Warlord Volksturm

[Captain Blood]

A few nice figures in there, but overall, +1 to the detractors of the cartoon style.

I bet the concept sketches looked good - and the ideas are good. Unfortunately, the execution is poor. Some of the helmets look completely wrong - and by the way, on schoolboys in shorts, steel helmets would look massively outsized. (Helmets not scaling neatly up and down in line with the head of the wearer).

I'm really not into political correctness but in HJ being a touchy subject in itself its beyond me why a Company deems it necessary to put a Kid in crosshairs on the Box Cover...

Because Warlord's marketing has long been a byword for crassness. Never forget this is the outfit who's promotional blurb brought you the 'sexy' Waffen SS a couple of years back (I believe they subsequently issued retractions and apologies), and on a later product launch bleated on about the glorious, undefeated German armies... In short, Warlord seem to have an unhealthy, tabloid fascination for all things WW2 German. Coupled with a laddish, 'It's your super, soaraway Sun' tone and style, this often makes for uncomfortable reading. Naff, puerile, and occasionally borderline offensive. Sorry to word it so strongly, but I find the whole approach repellent. So I no longer buy their products.
But they seem to keep on growing, so I guess they know their target market, and there are plenty of wargamers out there who go for this kind of schtick...

[carlos marighela]

Indeed. There appears to have been an earlier cut of the blurb which said something along the lines of 'Frenchmen fighting with the Germans against their common Bolshevik enemy' or something like that. Could have been lifted straight from Signal or perhaps the Daily Mail.

I have some of their British paras, the ones Paul Hicks sculpted. Very nice, their newer stuff is dreck. Their vehicles aren't bad although they are a little hit and miss QC wise and none of their resin kits that I have purchased to date has been a patch on JTFM, Company B or FoA. The one thing I will give them unstinting praise for is their plastic T-34 kit. That really is a superb little model.

[Arrigo]

mixed release,

I agree they are a bit cartoonish. I agree that they have lost the style of the original Paul Hicks releases (but the, Paul Hick's sculpted, Chindits are good. I agree that I do not like them so much... I disagree they are inferior. Saldy labelling something we do not like as 'inferior' is tad extreme. They are different and probably aimed at a different target audience. If you read what mr. Priestly wrote on Wargames illustrated about Bolt Action (the game) you realize that is indeed a Commando comic book. I assume they had their reasons for the change and, despite the 'countless of contrary opinions' thread they had done their own market research. I do not see Warlord doing something they do not expect to generate revenue.

Well for several of the guy of the Charlemagne the Bolshevism was their common enemy (before you start to yell at me I am quite politically  neutral... in Italy some consider me an awful right-winger... but some of my best friend are members of the Chinese Communist Party and I do not like Italian right wing political parties... so I have no stakes here, I just point out that the blurb was indeed correct). It is not different from the tabloid style of Flames of War (with the exception that everyone get those morale boosting speeches... I am sure they will do something similar for the Kempetai too...  ). It is a style that attract a certain group of wargamer, the one who have been subjected to 40k racism... well it is time for a digression...

I like science fiction, I also play computer games, until recently in Italy we had a monthly magazine that beside giving us effective reviews of games was also giving us a free game title each issue. Once they gave  one of the space marine games. I do not say no to a potentially good game and tried it. The game was pretty fun at moment, and certainly an AAA title... but the racism in every speech from a space marine was so much that I stopped to play and un-installed the game...

Well this is me, but there are plenty of wargamers that have no problem with 40k background and they are moving to World War Two right now. They are at ease with such talk. But I am slo sure that a majority of them just think of this as fluff and are not distraught like me...  said that there is also a significant portion of the wargame public that thinks German troops are perfect...

Well what I have to say in the end? Like the box more or less... cannot buy it right now... I do not have sufficient buildings for a Berlin street fighting in 28mm. Probably I will do it in 15mm... but the Nazi Party official (the golden pheasant) it is funny in his own right... and as much I do not buy many warlord right now, some are nice. I am happy with my plastic USMC and my plastic IJA.

Arrigo

[Finisterrae]

For reasons already mentioned I think this box is more spooky then the one with zombies, but to be fair:

Some of the helmets look totally wrong.

That´s because that some of the poor chaps seem to use captured (French?) helmets.

[Weird WWII]

Finally some HJ and BDM minis!  A good addition to a subject that is often overlooked in WWII ranges.

I'll be getting mine,
Brian

[CaptainHaddonCollider]

For reasons already mentioned I think this box is more spooky then the one with zombies, but to be fair:

That´s because that some of the poor chaps seem to use captured (French?) helmets.

