Paint & Review: WGA's Partisans - Free French, Volkssturm, Militia and More! [How I Paint Things]

Throughout the Second World War, a great number of civilians would take up arms in defense of their homelands. The Maquis, the Warsaw Home Army Corps, the People's Militia, the Volkssturm - all took part in some of the largest feats of civilian resistance in history, and some would give their all for the cause in the face of overwhelming odds.
Wargames Atlantic ship worldwide from their website, so you can check out the Partisan box directly: wargamesatlantic.com/collecti...
One thing I'd forgotten to mention was the release of the Panzer Lehr since I picked up these Partisans; yet another source of scale-appropriate arms and weapons which would fit these guys perfectly for a late war German or even Soviet militia force.
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Kit Review
04:21 - Priming and Basecoats
08:07 - Shading
09:56 - Highlights & Finishing Touches
13:21 - The Finished Partisan
Thanks to Producer Patrons Alan Nuttall, Kyrie Crawford, Trainboy, Jimmy, and Rod - as well as all the other Patrons that made this video possible, and Exit23 Games for recording equipment that helps keep the channel ticking over! Find out more at the following links:
/ sonicsledgehammer
/ sonicsledge
/ sonicsledgehammer
ko-fi.com/docwholigan
exit23.games
PAINTS USED:
PRIMERS:
Premium Grey (Vallejo Spray Can Primer)
ARMY PAINTER:
Tanned Flesh
Ice Storm
Strong Tone
Quickshade Mixing Medium
VALLEJO:
Intermediate Blue
Gunship Green
German Grey
German Camo Pale Brown
Beige Brown
Flat Brown
Ivory
CITADEL:
Iron Hands Steel (Base)
Cadian Fleshtone
Kislev Flesh
VARNISHES:
Vallejo Matt Varnish Spray

[@euansmith3699]

We've got a photo of one of my Grandads from back in 40s. The photo is monochrome, and Grandad looks very stylish. However, one day he told us that the jacket and trousers were purple, the shirt was mauve, and the tie was violet; like something from Dick Tracy. 😍 That mini looks like one of Phryne's Communist Worker friends from the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Great stuff.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I wish I was brave enough to be that stylish! It cracks me up how often we think of 'the past' as being dull and monochromatic - even in colour - when the truth is usually anything but.

[@mg1342mg]

Very true. I started researching American West clothing when I started doing Cowboy Action Shooting. I was amazed how garish and loud it could be. After that I dressed as blindingly as possible.

[@euansmith3699]

@@mg1342mg I was quite surprised, as a kid, to discover that "cowboy times" and "Victorian times" were the same period; just in different countries. Learning that Oscar Wilde went on a sell-out speaking tour of the American West was a real eye-opener.

[@Captn_Grumpy]

​@@mg1342mg I do remember, ok vaguely for a long time ago, that the main difference for ability to use bright colours relates to when modern printing of patterns came in. Prior to this it depended on the time but bright and bold colours have usually been popular and when sythetic dyes came in the colours that had been traditionally expensive naturally (reds, purples etc iirc) became wildly popular. There were also advantages with colourfastness as well. Oh and from what I remember my favourite thing about the 'West' was that the hugely most popular hat was the bowler, and I think that was Jesse James' hat almost exclusively. We need to get bowler hats back in fashion :)

[@Bluecho4]

Yep. Humans, as it turns out, don't change as much as we like to think from era to era. People like bright colors now, and they liked bright colors then. If our impression of earlier fashions seem muted, it's either because we're extrapolating unconsciously from photographs, or because extent examples of it have faded over time. In the days when the clothing was new, it could be wildly colorful. People just like it that way, and wear it whenever circumstances allowed.

[@irishtom30]

I'm gonna have to grab some of that ice storm, what a lovely colour

[@davidfromkyushu6870]

I swapped around bits from the WGA German sentries and British commando boxes to really vary them up; going with the German helmets and MP40s can give them a nice Warsaw Uprising look when painted up with red and white Home Army bands.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Oooh, good call. The Panzer Lehr box would also be a good source of arms and armaments if you wanted to go that route!

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Troy . 🐺

[@LiamBeattieLCR]

That face looks great! There's so much detail on his mug.

[@Spec0psGrunt]

I love the use of mixing for highlights in videos like this!

[@nickdavis5420]

I need some of these for my 1950s attack of the giant monsters game .

[@yendub]

I took a box of these and a box of the Panzer Lehr and it can be Volksturm, Ostruppen, or even replacements in travel.

[@NSYresearch]

" Butt chin " ....excellent description.... I remember former England rugby captain Will Carling being called " bum face " cos of his cleft chin.

