"WGF Shocktroops: Heavy and Officer Sprues and Test Pics" Topic

As seen on WGF website: link

My Thoughts

Bad
-Commander arms are territble. Like they can't decide whether they're a blouse or musculature. Just plain bad sculpting
-Laser (minifridge with a barrel) and Minigun are not well done. Even if you liked the twin barrels, the sculpting on them is very soft.
-Commander heads are just badly done
-8 figs for 20 bucks isn't a great deal compared to their earlier releases, even with the extra bits and HW's.

Good
-Better variation of legs for firers
-Missile launcher and mortar are good looking sculpts
-Commander Torsos are nice and the long coats aren't terribly bad.
-Return to torso and arm designs from original Shocktrooper set for firers.

Conclusion, most of the Bads could be fixed by
-Splicing commander hands/forearms onto Shock Trooper arms
-Buying some Pig Iron heads to replace the bad commander heads
-Replacing the minigun and laser with Heavy weapons from any of the many aftermarket companies out there.

In the end you'd have a pretty good force for not alot of $. USD I like converting and modding and with the adjustments listed above I'd be proud to put it on the table.

Strait from the box however, they have unacceptable (to me) flaws and are not up to my standards. What these pics do achieve is make me really glad I held off on investing in the shocktroops and bought a platoon of old Shockforce Not-IG instead.

What's with those oversized hats?

Is this an attempt to start a new trend, to replace the oversized shoulder pads, or oversized guns trend?

The commander in the second picture will look great with his bath robe painted a nice pink. Maybe use some of the flock car modelers use on interiors to make it a fuzzy bath robe.

The commander hats look a bit "YMCA".

It's like each piece has different proportions…

Are the officers dwarfs?

The sitting troopers head come up to the chest of the officer. Also the commanders heads don't seem to be in the same scale as the hats.

In all honesty the officers seems to be in a different scale to the shocktroopers…..it looks like a GZG 25mm size figure next to a 28mm figure.

I'd say there of some use if you already have the shocktroopers (mainly for the alternative arms, mortar and missile launcher), but personally I'd look at converting some WW2 german equipment to fit better with the overall look.

Nothing nice to say…

What's with those oversized hats?

Ever seen a Soviet officer in dress uniform?

On the other hand, that katana looks pretty decent.

Horrible. Simply horrible. Nothing could "fix" these disasters. And 20 bucks for eight of them? It's GW pricing with substandard product…

Yeah… No thanks. Why not just make some more troops along the same lines as the old ones, with various heavy weapons/ conversion bits? Certainly not worth 20 USD. I do like the original troopers set, however: decent models and good value.

Torches and pitchforks anyone?

I don't know about Torches and Pitchforks.

Many of us really wanted to like the Shock Troopers and were looking forward to them. I liked the Greatcoats Troopers enough but was waitng to see how the HW's and Officers turned out and am very disapointed.

Terrible looking figs. I thought they were going to fix the shrimpy leg thing after they posted the concept art for them a couple months ago.

It is disappointing. I was hoping for someone to fight my pulp Marines.

"The commander in the second picture will look great with his bath robe painted a nice pink. Maybe use some of the flock car modelers use on interiors to make it a fuzzy bath robe."

Great minds think alike. Maybe when he gets bored, he can call up his buddy in the top photo and ask to borrow that lovely lady's coat for a night out on the town with all the other girls.

These figures are awful. The sculptors did not listen at all. Or if they did, they listened to the minority who wanted them to look dumb like this. And what the hell is up with the officer having a Katana? Ugh. Bad bad bad bad…..

This is one of the problems with using the Haptic Sculpting system as opposed to a system like 3D Max or Maya.

In those systems, you have posable human forms, with sliders for bone thickness, and muscle length and thickness at several points.

This allows for realistic poses and alterations of anatomy that don't look all strange.

Then, prototype the poses as dolls, and dress them via a normal sculpting procedure.

Oh! And those weapons!

TRAGIC! They look like they were built with tinker-toys.

Were supposed to believe that one man can transport those guns. I assume the officer wont help. He'll be busy shouting orders. They should have added a loader and spotter figure.

I feel bad for the suckers they get to buy these.

I think the big hat (as I recall, the Russian rank and file called the officer's dress hat the "SS cap") – but I think the first officer's coat looks like it has a boa and the second coat – well, my first thought was exactly that of Jake, looks like a bathrobe to me

The trooper figs look pretty good

I have been working on an alternative – using WF greatcoat trooper heads and GW Cadian heavy weapons troopers bodies- will try to get some pics when I am done!

I wouldn't exactly call $20 USD for the box "GW Pricing". GW charges just shy of $40 USD for their heavy squad box.

On the other hand, I don't see myself buying these either.

I see that they didn't fix the problem with the proportions of the legs on the sitting and kneeling guys. It was pointed out to them on FB, and their own page.

