"best 25-28mm WWII figures?" Topic

Artizan Germans are the best out there.
If you are interested in some painted US Paras let me know I could part with some depending on how many you need.
PM me or markcramer74@yahooDOTcom.

Second the nod towards Artizan designs LW Germans, awesome sculpts with lots of character and variation in kit to give a rugged mixed look to your units.

Victory Force Miniatures are probably the best out there. They are realistically proportioned figures and weapons. You can buy the figures singly or in sets. They stand about 33mm to the top of the head

victoryforce.com

I've had a couple collections of them over the yeas, and always been pleased.
Nick

I like the Artizan ones as well. Crusader are also worth a look as are the wonderful Black Tree Designs ones.

Battle Honors! They are awesome figures! Both Early war & late war. The ss come in smocks, some with helmet covers. I also have Artizan, Crusader, and some Bolt Action. But, those Battle Honors see the most action.

Artizan figures are great. Their US AB and LW German lines were sculpted by Mike Owen and are excellent figures with a variety of poses. The only negative is that their US AB helmets are plain without camouflage and all their Germans wear either zeltbahn or smock which means you'll need to paint them in splinter or tan water camouflage colors.

Warlord's US AB match the Artizan ones fairly well. Unlike Artizan miniatures, Warlord figures use separate heads for more variety and the US AB helmets all have netting and camouflage. However, Warlord's late war Germans are plastic multi-part kits (except for command, heavy weapon and specialist packs in metal) and wear only plain tunics, but that means you only have to paint them grey/green.

Warlord's metal Waffen SS range with separate heads and wearing smocks match Artizan LW Germans fairly well and can sub as LW Germans if you're not too picky, though Waffen SS helmet covers are different from those of Heer/Wehrmacht.

VF (Victory Force) figures are very good, but if you decide on VF keep in mind that they don't match well with other ranges, with the possible exception of Renegade Miniature's LW German range which is also quite large. Don't take my word for it though, since I never saw a side-by-side comparison.

Black Tree Design (BTD) and Offensive Miniatures also have nice US AB ranges, but they're on the thinner side.

West Wind's SHS (Separate Head System) LW Germans are also worth considering. They are larger than the earlier 'Berlin or Bust' ranges and are comparable in size to Artizan and Warlord.

Battle Honours figures are smaller 25mm figures, from what I've read, so like VF they're not likely very mixable with other companies' ranges.

Wargames Factory has cheap plastic LW Germans in plain tunics, but I hear they're on the thinner side which means they may be similar in size to BTD and Offensive Miniatures figures. Again, don't take my word for it since I never had these.

Crusader has no US AB, and their Germans are early to mid-war with jackboots rather than LW with low ankle boots.

I have to admit I like to see pics or the figs in person!

US AB: link

Germans: link

TMP link

BH figures are 'not the best,' but at a buck each that's something you can more than overlook.

28mm Fanatic. What a brilliant post! Exactly what this site should be about rather than the endless bleating about stifle counts!

Thanks JezEger

I forgot to mention a couple of others earlier, so in the interest of fairness:

TAG (The Assault Group) also has a nice range of LW Germans. These are thinner than Artizan/Warlord but would match well with BTD's and Offensive Miniatures's US AB.

Gothic Line has a unique line of 28mm LW Germans. However, I never had these so don't know how they match with the other manufacturers.

link

When I first started 28mm WWII back in the '90's, the only figures available in this scale was Easy Eight Enterprises' 'Battleground World War 2' range, sculpted by Jim Bland (now VF). We've come a long way since then and now we're spoiled for choice.

Here is another vote for Victory Force. Especially the Germans and Americans are marvellously detailed.

As for them not being compatible… Check out the officers in the first picture:

link

Just adding to what has already been written.

Artizan makes a few packs of LW Germans with field tunics and a few packs with assault gun wraps. I'm using them to make a LW recon platoon. They also do winter stuff for Germans and Americans that are pretty great.

I like the West Wind SHS figs but they all have jack boots which is a shame.

Let me also add the LW panzergrenadier squad Mike Broadbent sculpted for Die Waffenkammer (see item no. INFDE001): link

TMP link

TMP link

However, this squad has beefed up firepower with two STG 44's in it.

