Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: ColonelMutumbu on October 22, 2021, 12:42:02 AM
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Just started this project with a German platoon but I picked up some of these French from Wargames Atlantic for the other side and hadn't seen any on this forum before so thought I would post them for others reference, and maybe to get a little sneaky help with gear as I don't recognise what some of the gear on the sprues is supposed to be for.
I have circled in red a couple backpacks I assume that one of these was a replacement for the other. But I have seen photos of ww2 troops wearing a the smaller pack and the big square one if anyone could shed some light that would be great.
The officer is a mock up showing how Warlord Games parts scale on a Wargames Atlantic body and head fairly well I think. Additionally if anyone can identify what he's wearing over his face I would appreciate that as well, I'm assuming its some kind of WW1 trench assault mask or something as they have a full set of other heads with gasmasks
Size comparison photo is Perry on the left, Wargames Atlanticx2 then Warlord games on the right.
The set has a load of bits but does seem to have only 4 Berthier rifles per sprue which means that in a whole box you only get 20 which isn't enough for all the riflemen required for the French platoons in the Blitzkrieg book for Chain of Command. I'm ok with the idea of mixing lebels in there(of which there are 8 on each sprue) as supply issues are a constant struggle in wartime but would be nice to have the option.
Quality in general is good. Some minor shaving of components is needed to get a convincing aiming pose though as the default head/neck combo doesn't hunch down over the sight very well so had to shave a little off the neck. The stand out piece of the kit to me is a lebel on the sprue with the bolt open which matches with a hand inserting a round.
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The two packs are the backpack proper and the haversack (for rations) similar to the British 1908 and 1937 pattern large pack/small pack systems. Most countries had similar items. The haversack could be worn on the back if the pack wasn't worn.
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Thanks for posting! Wargames Atlantic still seem to fall into the trp of wanting to cover too many bases with their poses, and as such lack actual naturalistic poses, like the hunched aim you mentioned having to fix.
Their sculpts have improved a lot since those rather chonky WW1 germans, but even their new Italians look a tad stiff.
That said, I've wanted early war French for years, so I'll definitely pick these up.
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Churned some French men out to get them to tabletop. Group de combat 1 minus the caporal complete. They look a grim bunch, perhaps they know they are being prepared to sell their lives to allow the British to escape the encirclement
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The circled item in the uppermost photo appears to be the haversack from the M1935 pattern equipment, which as pointed out could be worn on the back as a pack.
The item in the lower photo seems to be the main pack from the 1893 equipment. Both items showed up in 1939/40 so you could equip your troops with either. The older equipment was probably more likely to appear on second line/ rear area/ territorial troops.
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Nice looking French infantry. They look determined to sell those lives for a high price...
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Thanks for posting. I've been eyeing these for a while as an affordable option to expand my early war collection.
T