I like the look of the Afrika Korps patrol set - let's hope there are further sets to come! I still want to see heavy weapons!
I'll probably be buying at least 4 sets.
One minor point about the box art, if I remember correctly beards weren't allowed in the Afrika Korps or the rest of the German armed forces. However, perhaps he can't spare water for shaving?!
I'll Carry on Collecting!
Stay safe folks
Richard

These more "modern" sets are certainly the better work from this sculptor/design team. Its obviously the era they are more comfortable with.

Indeed all good poses. I can imagine them all on patrol, a nice mix of some poses looking ready for an encounter, and some looking as if they feel safe, that the coast is clear!

That chap with his hands in his pockets, is crying out for having a LRDG member creeping up behind him! The group having successfully caught the Germans offguard!!!

I like the look of this set. All the poses are useful and well-sculpted. A good addition to the range of 1/72 Afrika Korps infantry sets out there, with poses that the others (which tend to be more 'action-orientated') do not have.

If this is to the same scale as the Mortar set (ie: around 23mm) then this will be ideal.

Would be good to have a similar set of Italian infantry for the Desert campaign, with a mix of headgear (sun hats and caps). Indeed, ANY Italian infantry for the Desert campaign would be welcome.

Hi
there are a few Italian sets from Waterloo 1815, infantry at Alamein and Folgore division which I personally found very disappointing.
Much better and more useful is the Italian Support Group, with cycles, motorcycles, and a variety of weapons including Brixia mortars - I can recommend this set to supplement my Airfix Italians. It just makes me want to see an Afrika Korps support Group even more!
Caeser also do an Italian infantry set.
I seem to recall seeing an Afrika Korps "teaser figure" some time ago, a kneeling infantryman with hand raised who I don't see in this set, so hopefully more sets to follow.
But yes, definitely Italians and colonials would be most welcome!
Hop this helps.
Stay safe
Richard

I agree Richard. I have all of the sets that you kindly mention, and none of them quite hits the mark. I like the Caesar set, although it tries to cover too many uniform styles and units in just one small box of 30 or so figures. The Airfix set has some useful figures but is too 'smart' for the desert. The Waterloo 1815 sets are, frankly, just not very good.

Italian Metropolitan and Colonial infantry remains the biggest 'gap' still to fill for the Western desert campaigns in 1/72 scale.

It's absolutely amazing how effortlessly this was screwed up. 14 poses, 5 SMGs, 2 LMGs, 3 riflemen, 1 NCO with rifle, one radioman, one loitering guy and one reading a map.

The whole desert campaign was characterized by big ass empty landscapes where rifles were the key and not SMGs. So far more DAK poses got released toting a submachine gun than the entire Afrikakorps had MP40s from the very beginning. Why are riflemen so despised? Diorama builders need them to make realistic dioramas, wargamers need them to make historical units, who ACTUALLY uses up all the SMGs instead of throwing them into the spares bin?

If these poses were scattered through 3-4 sets with an appropriate number of riflemen to accompany them, it would be fine, but I'm absolutely disappointed with this set.

That may be a tad harsh, the set needs a name and patrol kind of fits, but..... If patrolling on foot the chances are it would be at night, and there probably would be no need for the map as you would be patrolling over flat desert,a compass would probably be all that was needed. However if patrolling in wheeled transport during the day maybe more appropriate, and I have chosen to look at these guys as having dismounted from trucks or half tracks, and they work. Too many mp38/40`s well probably but they look very German and we do like them.

Makes me wonder if strelets wouldn't consider doing such a set of the characters of course... or maybe as part of a big box set....




:beers:

Perry`s do in 28mm , and yes yes, yes, to a 1/72 set.

Ice Cold in Alex is a great film, and well worth seeing for anyone who hasn't. Quite how the four main characters would fit within a box of c. 40 figures I'm not quite sure; and anyway, they'd have to be made slightly smaller (1/76) to fit convincingly with the Airfix ambulance in the RAF Emergency set which is, of course, the ideal vehicle for them, painted a dusty desert stone colour.

And is it my vague recollection (having not seen the film for a few years now) but aren't a lot of those DAK panzergrenadiers in M3 half tracks armed with...MP40 SMGs?

A focus on the 'big' missing elements of the western desert campaign ie: engineers and sappers of all combatants, Italian infantry, Italian heavy weapons would be more useful.

I honestly haven't a clue how weapons were distributed among troops during WW2, you probably know better than me.
But if there are mistakes in this set, it wouldn't surprise me of late.

I suspect Hollywood has a lot to answer for, in regards to overuse of the MP40s.