They do indeed. Along with captured mosin rifles, czech helmets, austrian carbines and whatever else was stored in the german warehouses as left-overs from conquered nations. For a quick overview on the HJ and Volkssturm, try reading Ospreys "Hitler Youth 1933-1945, it gives a relativley good idea of what sort of scratch-units was formed in the defence of germany.

As for the look and "feel" of Bolt Action these days, I'm quite happy with the sculpts. I wasn't around in the golden days when all the sculpts were more realistic, but I used to read "Commando" comics and my gramps so the "cartoony" look is good enough for me. I like the fact that there is such a good variety amongst us wargamers and that nearly all preferences are catered for by one company or another - and I think that a constant discussion of the subject matter of our games is a healthy way of enjoying our common hobby.

[FramFramson]

Maybe they're a bit too cartoony, but I don't find them egregiously so. Except perhaps that officer, but then again... have you ever seen a photo of Hugo Sperrle? In any case, if you want a SERIOUS BUSINESS nazi official, I'm sure those aren't in short supply for a swap.

No, I'm much happier to see someone actualy releasing volksturm and HJ releases, period. They really are required for proper late-war german gaming and there's not enough of them by any means.

[westwaller]

Didn't some other company release HJ? I think Cubs painted them for whoever it was.

I totally agree with the words of the good Captain Blood on this subject.

Another vote for not liking the Warlord comic book style. I don't mind expressive faces or characterization but Warlord's Edvard Munch 'The scream' style heads as seen on some of their other stuff, are ridiculous. Is it the sculptors own style or the one that Warlord requests specifically, I wonder.
Who is the sculptor? Is it Wotjek?

I hope the Perrys expand their line of WW2 stuff further so everyone can use their wonderful, beautifully observed and proportioned miniatures for their WW2 gaming. Although I shall add that I like (most) of the Artizan WW2 range as well.

[carlos marighela]

Great Escape Games?

[FramFramson]

Didn't some other company release HJ? I think Cubs painted them for whoever it was.

I totally agree with the words of the good Captain Blood on this subject.

Another vote for not liking the Warlord comic book style. I don't mind expressive faces or characterization but Warlord's Edvard Munch 'The scream' style heads as seen on some of their other stuff, are ridiculous. Is it the sculptors own style or the one that Warlord requests specifically, I wonder.
Who is the sculptor? Is it Wotjek?

I hope the Perrys expand their line of WW2 stuff further so everyone can use their wonderful, beautifully observed and proportioned miniatures for their WW2 gaming. Although I shall add that I like (most) of the Artizan WW2 range as well.

The Artizan range is really nice, but sadly it's extremely patchy.

[westwaller]

Yeah, Great Escape games, just had a look.

Yes the Artizan range is patchy. some of the proportions of arms, in certain poses are a bit off too. There is plenty of good stuff there though.

I think the other issue with Warlord is the casting quality, unless they have resolved that. I have their US Paras and frankly, they are a bit of a mess and take a lot of time cleaning. Nearly all the gun barrels are badly bent too.

[Cubs]

I had a hard time painting the Hitler Youth for Great Escape Games. I understand it happened, and I'm probably on thin ice to try to split hairs between certain aspects of war and others, but there are some things I prefer not to model. Child fighters fall into that category.

It was paying work and I didn't think twice when I took the job, but during the painting process they stopped being models and became frightened kids. I don't think I could accept another such commission.

Having said that, one reason I was so affected was the fact that the models were so damn good. I'm not a Wotjek fan and these are more of his same cartoon style that Warlord produce when they don't ask Mr Hick to make nice stuff.

[Mahwell skel]

In respect of the comic book style I don't think you would find anyone at Warlord unhappy about these comments. I always assumed they named the company after the late 70s early 80s comic book and if that is correct then their figures certainly capture that style fantastically well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord_(DC_Thomson)

I would post up some of the covers but a lot feature symbols not welcome on this forum.

I don't think anyone would agree that Warlord commission figures to be offensive.

I would rather think they do it as a nod to the comic book. The French SS look great.

Didn't flames of war fall foul of using inappropriate language in their second Art of War book?

[Mainly28s]

In respect of the comic book style I don't think you would find anyone at Warlord unhappy about these comments. I always assumed they named the company after the late 70s early 80s comic book and if that is correct then their figures certainly capture that style fantastically well.

You're possibly right, but why remove perfectly good, well-sculpted figures from the market? If they're so keen on the comic-style figures, why not put them out as a separate range instead of annoying the heck out of the rest of us? Insecurity on their part?

[AzSteven]

They sell more to their US market that way.

Really?  sigh...