A Defiance Painter #1 - German Panzergrenadiers

I bought these German Panzergrenadiers quite a while ago, and after waiting for the delivery I got cracking on them. When I first open the box and saw the material they were made of I got sceptic, not what I expected hard plastic miniatures to be. I don't know what material Defiance Games has used to produce them but, it doesn't remind me of anything I've seen hard plastic miniatures made of. Unfortunately, the detail of the different parts of the miniatures were pretty low. 

Prone casualty miniatures

So what's in the box? According the box you get 20 Panzergrenadier miniatures. Now, this is a truth with modification. In the box you 16 standing/kneeling miniatures and 4 miniatures laying down. On the back of the box it says 3 casualties and one gunner. I got 4 casualties, not that I mind because I don't like to use miniatures that are laying down when playing anyway. I can, however, see some use of the casualty miniatures as objectives in some games, or possibly markers. But, if I got to choose, I'd much rather have had 4 more standing Panzergrenadiers. In the box there is also a good assortment of weapons and head choices.

So I started modelling and painting them. Glueing them together in decent poses is really hard, the bits don't really fit and the glue has a bit of a problem sticking. Now, this can be a result of my skill rather than the quality of the model but I suspect it is the strange material. Having a look at the miniature when put together I have a problem seeing the detail between i.e. the trousers and the leg armour, again I'm suspecting the material. Now undercoating the miniature and giving it a wash helped to bring out some detail.

Undercoated and with guiding wash

Painting the Panzergrenadier I decided to go with a near future matt earth color scheme. As I'm painting the miniatures I find myself having problems to even layer the miniature. However, I've wanted to try out using the Army Painter's quickshades, so I'm happy to just give the miniatures a single layer before finishing them. I was also thinking of giving the miniatures a quick drybrush to create some highlightning. In the end I decided against it, since I wanted to take the opportunity to see how a quickshade would work.


Well, after giving the miniatures an undercoat, a single coat and a quickshade I'm still quite happy with the result. It is by far not the best miniatures I've painted, the're not the worst either. Now I only have to do the basing and they are finished for the gaming table.

After one layer and quickshade

Conclusion
So what can I say about Defiance Games German Panzergrenadiers? I like the concept of the miniatures, that is why I bought them. The Panzergrenadiers work really well as a near future/hard sci-fi space trooper, since they don't get me to think of nazi's-in-space. I don't like the material they are made of. I had a problem putting them together, paint them and distinguish between details on the miniature. When it comes to the content of the box it is a draw. I don't like getting 4 prone miniatures, but I do like the assortment of heads and weapons. As for their gaming potential, given that they come out ok when using the army painter technique, I give them an okey. I can see myself liking their look on the gaming table, but I wont be impressed with my achievement in painting them when I pick one up.

WIP

Almost finished, only basing left

 If you like the concept of the Panzergrenadiers, if you want to field a larger force of them and if you only want to paint them to a minimum tabletop gaming standard, then these miniatures are for you. If you want to do real master class modelling and painting, and if poor detail puts you off, then look for other miniatures. For myself, even though I don't like everything about the miniatures, I find myself wanting at least one more box of them. Looking at Defiance Games website, I now see that they are no longer available and I can not find any answers on the website to why. I feel a glimmer of hope that they are being remodeled into the standard material for hard plastic 28mm miniatures...

Welcome!

So it is time for a blog about my 28mm sci-fi painting and gaming. Gaming wise this blog will be focusing on the events happening around the main characters and places in connection with Outpost Aurora 28. The blog will also contain my modeling and painting projects in 28mm sci-fi. When gaming, modelling and painting I'll also do some reviews.

The 28mm sci-fi miniature market is dominated by one big company. This blog will not be focusing on that companies products, although occasionally a single item of two might show up. However, I am more interested in near future/hard sci-fi gaming. Leaving gothic sci-fi gaming behind has opened up an entirely new and larger world in sci-fi miniature gaming.