Edelweiss Blooming: 28mm WWII Gebirgsjäger

Gebirgsjäger — German mountain troops — are a project I've wanted to tackle for some time, although I couldn't say exactly where the idea first came from. At this scale, the mountain infantry are not that different in appearance from regular German soldiers, aside from the inclusion of some specialized winter clothing. And at least in the game systems I've played, their special rules are nothing to write home about.

Still, there's something about the depictions of them in historical photographs, art and reenacting circles that has always appealed to me. Maybe it's the status they carried as elite troops, or the way they seem to appear scruffier and hardier than the average German soldier, or even the Third Reich's tendency to throw away the lives of their specialized troops as leg infantry to stave off an inevitable defeat.

What I'm getting at is that I've made some Gebirgsjäger.

I started with a squad at first, but I've got every intention to expand this into a full platoon by the end of the year, similar to the goal of finishing off a platoon of Panzer Lehr troops I mentioned in an earlier post.

I wanted to make them in plastic, at least primarily, partly due to cost but also because it would let me kitbash far more effectively. I plan to pick up Warlord's Gebirgsjager squad for this project, but I just plan to mix those figures in for variety.

I drew huge inspiration from Oscar Flamberg's work, which used a mixture of Warlord's old and new plastic German grenadiers. I elected to use the older figures because their uniforms fit more closely with the early-war look I wanted, despite the fact that I despise the over-delicate detailing and odd hunchbacks those figures have. I used arms and heads from newer German plastic kits and covered them with equipment to disguise the appearance of the older figures. The benefit is that they're quite cheap secondhand. In fact, my gaming buddy Jesse provided plenty for this project.

If you, like me, hate these figures and don't want to touch them, then I think Warlord's plastic Afrika Korps figures could be a good substitute because of their uniform style and low boots.

Although the mountain troops are known for operating in colder areas, I chose to model mostly summer uniforms. This is because I suspect I'll be more likely to use these figures to recreate the fighting in southern Russia, on Crete, or maybe in northern Russia during the summer. That said, I'd love to get a chance to play them in a game set in Norway in 1940.

I chose to depict the stone grey uniform trousers used earlier in the war by Gebirgsjager units. My thought process was to give them an early-war flavor while making them stand out, but that doesn't really work since most of the German models I own are early-war figures that have the same trouser color. Oh well. Maybe I'll mix in some feldgrau trousers in the other squads to give them a rugged mismatched look.

I may come back and add a little more to the bases. I wanted them to look sparse and a little mountainous, but I think there might be a bit too much of the brown ground texture visible, making them read as muddy.

As you can see, I used field cap wearing heads liberally in this project. Since I largely depict German units fighting in 1939-42, I have little use for the M43 caps that come on Warlord's sprues. But with these mountain troops, known for their caps, I've gotten to use some up.

Some of the figures have goggles, which have been painted with my usual quick and simple lens technique. I am considering going back and painting some of these lenses a darker shade or maybe even metallic to represent the tinted or aluminum slit goggles that seem to be favored by Gebirgsjäger.

Most of the squad got some sort of extra equipment to make them look more like mountain troops. The large rucksacks from Warlord's older set of British Commandos make decent substitutes for the mountain backpacks used by Gebirgsjäger, and I added coils of rope to two figures, although I ended up having to use two different types of string to do it, and you can see that one looks far nicer. Another local wargaming buddy, Chris, gifted me the rucksacks, so between his contribution and Jesse's, this is something of a collaborative project.

The squad leader also clutches an ice axe, which is probably more of a status symbol that a useful tool.

All these jäger have been given decals on their right sleeves and the left side of their caps from Company B. They might be a little on the large side, but after working with them I think with anything smaller it would have been impossible to tell what it was. I briefly considered freehanding these insignia, but thought better of it. The decals saved me a lot of time and effort.

As a side note, I really like the wood and metal effect achieved on these guns, and also the wear on the equipment. It's not that different from my usual scheme, but I just think I'm getting much better at it after painting dozens of little plastic Germans.

I don't think it's really visible unless you're very close, but I gave the edges and soles of the boots a bit of metallic paint to suggest the more robust hobnails used on the mountain-climbing boots that are specific to the Gebergsjäger.

When I was trying to photograph these guys, I realized I really don't have much in the way of rocky or mountainous terrain. That explains the chunks of gravel in the photos. It's also been grey and rainy, meaning natural light was hard to come by. I did try to take some photos at my local game store, but elected not to use them. A couple of those below.

You can definitely expect to see more of this project in the future, but I've yet to assemble the second squad of the platoon, so look forward to updates on other projects first.