The Great War - Ze Germans Part I - Unboxing

Hello all,

The guys at Battlefront were very kindly and sent us a few of the Great War boxes to review. Myself and Winner Dave were both very excited by the Great War era and like excited kids at Christmas started checking out the models! Dave wanted the Brits and I was happy with either so took the Germans. 

In part 1 I'm going to look at the Infanteriekompanie HQ, the Infanterie Platoon and the Infanterie Machine-Gun Platoon, in part 2 I'll look at the 7.62cm Krupp Infantry Gun and the AV7 Tank. So let's check out what's in the box (just to let you know this is the army deal, but as these are early runs the box packaging wasn't ready yet).


(GGE701) Infanteriekompanie HQ

So what so you get in the blister? 35 models to cover all the HQ options! This blister has almost as many men as the (GGE702) Infanterie Platoon!

The flame thrower teams come with two men that shouldn't be too hard to line up on the bases, also like their WW2 counter parts you have extra rifle teams on the base (you'll see these below in the Infanterie Platoon setion). One of my biggest takeaways was that these guys should stick out a lot more than the WW2 versions on the battlefield partly as they are two man team and partly as the flame thrower is a lot bigger than the small one man versions we are use to seeing.

You get three anti-tank rifles and they are what you'd expect to see, the rifle is massive! Two came a little bent but they were nice and simple to fix. 

The Granatenwefer Mortar looks like a light mortar but packs a punch! The models are my least favourite from the whole set, the kneeling guy leans back too much for my liking and the crawling model seems a little out of place in this set (I may mix him with other models from the at rifle for variation. 

Game wise these guys are ROF 2 and FP 3+! boom goes the HMG nest!

Not much to say about the sniper team, they look just like a WW2 version with little extra character, which is a shame as the British sniper observer with the periscope really looks the part and fits the theme. I will say they are nice sculpts, but there us part of me that's tempted to make a hollowed out team sniper team!

Compared to the British version (the only option is a sniper) this set is massive! With three anti-tank rifle, two Granatenwefer mortars, three flame throwers, a sniper and two command teams this set adds a lot to your German infantry.

The models needed very little cleaning almost no model lines and only a little flash between couple of legs and chins.

The sculpts are lovely and capture the feel of the period well, the only one in this set I thought was a little iffy was one of the mortar team as he's leaning back a bit too much for my liking and I think it makes him look a little odd. Also like the British (and a fair few other ranges) there are only two officer models, Personally I'd like to see a little more verity, even if it was three different models it would give you enough variation.

Overall if you're not planning on picking up the army deal this set is a must have for all German players, the tactic options for attack and defense are massive.

(GGE702) Infanterie Platoon

You get two Infanterie Platoons in the army deal and to play with the Germans you will need them both. So as they are the core of you army and important what do you get in the set?

You get 37 men (only two more than the HQ version!) that cover command, riflemen, rifle grenade armed troops and MG teams. 

You get 6 different types of riflemen, five of the guy on the far left, four of each of the remaining standing guys and two of the crawling model. The models are great, they needed a little more cleaning than the HQ box set but hardly anything campared to what I have done in the past. I might have liked one more normal riflemen in a different pose but I think with the amount of different infantry already it's not a big thing (and that's without the Stoss platoon!).

There are five different officer and NCOs models in this set with seven in total. I can see myself using the NCOs as officers in the next few platoons.

You also get three rifle grenade miniatures, this is an option for the platoon and you do get enough men choice weather to use them or not. If you don't like the option (I think you'll see most people take the option), you could mix these guys in with the normal riflemen. I like the poses of these models a lot, one loading, obe firing and one ready. 

Game wise for 5 points you get RoF 2 and FP 4+, thats quite a nice upgrade on the normal rifle teams.

Finally you get two MG teams, these are some of my favourite models in the range, got to love WW1 style machine guns! These are also interesting as you only have three men per base. 

So thats the Infanterie Platoon. Like the HQ they are well sculpted and didn't need much cleaning (well this blister needed a little more). It's a very diversed platoon with lots of different and sculpts. 

Again I feel battlefront have got the theme of the era coming through the models, they have a lot of character (lots of handle bar mustaches!) and look like soldiers who are marching through no mans land. 

(GGE704) Infanterie Machine-Gun Platoon

Finally today I'm going to look at the Infanterie Machine-Gun Platoon, this is the second smallest platoon in the set and one of the model iconic units of the Great War. 

You get four HMG crews which are pretty standard to what you'd except to see. 

A nice and probably esensel set. Not much to say about it compared to the other blisters, they are nice sculpts again and look the part. Also these needed a a fair but of work but only under the tab to get it to lay flat and the HMG had a fair amount of flash, otherwise no work needed. 

Well thats it for part one, check out Winner Dave's British unboxing this week and the second part to my unboxing. Also if things go to plan we should have a special Great War Special Podcast out this week where myself and Winner Dave talk about the new book, the models ranges and our thoughts about how it'll play.

Thanks for looking and until next time

Ben