I have a decent sized collection of unpainted Ground Zero Games 25mm Stargrunt figures that I’m planning on using in both Tomorrow’s War and 5150 Star Army from Two Hour Wargames. My plan is to use them to fight out both the first and second Glory War, pitting the DPRG against the combined force of the US Marines and the Republic of Arden.
GZG’s Neu Swabian League’s troops in their hard armor, enclosed helmets, gyro-stabilized SAWs and energy weapons fit well into my vision for the US Marines. They looks tougher than the ESU troops but still just behind the cutting edge like the Marines are described.
The figures are 25mm, making them significantly smaller than more modern figures, but making them quite a match for my West End Games Star Wars figures which I’ll be painting later this year. The figures are from the 90’s and 00’s and hand sculpted which might turn some people off from them, but I think these in particular are fantastic and the entire GZG line. Most of the line is still available from GZG and the resin vehicles from Deamonscape.
I’ve been speeding up my painting process by using using Army Painter’s primers with matched paints and decided on Skeleton Bone for the hard suit, Desert Yellow and German Camo brown for some contrast and a dark grey craft paint called Charcoal. A simple paint scheme meant to represent a unit rushed from the nearby colony of Grissom to support the Republic of Arden troops
I did a test piece earlier while working on some ESU Conscripts and I think they’ll look good on the table at arms length. The batch I got had way too many heavy weapons and I had to order some more riflemen from GZG so there will be a second batch soon to round out the platoon.
All in all I like the GZG sculpts for the most part. They’re detailed, consistent, have a variety of poses. They tend to have realistic weapons, several heavy weapons varieties including believable RPGs in each force , NCOs and officers, and usually some types of specialists that can be forward observers/communications specialists. Even with the conversion rate and shipping ‘across the pond’ the figures work out to be about $2 each so they’re very affordable.