@28mm Fanatik. I did not know about the JTFM pzgrs. How do they compare to other makers sizewise?

If you are interested in the 101st fighting during the Bulge, I did a project of mixing Artizan Airborne and US late war in great coats to give a nice mix of uniforms then paired them off against a mix of Artizan late war Germans in great coats and winter gear. They go great together. Add a few more packs of the US in great coats and you can do a regular rifle platoon as well.

Very flexible range of minis and the since the Airborne don't have the helmet covers, they work for the Bulge. I just painted the hands to look like they are wearing gloves. The baggy pants and style of the sculpts looks like they are wearing layers.

Here's a pic of the Artizan Airborne and great coats mixed for the Bulge:

link

I wan't aware of JTFM's panzergrenadiers either. Thanks.

Hello Queen Catherine and thank you for remembering our range 28mm Fanatik! So here are some of my Germans and American(GIS…plus some pictures where you can see they are compatible with other brands:

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link
gothiclineminiatures.com
Thanks for the visit!
Gui

In addition to those I mentioned before, they don't have a huge range but their US para's are superb, especially if you are after that just landed in Normandy look.

Check out Offensive Miniatures, another great source but don't know how they stack up against the likes of Warlord and Artizan.

link

Hope these help.

idontbelieveit: How do they compare to other makers sizewise?

I never bought the Waffenkammer panzergrenadiers, but I have some of the other figures Mike sculpted including halftrack riders and crew, gun crew and halftrack machinegunners. Those are in resin, not metal, and they match up pretty well with my Germans composed of predominantly Artizan and Warlord figures.

It looks like 5 of the figures in the pzgr squad are kneeling and one (MG42 gunner) is prone, so this squad really stands out.

Johny Boy: Check out Offensive Miniatures, another great source but don't know how they stack up against the likes of Warlord and Artizan.

The OM figures look great, but they're small compared to Artizan and Warlord. They match up with BTD though.

Have you considered 1/48th scale miniatures?
They are a bit bigger but aimed at fine scale modellers. The guns and humans are to scale rather than being kind of caricatured.

Or 1/35th for that matter.

I've seen skirmish games done in 1/35th and a 54mil figure does look a lot better than a 28mil one.
In my opinion anyhow.

The Wargames Factory figures mix well enough with Bolt Action, since you asked. I have both (no pictures) and find they match well enough. I'm not very keen on heroic proportions(Bolt Action) but WF just doesn't do Heavy Weapons yet.

The Wargames Factory men are slimmer with a much more realistic proportion/anatomy. The detail is actually quite good, but that is my opinion. It is also hard to beat 30 for 20 bucks.

In the German kit there are three bodies with smocks, the other 24 are regular uniform, and 3 more are more of a formal affair, which I used for the officers. The US kit has all 30 with the torsos being the 44 uniform I believe.

Some care must be taken in assembly as the guns are thin to match their realistic proportions. As far as contents, they have a big pile of weapons and pouches. More than you will ever need, in fact. Each box is packed with bitz to customize beyond standard assembly if you're into that.

As far as what each box gets you, my German box got me a full rifle platoon. One 6 man Command Squad plus three 8 man Rifle Squads. My US box got me 3/4 of a Platoon, which came to one 6 man Command Squad and two 12 man Rifle Squads. A good deal if you ask me. YMMV

Another note to keep in mind is that the WF mix well with Tamiya 1/48th products. The box of 1/48 Infantry adds a Bazooka Team, a .30 Cal Team, and that last 12 Man Rifle Squad. In total about 20 bucks for a full German Rifle Platoon without supports, and around 32 bucks for a full American Rifle Platoon with extra supports when combining it with the Tamiya box. Not bad.

Check out Iron Ivan's pics of the Artizan US Airborne and tell me you need to look any further! Best figures on the market by far.

I'm partial toward the Artizan figures myself. The paintjobs Tom Weiss did on them are jaw-droppingly good:

US Paras: link

'44-'45 Germans: link

here's a few from my collection that i blog about:

black tree design fallshcirmjagers
link

panzergrenadiers in 25mm from battle honors
link

link

link

and a mixed bag
link

I have no US Paras (yet), but I agree with those who mentioned Artizan for late-war Germans. They are great figures and are full of character.

Paul