[@guilmon182]

Y'know, put some epoxy shaped like flames on the grenade, you'd have a decent Indie there.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Might be worth me seeing how some of the spares from the Dead Man's Hand plastic gunslingers would fit on them. There's a whip in there... :D

[@kristophermelin7160]

I'm seeing a "Call of Cthulhu" vignette in the works...

[@euansmith3699]

I've got a box of these guys and a box of WGA's giant spiders, as the basis for some pulp battles against the Spiders of Leng. 😱 ROLL SAN!!!!

[@simdoyle]

Great video. Will be helpful doing some Last Levy I have. Thank you Troy.

[@Bluecho4]

Two additional ideas I had for this kit are as follows: 1) A Warhammer 40K "Guard" army of citizens in revolt. Not Genestealer Cultists or Chaos insurgents, just regular people making the entirely understandable decision to rebel against the Imperium's brutal fascist government. The Imperium is already a visual mishmash of a thousand historical styles, so a planet full of folks in 40s era European fashion is hardly out of place. 2) While on the subject of Sci Fi, use the Partisan models as a sort of 50s era "monster movie" civilian mob. I had the idea of a Grimdark Future campaign set in a pastiche of mid-century America, under siege by all manner of alien invaders, zombies, giant monsters, lizard men, maybe some invading Soviets, etc. Populate the board with old timey cars and buildings, like they're having running gunfights in a small town main street. You could, alternatively, take things a little farther back in the timeline, and evoke the earlier monster movies of the 30s, pitting the humans against mummies and werewolves and vampires.

[@alessiodecarolis]

Interesting mini, also if could seem strange, the germans had a lot of captured weapons, such as the Browning 9mm (build in Belgium), and Colt 1911, in Norway. P.s. a little hint if you want build a Volkstrum squad, from the photos it seems that they had one or two arm bands, but don't remember the symbol on them. At the end of the war they were armed with EVERYTHING, from pzfausts to old gw1898 from WWI, so you can raid a lot of plastic boxes😁

[@timothyyoung2962]

That guy turned out great. I grabbed a box of these guys to just use for... whatever. Put some together to be some survivors in a zombie game, in a 1950s style alien invasion game, and PCs/NPCs in a Call of Cthulhu game. Kit bashed a bunch with backpacks, gas masks, and some melee weapons for some dudes wondering around an old wasteland town. They do have a lot of uses if you don't get hung up on the weapons they carry (or honestly just change the weapons, it's dead simple).

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The bodies and heads by themselves are pretty useful for - as you've gone for already - pretty much anything. Give them something era-appropriate and a paint job to match and I don't think they'd look out of place in a modern game, either.

[@malcolmrose3361]

Indeed - they'd be fine as gangsters from the thirties through fifties with the right weapons.

[@stevenbuerkle9329]

Another work of art. 👍🏼🍻👍🏼🍻👍🏼

[@patrickd1968]

I wondered about these. Looks awesome.

[@dwarrenmsp]

Wicking away the excess wash cannot be overstated. It's something I still fail to do sometimes, and I just end up with a dirty mess I think have to highlight the heck out of.

[@darklingeraeld-ridge7946]

Think it should be mentioned there are some very nice heads in this set. Also, by just doing a simple left arm kit bash/ conversion, you can easily have civilians/ partisans/ spies etc surrendering with hands up. Which is a must have, no?

[@mikemodels928]

No way! Just started building Berlin battle diorama along with some Volkssturm minis. Very nice tutorial, as always. I just deeply hope that the world will stay in one piece so i can finish this dio.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Yeeeah... would be nice to have a tomorrow to look forward to! 😅

[@terrenceneedham4511]

Thanks

[@danelmore2783]

Great useful kit. Fantastic job!

[@theandf]

I really like this kit, which I own but still haven't assembled. I think it's suitable for pulp adventures, like you mention at the end.

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Looks like a very useful set, especially if you have a few leftover partial sprues of extra arms and weapons from any other WWII set. Resistance fighters make great gangsters and G-men, and vice versa. A kneeling or deeper crouch pose would be nice instead of 4 walking poses.

[@tharkwarrior]

This set looks very useful for wargamers and roleplayers.

[@monitor1862]

Nice job! I really like WGA kits. I've used several of them for kit bashing. I'll have to get one these kits next.

[@AJsWargaming]

I've had this box setting about for a while now. Thanks to your video, I'm more motivated to get working on it. Well done.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Great to hear!

