glue them to a diorama or you have to make the stand yourself ), which seem to carry either potatoes (historically inaccurate) or rocks. Well, I suppose they could be apples too.

You are given three separate weapons, which are not really adequate - here nearly everybody will throw them directly to the rubbish, I have reused some, but better be preparing some spare spears.
All the poses are not in  combat situations, just the 3 foot men without weapons- you could say they are "prepared" to fight, albeit if in defensive situation. The other ones are just marching, guarding or standing by, so this limits a lot what you can do with them.

You are also given a dead man, I never like dead men in a set, but in a 48 figure set this can be acceptable, and inclusively can be a nice addition. In a 8 or 16 figure set,it is outrageous (in the painted examples below I have modified them to be "alive", up and fighting!, although they have a rather flat side)

HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 9.5

The historical accuracy here is at least very high, everything is right and you really cannot say much against. Maybe the design of the dead knight is a bit too western, but it is quite acceptable.


ARMY REPRESENTATION - 7.0

"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

 This set can be really only be used to represent eastern medieval kingdoms, Poland, Ukraine (as Metch sells them), the various Russian kingdoms (Vladimir-Suzhdal, Novgorod, etc) and maybe late Lithuanian.  

FUNNESS - 7.0

"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and just boring. So I feel that this is an important consideration when deciding if you buy this set"

Even if they have few poses, all the poses are very rigid, and you get very few men. The funness of this set is its bizarreness (if this word exists ) ; the figures have quite a unique feeling to them, and the leaders have a lot of charisma, as of wealthy and important dukes or nobles. 

The Metch set includes some orthodox paper flags, and some typical Bum tents. The flags are useful, and you can give the tents to a more suitable army.

WARGAMING VALUE - 2.0

Depending on which set you buy, you are given either 8 men (totally unacceptable quantity) or 16, which is a bit better considering you are given 4 horses (in the case of Metch). But if you are a wargamer, keep away from this set. The only good thing is  it will give you leaders and different men, and if you have all the sets for slavic medieval armies, it can come in handy just for the sake of variety.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 2.0

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

In this case, these are some of the rarest sets you can try to own. They aren't sold by eBay (at least at the moment, but as usual, you can always try to search), though god help you if you want to get hold of them. I paid in a retail shop 11,95 €, which was a bad purchase in all senses (I might have a super rarity now, but at that  moment I just had 16 very expensive fat miniatures).



PAINTING AND GLUING - 4.5

The plastic is a bit slippery, and it glues very badly ( but which you will probably need to d). The only good thing is the detail is sharp and you see what  you paint.

OVERALL VALORATION - 6.0

They might score very low in many, many aspects, and now they are not the only Ukrainian Medieval men, but their weirdness makes them special. If you can get them (the 16 figure Metch set) at a reasonable price by all means do it, but that wouldn't be more than 4 or 5 €. 


PAINTED EXAMPLES
"Your figures could appear here if you want! just send me a email with the pictures to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I´ll gladly include them"

 These figures have been painted and modified by myself. I have given spears to the soldiers. To make them more natural, I used some of the flags originally given by Metch , and I  have also made some shields and stands for the cargo horses.

EDIT;

Another interesting way of painting them by Miniaturas Aconcagua;

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

HEBREW WARRIORS - Caesar Miniatures, Biblical Era 1/72 Figures Miniatures

We proceed onto the third review, this time, a Caesar set, the polifacetic Hebrew Warriors


Here is the box artwork;

Why Caesar have chosen this semi-renacentist style for their boxes? beats me. I have been actually convinced not to buy some Caesar sets just by the awful box art. 

But in this case, they could have given me a blank box and I would have bought them anyway. The only positive point about the box art is that makes Caesar Miniatures recognizable. 

The box art shows many poses which you don't get, and gives you the sensation that you are buying a bunch of rebels with just spears and slings.

This is what there is inside the small plastic bag;

SCULPTING - 9.0 out of 10

Nobody beats Caesar on details -you should know that!- and although there is a couple of weird poses or anatomical movements, it gets a quite high valoration. The height is strictly 1/72, which is very appreciated in these times were nearly all miniatures are "growing". 

All the details are fantastically clear and sharp.  You don't have to guess what they are wearing or were the sleeve starts  or whatever, you can clearly see it.

The man advancing whilst  jumping, (the second last figure in the pic above) is holding a weapon, but none of the weapons given seem to give a good impression. 

