Review
War in the East during World War Two was brutal both in terms of how the enemy was dealt with and the weather. You could of course get a break from the fighting but the Eastern Winter temperatures were a killer you cannot avoid troops and weapons froze solid and this offering from MiniArt titled ‘German Soldiers Winter 1941-42’ gives you a chill just looking at it. The offering is packed in one of the end opening card cartons and is the aspect that I do not like as the level of protection is weak with one of the torso parts being broken free from the sprue.
The product consists of 5 figures in early war uniform with most of the detail hidden beneath the greatcoat, which is the one piece of cold weather clothing they have and cold weather clothing was very hard to come by. The figures are all wearing jackboots and these could be cut off and replaced with Soviet footwear as troops would loot the bodies of Soviet troops for their cold weather clothing. With that in mind you could add any mix of body parts from Soviet troops and the display still be accurate. The poses of the figures portray the cold conditions very well and so not need any help in this regard. The hand and facial features are of a good quality and should meet the expectations of most modellers.
The equipment sprues supplied with the figures are the common sets usually offered with German figure sets and they offer a very nice mix of personal equipment, but I would have liked to see the weapons sprue included as well as one with four rifles. Overall any modeller who likes to depict conflict on the Eastern Front this set is a great offering from MiniArt. I do urge MiniArt to start considering adding photo etched weapons slings and decals for insignia on the figures to further increase their product desirability.