Try this little experiment – take your elbow and place it against your knee with your forearm along your lower leg. Your extended fingers will reach to about your ankle.

Now take a look at any of the forearms on the sprue and compare them to the lower legs of the kneeling and sitting poses. Elbow to wrist is the same length as knee to bottom of foot.

If we can see it that blatantly in the photos, how bad are they going to look in person?

I really don't like the melange of influences. Its particularly jarring on the officers. The weird thing is the the basic shocktroopers don't look so bad.

Apparently the officer are in the same scale as the original shocktroopers…..so what scale are the new heavy weapon troopers in?

I'd like to see a comparison shot (in plastic) of the new and old shocktroopers…..something screwy on the scale somewhere, which could make the arms and heads on the new guys uncompatible with the originals.

Oh god, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. I see an officer wearing a Kepi, gas mask, ladies' fine fur coat, scientist gloves and what appears to be sneakers, not boots whilst wielding a Katana. The trooper next to him appears to be pointing at the feminine way his leg is slightly back with his hand on his hip, probably trying to avoid laughing.

Did I mention these new figures are disturbingly awful?

I was really looking forward to these, but now…pass.

People on the Wargame Factory Forum seem to LOVE them.

Don't like the whole concept of the shocktroops but this set reduces still further my regard for these. And I thought that the old management had the "shocktroops" and "alien suns?" Wait I take that back, I don't want to start another of those conversations ….

"People on the Wargame Factory Forum seem to LOVE them."

Isn't that because they only allow positive comments on their forum and quash all negative opinions? 8)=

And there's no accounting for taste!

Wolfprophet – didn't you realize that Officer is the decendant of Corporal Klinger, going for his own Section 8?

People on the Wargame Factory Forum seem to LOVE them.

There are people still on the Wargames Factory Forum?

Damn, some guys just cannot take a hint.

Isn't that because they only allow positive comments on their forum and quash all negative opinions? 8)=

Noooooooo……well yes.

Really quite horrible as stock figures and I'd have to see proof that someone could convert them into something better. Would it even be worth the effort?

Looking at that picture of the officer and regular trooper, the officer's proportions are off.

His hands are much more dainty than the the regular trooper, despite also being in gloves. The wrist area looks odd, too – it seems to hang lower than the tropper next to him. The head and body, despite a bulky coat, are also daintier.

I think the Shocktroop officer is a woman!

Well I must say they are different, but not in a good way.

My grandmother used to always say, if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all. so….

"Wolfprophet – didn't you realize that Officer is the decendant of Corporal Klinger, going for his own Section 8?"

Roflmao.

Some people love the Army, I think that it's a mess! If it's so damned terric, how come I wear a dress?!

Got the whole series on DVD. :)

Also, quick, everyone spam the WGF page with negative comments. They'll either realize their folly, or finally let some of them through.

Egads! The horror!

Wargames Factory models to begin with were utter e but this…this…my eyes! Mine eyes!

Heh!

They're not very good are they. New management, same low quality product. Why do they bother trying to carry on? There has been nothing good and not likely there ever will be. Much better products out there, no matter how cheap these are it's still a waste of money.

Well, curiosity and silly hope got the best of me. I purchased a set of the newly released Shocktroops Heavy Weapons Team.

Here is my honest review:

The box art was a little amaturish with unpainted examples on the sides of the box. You'd think they would have painted up a few.
After opening the box I removed the smaller, top sprue which was the the officers frame.
All I can say is, what were they thinking? They look silly. The bodies are smaller than the oversized heads. And the feet aren't attached to the legs. There's no reason for this as they're not even remotely posable. The arms holding the pistols are nicely detailed and usable. And I like the pistol holsters very much. But the officers sprue is a dud in my opinion.
There was a sprue of bases which were cool. Buy they're plastic discs so that's a no brainer.
Next, I picked ip one of three heavy weapons frames. Looking over the parts I was first impressed with the visual detail of the parts. They were very crisp. I began to have that silly hope thing. That was until I searched the box for some sort of instructions. There were none. Not a single reference except for the teeny, tiny pictures on the side of the box. Assembly was difficult as you had to be a detective and figure out how to assemble it. Small pieces that don't fit well. There are no pegs grooves or slots to assure fit.
The legs are short and stubby compared to the tree trunk torsos though the sitting legs are in better preportion than the kneeling legs.
I really wanted to like this set, I went into it woth an open mind. I was highly dissapointed.
There are no accessories for the weapons teams except for three tiny canteens and a tiny ammo pouch. There are no rifles, binoculars or anything. There are no real options. The only worthwhile heads are the Origonal "Darth Vader" heads, the rest are kinda stinky.
I haven't painted them and after my experience have no real desire to. Wargames Factory got $20 USD out of me but that'll be it. There's no way I'll be buying anymore of this mediocre set.

The car crash that keeps on giving