One could say that the musculature in the archer seems exaggerated .They hadn´t put a foot in a gym in all their lives, so I am ok with that.


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 6.0

Don´t get me wrong, there isn't anything like "that is a greek helmet"  " or a hebrew warrior never  carried thasort of shield", but the set tries to capture the first wars of the Hebrews till the revolts against the Romans. That is about 3000 years, and is tiny bit too much. Some are soldiers, other civilians or if you prefer rebels.

Each figure should be really analyzed. The leader depicts Samson (why him and not King Solomon or King David escapes me), which fought only with the jawbone of a donkey and killed thousands of Philistines (quite impressive, for a donkey jawbone). The female figure seem to represent Delilah, although you are given 4 of them. The figure with seashell also seems to represent a historical character, and you could hypothesize that the old man hurling a stone is indeed Moses, although in my opinion he is a rebel Hebrew throwing a tile at the Romans as in the Ben Hur film. 

Oddly, you are not given 2 unique figures as normally with Caesar, instead we are given two palace guards, the only regular troops we can spot here. 

Another ahistorical thing, is even if the figures seem to fit better with being rebel Hebrews, they are given bronze age weapons and not a single spear besides the two palace guards, so here you will need to have a good repertoir of weapons to make them a realistic Masada army.

Finally, the man with the mace seem a arab bedouin, which doesn´t seem to fit here.

If we leave out a couple of figures, this set will be better used as Hebrew Rebels during Vespasian or Titus' reign.


ARMY REPRESENTATION - 9.0

"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

 This set gives you endless possibilities about making Middle East armies, at least half of them could be very useful for making Assyrian auxiliaries,or you could use them to make Phoenicians, Mitanni light infantry, Babylonian auxiliaries, and many, many more. Both archers could be used for hundreds of armies and civilizations.

FUNNESS - 8.0

"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important slant on deciding if you buy this set"

This set is strong on funness. The hero Samson, the man hurling a stone, the man with the seashell, makes if a bit strange set a quite fun one. 

Although one could say also that the theme could give even more fun figures, like a King Solomon, a Herodes, prophets, or many more.

WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0

You are given a leader, which is always nice, but for the rest the heterogenic nature of this set doesn't work very well with wargaming. I mean, a stone hurlers unit wouldn't be useful, although it will be excellent for a diorama.

You should be given more ordinary troops like the two palace guards, in different poses, etc.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.9

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

I had to pay at that moment (some years ago) a whooping 12 € for them (at that moment, the most expensive 1/72 figures that were available), as usually in retail stores, they are very expensive. But in eBay, they are quite affordable, like 10 € or less, and having the quality they have, it is worth the money.


Search for Caesar Hebrew Warriors on eBay here

PAINTING AND GLUING - 8.5

As can be said for all Caesar, the plastic is a sort of rubber that is rough and not slippery.Even if still a bit too dark maybe, a lighter grey would have been better. They can be nicely glued. A bad thing is that they come many times with bent lances or bent bases,( which in theory  can be solved with hot water ), although many return to their bad poses again.

OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5

It is  overall a very nice set, and as with 99 % of Caesar sets, worth having. 


PAINTED EXAMPLES
"Your figures could appear here if you want! just send me a email with the pictures to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I´ll gladly include them"

 These figures have been painted by myself.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

Today we talk about... Zvezda 1/72 Zaporozhian Cossacks 8064

Welcome to the second entry of this blog. This time we'll change the era and we'll speak of a 16th century set, the Zvezda Zaporozhian Cossacks.

Here is the box artwork;

Box art is good and absolutely shows everything you get (11 poses), which is very welcome in this world of box arts that show you great figures that you never get. The quality of the drawing is very high as in all Zvezda boxes.

And also as usual in Zvezda, on the back we find a clear picture of everything given, and superbly painted, that functions as a great guide when it comes to painting. 

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 7.5 out of 10

Nothing to complain about here. The detail could be a bit sharper everywhere, it´s  kind of a bit "diffuse", if compared to other manufacturers such as Caesar Miniatures, but everything is well done. 

About the height, they are a bit taller than   they should be for 1/72, but it´s not very important. 

What is a bit worse, is that the mounted figures are as tall as the dismounted figures, this in the same set, which is a bit of common problem in Zvezda, where all cavalrymen seem bigger than the foot soldiers. 


