Bolt Action German Pioniers

 The latest project off the Dusty workbench is a box of WWII German Assault Engineers from Warlord Games. The contents of the box includes the same five sprues that come in the Blitzkrieg German Infantry box, along with an array of metal parts and an extra figure to make a total of 31 assault engineers, plus a Goliath tracked mine. The extra parts, which include arms and heads, allow you to equip the men with a number of specialty weapons such as the Flammenwerfer 35 flamethrower, the GrB-39 grenade launcher, and the Sturmpistole, or a variety of engineer equipment like the Wien 41 mine detector. You also get four each of three different versions of the engineer backpack, along with arms carrying things like a wire spool, a Teller mine,  or a satchel charge, plus a variety of captured submachine guns.

Here's the whole array of the final product.

Vorwärts, Pioniere!

 The assembly of the figures was very much like the German Blitzkrieg Infantry box, with the following exceptions. The engineer backpack comes as a single piece cast along with all the other field equipment (bread bag, canteen, gas mask canister, etc) worn on the back. I often found that the side pouches needed to be squeezed a little closer to avoid a large gap between the body and the pouches. Also, there were a few cases where the contours of the pack and the soldier's back resulted in a gap. These were filled with epoxy putty. Also some of the metal arms that were carrying submachine guns didn't fit nicely to the shoulders. Again the gaps were filled in with a bit of epoxy putty. I had some bits left over from my Soviet Infantry boxes, so I was able to give those men carrying PPSh 41s the appropriate pouches for either the drum magazine or the box magazine. Once all the figures were assembled, sand was glued to the bases with PVA, and everything was primed flat black using a rattle can.

 I liked the look of the early war German uniform that I had done with the Blitzkrieg German Infantry, so I did a similar paint scheme on the pioniers. Tunics were painted German Field Grey followed by a wash of Biel-Tan Green, trouser were painted light grey followed by a wash of Nuln Oil, and faces and hands were painted Flat Flesh followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. The bread bags and Zeltbahn ponchos were painted German Camouflage Beige, and the pioneer backpacks were painted in one of Iraqi Sand, Camouflage Olive Green, or Grey Green. Those painted Iraqi Sand got a wash of Agrax Earthshade, while the other two colours were given a Nuln Oil wash. Gun stocks and shovel or spade handles were painted Beige Brown. I used Luftwaffe Camouflage Green on all the gas mask canisters, as well as the Teller mine, wire drum, and grenade heads. Helmets were painted Charcoal Grey followed by the two side decals. The collars and shoulder straps were painted dark green with white Litzen on the collars and black piping on the shoulder straps appropriate for engineers.

Here is a close up of those carrying a Mauser Kar 98K rifle. The fifth man from the left is equipped with bags of hand grenades, while the man on the right with his rifle slung is carrying a 3 kg satchel charge.

Rifle armed pioneers

 

Rear view of the different versions of the backpack.

Side view of the different versions of the backpack.

 

 And now a close up of the men carrying some form of submachine gun. The man on the left is  equipped with a PPSh 41 with drum magazine, while the man second from the right is carrying some version of a Bergman. The rest have MP 40 submachine guns either from the plastic sprues or some of the metal parts that come with the box.

SMG equipped pioneers

 Next we have a two-man sniper team with metal heads that came with foliage tucked into a rubber band made from an inner tube, a GrB-39 grenade launcher team, a modified version of the Panzerbüchse 39 anti-tank rifle, and a MG 34 light machine gun team.

Snipers and support weapons

 

 Now we have those carrying out special engineer tasks. From left to right, a supine figure using a pair of wire cutters, a man with a PPSh 41 and spool of electrical wire, a man with a geballte Ladung (7 grenade heads tied together), a man with a gestreckte Ladung (a series of nine grenade heads sandwiched between two boards to act like a Bangalore torpedo), a man carrying a Teller mine, and the last one equipped with a Sturmpistole.

Pioneers doing pioneer stuff

 

 The last group is a Goliath tracked mine and operator, a man with the Wien 41 mine detector, and a Flammenwerfer 35 flamethrower team.

Goliath, mine detector, and flamethrower

 

Rear view of the flamethrower and mine detector

 

 While I still have a number of plastic kits of German tanks to do, this is the last of the early war German figures in my 'Pending' bin, with the exception of three German cavalry figures that I got as a sample bag from Crusader Miniatures as part of a larger order. They will have to wait until I decide if I want to get any more. 

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