This morning I recieved a very exciting box from Warlord Games, containing the brand new Ostfront book, the new Waffen SS Cavalry packs, a winter Russian plastic sprue and also a box of the Veteren Grenadiers. I don't normally like unboxing reviews, but these are quite exciting releases so thought I'd share straight away!
Ostfront Barbarossa to Berlin
This book is Warlords second campaign/theatre book and whilst I enjoyed D-Day to Germany this (and the early war) book is the one I've been most excited about. The book is written by Andy Chambers, author of the the Armies of the Soviet Union book. Ostfront is crammed with scenarios and new units, containing no less than 12 scenarios and at least 27 new units for Russia, Japan Germany and Finland, theirs so many that I may have miscounted or missed a nation as well. It's a very full book. To name a few of the new scenario rules there are rules for minefields, snow, mud, dug in troops, city fighting, sewer movement, and night fighting.
Osftont covers the fighting between Russian and Japan at Khalkyn Gol, the Winter War between Russia and Finland, and the War between Russia and Germany, covering the German invasion in 1941 right up to the Battle of Berlin.
The scenarios included are varied, and really capture the feel of the battles presented in each of the regions, especially once you start factoring the enviromental rules. One particularly cool battle takes place at night during a thunderstorm, with a dice roll each turn to see if lightning illuminates the battlefield.
I won't list the new units included as I don't wish to ruin the surprise of discovering them, but there are some real gems in here, and I can't wait to get back to my Russians and Germans following a quick read of the book this morning. It's worth noting how exceptional the artwork in the book is too, the best I've seen in one of Warlords books.
Plastic Winter Russians
This new set is a major reworking of Warlords existing plastic Russians, and adds a massive bundle of new parts, with some superb new heads, hands with mittens and gloves, oh and 5 great coated bodies!
As you can see from the pictures the new heads are absolutely full of character, my favourites being the ones wrapped in scarves and the Fur hat with the ears flapping around.
These look like great models to work with, and I'm also going to try using some spare German bits and some Milliput to make me some Winter Germans too. Watch this space for how that goes!
Waffen SS Cavalry
Warlord have recently released 2 packs of Waffen SS cavalry, the first contains an NCO, a man with an MG34 and a number 2 for the MG carrying the ammunition boxes. The second pack contains 3 men with rifles. Each pack contains mounted and dismounted versions of the figures.
I'm very impressed with these models and particularly like the mounted and dismounted versions. All field gear is present and correct, and worn properly as well. The detail on the smocks is especially good. Once these are painted up they will be a fine centerpiece to any German force
German Veteran Grenadier Squad
Another very recent release, this pack contains 10 figures, with no duplicates, and also comes with MDF bases. All the models are in a fairly mixed bag of uniform, and several are wearing their Zeltbahn's as a camouflage poncho. Poses are great, with no awkard or unnatural looking stances, and the separate heads allow a good amount of variation to the poses.
All the men are heavily armed with MP44 assault rifles so could also double up as Volksgrenadiers, as mine will probably be. 
These men are wearing stripped down fighting order on their belts, and most have abandoned their field gear apart from their bread bags and water bottles.
The models have a very late war feel to them and would be perfect for any forces themed around the Battle of the Bulge onwards.
Another top set, and one I'm really looking forwards to painting.
I'll aim to get these painted up as quickly as possible, and as ever you can see the rest of my work here at Volley Fire Painting Services
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