Bit of a disappointment and bit of a delightful surprise.

I'm slowly working my way through my backlog, but I can't resist adding to the lead and plastic pile now and then. As I needed some more riflemen for my DAK I ordered a bunch of Perry metal figures to accompany the plastics I already have. However, the order were processing for two weeks and only just got sent; in this internet age of instant gratification I naturally lost patience and bought something from my friendly local hobby shop to keep me occupied.

I decided to plonk out on a set of Italeri 1:56 German infantry. You can never have enough germans, right?

This particular set is a result of Italeri's collaboration with Warlord Games. Italeri is making 1:56 scale model tanks which Warlord gets to sell under the Bolt Action label and Italeri can sell repackaged Bolt Action figures along with the tanks under their own label. I reckoned these would be a bit more expensive per figure than ordering from Warlord, but the fact I could buy only 12 and not a whole box and that I would get to take them home at once persuaded me. (Doing the maths, Italeri sells these for €18 which is around £13.50 while Warlord charges £6 per sprue, or £26 for a box of five sprues.)

My plan was to try and convert some figures to DAK or if that wasn't possible use some of the extra equipment included to kit out my Perry DAK. I counted on the box including a sprue of extra weapons and equipment, which it didn't. It only contained two of the above sprues along with enough 25mm round bases for twelve figures, which is a bit odd since the lying down figures don't fit on a round base. Some extra equipment are included on the sprue, but it's not as much as I had hoped for. Also, the figures are of the early war blitzkrieg variant with a gasmask cape strapped to the chest, which I have to carve off if I want to use them as DAK. So all in all it was a bit of a disappointment, but it was nevertheless a valuable experience to see the quality of Warlord Plastics.

What's this? A bunch of Wargames Foundry early war germans, sculpted by the Perry twins.

By coincidence, a friend of mine (Hi Anders!) texted me and said he had something for me. It was a bunch of old Wargames Foundry germans. To be precise, these were sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry in their particular style, and are early war germans. They don't have the gasmask cape and are rather light on equipment, making them suitable for garrison troops. Yet they have the characteristic jackboots and early war MG-34 machine guns. It's almost as if it was fate...

Perry DAK on the left, Wargames Foundry German in the middle, and Warlord Games German on the right.

To compare them I assembled one of the Warlord figures, and tried to match one of the Wargames Foundry poses. I also managed to find a DAK figure I had assembled earlier in a similar pose. What's surpsirsing is that the old Wargames Foundry figure had quite a big head, and that the Warlord figure wasn't as hideous as I had thought. For some reason the painted examples on Warlord Games website make them almost look as shaved gorillas. They are much nicer in reality and have some great details. But yes, I still think the proportions are better on the Perry Miniatures figures. But to summarize I now have two thirds of an early war platoon, seems I almost have to buy some more, right?

Black Tree Design afrika korps figures.

To end with I just want to show some of the DAK figures I have been working on. To supplement the Perry figures I also ordered some Black Tree Design figures. They are a bit larger than the Perry figures, but I don't think it will be noticable on the gaming table. Now, do they have any early war germans I wonder? Hm...