"Best models for 28mm WWII Skirmish" Topic

I'm starting up a new WWII Skirmish campaign using either Flying Lead or NUTS!" I want to buy and paint up some new German models, and I'm undertain of what range to buy.

Artizan looks nice, but very limited selection (?) and Crusader looks like a better selection, but the models don't look as nice (?). Can you hel pme decide between these or other model ranges for WWII 28mm?
Thanks!

Sawtooth
(Maplewood, NJ)

Im a big fan of Bolt Action Minis that are being sold by Warlord now. Ive painted up some of the US Paras and the Fallschirmjager, and I like them.

link

Im also a big fan of The Assault Group, although Ive never seen their WW2 stuff (their moderns are great)

link

Victory has some of the best stuff out there but is a little big compared to a lot of the other companies.
victoryforce.com/index.html

I use Bolt Action, Crusader, Artizan, West Wind and the Battle Honours UK (not sure if you can still get these) to get pose variety. They are similar enough in size to not look out of place and I recommend all of them.

With this scale the battle field gets pretty crowded when you go much above a platoon a side. Great scale though and would love to see your write-ups.

I have Artizan and Crusader and they are equally as nice IMO. I would recommend them both.

You didn't say what period you want the figures to fit.

Artizan are nicer than Crusader. Bolt Action is nice. They are all nice, really. Mix and match, that's what I do.

I second Victory Force minis. With their different hand feature you can really equip your crew the way you really want to.

Brian

For price and quality go with Crusader and Battle Honours Artizan and BAM are nice. VF are 32mm and you get round plastic bases. If you go with them you go with them. new Westwind can be interesting. Renegade is huge. Chiltern is even bigger. BTD and Foundry can be had once in a while but BTD has a bad rep and Foundry has a limited range.

Bolt Action have some great sets that make them pretty attractive in price. Models are really nice too. The Airborne, FJ, and British Para sets are packed with all you want for a WWII skirmish for $40. USD

I really like the sculpts of the Victory Force models. Of all the models I have (a mix of Darkson Designs, Tamiya, Black Tree Design, Bolt Action, Reaper and Victory Force) the VF are the ones I get the most compliments over.

This is great, everyone- thank you for your inputs!
I really dont want super big/heroic 28's.
I like them slimmer and more realistic. Does this mean I need to downgrade to 20's or 25's?

So far it seems I need to check out:
-Boltaction (BAM)
-Victory Force
-Crusader
-West Wind
-Battle Honours
-Artizan
-Black Tree
-The Assault Group

Any big ones I'm missing? Any ranges that dont mix well?
(VF are bigger than other ranges? Renegade, Chiltern are too big to mix with Artizan & Crusader?)

Please advise & thanks

Sawtooth
(Maplewood, NJ)

This is how I group Mine from smallest to largest.

-Battle Honours
-Foundry
-Boltaction (BAM)

-Boltaction (BAM)
-Artizan
-West Wind
-The Assault Group
-Crusader

-Black Tree
-Victory Force
-Renegade
and how I group them when playing

I like West Wind and Bolt Action – Black Tree are nice but I find the service a bit spotty

Really, there are lots of good figs out there

Another vote for the Victory Force figures. Simply fantastic stuff!

Sawtooth:

I really dont want super big/heroic 28's.
I like them slimmer and more realistic. Does this mean I need to downgrade to 20's or 25's?

Yes! There are simply no realistically proportioned 28mm manufacturers out there. All of them are 'corrupted' to varying degrees by the Foundry school of sculpting where exaggeration of proportions ('heroic scale') and cartoonish caricature are the norm!

For proper anatomical proportions, go with true scale, like 1/72 (roughly 20mm). There are lots of choices out there in metal and plastic (yes, plastic, which does not exist in 28mm yet!), and they are getting better with excellent lines from such distributors like Pegasus Hobbies, Caesar Miniatures, Valiant Miniatures and Armor Fast.

if you have no 28mm terrain and scenics and that you know that you will never play any other period in 28mm, 20mm is probably the best and cheap way.

if you game a lot of periods in 28mm, and already have some terrain and scenics, you should have no problem gaming WW2 in 28mm.

Artizan Designs (North Star) and Bolt Action Miniatures (Warlord Games) are my favorite ones.

If you want to check my 28mm WW2 figures/vehicles from a lot of manufacturers : link

Olivier

I manufacture in 1/48 scale,anatomic measures and equipment accuracy are important and many wargamers choose my soldiers to use with Tamiya,Italieri,Corgi and other quality vehicles.
you can se some of them here:
gothicline.webs.com

Sawtoot wrote This is great, everyone- thank you for your inputs!
I really dont want super big/heroic 28's.
I like them slimmer and more realistic. Does this mean I need to downgrade to 20's or 25's?

