[Whiterook]

I recently picked up a bunch of Old Glory Command Decision 15mm World War II miniatures, which I bought off of WarWeb.com World War II WarWeb.com, and I have to say that so far, I am hugely impressed. They are very well cast and look great!!! I was thinking of posting separate threads on each miniature subject, but decided instead to feature the whole lot purchased, as a build as I go thread.

The road that led me to these miniatures started with a quest for a replacement Allied M36 MGG Tank Destroyer unit for my Axis & Allies Miniatures version which is grossly underscale. I had actually looked towards Flames of War miniatures first and saw the didn't make an M36 MGC, so I Googled a search to see what wasout there an I quickly came to Old Glory miniatures, which I had heard of before but was unawares of their WWII line in 15mm. The problem I saw immediately however, was that on the Old Glory web site, the miniatures appeared full priced.....and always looking for the best deal in town, I went looking elsewhere. You know, how I got to WarWeb.com, I just don't remember, but the important thing is that I made it there! If Old Glory miniatures are priced lower out there, I sure couldn't find it! I also did some research through the other gaming forums and saw good writeups about WarWeb, so I felt confident these folks were who I wanted to do business with.

I placed a rather large order, throwing caution to the wind, and was rewarded with great customer service and speedy delivery considering their supplier was at a major show and it only held up my order very slightly. An email to check the status of my order gained a quick email from a representative at WarWeb, who advised the situation and assured me my order would be forthcoming soon. They are very professional, and I appreciated that. WarWeb carries a huge selection of miniatures from a wide range of manufacturers, so to me it makes it a must-check-out one stop shopping resource.

I won't go into specifics of what I shelled out for coin, but lets just say it was a worthwhile investment. Basically, for what it costs for one individual Flames of War armored unit, or an individual armored unit of Axis & Allies Miniatures bought on the secondary market; the same approximate price will buy you a 3-pack of Old Glory Command Decision miniatures. Most main armored units in Axis & Allies Miniatures can run between $12-28 individually. Most armored units in Flames of War run $11-12 individually. A 3-pack of armored units run $13.22 (versus $22 retail). Now that's a savings!!!

So what are they like? Beautiful! All cast in metal. I mainly bought armor, but I also got a couple packages of artillery, and am I glad I did! I absolutely hate Axis & Allies Miniatures' artillery....most are just horrible, really; underscaled and poorly sculpted IMHO.

The first in this series of builds is the Allied M36 MGC Tank Destroyer, which again, came in a pack of 3:

 DSC00903.JPG (143.83K)
Number of downloads: 1002

Now I'll say that the Command Decision miniatures come with no fluff, packaging-wise; they are simply in a plastic bag with no instructions, but that's fine with me. These go together kinda no-brainer like, especially if you've put any Flames of War miniatures together....and if it keeps the price down to sell them this way, I'm all for it! One word of warning though...being shipped in a plastic bag like this will mean the chaces of most gin barrels making it to you stright and perfect is probably a pipe dream (pun intended), but the metal is pliable enough that with gentle bending and tapping (I used the plasic butt-end of a round file I have), they'll be right as rain in no time! And the other warning is....YEOUCH!.....take care pulling the bags out of the packing peanuts, as the little sharpies will nail 'ya (nothing that'll send you to the Emergency Room mind you....it'll just make your wife wonder what you're bitching about now!).

After taking all the pieces out of the bag and laying them out, I got to work on straightening the gun barrels....quick work and they were fine. Again, everything is metal, and has nice heft to it....much nicer in the end than the Flames of War stuff with the solid resin bodies (Command Decision's are hollow cast); and certainly lightyears ahead of Axis & Allies Miniatures' hollow plastic.

 DSC00904.JPG (145.99K)
Number of downloads: 1049

 DSC00905.JPG (143.22K)
Number of downloads: 972

The other thing that impressed me right off the bat was, there was very little in the way of flash (those nasty little fins), venting (little stringy-thingys...yeah, that's a term!), or ridge lines (use your imagination). So cleaning the miniatures was pretty quick and straight-forward. I had ABSOLUTELY NO FILING required!!!! They shoot, they score!!! To me, that's big. My trusty Xacto craft knife was all I needed to clean up the straggly bits.

[Whiterook]

Next came glueing. I used regular 'ol SuperGlue, first starting with the tracks, which fit perfect. Flames of War tracks may have a slight one-up on Command Decision in realism, but not by much....and hey, they're 15mm miniatures, so how much realism do you need?

Next came the gun barrels. OK, were they perfectly round? No. Did it bother me? No. (see above comment on realism vs. scale!). The ends have a gun barrel hole, so it's all good! I needed a little assistance with propping the barrels while they cured, so my round file and needle-nose pliers did the trick.

