What range compares well with Empress 28mm WW2 Germans?

[mkultra99]

Looking to supplement my Empress 28mm WW2 Germans (need more KAR98s). What range compares in size and style? I'm slowly replacing my warlord plastics with Empress.

[Littlearmies]

Have you looked at Offensive Miniatures? They do some nice Germans - their Americans work very well with Empress so I guess the same is true of the Germans!

https://www.offensiveminiatures.com/index.asp

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Empress also make an excellent range of late war Americans and British which are by the same sculptor Paul Hicks and match perfectly.

https://www.empressminiatures.com/great-britain-30-c.asp


https://www.empressminiatures.com/united-states-26-c.asp

[Eclaireur]

mkultra I'm engaged in something similar - though I've decided to keep a Warlord platoon for Normandy / late war summer, and do an alternative platoon for late war winter / defending the Reich. I reached this decision in large part because the Empress figures just didn't fit in well with those larger Warlord ones both size-wise and because of winter dress.

little armies (Mal?) is right that Offensive Miniatures have some smaller 28s and if, for example, your prime interest is the Battle of the Bulge, their new SS castings might fit quite well with your Empress guys. I bought some packs from their Defenders of the Reich range and it's a mixed bag to be honest. There's some lovely figures in there such as the Gaulieter or the police guys. But there are some very wooden looking poses too, for example in Volkssturm pack 3. And there's just way too many anti-tank weapons in these packs, so if you're looking for KAR98s it's an expensive way of buying them...

The brigade games German range is not a bad size mix for Empress ...
http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/BG-WW2G-SQA-German-Squad-A-Advancing10_p_5344.html
some issues with them though also, like the odd shaped MG42s. there's lots of guys with rifles though!

Overall though the real issue is that both of these ranges simply aren't up to the Empress ones, quality wise. The animation, sculpting, and casting is decidedly superior. It's tricky really because the new Empress releases seem to come really slowly and it's hard to know whether to wait for them or seek alternatives ...

EC       

[Ragnar]

Following

[Eclaireur]

Oops! I should have mentioned The Assault Group's late war German range. Very nice. Interestingly these are sort of between the Warlord and Empress ones in size so can be used with both. I've bought a few packs of the standard 'infantry' and that's definitely a summer dress. But the codes listed as 'panzergrenadiere' have clothing a lot closer to Empress for wintry battles in the Ardennes or the last days of the Reich

https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/world-war-ii/late-war-germans/
 

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Then again you could just wait for some more Empress to be sculpted. More Brits just about to be sculpted, more Germans to come, including assault pioneers, mortars, command, etc and Russians are beginning to swarm 

[mkultra99]

Capital idea ol' chap! Pip pip!

[mkultra99]

Opinions on Heer46? So far, nothing comes close to the Empress WW2 line.. I can wait for more releases.. I guess.

[Westfalia Chris]

Opinions on Heer46? So far, nothing comes close to the Empress WW2 line.. I can wait for more releases.. I guess.

I don't (yet) own any of the Empress Miniatures, but have most of the Gebirgsjäger and some of the Fallschirmjäger range from Heer 46. The FJ in particular are a bit on the tall side, possibly bigger figures than even Empress, but the main point would be that they are digitally sculpted and may thus look more noticeably different from Mr. Hicks' "traditional" sculpting style (no qualification of either intended).

Most of my WW2 minis are ooold BTD stuff, but if I were to start over (or do Ardennes/early '45), Empress would be very high on my list, only restricted in their overall versatility due to the warm clothing (thematically, I'm more inclined to Normandy and the Netherlands in '44 for late war). I have a lot of the ex-Anglian SCW range and painted a couple of their Jazz Age Pathans once, though.

[Littlearmies]

little armies (Mal?)

Overall though the real issue is that both of these ranges simply aren't up to the Empress ones, quality wise. The animation, sculpting, and casting is decidedly superior. It's tricky really because the new Empress releases seem to come really slowly and it's hard to know whether to wait for them or seek alternatives ...

EC     

Yes, it is Malc here!

I fell down the Chain of Command well a few months ago and bought a couple of boxes of Warlord plastics...I thought they were so good I placed an immediate order with AB for their 20mm figures which I've been quite happily painting for the last couple of months...My main issues with the American box was that you need at least two boxes to produce a platoon that actually resembles the real life OOB (and of course cartoon sculpting and arms that refused to fit the bodies....). If Empress did GIs suitable for Normandy I'd have bought those in the first place.

[Eclaireur]

Hi Malcolm! Hope Spain is treating you well.
I had all the same issues putting together a 28mm Chain of Command US platoon. I ended up with a mixture of Warlord and Black Tree Design. They will get retired in the not too distant future to be replaced by Perry plastics. A few packs of Empress Americans would blend easily enough into a US platoon built around Perry. The changeover in uniforms happened gradually as replacements came in.

Going back to 2015 when I started playing CoC, I think I would have been better off opting for 20mm because of the superb AB range and extensive ranges of AFVs and scenic accessories. But things are coming good now in 28mm with the Empress and Perry products and I very much like the vehicles in 1/56, such as those made by Rubicon. So no regrets even though I'm impatient for these ranges to grow!
EC

[CaptainHaddonCollider]

Looking to supplement my Empress 28mm WW2 Germans (need more KAR98s). What range compares in size and style? I'm slowly replacing my warlord plastics with Empress.

Warlord does a pack of Winter germans (in metal), and they compare just fine. A few of them are a bit beefy, compared to the slight empress models, but when painted up they look well. I mix both styles in my CoC force for the winter of '44.

[mkultra99]

Ill give them a look thanks!

[Mako]

Good to hear about new minis to come from Empress.

Would love to see some Germans and Russians in action poses, carrying Teller Mines, and other stuff to take out tanks, man to tank, before the Panzerfausts, Panzerschrecks, and RPGs were introduced.

Magnetic mines for the Germans would be appreciated too, along with satchel charges, etc..