Gebirgsjäger as Finish troops?

[stimpy]

Hi all

Could I possibly get away with using the warlord gebirgsjäger minis as Finnish troops at all as I really want a winter looking army and I was hoping to use the Russian vets in snow suits too?

Cheers

[Sarmor]

IMHO Russian vets are a better option, although the pilotka (side cap) is incorrect for a Finnish soldier - and I'm not sure whether ushankas are ok or not. Plus the PPSh-41 wasn't that popular with the Finns due to it's unusual calibre, though they did use it sometimes.

As for Gebirgsjäger, their boots and most of the jackets are incorrect, they seem to have too much equipment (looking at photos of Finnish troops, they rarely have backpacks unless on the march), and German weapons were quite rare in the Finnish army.

[Wyrmalla]

That and the models have a liberal number of ropes and pickaxes which make them fairly distinctive. :/

[Hammers]

Yes, the Gebirgsjäger are quite distinct from the Finnish troops. But there area couple of companies who make WWII suitable for the Winter War, Continuation War and the Lapland War.

[pocoloco]

As a Finn I can say: no for the Gebirgsjäger.

Go to the official Finnish Army in WW2 Photo archive at:

http://sa-kuva.fi/webneologineng.html

and check yourself the gear and overall look of Finnish troops during the WW2. Winter Russians and great coat wearing Germans might do ok, at least those are all available in plastic so you can get them fairly cheap. Just arm most of the infantry with rifles and only one SMG per squad for Winter War, two for early Continuation War and three for very late Continuation War and Lapland War. The Russian LMG, DP, is ok for the support weapon as plenty of those were available as war booty from Winter War onwards.

But if you want to use Gebirgsjägers then you can field them as they are as there were German Gebirgsjägers fighting in Lapland during the Continuation War.

[carlos marighela]

In addition to the fairly execrable Warlord Games ones, I converted some of the PSC Russians (28mm natch) for the Continuation War. I decapitated them and swapped in heads from the Wargames Factory Germans. The PSC Russians aren't fantastic, they are a bit soft but a head change helps. The soviet shirt tunic paints up into the Finnish tunic quite well and the small arms are about right. The Finns actually used more captured DP light machine than their own domestic LMG by a factor of at least 2:1.

The one draw back are that most figures have Russian sack style rucksacks. I've removed some, replaced some and left some on. They aren't perfect but they are better than what's currently available for 1941-44.

[ConfederateGrey]

 

That's one of the reasons I use 15mm....

On a 5 man stand, I can use the front 3 of correct unit/uniform, but the two guys in the back can be Italians in speedos, and no one seems to notice....

[moiterei_1984]

That's one of the reasons I use 15mm....

On a 5 man stand, I can use the front 3 of correct unit/uniform, but the two guys in the back can be Italians in speedos, and no one seems to notice....

LOL!
Made my day 

[julesav]

ConfederateGrey - Bravo Sir! I salute you!