[@caseyrogers7538]

Nice lord review. I was just wondering the other day if they would be useful as Soviet partisans

[@geronimo8159]

Harrison Ford as a Résistance-fighter...

[@sweatilaa5325]

since you mentioned skin tones, i find using something like Panzer Ace's Highlight Flesh with SpeedPaint Crusader Skin on top works very well for the north european skin tone. looks pretty good and you only need two paints, most minis just have hands and face visible so it works pretty well with very little effort and almost no precsion :)

[@ChuckThatNorris]

Great video as always! Been looking forward to this one. On the fence about getting this box set to go with my bolt action and 0200 hours game

[@jediknutt620]

Definitely resembles a certain famous archaeologist.

[@davetherave7279]

Tremendous, very inspiring videos that give me good tips, not that I'm great but it's a process to practice highlights until you like it or it feels right.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It's definitely a skill which takes a little to get your eye in, but between practice and finding your own style for things, it comes right in the end.

[@DaneSaysStuff]

Well, that turned out pretty shmick! I'll have to check this set out. I quite like WGA products and have plenty in the backlog. Different subjects like this really help break up the monotony of it all. I need to add some western minis as well since they look like a fun time to paint as well!

[@mg1342mg]

Very timely. I've been enjoying painting up some Bolt Action partisans, but I want to try the WGA partisan box. Further, my painting can always use pointers.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Never hurts to have options to fill out the ranks, either. I've got my eye on some of the Warlord metal Maquis, but a few of these guys careening around with SMGs will be a great screen!

[@AleksMardel]

Oh this looks ace!!! The only thing that would really bring me into Bolt Action/historical WW2 would be some civilian resistance!! Thanks for the sprue review too, wondering how I could maybe use them for weird conversions !!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

As long as you can find arms or hands that'll fit them, the bodies and range of heads would make them *crazy* versatile!

[@ike-cv1we]

👍

[@connorfinch1787]

Do you reckon you would get away with painting them as the mafia

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Theoretically, sure? The weapons are going to be pretty off if you're looking for street thugs and gangster types, though. Better to find some of the Chicago Way or Copplestone Castings gangsters if you want something that specific, I'd say.

[@AJsWargaming]

1911 pistol and the Rifles work, the rest are out of place for US mafioso. Need more Thompsons. A lot of the weapons in the packs weren't invented in the 20s or at least not readily available in the USA. I suppose the Webly revolver could be shortened to look like a snub-nosed .38. Most of the stick grenades are right out though.

[@AJsWargaming]

Come to think of it, it's a touch disappointing that there isn't a Thompson in the weapon 'kit'.

[@evilscientistrecords]

He looks a bit like Harrison Ford....

[@AnExtrovertPaints]

You painted them lovely, don't get me wrong, I just cannot stand these sculpts. They are lazily made (the hands don't grip any of the guns right, there are tons of historical inaccuracies, some of the equipment is just stiff and juts out from the bodies when attached, pistols and holsters are comically massive to scale), terrible to assemble--they're just lifeless torsos with arms pasted on the side with no shoulders and looks ridiculous compared to other competing plastic kits (Perry, Warlord). What makes it all more egregious is that these are digital sculpts and you would think that they would have taken more time to make them better--instead they came up with...these. Same with the Italians and the Panzer Lehr. I had high hopes and I was like, "Perfect, I can make some Italian resistance with these." Nope, they looked terrible to me. I would take any of the metals out there--from any of the manufacturers. Artizan, Warlord, etc...are just so superior to these.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I definitely agree on the subject of the holsters and weapons - the holsters in particular are just *ridiculous* in scale. The rest, to be fair, I'm not that fussed about considering the price. The only thing that stands out as really bugging me is the bits where model parts have clipped through and just been allowed to pass QA before being mastered for plastic production. If I need them to be accurate, I'll definitely go for metals instead, but as unit fillers and screens of troublemakers for plastic prices? I can ignore a fair bit. 😅

[@AnExtrovertPaints]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio they say you get what you pay for, and I definitely agree they are cheap. But that also accounts for the cheap product, too, IMO. But I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my minis and I'm also a fan of immersion, and for me anyway, these are just poor enough that I can't even bring myself to paint them. I have two boxes of these resistance fighters and they just collect dust on the shelf after two different attempts to make something out of them. It's a real shame. I will likely combine all the untouched sprues and sell them on eBay and trash the rest. I learned my lesson with WGA plastics. And I remember now why I didn't like Wargames Factory for the same reason--these have a similar set of flaws to those old plastic kits (cheaply made, lazily sculpted, oddly proportioned, lifeless poses, comically scaled weapons and gear, etc...).