WWII Easy Company American Figures

I purchased this product for use in wargaming, so this review considers how useful this product is for gaming. Your mileage may vary. This IMEX set is of 1/72 US airborne figures. The box picture that came with this product did not make that clear when I purchased, and I may have passed had I known, as I am not all that interested in airborne forces for gaming. One issue right of the bat is that the outside box says this product contains 50 figures. This is correct only if you count the parachute bases that come with some of the figures as figures. The actual number of soldiers in this set is 43. Inside the box are two sprues of figures molded in a hard, dark green plastic. There are a total of 15 different poses available: Standing firing rifle (5) Advancing with rifle (3) Running with rifle (4) Marching holding rifle on shoulder (2) Firing SMG (Thompson) (3) Advancing with SMG (looks like grease gun) (4) Firing flamethrower (1) Kneeling firing pistol (2) Throwing grenade (3) No weapon, clutching chest as shot (2) The following poses require assembly in varying degrees: Standing with rifle slung on shoulder, disengaging from parachute (3) Holding SMG (thompson) while still attached to parachute (4) Firing bazooka (1) Kneeling with slung rifle holding walkie talkie (1) Prone firing BAR with tripod (5) I'm not expert enough to judge if the equipment modeled is historically accurate or proper model size, but I have seen it suggested elsewhere that airborne troops did not carry the tripod for the BAR as it was just useless weight. To my eye the figures all look reasonably accurate. WHAT I LIKE: The figure sculpts are all very well done, and these models have a level of detail that other ranges in this size don't have. For example, there is great detail with things like backpacks, belts, canteens, grenades, etc. It's nice to have 5 BAR gunners in one set, and most of the figure poses are very dynamic. With one or two exceptions among the figures that don't need assembly, the models look like they are engaged in an advance under fire. When the sculpts and poses are good they are very good. WHAT I DON'T LIKE: Unfortunately, quite a bit. To begin with, while most of the poses are very well done, some are bland and boring. The 3 figures detaching from the parachute look like statues compared to the rest of the set, and the marching soldiers don't really fit the overall theme either. Also, several of the figures are of little to no value (to me at least) for WWII wargaming. I plan to base these figures to be used as part of infantry squads. I don't see myself using the two casualties, and the 3 parachute figures are too boring to use. Also, the 4 figures holding SMGs attached to 'chutes are supposed to be attached to a fairly large base representing the downed parachute. I don't see how I could fit that figure on a base with 1 or 2 other figures. And while the pistol firing figures are a nice pose, as I understand it officers did not use pistols late war (which is what this is supposed to be), they were armed with SMGs. So, it comes down to whether it looks right to include pistol packing soldiers along with rifles, SMGs and BARs. On a similar vein, I don't anticipate ever using a flamethrower in my games, so the utility of that figure is pretty low. I would have preferred that figure be replaced with the second man in the bazooka team (maybe the pistol firer is supposed to be that guy? But then why have two of them?). All in all, out of 43 figures I only see myself using 31 for gaming. Not a good ratio, and better value could be had elsewhere despite the great sculpts. A final word on the physical quality of the models is in order. While the sculpts are great, many fine details like rifle barrels are thin and delicate, so you have to be careful to avoid breakage. Also, I don't understand why some of the models need assembly (the BAR gunners all need heads glued on, for example). It seems like make work to call it a model. It's not like you have options to use different weapons or heads. You just glue part A to Figure B. The quality of the plastic is also a serious concern for painting. It is hard, dark green and loves to repel acrylic paint. Even after scrubbing these figures down with a hard bristled tooth brush in soap and water, my first pass at brushing on acrylic paint as an undercoat saw the paint bead and drip off the figures. This plastic is very hard to use acrylics with, and you have to be careful using acrylics that you don't drown out the fine details. If you buy these, you need to consider using spray paint to undercoat or possibly gesso (I am going to try the latter for future undercoating as I prefer not to spray on my undercoats). FINAL WORD (or TL;DR): These figures are very finely sculpted with great detail, but some of the poses and weapon choices are unimpressive. With only 43 figures total, only 31 are what I want in wargaming figures (YMMV). The figures can be delicate, and the hard plastic is challenging to paint with acrylics. This set is probably better suited to modelers. If you want these for wargaming, I would say to avoid these unless you want to model an airborne force, and/or you don't mind if some poses/weapon choices seem off. With all the good and bad, I would probably not buy these again if I had the chance.