3D Snipers Off The Bench

I was surprised at the speed I was able to paint up these Forged In Battle WWII 15mm figures, especially given the level of detail the figures have. Each pack was 40 figures strong but not all of these are suitable for use as 3D Snipers. In most cases it's due to the amount of space the base takes up (mostly lying down poses) but also two man groups such as the 50Mtr and the MMG. 

Fairly easy to clean up with acceptable levels of flash and fairly easy to remove mould lines (I missed a few), so prep time did not send me nuts, good job given I had 80 figures to do. One German in a field cap though was missing his face due to extra lead and had to be scrapped. Lots of different poses and as much equipment on the Germans as you would expect on a 28mm. The Americans were also not short of kit and whilst in both cases it adds to the painting time the end result is well worth it.

I have since bought the Russians and these will get cleaned up and painted in a few weeks time I hope. Again these have plenty of detail. All three Nations have rifle slings as well, so they get an extra point for that from me.

Here we have a close up shot showing both front and back of the Yanks, I went for the early post D-Day uniform for all of them. Here you can see the amount of kit they have to cart about.

Here we have half of the whole lot  of Yanks giving a fair idea of the multiple poses. Just like a lot of the 28mm figures though, the amount of troops actually pointing their weapons is rather low which is a bit disappointing  I am all for troops with movement but I would expect about half to be actually looking like they are engaging the enemy. At least you don't get the Airfix like useless poses, these were always annoying.

The faces (ignoring the elephant man) are not bad at all with a wash bringing out the features. The only figure I had real difficulty is the BAR man centre left of the picture above, the BAR looks very clumsy in it's detail. 

I did manage to paint up all 40 of the Americans but the Germans had six removed as not suitable to base and the one that needs the vet (or was he making a trunk call?) but again lots of good poses but even less shooting types.

The officer even has binoculars which was a great touch. Given the detail of the figures they would make great figures for skirmish play, I just can't see 28mm write even for infantry only actions, add tanks and I would want to hire the local sports hall. 15mm would allow limited tank use, something I can feel myself being drawn towards.

I did not waste the German support bases, these two have been painted up and based on the 30x30 bases I normally use for 6mm command stands. I still need to paint up the other loader then I will be finished with these until a time I do go for some WWII action then maybe I will be calling on these guys again. Not having painted any Battlefront I can't compare them but price wise these supply a saving but from what I understand the FiB packs are not tailored to FoW units so some biting between packs could be required.