Bolt Action Fallschirmjäger

Among the latest plastic kits for Bolt Action are the German Fallschirmjäger (Paratroopers) by Warlord Games.

The kit itself contains 30 miniatures in 28mm / 1:56 scale and sets you back 26 GBP. The Fallschirmjäger are suited for mid and late war, and designed to be used in north western europe or the russian front. For North African / South European Fallschirmjäger you might take a look at the Perry range.

Inside the kit, you get 5 sprues with 6 miniatures each, and a seperate base sprue with additional parts for the paratroopers. There is also an instruction leaflet and decals in this box.

The cast is crisp and has low amount of flash. The bases are lipped and not entirely flat, like for example the renedra bases.

Let's start with the 6 different bodies you can choose from in this box. As usual, a couple of different poses, 2 kneeling and 4 running / standing, but no laying down like in some of the other kits. Each of them wears the unmistakable paratrooper tunic and the "bone bag" (knochensack).

The paratroopers have access to a lot of different weapons, like MG42 and be build into weapon teams.

As mid / late war troops, they can use panzerschrecks as well.

The regular Fallschirmjäger were equipped with the fg42 assault rifle, mp40 smg or regular Kar98 rifles.

A full squad of 10 looks like this. Unfortunately the kit lacks a few left hand option, to get more variety. But you can mix some of the hands and arms from the Blitzkrieg and Grenadier kit, to have more options. In the middle picture, you can see 3 different NCOs, two of them with tactical hand signs.

If you're looking for more ideas on converting the Fallschirmjäger, take a look at this hobby article by Andy Singleton or the Kampfgruppe article, both from the Warlord Games website.

And of course, a small comparison by size. In the first the comparison with an older Bolt Action fallschirmjäger and a German Grenadier. Next to it the comparison with a Space Marine and Valhallan Imperial Guard trooper.

Conclusion
The german fallschirmjäger kit is a nice set. You get a few options and the kit can be combined with others from the german range (or depending how wild you want to go, with others as well). Cast and sculpts are high quality and the only thing to argue about, is the limited choice of "off-hands".

The poses and equipment fit the more dynamic unit and it is another step in the right direction and upping the "game", as the grenadiers already increased the level of quality and this one keeps it up. It is going to be interesting to see, where this is going with the upcoming us airborne as a plastic kit.

Fallschirmjäger can be played as an army on their own, you find the rules in the Armies of Germany book and some of the campaign expansions, or as an elite unit alongside regular infantry. There are even rules for the combat jump available for free from the Warlord Games website.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.