"Recommendations for 20mm Russian Infantry?" Topic

Hi, everyone!
This is my first post in TMP.
I've started miniature wargaming with (gasp) Warhammer 40K, and naturally gravitated toward more realistic battles :)

At the moment, I'm collecting a small force of Germans and Russians to recreate Eastern Front battles.

For AFVs, I've found that the 20mm plastic kits by Italeri, Revell, Dragon and such are relatively inexpensive and yet are of very high detail and quality.

However, I don't think I like the look of the infantry models made by these manufacturers, even though their prices are extremely attractive.

Looking around for more "dynamic" infantry figures, I came across the highly recommended AB Miniatures, and was totally blown away!
But unfortunately, they don't seem to make any Russian infantry.

Could someone recommend me a good alternative, with pictures?

My research pointed me to manufacturers like Stonewall, Warmodelling/Fantassin, TQD, Millicast, SHQ and FAA, but their official sites either don't have any photos of their models, or their photos are too small to really appreciate what their models look like.

I'm aware that the Guild gallery has many photos using these figures, but I found it difficult to search for specific models.

Thanks, in advance!

The Fantassin range is nice, but a little on the tall side. The old Combat line now made by Stonewall and FAA are also good figures. The FAA line has some nice figures, but are very small next to Fantassin.

Battlefield also has an excellent range, including the nicest early war Russians.

Also in plastic maybe try the new set by Strelets. They look like they will fit in with metal figures.

I don't have the Strelets set yet, but I use Fantassin, Battlefield, FAA, Combat, and Friend & Foe together. Any size differences disappear in the mass.

Thanks for your suggestions, Hrothgar.

Are these the correct links to get them?

Fantassin
warmodelling.com

Stonewall
stonewallfigures.co.uk

FAA
link

Battlefield
battlefieldminiatures.co.uk

Could you provide a link for Strelets or Friend & Foe?
Google is returning too many results to sort through…

Also try SHQ, rather nice figures

link

Tally Ho!

SHQ figures didn't look so good when I checked out their website, but maybe it's the paint job that didn't appeal to me aesthestically.

Where can I see more pictures of them?

You may visit this website:

plasticsoldierreview.com

link

The Friend or Foe firgures are sold through Shellhole Scenics.

BTW I highly recommend their Soviet Factory Defenders. Very nice partisan/worker's militia types.

strelets-r.com

Strelets only make one new set of Red Army infantry for 1941.

elheim do some lovely Germans and Russians, sgt major minis also are nice.

available here

elhiemfigures.com/index.html

If you join the guild there is a living gallery of known figs painted and unpainted

cheers
matt

If you don't mind plastic infantry

link

I have Germans from Pegasus and they are excellent. Don't know about their Ivans, but they would be worth checking out.

For metals I collect Britannia minis. They are cartoonish and don't match with anything else. But I love them.

Irregular do some jolly decent Russians.

irregularminiatures.co.uk

"SHQ figures didn't look so good when I checked out their website, but maybe it's the paint job that didn't appeal to me aesthetically."

I agree: the "official" pics of the Soviets are painted in a "stripey" style that seems to be in vogue in some circles, but I find it awful: shading taken to the exponential limit! (And no, I am not knocking your taste if you like that, those of you who do--I'm just stating that it looks neither realistic nor attractive to ME.)

However, I have many SHQ figures, and they are generally very good. You just need to paint them in a way that you like. The best Soviets in 20mm, IMHO, were Battlefield, but apparently, the owner has discontinued the entire line with no public notice. If you can find some in a shop or second-hand, they are superb.

Good luck, and welcome to WWII gaming!

