WWII Lehr Panzergrenadiers and Acceptable Losses

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This week, I managed to finish up a number of figures that I started late last year in an effort to get back into the swing of painting models after a substantial break.

Some of those figures require a couple finishing touches, but I did complete one squad plus a platoon leader for a Panzer Lehr Division platoon.

I started this project late in 2019, when I purchased some of Artizan's Panzer Lehr figures. I'm usually not too hot on Artizan figures. They're easy to paint but are usually not detailed enough for my tastes. The Lehr figures, while still a little on the soft and chunky side, were a bit more of a happy medium. Plus, Lehr is a unit that fought both British and American troops in Normandy, making them flexible. At the time, my main opponent had a sizable Normady-themed British force and I only had a rag-tag bunch of Waffen SS figures that fit that period.

I elected to build a panzergrenadier platoon for Chain of Command, as it involved slightly fewer figures and more machine guns, and machine guns are objectively fun.

At the point that I started this project, the Warlord Panzer Lehr set was not available (plus, I don't find the poses in that set suitable for a complete force) and the Wargames Atlantic plastic set had only just been teased, if I recall correctly.

I chose to modify some of the figures for variety and also mix in some plastic figures, mainly Warlord Games figures in zeltbahns. The modifications mostly came down to several head swaps, a couple arm swaps, and using plastic barrels for the G43 rifles, since most of those dropped off almost the second I looked at them.

I think the result is acceptably detailed. I didn't replace all of the rifles, some of which still have the distinctive Artizan chunkiness and lack of detail.

This figure, which is one of Warlord's plastic grenadiers, will serve as a senior leader. I like the look of the figures in zeltbahns, so I will probably be mixing a few more in.

I've got the better part of two more squads left to paint. I'm thinking I might pick up the Warlord Lehr set just to have another MG-42 pose. When you have six LMG teams in one platoon, having a little pose variety is nice. I may grab a sprue of the Wargames Atlantic Lehr figures for the same reason.

The plan is to have this platoon complete before the summer, but since these figures are relatively simple to paint up, I may use them as a palette cleanser of sorts between some more complex painting projects I have planned for this year.

Also this week, I finished up some German casualty figures from Great Escape Games. These should add some visual interest to battle reports. I also have a Soviet set to paint up.

I opted not to go too gory, but couldn't resist splashing a bit of Citadel's Blood for the Blood God on a few.

While they didn't get the full vignette treatment, I also painted four in greatcoats and winter gear. Like the others, they're from Great Escape.


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