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 9.0

This set shows that it is supposed to cover from the 16th to the 18th century, this is maybe stretching it a bit ; they are better used as 17th century.

Maybe we are missing a bit more firearm weapons, but as it is a set that stretches across 3 centuries this is acceptable.

The cannon on the wagon would have to be subjected in a more sturdy way; it seems that it could snap with a single shot.

Besides this, I see a very good historical accuracy.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 3.5

They don´t score too highly in this aspect, as their clothes, weapons and haircut limits their use to just what they are, Cossacks, although they could pass for some other nomadic tribe of the same time era, like the Astrakhan Khanate, or Kazan peoples.

The cavalrymen with the lance doesn't have anything that identifies him specially as a Cossack, and could be really a russian soldier of the same era.



FUNNESS - 8.3

"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important point when deciding if you buy this set"

Making  so bellicose a tribe as the cossacks means they need to have aggressive and combative poses, and these are well made here. We don´t get any "I am just passing by" pose, nor "I don´t know what to do now" pose.

The only lack here is, first, we could have a few more  poses, although thanks to removable arms you can modify slightly each pose and give them a bit more life.

The big drum is something very nice and appreciated. The three drummers  maybe are too many,  one or two  would have been probably  enough.

We are given, as always, 3 unique figures, which is hugely appreciated.  

Also we are given 9 sacks, probably of gunpowder, or maybe some smuggled goods. It is a very nice touch to fill  the wagon up a bit.

The wagon with cannon is also a very fun addition, this will give plenty of life for the dioramas and the like. 
Curiously we are not given horses to attach, so we'll have to draw them from another set, but it is not really a problem if you have a good range of other sets.

A 

WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0

Wargaming value here is not very big, as we know Zvezda tries to give you a bit of everything and you end up with few figures, so you would have to buy another set or use it along with the Orion Ukrainian Cossacks.For a wargamer maybe you'll prefer the Orion Cossacks, which are more standard and better, but you would have to also purchase their cavalry then to have a full army. 

All the same Zvezda gives you the musicians and flagbearer which Orion doesn't have.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

The average eBay price is 12 €. I was lucky to get mine from a retail shop for just 6,50 €, so that was a great price. 12 €  might seem a bit steep, but you are given 8 cavalry figures, 19 infantrymen and one wagon, and many brands will take 10 € just for 12 cavalrymen, so it´s not too bad.


PAINTING AND GLUING - 3.5

They are made with the typical Zvezda plastic, which is quite bad to glue and worse to paint, always very slippery. If you dont apply a good primer, you´ll have to apply two or three coats of paint.

About glueing, fortunately everything fits so well that glue is hardly needed. 


OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5

It is in overall a very nice set, and as with 99 % of Zvezda sets, worth having. If you are a true Cossack enthusiast, this is a must. If you want to have a nice representation of the Cossacks, this is also a must. Either way, it will probably be a good purchase, even if the Orion infantry and cavalry sets are quite nice too.

I am not specially a follower of this era,  my main interests being pre-16th century and WWII, but these were so nice and they just asked to be bought. 


PAINTED EXAMPLES

 These figures have been painted by myself.

Now, thanks to Model Maniac, a great modeller and miniature painter, his rendition of this great set;

You can see more of Model Maniac's work on his website; http://www.falconbbs.com/

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua, we can show you yet another great way of painting them!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

Today we talk about... ITALERI ARAB WARRIORS 1/72 (SARACEN CAVALRY) nº6126

In this first entry of the blog, we´ll speak of a relatively new set of soldiers. It is the Italeri Arab Warriors, which really seems  a set to correctly represent the artwork of the Italeri Saracen Warriors (originally made by Esci).

First we´ll take a look at the box artwork;

A nice box which I think compells you to buy the set, which is basically it's objective. If you are the type of Diogenes syndrom guy like me that collects  boxes, it is a fine example.

For once, the artwork depicts what you get. But I miss the three cavalrymen in the background, which would have been great additions and we don't get them, specially the flagbearer, but this can be solved with a bit of modification. 


Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 7.8 out of 10

We see here a very nice level of detail. Everything is crisp and this helps a lot with the painting. The only flaw is that in some points, detail is not present for moulding reasons, making the man with lance to have a big blob behind his shield, and the horse riding archer doesn´t really have a face.