Hi all
yes Hollywood, especially the 60's war films have much to answer for! The Germans were usually equipped with American weapons and ASFVs etc - I learned to spot this at an early age, when making Airfix models etc helped my recognition!
As for small arms, I'll have to a bit more research when I have time. I should think the scale and small arms were generally much the same as the rest of the army. However, I wonder if there was anything specific to the desert, especially in later stages.
I reflect on the Waterloo 1815 Italian Support Group, let down by a little too much flash.
There are main strong points and I would love to see a German Support Group along similar lines.
A quick look at plastic Soldier Review reminds me, cycles and motorcycles, Brixia mortar, machine gun gun and flamethrower, even a radio operator!
The thought of a German Support Group to fill in gaps and supplement my desert armies makes me drool and I'll probably buy quite a lot as I did with the 8th Army Heavy Weapons.
How about it Strelets - I'm not the only one wanting such sets!
Stay safe and Carry on collecting!
Richard

Been thinking about this and maybe it could be a set along the lines of the new French WW1 field set but obviously a with medical bent as well...
I expect that vehicles can be sourced from various manufacturers plastic kits and resin so its something that should be ok to leave out and concentrate on the characters...

EG: K2(Katy)from Lancer Miniatures

:beers:

If we go down the road of sets that are still historical but based on TV characters, then I definitely want to see Sharpe & Harper get done in 1/72!!
Major Sharpe with his rifle in one hand and his straight heavy cavalry sabre in the other, Sgt.Harper with that 7 barrelled job in one hand, & a riflemens sword-bayonet in the other!! Riflemen Harris & Hagman would be firing crack shots at French officers!
I guess they would get put in either a set of just the chosen men, or an actual proper 95th Rifles skirmishing set...perhaps as bonus figures.

Wonder who else could be done?

But.... we will have to be careful how much we let Hollywood/TV creep into sets. Some of what was put on screen was just plain tosh.

...And the Russians used tankovyy desant ('tank rider') infantry battalions in WW2 which were pretty well entirely armed with SMGs.

But the point is well made: Time and time again we see WW2 sets in 1/72 plastic with great sculpting (eg: Caesar) but far too many SMGs relative to rifles, especially in respect of German and US sets.

In the same book Frost goes on to talk about a Platoon at Arnhem bridge armed to a man with Bren guns, taken from fallen or wounded comrades. My point being that while there is an agreed start point for weapons distribution in any army down to section level, that probably will not remain a constant in combat. On a previous post I talked about a resent read Battalion , Seaforth highlanders in action, well when clearing an enemy position at close quarters, automatic weapons and grenades were the go to, not rifle and bayonet for very obvious reasons. Also whilst this is Africa, Germans and early/mid war, the British army as the war progressed introduced more automatic weapons to infantry, because in fire fights with a force of broadly equal size they were being beaten for sheer rate of fire, so the nco may have once been the only guy in section with a Thompson or Sten , by late 44 half the section may of been armed so.

Well...only to put things clearer...
It is true that squads or einheits of 10 men used to have a nco with MP40 per section...in infantry divisions and the beggining of the war but...
No infantry divisions in DAK that was a panzer korps ( panzergrenadiere as paratroopers had a bigger amount of this weapon)
Even infantry divisions used mire and more MP40s as the war advanced, as the KSTN tables reveal
Said al this...I do not want to start and endless war...there is historical reasons to make happy to Alan and the rest too!!!
Caesar was not so wrong, because there is not diference between the infantry uniform and the panzergrenadier's one...only the waffen farbe
Personally I love jackboots and MP40s, wich many of you call despectively "Hollywood germans" but have no problems with more Mausers so I can understand both sides Revell's Panzergrenadiers is one of my favourite sets, but curiously they would have been called: Pure 1940 german infantry not panzergreanadiers for reasons exposed before...
Well football:
The same...I love English football, they had done an incredible eurocup, the best two weeks of my life were my holidays in London 1996..was a wonderful and romantic city and most of the people, polite and very nice
I am very influenced by English culture and I love their music the most...Yes, Oldfield,Genesis and a long etc
But Italy? Well Italy is Excelence, beauty, historically fascinating and culturally delicious...Battiato, Carra, Rome, Cinquecento, Cuatrcento, Leonardo, Miguel Angel...and football...very very good ones so as we say in Spain
Tengo el corazón partido

I would rather Strelets concentrated on filling in some of the obvious gaps for the North African campaign such as Italian (Libyan) Askari, Italian Infantry in Sun helmets and Vichy French troops rather than more German sets.
Yes far too many MP38/40 in this set but all manufacturers apart from Airfix made this mistake.