Bartertown.com

Hello there all,

I recently decided to get into a new game: Secrets of the Third Reich by West Wind Productions. I just came across the game by accident a while back and though that it was a neat setting, so went about getting into it. I was wondering if anyone else has acquired any of the models and would care to share their opinions/experiences for me to compare against. You see, I have only picked up one model from the line so far, the Panzermech, and am wondering if it was just a bad batch of luck with the product I have received.

Let me explain a bit more: I received it in a trade here on Bartertown from an excellent trader, and I received what I asked for so all is well on that portion. The quality of the model is what I am concerned with, since it is just so...poor. It really looks like a first semester high school ceramics student sculpted the pieces. Very blocky, almost no detail, asymmetrical parts that should not be as such (the "toes" in particular), and massive mould misalignment lines. The small metal components had a lot of flash as well, to the point where I had to use a pair of pliers to break off some of the chunks. Parts that are supposed to fit together simply don't. I have never spent so much time filing down a model or drilling out holes as I did on this one.

Perhaps I am just expecting too much? My mini's experience is primarily newer stuff, (Reaper, PP, GW) but I do have a few ancient Ral Partha's lying around and quite frankly they look considerably better than this.

I am intending on trying again with a blister or two from this line, but if it is all the same quality I would rather not waste the money. Hence, why I have posted. For those in-the-know, is it all like this? Are the smaller infantry figures better than the resin pieces? Is the model I have just the ugly duckling from the line?

Any insight is appreciated, thanks.

Out of curiosity, was the model NIB when you received it?

Eric

This isn't uncommmon with a lot of smaller-volume minis makers doing larger items.

My Command Decision 15mm WW2 armor has huge alignment issues, flash, sink marks, heat marks, surface grain, etc. But it is cheaper than BF's official FoW stuff, provided you don't value any time spent cleaning the model up...

So, I went snooping around West Wind's website and I found that they do have an official forum for the game:

http://secretsofthethirdreich.com/forums/

If no one here can offer you any first hand experience with that particular line I'm going to go out on a limb and say you can probably get answers over there.
Who knows, you might even get lucky and get a company type to chime in.

Hi folks,

Thanks for the replies.

@ MM: Sort of. The contents were in the original blister, but it had been opened. I wondered at first if it had been re-molded, but I don't think that is the case.

@ John: I was wondering if that was primarily the issue. With a small crew running an entire company, I imagine everyone wears a lot of hats and try to do the best they can while pushing out maximum product.

@HZ: Thanks for finding that, I will be sure to check it out after work today.

Thanks again,
C.C.

I think you just got a lame duck, my Panzer Mecha had minimal mold lines on it and the metal pieces had little flash(bought mine new)

My experience with West wind over the years has been good.

From looking at their stuff online, it would lead me to believe that their sculpts are usually of high quality. Mayhap contact the makers and see if there is any kind of markings they put on their models to determine authenticity.

I am the one he traded with and I can assure you that is was bought new on my end. It was bought quite a while ago when the game first got going and I just never had time to get into it. It is the real deal. Some of the other minis I have from the range are average at best, maybe some of the newere stuff is better but comparing the other minis to say Anima, Warmachine, wargods, the quality is meh in my opinion. Once again I assure you that the model is the genuine article, I always open new models to ensure that all the parts are there. Too often I have had missing parts (Privateer Press comes to mind).

I recently found a picture of one of these being assembled, and I think that it is simply par for the course on this mini. Some are just better than others due to run lengths, operators, etc. I fully believe Bubba Ho-Tep, in fact the site I found the pictures on has his name in the list of replies from ages ago, hehe. My workplace has an art department that does a lot of resin casting, so I can spot some of the more common errors that occur with recasting, and this one does not have it. I think it must just be a case of lesser detail being included on this SKU. I will give them (West Wind) another shot soon, with an infantry purchase to see how that is.

Thanks for all the replies and help.
C.C.