These will be really a 8.8, but they have the typical Italeri problem (and a problem that is spreading to all the manufacturers in our days); if they claim to be 1/72, they are rather tall and big. A dismounted man is as tall as a Esci mounted soldier, that is much more accurate in height. This is clearly made to make more easy the painting, moulding,and to see better the details... but it is nonetheless wrong, and if you want to place this cavalry along with men of Esci or other makes, they seem a bit weird.

On the good side, there absolutely no flash at all, and as is usual with Italeri, their quality controls makes it nearly impossible to find a set with flash or moulding defects.


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 8.2

This set is labeled as "Arab Warriors", not even cavalry, to fit the highest possible range. But the inclusion of the second figure in the row, which clearly wants to depict Saladin, establishes that these figures have to be Fatimid Cavalry of the period 1163 ad to 1193 ad. 

Some figures seem to wear a rather elaborate kind of clothes and armour, and they seem to represent warriors of a later period.

The horse riding archer, which represents a Turkic mercenary, has a quite weird helmet, which is probably a adaptation of the sculptor which really is very sloppy. You can compare with the artwork to see how wrong it is.

As with nearly all sets, the given lance is a bit too short. I can´t say they were not used, but the most probable thing is that you wouldn´t use a charging lance that barely sticks past your horse.




ARMY REPRESENTATION - 8.5

These soldiers have a good level of "Army representation", that is, how many kingdoms and armies you can represent using them.

If we forgot the "Saladin" figures, this could represent many Arab armies from the 1100 to the 1400, like the Abbasid Caliphate, the Kwarizmian Empire (if we discard the camel rider), Ayyubid Sultanate, the Mamluk sultanate and the various arab kingdoms there were in Tunisia.

The exception to this is the camel rider, which could be used from the rise of Islam to the colonial wars with the Mahdi in Sudan!.



FUNNESS - 7.8

Yes, I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important statistic on deciding if you buy this set.

They are nicely done with active and combative poses, something that is greatly appreciated. But we find one big problem; we are clearly given 3 Saladins, which makes you have to discard two of the figures, and the Saladin we get, is one that is a bit dull. 

The best one is clearly the camel rider, as it is a very under-represented aspect of the Arab armies.

They could have a higher score if they gave you some more poses.

Another fun aspect, is that you get some of the figures that were pictured in the Italeri reissue of the Esci set, the Saracen Warriors;

Both mounted archers in the first picture are exactly reproduced in this set. Clearly a lot of people complained (like myself!) that we were shown something we didn´t get at all, and you can only thank Italeri for making them. In the second pic we can see two non produced,as yet, figures, but at least we´ve got the horse, which has been also perfectly reproduced in this set.

We can only wait until we will get some of the other infantrymen!

WARGAMING VALUE - 7.6

We lack a bit some poses here, like a flagbearer, a musician, etc. We are really given  very distinct types of troops - a Turkic mercenary, a camel rider, a lancer and a swordsmen who look like heavy cavalry or the Sultan´s guard, and finally 3 leaders which can only be Saladin. 

There are too few poses to make a good overall Arab Cavalry, and they are too distinct to represent a single body, so you´ll have to complement them (not too easy with their height!) with others or make some modification to them to get them up to high wargaming level.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay. This appears to be between 8 GBP-10 €-12 $, which seems somewhat high. You are given 15 figures, but you nearly have to discard two of them. In my case I bought my set at a retail store at a quite good price (8 €), which makes them better.


PAINTING AND GLUEING - 9.5

They are made with a semi-hard plastic, which is really adequate for painting them. It also works well with glue. The details are sharp everywhere, and this makes painting them a very easy task.


OVERALL VALORATION - 8.0

Even if they have some flaws, these are the best Arab Cavalry that there are out there, and knowing that nearly all the manufacturers have already made one (we are only waiting for what Zvezda could do, which probably will be better, giving you more poses, a unique leader, and more men, but it doesn't seem it is on their line of future releases, at least at the moment), I strongly advise you to buy this set.

Finally, as will be done with all sets, I show you examples of the painted figures so you can fully appreciate their possibilities;

These have been painted by myself. Note that the 4th figure is a home made soldier, the 5th is a conversion using a "Saladin", and the flag bearer is another conversion of a Saladin figure (in the last pic).

24/10/2013; I update my first entry with another way of painting them, this time by Miniaturas Aconcagua (click on the pic to enlarge);

Make any comment! We´ll love to read it! If you want to share your painted version of this set, send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com with the subject "Painted Soldiers" and I will include them in this post.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!