Warlord Games 28mm Polish Vistula Legion Review

One of my first interests in Napoleonics had to be the Polish Vistula Legion for obvious reasons.  I knew nothing about the unit when I first dipped my toe in this fascinating era.  To be fair, I still don't know that much.  I could only find limiting and conflicting information on the internet.

I was not going to let trivial little historical inaccuracies etc stop me from painting up these figures.  I was most surprised and pleased at just how well the Warlord Games Polish Vistula Legion Painted up.

The miniatures are the Warlord Games French infantry with metal Vistula Legion heads.  Warlord Games state they have put a lot of research into the unit so I take their word for it as they are generally pretty damn good when it comes to this sort of thing.

In the box you get 5 x  Plastic French Sprues and a variety of metal heads.  You get 4 x Command figures cast in metal.  It does not come with instructions and a complete Napoleonics newby like me had to work out what a Fusilier, Voltigeur and a Grenadier was and what head to give them.  A bit of research online and I figured out what is on the sprue.  I have captioned the images below with what parts in the box set are for Fusiliers, Voltigeurs and Grenadiers.  

Soldiers Left to Right - Voltigeur/Grenadier, 3 x Fusiliers

Backpacks Left to Right - Fusilier, Fusilier, Voltigeur, Grenadier, Fusilier

Heads from top to bottom - Drummer & Officer, Grenadiers in Czapkas, Voltigeurs/Grenadiers, Fusiliers

 Now with that sorted I put them together.  I decided to put Czapkas on my Grenadiers because they are cool and unique.  You only get 20 plastic soldiers in the box set so I have an additional box set incoming for free with a deal from Warlord and took advantage of their recent sprue sale to bulk up my unit.  I will be assembling some ranked up Voltigeurs.

These chaps paint up lovely. I first thought the marching pose was kind of boring however they look great ranked up and you can easily pick out the details.  The plastic is cast well and needs minimal clean up.  You only need to glue the head and backpack on so assembly is fast and easy.

I would highly recommend these figures and are great value.

Polish Vistula Legion Command - Sapper, Colonel, Officer, Drummer

Polish Vistula Legion Grenadiers wearing Czapkas

Polish Vistula Legion Fusiliers in Shakos

The first 20 painted

Polish Vistula Legion Drummer

A quick final note.  In the latest Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge my drummer ended up making one of the top entries for the themed round of Musician.  

Polish Vistula Legion - So much swagger

Blitzkrieg Miniatures 1/56 Resin JU 87 Stuka

As soon as Blitzkrieg Miniatures released their 1/56 JU 87 B2 Stuka, I had to get it.  I built it straight away for my DAK project however the canopy really turned me off.  Painting was another thing which I put off however the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge gave me the motivation I needed to get it done.

Consider this article a minor review of my thoughts on the kit.  Any specific questions or details you want to know, just ask!

This was my first gripe with the model.  The canopy has lots of separate panels and the panel frames aren't the sharpest and I just didn't have the patience to mask it all off.  I was contemplating putting the Perry Miniatures 28mm Crew inside if I was to mask it off however the canopy isn't that transparent.  Additionally I wanted to use the model as ground terrain or for in game flying and if the crew were permanently in there it would look a little silly if ground terrain.  My solution... paint the canopy!  I'm glad I did this as the canopy isn't the best fit anyway.  A painted canopy gives it more of a "Wargaming Feel".

Blitzkrieg Miniatures 1/56 JU 87 Stuka

The model goes together easily, needs minimal cleanup and is of solid construction.  I used an airbrush to paint it, constructed my own stand and the decals I used are not historically accurate (after market separate purchase) which brings me to my second gripe with this model.  The decals incluided are absolute rubbish! They may be historically accurate however they are the worst decals I have ever worked with.  If they didn't dissolve when preparing them they either tore or shriveled up like a dead spider!  I went for some after market 1/48 and 1/72 decals.

This was my first ever entry into the Analogue Hobbies Annual Painting Challenge.

Perry Miniatures Luftwaffe Crew scrambling to their aircraft

Those two gripes aside, I am happy with the model and I can't wait to unleash it in Bolt Action and Battlegroup.

I would really like to see Blitzkrieg Miniatures release more aircraft in 28mm and the 1/56 scale. 1/72 is too small for ground terrain but looks nice in the air and 1/48 heathen scale is just too big! Canopy and decals aside it is a solid piece of kit and looks amazing!

Gorgon Studios 28mm Polish 10th Mechanised Review

Disclaimer: I'm going with Osprey Publishing Men at Arms 117 - The Polish Army 1939-1945 that refer to this unit as the 10th Mechanised Brigade.  They are also known as 10th Mechanized Brigade and 10th Motorised Brigade.  I am going to keep it simple and just call them the "10th Mech"

All miniatures in this article are painted by me.

