In war prisoners get taken, and in the Second World War a lot of them got taken, particularly at the start and at the finish. In the past if you have wanted to depict prisoners of any nation it was necessary to adapt existing figures to the role. Now with the introduction of this set you no longer have to do that, at least not for German prisoners.
This set depicts five German prisoners of war being escorted by a single Russian guard. One of the German figures has his head bandaged, a second has his arm in a sling, and all five of the germans have a suitable downcast look and slumped appearance. All five wear short boots, four of them with gaiters. Although the title sets these as 1944 only one of the Germans wears a 1944 issue field blouse, the other four all wear 1941 issue blouses so it would be simple enough to set these in any period of the war in Russia ( sans the one figure in the ’44 blouse naturally ).
All six figures come moulded on a single dark yellow sprue. The detail is very good with some very nice faces in particular. The draped greatcoat, the leading edges of the open tunic and the unused sleeve on the figure with an arm in a sling are all moulded as separate parts to give the best undercut detail.
The Russian guard comes with a haversack, a small satchel, two mag pouches, an entrenching tool and carries a Mossin Nagant rifle with an attached bayonet. No weapons or personal equipment is included for the German prisoners.
The assembly instructions and a painting guide for use with Vallejo paints is printed on the reverse of the box.
This is a wonderful little set which could be used in any setting with the simple replacement of the Russian figure with any other allied figure as the escort. Alternately remove the guard all together, add some weapons and personal kit and you have a group of German troops in retreat. A very imaginative set with a lot of potantial, I personally immediately see them posed trudging to the rear, passing a Russian tank advancing in the opposite direction.
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