"28mm Warlord WWII Early War Germans" Topic

All,

As promised, I'm doubling up in order to get all these knocked out so I can get down to gaming.

Hey everyone, here are my WWII Germans for the early war period, which I'll count all the way up to the beginning of 1943. As usual, they're not strictly historically accurate; I think the biggest problem purists might have is that true early war Germans should have a reed green blouse over stone gray trousers, but I just went and did the blouse and trousers in Field Gray. As usual, I used Contrast paints, with a slight variations; I used a mixture for the first (and perhaps, only) time. I don't recall whom or where exactly (I humbly apologize), but I was looking at 'how to paint' stuff on Youtube and found a guy that was mixing Contrast paints to make Field Gray. He used Basilicum Gray and Creed Camo, in what I seem to remember as 3 parts to 1, but I can't promise, I just don't remember. In any case, I think the uniforms turned out pretty nice, and everything else was pretty basic stuff using other, non-mixed, Contrast paints.

They're really great figures, went together easy, lots of options, lots of combos, and really look sharp, with good weapons and proportions. The only complaint I have about them is that every single one of them has some sort of gear pouch on his chest (EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!). I believe it is to hold a gas cape, but I'm not really familiar with that, and I sure as hell don't recall seeing pictures of early war German infantry units in Poland, France, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Greece, Crete, or Russia with those things hanging on everyone's chest. I could be wrong, but I'm just used to the cylindrical, metal gasmask cannister. To be clear, I'm not doubting that it's a real piece of gear, or that some guys wore it on their chest, but every single guy in the unit? How have I missed that my entire life?

Three leader-types, signaling their men, with a good look at them and their gear. You can clearly see the gas cape carrier on each of their chests…

A pair of riflemen.

An MG team moving up…

And getting the gun into action.

Tossing some potato mashers.

To see a bunch more photos, please check the blog at:
link

And there you have my early war Wehrmacht troops, who will soon be getting up to all sorts of no good.

V/R,
Jack

Yes, it looks like it is for the gas cape. Soldiers quickly moved them from the chest to the gasmask cylinder. A bad call on Warlord's part IMO.

It's been blowing my mind. I'm no expert on German equipment, but it's very prominent on every figure's chest and I can't recall ever seeing it in photos before.

V/R,
Jack

Very Nice

Thanks, D6!

V/R,
Jack

Yes, very well done.

Thanks, 79th!

V/R,
Jack

Just FYI – From April 1934 the German helmet was painted a semi-gloss apple green (somewhat darker than the uniform). It had two decals present: Tri-Color shield on the right, and the Eagle Shield on the left. This was know as the Double Decal configuration. Anyone serving in Poland would have this look.

In March 1940 the helmet was supposed to be repainted a matt dark field grey, and the Tri-Color decal was to be painted over/removed. Many troops did this before action in Denmark, Norway, and France. But not all troops. So the Double-Decal could be seen in some actions up until the fall of France.

In August 1943 all five helmet manufacturers were ordered to stop applying decals, so from that point on, soldiers had a mix of one decal, or no decal on the helmet.

And with all that said, some soldiers took it as a mark of veteran status, and did not remove their decals. So you can find examples in photos of Germans defending Normandy with no decals, one decal, or even still with two decals.

Just FYI in case you ever decide to apply some helmet decals.

SG, thanks for all the info, I appreciate it!

It might be difficult to tell, but these helmets are actually a really dark green, so I gave that a shot, but was too lazy to do the decals ;)

Now that I did them on the FJ I've realized they're not that hard, may go back and do them, we'll see.