Polish 20mm

Just finishing my Hungarians I have an inkling to build up a Polish force, in 20mm of course. So where from chaps?

Piers has some photo comparison of poles from EWM, Foundry, Fantassin. Let me find it for you on the fbook group.

Here you are:




Figures & Pictures made by Piers.

Depends on what type of Poles you want of course ie infantry, cavalry, motorised etc.

Want enough to put a battlegroup together ala Battlegroup Blitzkrieg, 4-5 platoons of armour, inf and all the usual suspects.

Nowadays I would probably replace the rather odd Battlefield offering with the FtF one in the above very useful photograph.

My own infantry riflemen consist of predominantly Fantassin with an admixture of FAA, FtF and Foundry. None of them is entirely satisfactory for one reason or another. For the anally retentive, gasmasks should be of one type across a unit. Foundry have generously given their infantrymen two, so the RSC can be simply snipped off.

For 47mm mortars (granatnik 47mm wz 36) the FAA and Foundry offerings are both OK. The FAA seems a tad overscale while the Foundry team is very oddly posed - I presume the designer thought the weapon was fired by the ammunition carrier dropping bombs down the tube like in a medium mortar. This was not the case, of course, the weapon being loaded and then trigger-fired by the gunner.  

MMG and 81mm mortar crews should not be wearing packs (these were simply dumped on the weapon carts when the gear was taken off them) so again Fantassin provide the bulk of my crews. However the Fantassin ckm wz 30 machine gun is of the cavalry pattern (and very nice too) so an alternative would be best. Scibor Minis do a very nice infantry MMG with crew. Most of the mortars in the available commercial plastic sets are a tad ropey so I had my own mastered and this is currently available from Under Fire Miniatures along with both types of ammo box. Pairing a MMG tripod with the FtF AAMG (from one of their PF 621 trucks) makes a very satisfactory MMG set up in AA mode.

I don't know of any infantry pioneers available currently. These alas would have to be kitbashed from suitable infantrymen. The same goes for signallers, although the telephonist from the HAT Polish Artillery set is not bad if you replace the piece of railway sleeper he appears to be trying to talk to, with something a bit more field-telephone-like. Lord alone knows what the signaller in the FtF set is using. There are currently no telephone and radio carts available in 1/72.

The 37mm AT guns are a pain because while nice gun models exist (Gramodels, FtF, ACE) no one makes crew figures (ie the two chaps actually operating the gun, lying on the trails). I used Foundry (LMG and lt mortar crew I think) with their groins scooped out (Ouch! ) and generally bent about to fit. Gramodels also provide a limber which needs a little kitbashing to convert from the 3-horse cavalry version to the 2-horse infantry one. Gramodels also provide walking grooms for the carts (and for holding the officers' horses when the latter dismount) if you ask nicely.  

There are no bicycle mounted infantrymen for your recce, alas. I used Raventhorpe general Slovak/Polish/Martian etc cyclist with head swap and suitable accoutrements added to bike and figure. For mounted scouts I simply used SHQ with head swaps. SHQ cavalry officers make equally satisfying mounted infantry officers.

Infantry carts are supplied by Gramodels with a very nice pairing of grumpy horse and grumpy groom who look as if they've been plodding along all day. If you ask Graham very nicely, he may be able to supply you with Polish standard army wagons too for your infantry company supplies. There are no Polish field kitchens around currently, but you could certainly make a good case for the Austrian field kitchen and limber made by MGM - although you would need to find a suitable 4-horse team.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

Picked up a load of kit from SHQ and had a very nice cup of tea, this afternoon. Also ordered some first to fight and other vehicles from Kingkit. Now for a vickers or 3!