The 10th Mechanised Brigade

These guys were Poland's only fully mechanised unit at the outbreak of war, it was known as the Black Brigade from the black leather coats worn by some mechanised personnel.  It was also unique in retaining the old German 1916 helmet. - Osprey Publishing Men at Arms 117 - The Polish Army 1939-1945 pg 8.

Review of Gorgon Studio's Miniatures

Currently there are only 2 options available to represent the 10th Mech in 28mm.  Warlord Games have a squad of "10th Motorised".  These consist of 1 NCO in the black leather jacket and 9 troops in greatcoats.  Yes the 10th did mix greatcoats and leather jackets, some argue it was only the NCOs and officers that wore the the black leather jackets, some argue it was only their motorcycle troops that wore the black leather jackets, it could go on and on however lets agree that there was a good mix of greatcoats and leather jackets.

The other option is Gorgon Studio's who do a brilliant range of the 10th Mech all in leather jackets.  Gorgon's Miniatures are called "Polish 10th Mechanized" - just to add to the confusion.  Gorgon Studios only have 5 options available.  2 x Rifleman options (8 varying sculpts), 1 x Officers and NCOs (4 varying sculpts),  1 x BAR Team (4 varying sculpts),  and 1 x Support Weapons (4 varying sculpts).

A Squad of Gorgon Studios 10th Mech in 28mm 

Gorgon Studios is based in the USA and I am based in Australia.  To save on horrendous postage costs from the USA my good friends Zane and Chris ordered some Gebirgsjager and Greek Partisans respectfully.  We got the postage down to about $9AUD each.

All the miniatures are cast in metal.  At first I was super impressed with the sculpts however I noticed a couple of things.  Firstly I didn't realise the range is sculpted by two different artists.  Steve Saleh sculpts the majority of the 10th Mech and Mike Owen sculpts 4 of the rifleman.  I have no idea why this is the case but somehow the range works although when you look at the finer details you notice the differences, some good some bad.

Mike Owen Sculpts

4 of the 8 rifleman from Gorgon. Mike Owen has sculpted the 4 above

I am a huge fan of Mike Owen.  He is Artizan Designs sculptor and has produced some brilliant miniatures.  He has also been commissioned to sculpt much of Gorgon Studio's range.  In true Mike Owen fashion his sculpts are awesome and a dream to paint.  The details are crisp and very obvious.  I always struggle a little with eyes that he sculpts and with my Polish I painted them "The Raccoon" way.  The helmets contrast the most with the other sculpts in the 10th Mech Range which are done by Steve Saleh.

Does this look familiar?  Artizan Panzer Lehr and Gorgon Pole sculpted by Mike Owen

Steve Saleh Sculpts

Steve Saleh as I believe currently works for Warlord Games.  He is a great sculptor.  His Polish are rather nice however are quite different to Mike Owen's.  I am partially biased to Owen's sculpts as they are consistent however Saleh brings his own touch to the range.  His sculpts remind me of some of Black Tree Designs miniatures.

Some of the Steve Saleh's Sculpts

My favorite Steve Saleh miniature in the range.  A joy to paint.

Did Saleh once sculpt for Black Tree Designs?  BTD DAK German and Gorgon Pole

My biggest criticism would be the lack of detail in the rifle's by Steve Saleh.  Now I am no miniature sculptor but everything else he has done in the range looks great, the rifles are just flat and lacking detail.  My NCO had a horribly miscast rifle,  I ended filing it out and replacing it with a plastic Warlord US M1 Garand Rifle.

Gorgon Polish NCO and Officer.  The rifles lack detail and my NCO's was doomed!

No surprises here it snapped off when I tried bending it back

Replaced with a Warlord Plastic US M1 Garand.  The perfect crime.

Gorgon Polish NCO with replaced Rifle.

The helmets Saleh sculpts are probably more realistically proportioned to what Owen has done however when mixed together they still look great.  I was quite impressed with the BAR Team Saleh sculpted.

10th Mech BAR Team

10th Mech BAR Team, a different angle.  Note the flat looking rifle.

Comparison With Other Ranges

The Gorgon Studio's 10th Mech are very well scaled for 28mm and mix well with other ranges.

Left to right. Artizan Metal, Gorgon Saleh , BTD Metal, Warlord Plastic, Warlord Metal, Gorgon Owen

In Summary

Overall Gorgon Studio's Polish 10th Mech range are excellent.  I have no doubt they will mix well with Warlord's 10th Mech Range.  The Gorgon Studio's miniatures required little cleanup in comparison to what I have experienced with some of Warlord's metals.  The price is reasonable and if like me, you don't live in the USA, try and get a friend on board to save on postage.  The miniatures were a joy to paint and very simple to do.  With a black undercoat, half the work is done!

Although I haven't included the full range in this review, I do own it and future posts will have these great miniatures painted!

Gorgon look like they are expanding their WW2 Range with recent additions of Greek Partisans and German Fallshirmjager.  Lets hope they continue to do so and people support them.