Introduction

With ICM having announced a figure set covering WW1 troops on the Eastern Front, Revell of Germany have taken on the ICM figures covering the Western Front. Revell of Germany is releasing the British, French and German troops made available by ICM as individual products and made them available as a single purchase.

Contents

This product has been packaged in one of Revell of Germany’s end opening boxes. The contents consist of 7 tan sprues supplied in 3 re-sealable plastic bags. As you would expect each of the three bags holds the British, French and German sets separately.

Review

First Impressions
Anyone who has taken a look at any of the World War One figures released by ICM have released in the last year or so cannot help but have been impressed by them, I am happy to report that these figures that have been released by Revell of Germany have retained that very high quality as regards moulding. There are no moulding faults that I am able to detect.

British Troops
There are four British Infantry supplied with this product, one of which is an officer. All four of the figures have been designed to look as if they are slowly moving forward in open ground, I will be honest I would have liked to see troops either in a trench suitable stance or obviously moving towards the enemy; perhaps a mix of troops going up the ladders, waiting to mount the ladder and moving forwards, that said these are what they are. Each of the figures is allocated to an area of the sprue that will make assembly easy and save looking for parts on the sprue.

The uniform is the 1902 wool uniform I believe and this looks to be accurately replicated on these figures, the four buttoned pockets and buttons down the front of the tunic looks right to me. The ankle boots and putties look right; the putties go up to just below the knee on the figures. The set also offers the choice of a Mk1 Brodie helmets or peaked caps, the peaked caps are very nice detail wise as they even have cap badge replicated on them. The hand and facial detail is very good for injection moulded figures. The three infantry figures are supplied with backpacks, water canteens and gas mask bag, all of these items and the figures have been shaped to make placement of these items look natural. The gas mask bag does throw me a little as it would indicate a date of 1916 on if I have my facts right. The 1908 webbing is well represented with my only concern being that the main pack looks to be too deep, otherwise this aspect is very good.

The personal weapons are well provided for with the choice of a Lewis machine gun with the option of the bipod deployed or folded, 3 SMLE rifles with bayonet fixed, 1 SMLE without bayonet, a Ross Mk III 1910 with bayonet fixed and 1 without. There is also a Webley revolver, a Webley revolver in its holster and a Webley revolver in an alternate holster. There are a number of other items such as the ammunition pouches, wire cutters, wire cutters for attachment to the rifle, shovels, axe and even a gas rattle. All told this is a very nice selection of items for use with the figures and as part of a diorama.

French Troops
The parts for the four figures are laid out in their own area of the sprue and this makes parts easy to find. The hems of the jackets are also moulded separately which gives a nice look of an open area rather than a solid lump of plastic. The crease and fold detail on the figures looks good due to not being sharp and so having a natural look to it. The uniform detail itself looks to be accurate to me judging from what I currently know about the uniform and looking at images of French World War One infantry. The only issue I can see with these figures in relation to the other two sets in the box is that these are early war figures and so may take some careful work if intended to be displayed together.

The backpacks supplied on the figure sprue for the three infantry soldiers looks good despite being a single moulding, this of course can be further enhanced via the use of parts from the weapon and equipment spread. The hand or should I say finger detail is good in this offering and gone are the clenched fists of old. The heads are particularly well done have nice variation in look and the moustache detail present on three of the faces. I will say I would have liked to see a neck as part of the heads and a recess in the torso’s as that would have provided a better look in my opinion. I should say that due to the high buttoned collar this may not be as big an issue as it could have been. The Kepi’s provided on the figure sprue look nicely detailed, but if preferred there are 4 Adrian M1915 steel helmets which could be used but would move the figures slightly forward in time, I believe.

German Troops
As with the other two figure sets supplied with this offering you get three German infantry and an officer. The uniform specifics look to be accurate to me and with good crease detail present. There are very light moulding seams present due to the moulding process, but light scraping will easily remove these. Looking at images of these figures assembled indicates very natural stances for all four of them. I again am a big fan of the approach of shaping the figures and equipment that they look very natural when applied to each other. You are provided with a choice of the pickle helmet used during the early stages of the war and the steel helmet which came into use as the British blockade stopped supplies of items such as leather arriving from Argentina and other far flung areas. The hand and facial details are again of a very good standard as injection moulded quality goes. Some of the faces have very well represented a moustache which is part of why I feel the quality is good. The finger detail on the hands is especially good and will not be easily improved upon.

This particular figure set has two weapons/equipment sprues supplied with it and that has given the modeller a huge choice of weapons. You get 2 MG08/15 machine guns, 12 variations of the Mauser 98, 2 Bergmann MP 18/1 smg, 2 Tankgewwhr M1918 anti tank rifles, 6 lugers with and without a butt stock fitted, 4 Mauser C96 pistols again with and without butt stock fitted (if memory serves the holsters for these pistols were made of wood and the holster is what doubled up as the butt stock) and there are also holsters for the weapons in their own right. Along with these you also get items such as shovels with canvas covers in place, pick elves and potato masher grenades, all told a very nice selection of items to choose from.

Conclusion

The three figure sets chosen to make up this offering are of a very high standard and depending on the ability of the modeller offer the chance of producing very eye catching results. With ICM having released an Eastern Front set, this Western Front offering is I believe a shrewd move by Revell of Germany and offers modellers a simple choice of which front holds the most appeal, I would guess with the WW1 armour that is now available the Western Front will prove a popular choice for modellers regardless of where their main interests lay.

Related Reviews

WW1 British Infantry Weapons and Equipment

WW1 French Infantry Weapon and Equipment

WW1 German Infantry Weapons and Equipment