introduction

Dragon has recently released another set of figures, German Elite Infantry; Russia 1941-43, kit #6707, that are sure to be polarizing; four German SS infantry that some will love because of the subject matter and some will hate because it is another set of Germans. Either way it is similar to many of the more recent Dragon releases in that the four figures are all for the most part separate and not really meant to be grouped together.

review

Inside the typical Dragon end opening figure set box you will find four SS infantry types, all very well molded although a bit of flash can be found along the mold separation line here and there. The only thing that passes for instructions is the back of the box which shows built up examples and repeats the box top artwork from Zgonnik with paint colors called out and keyed to Mr. Hobby and Model Master paints. One thing to point out with the artwork, as you probably know the collar tabs for these figures are not just black rectangles but SS runes which can’t be legally depicted in many countries.

Besides the one large sprue that carries all the figures you also receive the now almost ubiquitous sprue G Gen2 personal gear sprue as well as the Gen2 sprue W individual weapons sprue plus two sprues that house different styles of four entrenching tools. I won’t add anything more about the equipment on these sprues as they have been well covered in the past and you probably have a few hanging about in your spares bin anyhow.

Two of the figures wear the M40 tunic; the machine gunner with the MG34 up on his shoulder and a more typical infantryman thumbing a clip into his Kar98k. One of the other figures, wearing the camouflaged combat smock and taking a long pull from his water bottle, looks suspiciously like the same guy from the cover of Concord’s The Waffen SS in Russia! Nevertheless, he is a very nice looking figure on the sprue and should build and paint up nicely. One issue that I noted was his sniper rifle, which you could easily swap out, is not very well molded as it suffers from mold creep that has filled inside the trigger guard with solid plastic as well as the areas between the scope and the rifle. The other figure is my favorite, wearing the winter white snowsuit, armed with a MP40, with his head wrapped in a scarf wearing a field cap with goggles pushed up on his cap.

Conclusion

That’s pretty much it, another very nice set of figures from Dragon. While no one will mistake these figures as being in any kind of heavy action pose I like the more mundane drinking pose as well as the rifle loading figure and the goggles molded on to the winter soldier’s cap gives him enough interest that he should prove popular as should the set as a whole.