A review of the Warlord Games German Pioniers(en...) boxed set!

[grant]

http://soldatetain.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/warlord-games-german-pionieren/

A good box?

[Cubs]

Sounds like it suffers from the same malaise as all the Warlord/Bolt Action stuff - ie. the issues with scale and proportion.

From my own experience, I love the metals (sculpted by Paul Hicks) and don't like the plastics (sculpted by Wojtek); the two are very different in style. The plastics have oddly gurning faces still, plus in the past although the figures themselves were that standard 'slightly chunkier than reality' wargaming style, the equipment and weapons were made true to life. 

This resulted in many broken weapons when trying to release them from the sprue, and they looked like tiny children's toys in the models' hands.

I know Warlord said they were going to redesign the plastic weapons to solve the problem, but it sounds like there's still a gulf between the metal and the plastic. Not great if they're meant to sit side-by-side, even worse if these are metal components for a plastic set.

I still don't like the poses achieved with the plastics either; they all look like their clothes are a bit itchy, with their limbs poking out as far from the body as possible. This is not necessary in a plastic multi-pose set, as the Perry brothers have ably demonstrated.

Still, it sounds like there's plenty of positive in there too, so this will still sell no doubt.

[Poiter50]

Do you use the Golden brand Coarse Pumice Gel as the base cover material and then paint over the top of that?

[Agis]

Sounds like it suffers from the same malaise as all the Warlord/Bolt Action stuff - ie. the issues with scale and proportion.

From my own experience, I love the metals (sculpted by Paul Hicks) and don't like the plastics (sculpted by Wojtek)...

Can't agree more, a shame that Hicks did not sculpt the plastic...

[Sangennaru]

Interesting review, thanks.
now i know what to keep an eye on, before ordering this metal + plastic kits =)

[Gibby]

Warlord's WW2 plastics are, in my humble opinion, the worst 28mm WW2 figures available. Cubs summed it up just about right. Their very obvious GW-esque routine with their army books and branded box sets is a bit off-putting as well (regardless of how much business sense it makes).

[Sangennaru]

well, i've some VERY BAD WW2 figures around here, mind you!
maybe they're not the worst, but i understand your point

[Gibby]

I suppose I was a bit harsh calling them the worst. That Wojtek's sculpting style just doesn't do it for me at all. Gurning faces and hand hands, etc.

[grant]

The faces are very unique. The British set has some right-out-of-commando comic faces, and one will either love them or hate them.

The Warlord Blitzkrieg Germans are some of the best to date for their WWII line, I think. The faces are much more restrained, and the plastics are very nice. It's too bad the heads are that smidge bigger in the metal, though.

Now, compared to my US Airborne - the metal sculpts (these are the ones without their new separate heads) are miles above the plastics. Same for the British Airborne. The old Bolt Action line was excellent too. Once they take the heads off, they fall down a fair amount, unfortunately. So if you are getting some metals, and they don't have removeable heads, get lots before they change them.

Looking forward to painting these guys, and seeing how they will fit with my other Warlord minis http://soldatetain.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/3-panzer-division-somewhere-in-russia/

[grant]

Do you use the Golden brand Coarse Pumice Gel as the base cover material and then paint over the top of that?

Exactly! I put it on, let it dry, and then prime and paint after that. It's great stuff. Once all the painting is done, I still flock etc.