Sent to bolster their beleaguered Italian allies facing the combined forces of the British Commonwealth in North Africa, the Deutsches Afrika Korps proved a dangerous opponent. Commanded by the legendary Erwin Rommel, the Afrika Korps fought a series of ferocious battles in Egypt and Libya as each side pushed the other to breaking point.
German officers were capable and often experienced leaders. Junior officers were trained to undertake the role of their immediate superiors, enabling them to use their initiative to take control of situations when necessary. The Afrika Korps (DAK) proved this through consistent victories as well as elusiveness in retreat.
For centuries beyond counting has the race of malevolent ratmen known as the skaven plagued the Mortal Realms. Arrogant, avaricious and utterly without mercy, the skaven seek to annihilate every other sapient creature – expanding, multiplying, and consuming everything in their path until they alone rule over the decaying husk of reality. Those who defy this vision are overwhelmed by swarms of frenzied, red-eyed warriors, weaponized plagues, monstrous beasts and lightning-spitting war machines. Arise, Children of the Great Horned Rat!
German officers were capable and often experienced leaders. Junior officers were trained to undertake the role of their own immediate superiors, enabling them to use their initiative to take control of situations when necessary.
Representing the classic image of the German infantryman during World War II, these miniatures are equipped with knee-high jackboots, unadorned 'coalscuttle’ helmet and a martial discipline that took them to almost complete dominance of mainland Europe.
Clanrats mass into huge clawpacks, their vast numbers bolstering their courage and allowing them to surge across the battlefield and overwhelm the enemy, regardless of the hideous casualties they suffer along the way.
Deathmasters are the greatest assassins of the Clans Eshin, trained in the shadowy arts of stealth and contracted to slay those whom influential skaven deem too dangerous to live. Armed with poisoned ‘weeping blades’ and toxin-laced throwing stars, these supernaturally dextrous killers have slain kings and warlords beyond count.
As Hitler’s military machine unleashed their devastating assault on Poland in 1939, the SS were still in the process of transitioning from political to military organisation, becoming the Waffen-SS (armed SS) and the military wing of the Nazi party.
The world’s first paratroopers to be used in large numbers, the German Fallschirmjager were at the tip of the spear when war broke out in 1939. They led daring assaults on strategic targets, such as the fortress at Eben Emael, enabling the following panzers to overrun Europe.
The Fallschirmjager instead acted as elite infantry serving in all theatres in which Germany fought. Supported by two weapons with a high rate of fire – the deadly MG42 general purpose machine gun and the Granatwerfer 34 8cm medium mortar – they were respected by the Allies for their fighting ability and honourable actions.
They played a vital part in Greece campaign – most notably during Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete. This pyrrhic victory would be the last time the Fallschirmjäger dropped from the skies en masse – Hitler forbade such actions after the horrific losses they incurred taking the island.
Originally developed as an anti-aircraft weapon, the Flak 37 8.8cm (or Eighty-eight as it became known by Allied troops) had a high muzzle velocity to allow it to reach the higher ranges modern bombers were capable of at the time. This would make it an exceptionally deadly anti-tank weapon as many Allied tank crews would learn to their peril. The 88 could also be deployed as a conventional artillery piece – as one infantryman noted, the 88 was 'anti-everything’…