JOD WW2 German

German Army WW2 STL Miniatures: 28mm Wehrmacht Infantry for 3D Printing

The German rifle squad was built around the machine gun in a way no other army matched. The MG34 and later the MG42 weren’t support weapons attached to a squad of riflemen; they were the squad’s reason for existing, and the other nine men were there to move it, feed it and protect it. Field a German force and you’re fielding that doctrine, whether your rules model it explicitly or not.

Part of the Join or Die WW2 collection, sculpted at 28mm and supplied as digital STL files with pre-supported and unsupported versions included.

Six years and every front

The Heer fought from Poland in 1939 to the ruins of Berlin in 1945, across terrain ranging from the Russian steppe to the Normandy hedgerows to the mountains of Italy. That gives a German collection more scenario reach than almost any other single force, because whichever campaign your group wants to play, the Germans were there.

It also means the army changed enormously over that span. The 1940 Wehrmacht and the 1945 one shared a uniform silhouette and very little else in terms of equipment mix, manpower quality or what a unit could realistically be expected to do. Worth deciding which year you’re building for before you start.

What’s in the range

Infantry as the core, command models, weapon teams and specialists. Enough to assemble a complete squad or platoon from a single source rather than piecing one together across manufacturers.

Fallschirmjäger are available as a separate collection for German airborne formations, which had their own equipment and their own distinctive look. Both sit in the same sculpting style as our British, American and Soviet ranges, so any matchup you want to play has two forces that belong on the same table.

Recognising the kit

The Stahlhelm does most of the work, that flared shape being instantly readable at any scale. Beyond it, the Kar98k with its distinctive stock, the MG34 or MG42 on its bipod, and the field grey that gave the army its nickname. At 28mm the webbing layout, the mess tin and entrenching tool on the belt, and the ammunition pouches all show clearly enough to paint.

Printing

Around 0.03mm layer height on resin covers gaming figures, tilted 30 to 45 degrees so resin drains and you avoid suction on the base. Machine gun bipods are the most fragile part in this range, thinner than rifle barrels and carrying an awkward shape for supports, so check those specifically before committing a plate.

Frequently asked questions

What colour is field grey, actually?
It’s less grey than the name suggests and it changed over the war. Feldgrau started as a green-grey with a noticeable green cast, and shifted progressively browner and greyer as dye availability worsened from 1943 onwards. That variation is useful rather than a problem: a late-war unit painted with slight inconsistency between figures looks more correct than one painted in a single flat tone, because by then replacement uniforms genuinely didn’t match. If you’re painting an early-war force, keep it greener and more uniform. For 1944 to 1945, let it drift.

My MG bipods keep failing during printing. What can I do?
Bipod legs are the thinnest structural element on a WW2 infantry range and they print into empty space by definition, which is the hardest ask you can give a resin printer. Orient the model so the legs aren’t building vertically downward with nothing beneath them, add support contacts at the midpoint of each leg rather than only at the foot, and let the model cure completely before removing supports, since resin is far more brittle when still soft from the wash. If a leg does break it glues back cleanly. The unsupported meshes are included precisely so you can re-orient models like this rather than being stuck with a layout that doesn’t suit your machine.

Which year should I build my German force for?
It affects more than paint. An early-war force is uniform, well-equipped and looks the part in Poland, France or the opening of Barbarossa. A late-war force mixes veterans with replacements, shows more variety in equipment, and fits Normandy, Italy and the Eastern Front retreats. Most general infantry sculpts sit comfortably in the 1943 to 1944 window, which is the most useful default because it covers the largest number of popular scenarios. Decide before you prime, because the difference shows in the painting more than in the models themselves.

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