As Luisitanus wrote just before me, go large and try 1/48th. Both his range and Scarab Miniatures have nice proportions (in our opinions!) and will work with terrain used for 28mm figs. Theres plenty of 1/48th vehicles and Tamiya also do terrain items like walls, sandbags and fuel drums.
All of which convienently can be found at scarabminiatures.com
And as you posted this in Weird War 2, you will also find our Projekt X range there :)

kind regards

WW2Fanatik wrote:
"For proper anatomical proportions, go with true scale, like 1/72 (roughly 20mm)…"

This is helpful- thank you. I think the proportion of 28mm is putting me off a bit. It just feels too "heroic" like I'm playing WH40k set back 39,000 years.

Here are my concerns:
1- I will only be able to play with other players using 20mm (which are rare by comparison with 28mm)
2- I will be stuck with only 1 or 2 boutique manufacturers and their limited range of poses (is that right?)
3- 20mm and 1/72 vehicles are VERY CLOSE in scale but are slightly out of scale (is that right?)

Can anyone validate these concerns or de-bunk them?

I guess the upside of 20mm is the cost, the wide range of 1/72 vehicles available, and the aesthetic value of more lifelike sculpted minis.

I'm planning on purchasing an army of whatever scale & manufacturer I choose next week at Historicon. There I can pick up most of the models at once, and in person.

If these are true- I think I will go with 28mm and look at Victory Force, Battle Honors, Boltaction & Artizan first.

Thanks!

Sawtooth
(Maplewood, NJ)

I believe Offensive Miniatures 28mm WW2 are in the slimmer proportions you are looking for.

1/72 is cheap if you go the plastic route.
link

I think you will be pleased with Bolt Action and Artizan when you see them in person.

Sawtooth's concerns:

1- I will only be able to play with other players using 20mm (which are rare by comparison with 28mm)

That's true (the first part about playing other people in the same scale, not the popularity part), but I think the order of popularity is 15mm being most popular (thanks in large part to FOW), followed by 20mm and then 25mm/28mm at distant third. I suppose it may vary by region (I live in sunny SoCal) but I don't know anyone in my area who game WWII in 28mm; most play FOW and a few play 20mm (1/72). So if I want to game in 28mm I have to supply my opponent with one of my armies and provide all the terrain, etc. I worry about them dinging my beautifully painted 28mm metal miniatures and damaging my beautifully airbrushed and delicate 1/48 vehicles all the time.

2- I will be stuck with only 1 or 2 boutique manufacturers and their limited range of poses (is that right?)

You can't be more wrong actually. 20mm (and 1/72 in particular) probably has more manufacturers, ranges and varying poses than any other scale, perhaps even 15's. The link Caesar provided above lists only the cheap plastics. If you count metal 20mm figures your choices become even greater.

3- 20mm and 1/72 vehicles are VERY CLOSE in scale but are slightly out of scale (is that right?)

I don't know about this one because I've never compared a 20mm vehicle with its 1/72 counterpart. Unless 20mm = 1/76 scale. 1/76 would be slightly out of scale to 1/72 then, just like 1/56 vehicles would look out of scale with 1/48 (or 1/50). My recommendation is go with 1/72 vehicles only, since it covers just about every vehicle in WWII. Armorfast vehicles are nice and quick to build.

If you have your mind set on 28mm, that's fine. But I for one would have went with 1/72 if I could start over and didn't already have so much invested in 28mm.

Thanks for all the great insight and advice-
I was really unaware that 20mm was more popular. Might be because I dont belong to a game club and I'm basing my perception on the local stores, which seem to carry only 28mm metal WW2, and 1/72 plastic figs (which, while inexpensive, look weedy to me and I dont want to use).
I'll do a more thorough search for nice metal 20mm figs, and perhaps start there. Thanks again for the insight!

Actually I prefer plastics because you can drop a figure and not worry about paint chipping off. The newer 1/72 releases from Caesar Miniatures, Valiant Miniatures, Pegasus Hobbies and Armorfast are hard plastics and hold paint very well, unlike the earlier Matchbox and other manufacturers whose soft plastic and bad mould lines make their figures very unappealing. Italeri's 1/72 figures are somewhere in between. Don't get soft plastics no matter what. Valiant is popular right now because their figures are multi-part posable.

1/72 vehicles come in fast kits from Armourfast, Italeri (more parts) and prepainted Dragon armor. Hobby Boss also makes nicely prepainted WWII tanks and vehicles in 1/72 that are very affordable.

