Let me start by saying that I love Battlefront, they have a great game system and range of figures, and some of the best customer support I've ever come across. So with the impending completion of my Late War British Airborne Army, I figured it was time to start planning a Late War German Army for them to fight against. Fortunately I had some Graphic Novels to trade in at King of Cards that game me a bit of money to spend. After looking through a couple of Flames of War Army Book, I decided to build an SS-Panzergrenadier Army, Starting with the SS-Panzergrenadier Company Box Set and a couple of 15cm NW41 Rocket Launcher blisters. I also have a couple of Tigers on order.
I have come across some rumblings in the Flames of War forums recently, talking about the new figures and how some people were not happy with them. But having such a good personal track record with Battlefront products, I dismissed these grumblings as the ravings of some anal perfectionists.
I had elected not to even open the box set until my Airborne were finished, but I couldn't resist. I had to have a peek.
I'm kind regretting taking a peak now, though it's probably better to find out sooner rather than later how awful the figure really are...
Who knew that zombies were good at handling the belt feed ammo for a German HMG. This dude could almost pass for that bad guy who wore a bag over his head in Batman Begins.
From this angle you can really see the detail in his face. That's what I call a blank expression!
The zombie machine gunner doesn't look much better either.
Shuffling zombies, this guys foot is so mangled he'll never be able to chase you down and eat you.
If you can ignore the excess flash around his face, you'll notice that his side arm is fused to his hand in a mash up between an small alien ray gun and a blob.
Form the other side you can actually see that he's a zombie.... love the hollow mangled face.... can't wait to add some pale green skin and oozing blood.
As for this guy, some one should have told him that you can't run if you hav two mangled legs that have been fused together...
And finally, the first thing I noticed when I opened the box was this sniper - he and everyone else who lies down on the job, no longer come with a 'base' to lie on like their standing or kneeling comrades, in fact - and it's a pity the photo doesn't really show it - he only has half legs. Perfect if you want to have him lying, submerged in a muddle puddle, but too bad if you wanted to base him on an urban base, lying on the pavement...
Maybe I'm expecting too much, but compared to my British Airborne figures, these guys are shit.
Update: Emailed Battlefront Customer Support at 5pm today.
Update #2: Just received the following reply, less that 24 hours after my initial email:
I'm happy to fully replace the box set in question, do you have a postal address
that doesn't have a P.O. Box number as our provider sometimes find it hard to
deliver to P.O. Boxes within New Zealand. Please let me know and I'll get the
replacment box set out to you ASAP.
I'll update again when the replacements arrive.
Update #3: One week to the day, brand new box set arrives. Will check out the quality at a later date!!!
I decided to splash out recently and subscribe to the new look Wargames Illustrated, and as a bonus got to choose a small box set from Battlefront as an incentive. I decided to choose the 8.8cm PaK43 Anti-Tank Platoon, mainly because it was the only option available that would fit into my as yet un-started late war German army.
Would it not be better to have two sets available, even if one was special order only, so that hard-core modelers could have the full kit with no sculpted base?