Everything was allowed to sit overnight to cure.


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Number of downloads: 949

 DSC00906.JPG (129.06K)
Number of downloads: 936

And the next day....

 DSC00908.JPG (132.9K)
Number of downloads: 937

Just like they came fresh off the assembly line and ready for the paint booth at the Armor Factory!!!

[Whiterook]

Next came paint. I used my trusty bargain acrylics from Michael's Craft Store, Folk Art Acrylics, same as I have with all my other miniatures I've built from the Flames of War line recently, and they work splendid. No need to rush out and buy expensive paints when this stuff works just as good! I used a mixture of Olive Green and Desert Tan (a nice buff color) to come up with a good weathered green look. The forst few coats looked very translucent, giving an almost bronzed look, but I half expected that. I had thought of putting a basecoat of black on first and then drybrushing on the green, but opted for a clean solid color instead, knowing I could highlight later if more depth was needed. Anyway, a few more thin coats brought a nice rich opaque color to the fore and I was well on the way to great looking miniatures!

The miniatures were left to cure overnight, as acrylics do dry quick but it's best not to tempt fate. The next day, a little touchup color was added and then the decals leftover from my Flames of War Shermans (I need to get me some decals quick!!!). Also, Tamiya Gun Metal acrylic was added to the machine guns, which made the miniatures pop! (Note: The machineguns didn't get the Gunmetal paint yet when I snapped the following pics)

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Number of downloads: 956

 DSC00921.JPG (141.76K)
Number of downloads: 915

[Whiterook]

And the finished product....

 DSC00922.JPG (154.15K)
Number of downloads: 914

 DSC00923.JPG (139.29K)
Number of downloads: 908

 DSC00924.JPG (140.69K)
Number of downloads: 904

 DSC00925.JPG (141.63K)
Number of downloads: 906

(The bags on the side of the bottom M36 TD were leftovers from that Platoon Box of Flames of War Shermans)

[Whiterook]

A couple close-ups of one of the miniatures.....I chose to place the machine guns in diffferent positions on the three, and I especially liked the way the one pictured at the bottom turned out!

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Number of downloads: 913

 DSC00927.JPG (142.89K)
Number of downloads: 894

[Whiterook]

And here's a comparison to the Axis & Allies Miniature version (the smaller one) that I replaced....

 DSC00928.JPG (139.43K)
Number of downloads: 938

 DSC00929.JPG (146.25K)
Number of downloads: 874

 DSC00931.JPG (150.35K)
Number of downloads: 871

 DSC00932.JPG (147.41K)
Number of downloads: 874

I am extremely happy with the result, and in now having a true 15mm Allied M36 MGC Tank Destroyer! I think that you'll also agree with how bland the Axis & Allies Miniatures version looks in comparison....I know I was blown away!

Thank you Command Decsion, and most especially, WarWeb.com.....check them out folks!

More miniatures are forthcoming in this thread, so stay tuned!

[TRDG]

WOW, I may just put an order in myself today Em, Did you perhaps get any of these that you could compare to your FoW purchases, like comparing the Panthers of Pz IVs perhaps? Also, the soldiers, ddi you get any of those as well?

Cheers I'm very curious on what I shall find on their site later today!!

Tom

Also, you should be set for a FoW game pretty quick afte this, then is there some kind of discount if you order, say $300.00 or more perhaps?

[MAGNA]

Nice work WR. Definitely a better looking vehicle than the A&A offering. Metal kits do have a certain feel to them too.

[Whiterook]

TRDG said:

WOW, I may just put an order in myself today Em, Did you perhaps get any of these that you could compare to your FoW purchases, like comparing the Panthers of Pz IVs perhaps? Also, the soldiers, ddi you get any of those as well?

Cheers I'm very curious on what I shall find on their site later today!!

Tom

Also, you should be set for a FoW game pretty quick afte this, then is there some kind of discount if you order, say $300.00 or more perhaps?

Well, besides the M36 Tank Destroyers you see above.....

