GZG Review - New and Preview

Hello all,

This is the first in a few posts that have been a long-time coming. Jon from Ground Zero Games was kind enough to send me some samples and previews of some of his recently (and not so) released miniatures, for the purposes of review. Life got in the way but has calmed some, so here they are.

TW-DP1 DPRG Sample Pack

The DPRG Army Sample Pack contains two of the above fire teams, each containing two MGs, one leader, and two rifles. These figures were created as part of the partnership between Ambush Alley and GZG for the Tomorrow's War miniatures rules.

The details on these figures are as sharp and crisp as any of then ewer GZG figures and the casts had little to no flash or mold lines. These figures are wearing a swept back sort of helmet with visor and light body armor in the form of a solid chest piece with a flexible lower armor. Weapons are a nice combination of sleek and functional similar to many of the weapons seen in modern science fiction movies where real guns have been put into makeup and made to look like future weapons.

I feel that these troopers are well suited to everything from next generation warfare all the way into the more far-flung but grittier settings like Aliens. The helmets, visors, and ribbed armor even make them suitable for 1970s/early 80's science fiction such as Traveller or Star Frontiers. 

TW-RA1 RA Sample Pack

Another of the Tomorrow's War packs, TW-RA1 is structured identically as the above pack save that it represents a different faction. One again, two MGs, a leader, and two rifles.

These figures are a bit more hard scifi or what some people might refer to as speculative future figures and appear much more connected to current views of and designs for future warriors. They are depicted wearing a modern style helmet with monocular optics and some sort of head-mounted camera/light. Body armor is a segmented body piece and reinforced arm and leg fatigues with protective pads and guards. The weapons are much more "familiar" looking with the MGs looking like something off today's battlefield and the assault rifles a sleek, compact model with a forward grip.

Once again, the quality of these miniatures is very nice. Crisp details, minimal/no flash and no mold lines.

The next couple of reviews are for upcoming releases. These were sent to me without any heads-up and were a very happy surprise.

UNSC/H Hardsuited Infantry

These are another in Jon's series of updates on his older ranges. I am pretty sure this one has been on people's wish lists for some time and I think that while not entirely identical to the original figures, they are certainly a fair update of that aesthetic.

The samples I received, may constitute a full pack of figures, given GZG's normal pack layout, but i cannot be sure. It included two heavy gunners (SAW?) and six riflemen. There are a total of three different walking poses for the riflemen, giving these figures a rather menacing, afraid of nothing sort of feel. 

Aesthetically speaking, these figures differ from the original version in that the helmets seem to be slightly different shaped being swept up in the back. This gives them a marginally teardrop shape when viewed from the side. I suppose this would allow the helmet to clear things on the troopers back and when looking up.

I do have one minor gripe regarding these figures and that is that they do not seem to have much in common, aesthetically, with the UNSC Light Infantry other than their rifles. This is a very minor grumble and really could just be explained away by the difference in hard armor and light troops, but the lighter troops do look slightly higher concept than these whole definitely have a classic 70s/80s scifi look to them. However, I know plenty of people have wanted an update of these favorite GZG figs (myself included) and that is just what these are.

FSE Legionaires

I hadn't heard a murmur about these, so was very nicely surprised to find these two sample figures in my package. Once again, GZG has brought us a faithful update of the older range with both kepi and full helmeted troops offered. Armored details are clearly defined and show the original segmented body armor, shoulder plates and reinforced fatigue legs and arms.

CONCLUSIONS

All of these figures show just how nice the new and updated figures from GZG are. For the most part the details are all crisply sculpted with little in the way of soft detailing or "lazy" sculpting. Being new the molding and casting are all top notch as they should be with no slippage and minimal flash.

One personal favorite of the new figures is their consistent and very nice integral bases. Many people do not like the round bases but I find that they are very useful when securing the figures for painting as they give a greater area for my lightweight adhesives to grip onto so I don't have superglue them to my painting sticks. These are easy enough to clip off if i need to fit them onto a crowded base or the back of a vehicle.

More to come soon...

-Eli