I think if you decide on 1/72, you'll find that it is the best value. You can probably buy two 1/72 armies for the same price as one in 28mm.

I am looking to go the 20mm / 1/72 route, and I like the Valiant line, but they are larger than 1/72 by a fair amount. I got some free Valiant US mini's and stood one next to one of my 1/72 vehicles and it was clear they were not the same scale. I know the Valiant line is advertised as 1/72 / 20mm but what scale are they truly?

I heard that Valiant is on the bigger side of 1/72 too. It's probably closer to 25mm. Blame it on scale creep or Valiant's intent to keep their line unmixable with the other manufacturers'.

You see this in 28mm as well, like Victory Force's oversized 28mm line.

Best plug my own lil range :)

28mm Germans with US troops on the way very soon.

WW2Fanatik has seen them iirc

playwar.co.uk

Best!
Mark

Yes, I bought both of Mark's German and Waffen SS (armed with MP44) packs. Very nice. They mix well with my existing Artizan, Crusader and BAM lines well.

Any plans on releasing more 28mm WWII Mark? I'm hoping for Waffen SS armed with Schmeissers, 98K's and MG42's.

Thanks for asking.

The German Sniper team and AT are finished and yep, more SS soon. I have done some armed with K98's which are sat waiting to go in a mould when the others are finished.

Playwar rock,, i will deffo be having some of Mark's WW2 stuff and am very happy with the WWW2 minis i have obtained from him.

Have you seen the plastic germans previewed on the Warlord site, they look interesting….

The BAM figures are the most accurate figures-the Bren team for example has the No2 with the auxiliary pouches for carrying extra magazines. Artizan are the best designed figures with Crusader coming after them. Foundry are expesnive for what they are. The others? Well there is the odd pack which can prove useful eg mule team but I'd stick to the first three otherwise.

Sawtooth said:2- I will be stuck with only 1 or 2 boutique manufacturers and their limited range of poses (is that right?)

Spot the plastic. One is SHQ 20mm metal, one is Elhiem 20mm metal, the rest are Italeri plastics.
picture

Same here. Two are SHQ 20mm metal, the rest (and all others in the album) are Caesar plastics.
picture

I personally like Victory Force, Bolt Action and Artizan for 28mm WW2 Figures. I also have a few of the old 1st Corps Russians and Germans. The BAM, Victory and Artizan are all extremely well detailed and ALL of the four companies paint up well and work fairly well together on the table. Be advised the 1st Corps and the Victory Force can be a bit on the large size of the range, but not so far as to be grossly out of proportion in comparison to the others.

Go early war, perfect for skirmish
have a look here for figures
befminiatures.co.uk

Lots of good advice here Sawtooth.
Here's a comparison of 28mm Americans:
link

Some vendors weren't available/didn't offer Americans at the time, so here are a couple of add-on review links:
Offensive (US Airborne): link
1-48 Combat (Baueda) Nazis and Russians: link
GOTHIC Line Desert Rats, German Airborne, and Africa Corps: link

I have some Playwar.co.uk figures here for a German review I was going to do – but many of the figures were a couple of years old by the time I could paint them up, so I ditched the review and just made an army. Have some pictures of the army, but no indication of who is which vendor… The point is, I'll vouch for the Playwar stuff, it's as good as any other. I like that they have a bit of the "feel" of the army men you played with as a kid, pose-wise, but are very professionally done, so painted up they look as good as others. Same with BEF Minis for early war, have their Pz38T awaiting review write-up, and it's very nice if you lean to 1/56th.

As to 20mm… I use either Italieri or Valiant for 80% of my forces, and like both. They're both a bit taller than most vendors, so they go together well, though the Valiant are bulkier (and more realistic, IMO) than the Italieri.
For metal, I am single-source in 20mm… I just plain like Sergeant Majors Minis. :-) For all the 15mm and 28mm reviewing I do, I don't compare 20mm much (yet), just use what I know I like and assume the slew of plastic 1:72/1:76th review sites give everyone what they need.

Hope you're getting what you need out of this thread, I do love when the community reaches out to lend a hand!

Regards,
Don.

i just joined, and saw your post. I have Artizan, Crusader, West Wind and Battle Honours. all are very nice and compatable. the size,scale, height? make it a little more realistic. not all soldiers are the same size, only in 40K. I have German infantry, Para"s and SS. U.S. Para"s and infantry, Brit Para"s. Bolt Action are also nice and have just released Italian Para"s and Polish Troops.

I think Crusader are superior, but I have early war…

I thought Bolt Action looked the best after my own 28mm research and started with them for my Normandy 44 Brits and Germans (not that they're yet painted, or anything, perish the thought).