Also bought from Command Decision were:

• 3-pack of M-10 MGC Tank Destroyers (which I'll compare to my one Axis & Allies Miniatures from the North Africa Set, and two from the Flames of War tank destroyer platoon boxed set, so I'll have a comparison of all three when I build the Command Decision ones and the Flames of War ones;

• 3-pack of the Sherman Fireflys (which I'll compare to my two from Axis & Allies Miniatures....I may pick up an individual Firefly from Flames of War as a comparison....haven't decided yet, as the two A&AM and three CDs makes a platoon);

• 3-pack of Achilles 17pdr SP TAnk Destroyers;

• 3-pack of M4A4 Shermans (I'm going to make a Canadian detachment...maybe a platoon with the ourchase of a couple of FoW individals);

• 3-pack of M4A3 "Easy Eight" Shermans (which I'll compare to my undersized Axis & Allies Miniatures versions);

• 6-pack of 3" AT Guns;

• 2-pack of Flak 36 88mm AA/AT Guns (which I'll compare to my Axis & Allies Miniatures version)

The last thing I bought were the Command Decision: Test of Battle Rules, 4th Edition, which look really awesome. The rules come with some nice data cards, and is printed on nice quality paper. I look at this game system as another great alternative rules set for use with all my miniatures, and looks to be along the same lines as Battlefront: WWII, which I still want to learn first. It may sound a little funny to some, but I look at a good rules set (and same for a nice maps atlas, for that matter) the same way I do as a good book....great reading and fun entertainment, and a better feel for the units that fought in military history,


As far as a discount, well as mentioned previously, WarWeb.com have the lowest pricing I found anywhere, and their attention to customer service is outstanding.

I very highly recommend these to anyone.

[Frizzenspark]

Looking at the site the sale ends on the 30th of this month, so check it out quickly!!! looking at some Late-war British infantry to get started.

[Whiterook]

Frizzenspark said:

Looking at the site the sale ends on the 30th of this month, so check it out quickly!!! looking at some Late-war British infantry to get started.

Where did you see a sale only until the 30th of this month??? Are you looking at the WarWeb.com site??? 15mm Miniatures WarWeb.com

EDIT....never mind...I just saw it! Didn't notice that before when I was on....it's in the "Specials" link, but the way I went in was from their main page to the WWII section, and, well you know....

Thanks for the heads up!

[Frizzenspark]

Third cluster down on this page.

Specials WarWeb.com

[Whiterook]

Good eye on that mate....excellent catch! Hmmmmm, I'm kinda tapped out right now, but I definitely have to look at my wish list asnd see what I can scare up! Of course, I would imagine they have sales every now and then, so waiting wouldn't be the worst thing in the world either.

[Frizzenspark]

For a smidge over $40.00 (including postage) I can build a core element of Late-War British Infantry, two packs of riflemen, a pack of LMG, a pack of Command, each with 50 miniatures. This may be my baby 2nd baby step into FoW.

[Whiterook]

Excellent! Please post pictures of the Infantry you pick up in a thread when you get them....show us how you paint them up. I've not done many figures, so I'd love to see different techniques!

[Frizzenspark]

I'll have to see if I can get the missus to loosen the purse-strings; otherwise I'll have to wait for the next sale. I may have to do something on other figures in the meanwhile.

[Whiterook]

Same purse strings issues here too, mate! Haha....actually, neither of us make a ton of money, so we have to be kinda prudent with how we dole out the dollars, but we do what we can to not deprive ourselves

[TRDG]

Well, look what I found once the mail came in today, and on my day off no less!! Ha Ha



About 500 bucks, but thanks to the 40% discount, about half of that paid out, and the sale seems to be still on for this month as well!!

From the left side of the pic, the Germans, yep usually the opposite if I was buying from FoW gear, then the British units in the center, and finally the good old US of A!!

Cheers, I shudder to think of how much all of this would have costed if I bought all of this from Batlefront..... around a 1,000 bucks I suspect!!!

Me thinks the game Mark and I have been waiting for is about to be "born" here......

Tom

[Major Pain]

Hey Em, great thread. New to the website but I agree on the WarWeb site. I am new to FoW but have no issues saving green while building up a few solid options for my mid & late war German companies. The metal definately have a solid feel to them as opposed to the resin. Looking forward to more updates. BNR

[Whiterook]

Major Pain said:

Hey Em, great thread. New to the website but I agree on the WarWeb site. I am new to FoW but have no issues saving green while building up a few solid options for my mid & late war German companies. The metal definately have a solid feel to them as opposed to the resin. Looking forward to more updates. BNR

Welcome to the site!!! Always glad to get another gamer! Make sure to stop by the Panzer Leader poll game (Interactive), which gives you a chance to play as the mood strikes!

Yeah, I love these ommand Decision minis just as much as the FoW minis....mayve a little more. The only big drawback is the lack of stowage which makes such a difference. Flames of War doesn't seem to make stowage individually sold anymore....hmmmmm, wonder if that's a coincidence? But it's all good! I went down a side path this year with my Stagate SG1 and Battlestar Galactica minis, so these have sat waiting for me; but I plan on picking back up with these within the next week actually...so stay tuned to the thread!