Konflikt ’47 is here, with a new edition, new starter set and – most importantly – brand new plastic models. We put the core of the new starter to the test with the German Stahltruppen and US Fireflies.
Stahltruppen
Lenoon: The Stahltruppen look good when constructed and come together simply. It feels like an old-school kit – big chunks of plastic with occasionally slightly soft detail – but once put together they look pleasingly solid, with a very identifiably weird war aesthetic and a surprisingly large range of options for poses. With more legs than you need per sprue and a very comprehensive set of arm options, you’ll be able to build a lot of these without repetition. They’re big, hulking models with an impressive sense of weight to them, and they tower over standard infantry.
There’s some really nice details to this kit. Someone in the design team spent a lot of time working out how to scifi-up late war Wehrmacht weaponry, and items like the shoulder mounted Panzerschreck and underslung MG42 have the right kind of twist on WW2 technology. As a big ol’ nerd I really appreciated this.
There’s details I wish were better defined – the gun I think is supposed to be a double barrelled StG44 has completely lost detail along the barrel in the tool making process, and the arm gubbins can be a little indistinct – but overall detail is ok-to-good.
I restricted my urge to convert things to a simple head swap, adding heads from the Wargames Atlantic Zombies to make these very dead Nazis. The paint scheme followed on from that, referencing the DC Horror Sgt Rock vs the Army of the Dead series with a strong blue with a lot of chipping and wear. I’ll use these for end of level boss style enemies anywhere Nazi zombies are being splatted.
Momma Negan:Â My first impression for these was mixed’ they seemed way too bulky. But having held the kit in my hands and assembled one I think I have come around to liking them. Do not get me wrong, they are still bulky, but in just the right way. When assembled they tower over any normal infantrymen, their weapons also give them a sense of weight and power that is maybe a bit lacking with the other heavy infantry for the axis.
My plan for Konflikt is to assemble an Axis army that represents a cell of German and Czech resistance fighters wearing salvaged and stolen equipment. So obviously I could not assemble my first mini as it came out of the box, still I assembled most of it as was and that was a very enjoyable experience; the kit is very much in line with Warlord plastic infantry, you got a somewhat rigid body with some freedom in how you pose the arms. Additionally you get quite a handful of choices for both arms and heads, as well as two shoulder mounted weapon options which look sick. They also, as most modular plastic kits do, kitbash very well; you can swap out the heads no problem, remove extra details with a sharp knife and file (as seen on my example). You can see my guy has multiple perforated plates, is missing one of the lamps, the launcher rack on his right shoulder is gone and instead of the high caliber assault rifles is carrying a simple P-40.
While I really enjoyed working on these, there is one not so insignificant issue when painting in my opinion; the details are very blurry and flat at the points where the armor meets the under-suit; you have to paint a separation line between these two materials to avoid it looking like metal turning into cloth.
Bair: I recently subscribed to Wargames Illustrated and my first issue was October, which turned up a few days ago. I got these in my issue (random sprue between these or Fireflies) giving me three models with no instructions on how to build them. They’re simple enough so I just winged it and they came out fine. I’m not impressed by the sprue in any way, it’s got some fun options for guns and heads and I do like that it has five leg poses for three torsos giving you some posing option there at least.
The detail just feels very soft to me. The front top-half of the models are largely ok, the heads are detailed enough, and most of the guns are fine but the rest just feels very soft to me. A lot of arm and rear detail melts together a bit too much for a modern plastic sprue.
I painted them but didn’t want to spend very long on them, opting for a very simple scheme that looks ok. Certainly not a kit I’m running to go get more of.
The shoulder mounted revolver grenade launcher thing is pretty badass.
Boyes: I’m struggling to add on to much of what the others have said. I love the vibe of these models a lot, they’re the reason I wanted to dive into Konflikt ’47 in the first place, because there’s something so very Wolfenstein about them. I can imagine these mechanised evil-doers stomping about a battlefield acting as mini-boss battles, spewing hate and diesel as bullets pepper their plate armour and slowly lock up their servos until they inevitably, and climatically, explode. (Ideally cutting off their boring monologue.)
I kept mine simple, adding on all the gubbins except for the shoulder attachments, and wanted to keep them all in their power pose. I found the walking pose to be a little goofy, and kind’ve took away from their menace, but I think I made it work okay. What I really struggled with was their two-handed HMG option, which looks like it’s seriously lacking detail and there’s no real explanation of what’s supposed to fill it. I put some bullets in there, but only because I think I saw Lenoon do the same.
Speaking of Lenoon, I plan on painting my models up in a similar style. My Axis will be inspired straight out of things like Wolfenstein and Overlord – bio-horrors and mechanical-terrors led by evil scientists with eyepatches and nothing but scorn in their heart. I want villainy straight out of a cartoon.
Fireflies
Acetronomer: The Fireflies are a very cool kit with a really fun and iconic look. The jump packs fit on the back a lot easier than I expected, but unfortunately the models do suffer from a problem I have with a lot of Warlord Games kits where some arms and weapons fit better on certain bodies than others, and it’s usually unclear which fits with which until you try them all out.
Each sprue comes with three complete bodies, three torsos, and six pairs of legs (three in flight and three on foot). The extra choice of legs is a great addition here, giving you some choice in posing as well as extra options for kitbashing. If you’ve got some spare torsos lying around, then you can potentially mix them with the spare legs to get some easy paragon squad models to help build out a US force.
There’s some good weapons and bits options here, including the very cool-looking M1X2 Thompson SMGs, alongside Browning Automatic Rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers, and a flamethrower. There’s also a bunch of little bits in terms of pouches and spare hands, including pistols, pointing fingers and binoculars. These are great to have access to, and useful for kitbashing officers or forward observers, but feel like a bit of a weird include in a kit with almost entirely two-handed weapons.
I decided to base my fireflies’ colour scheme on the older M42 uniform, imagining them almost as test pilots. I used Field Drab for the uniform, and German Camo Bright Green for the jump pack, helmet and harness. They were pretty fun and easy to paint, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play on the tabletop once I’ve got the rest of a US force built and painted.
Boyes:Â Out of both kits I got my hands on, I didn’t expect the Fireflies to be my favourite. There’s something instantly iconic to the idea of paratroopers with jetpacks that feels like it’s leapt straight out of the pages of a Golden Age comic, and I love it. I largely skipped their fiddly bits, pouches and the like, because I feel they don’t add much more to a model like this that’s largely defined by it’s pose. Of which, I have to say, my major complaint with the kit outside of some grievances mentioned by the others is that there isn’t an option to have every single guy in a various stage of launching or landing.
I built my boys up rather plain, not knowing how I’m planning on using them yet, and opted for the flame-thrower on one of the mid-flight poses and the good ol’ BAR for the boys on the ground. I had a lot of trouble making the heads ‘feel’ right on these sculpts but a little shaving and I got to a point I was happy with.
I’m planning to paint these guys up like their box art, that traditional olive-drab and khaki but accenting their hands with those bright yellow gloves.
On a side note, these models dry-brush up really nicely! I usually like to drybrush up new models to get an idea of the detail and I’ll definitely by using it on their uniform to achieve a quick, poppy appearance when I get around to putting paint on them proper soon!
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