Most of my stuff is Fantassin, which is great,but the Elhiem stuff, of which I have a little, is fabulous!(apart from the revolting slotta bases) AB are brilliant for tank riders and tank crews, plus they do some lovely un-based officer types
Friend and foe stuff is ok, but a bit less detailed than the above.
lots of pics here,

link

and here:

link

with further links on the blog to many more pics

and Britannia? quite dynamic vast range of resin vehicles etc etc
link
and direct to them
link

If you join the guild there is a living gallery of known figs painted and unpainted

I've heard a lot about this "living gallery" all across TMP, but it seems difficult to actually search for pictures of a model I want to look up.

For example, I wanted to see pictures of QRF's infantry ranges yesterday. I searched for "QRF", and it only turned up 1 picture of a vehicle, and no results for infantry at all.
I tried "quick reaction force", and no results were returned.

Are there some special tips for searching The Guild's gallery?

I'm leaning heavily towards Fantassin and Elhiem at the moment. Thanks for all your helpful comments!

If you liked the GW stuff you might like Valiant's 1/72 range
valiantminiatures.com
What ruleset are you using?
P.S. I know Hariomer mentioned it already but Plastic Soldier Review is an indispensable resource for 1/72 plastic figures.

If you liked the GW stuff you might like Valiant's 1/72 range

The thing about Valiant Miniatures is that they don't seem to carry any Russian infantry.

Since I want to collect German and Russian forces, that's pretty much a deal breaker for me.
I've also heard that Valiant ranges don't mix well with others, so that's another minus.

@christot
Those are some really nice figures!
Could you point out which are from which makers?

If you go to the photo-bucket pages I've added which are what in the descriptions

Thanks for the descriptions, christot!

I can see that both Fantassin and Elhiem look great from a distance, but suffer from some oddities when up close.

The neck on some of the Elhiem figures look too long, but their facial features seem to be generally more detailed than Fantassin.

Do they match well when put next to each other (i.e. mixed into a single unit)?

For me, they are fine…but I do tend to keep them in their own units, though as much for "tidiness" as any aesthetic reason. I don't think they mix perfectly, the Elhiem figures are a little bit more slender.
It depends what you are doing with them. If you are going to have only 30 figures on the table it might be a problem. I'd usually have at least 100+ Russian infantry (regt+) in a game so its not so important.
If AB figures had made a range of Russians, I'd have bought them….but they don't make Russian infantry..;o(

If AB figures had made a range of Russians, I'd have bought them….but they don't make Russian infantry..;o(

Yeah, from what I've seen, AB seem to have the best 20mm figures by far.

Heck, they're so good that I'm even considering dropping my whole idea of playing the Eastern Front, and switching to a theatre of operation compatible with their range.

If you are going to have only 30 figures on the table it might be a problem.

That's what I was planning to do (at least, to start with), so I guess I should pick one range and stick with it for at least a platoon or two.

Sorry but you gotta pay the guild forum a load of money to access the living catalogues which btw has pictures of every single wargame figure thats ever been released (all scales covered)

We hired a chimp to test our search engine and he didnt report any problems. (but maybe he was only in it for the bananas, cant trust those hairy b'stards)

@Daryl G
Where could I find more information regarding this?
I've managed to find a sub-forum titled "Living Catalogues" ( link ) , but I was able to access it as a free member and the catalogues didn't contain many pictures.

I just got some Essex/Dixon miniatures Soviet Infantry in summer gear about 30 miniatures for $15.00 USD at Historicon. I think the miniatures a nicely detailed, good variety of poses and weapons, great price and they are painting up nicely. They are too small for a match with Fantassin minis or other bigger 20mm/ 1/72 scale minis. I forget the dealer's name who was selling them. Could eone of the chaps or lassies who went to Historicon and bought 20mm Dixon/Essex minis out there help Kraussian (and me) with a dealer name? Good minis-great price!

You can also try these 20mm metal figures. They are very nice and match very well with 1/72 plastic miniatures

link

still think the FAAUSA Soviets are the best, have 3 Rapid Fire brigades worth of them but they are lovely. SHQ match in well with them as do/did Battlefield. I notice the Stalingrad defenders are up still and they have some lovely figs in there