Battle Honors WWII
Wehrmacht Heavy Weapons,
Wehrmacht Infantry, and Russians
in Summer Dress

25mm Miniatures Review

by Craig Martelle

purchased from Pharaoh's Guard Hobbies (Craig Einhorn), via e-mail order (einhorn@ionet.com 45108 Garrett's Lake Road, Shawnee, OK 74804).

Let me start by saying that doing business over the internet with Craig is always a pleasure. He responds usually within hours and I'm approximately 9 time zones away. If you get on his e-mail list, he'll keep you appraised of all the new products as they come out and occasionally he'll do some house-cleaning. This is where I purchased the Battle Honors, 25mm figures. The packs I picked up are all true 25mm with 15 figures in each pack. The original retail price was $15 a pack.

GR25-5 Wehrmacht Infantry with Command. There are five straight riflemen, four with helmets, one is soft cover. They have full gear and are all well sculpted and actively posed. The rifles all appear to be Mauser bolt action. There are two riflemen carrying panzerfausts and there is one throwing a grenade. Total of 8 useful riflemen. There are six infantrymen carrying submachineguns Most are carrying the standard grease gun (MP38 or MP40), but one appears to be carrying a heavier MP41. All well-posed for building clearing or close in actions, except for one that is posed with goggles and trench coat, as if he'd just gotten out of the Kubelwagen. There is one wheel-cap wearing commander with field glasses and rounding out the package is a radioman, complete with a separate radio.

Although there is a little flash on these figures, when I look at them closely, I do so with an X-acto knife in my hand and touching up the flash is a pleasure and is part of the process of checking out new figures! I do the same with Foundry figures, too…

GR25-6 Whermacht Heavy Weapons. This is the pack for your Panzerknacker games!! Machine guns, to Panzerfausts, to a mortar, to bazookas. Lots of good stuff going on here. There is a prone two-man MG42 team, a lone gunner carrying an MG34, and an ammo carrier. There are two figures carrying MP43's (probably for the heavy gunners protection). There are two figures carrying or deploying mines. These are great figures for Panzerknacker. There are two figures with Panzerfausts - one firing, one waiting. There is a two-man mortar crew, with mortar. Finally, there are three with bazookas and an additional figure reloading the round. The flash on these figures is much more prevalent than in the previous pack, but that doesn't detract from the quality poses and the usefulness of the figures. A great pack to mount singly and send off to battle.

RU25-7 Russians Summer Dress. More appropriately it should be Soviets in summer dress as these are all military. There are 7 riflemen (all carrying Mosins with bayonets), one of whom is throwing a grenade. There are five machine gun toters (two medium, three submachineguns (Shpagins). One of the Shpagin carriers is throwing a grenade. There are two officers giving commands and firing their pistols. And finally, there is one mostly useless soldier talking on the radio. Overall, these are very well posed and useful for my Eastern Front skirmish games. There was less flash in this pack, but the poor rifles were all twisted. Then again, when I travelled all the way to Russia, I wasn't in such good shape either. I repaired all with gentle pressure and none broke. This shows the high quality of materials used by Battle Honors.

On a final note about the Battle Honors. These are older figures, but that absolutely doesn't matter. They are well modeled, cast, and put together in useful packs. With just these three packs I can play a number of Cross of Iron, bridge busting, or tank killing scenarios. Thanks Craig Einhorn and Pharaoh's Guard Hobbies for keeping me informed and making these products available!

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© Copyright 1999 by Craig Martelle Publications
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