I traded some built-up aircraft to my buddy Rich for some painted Prussian Landwher, he hates building models, I am no longer fond of painting minis so it was a win-win for both of us. Frankly I think that I came out way ahead on the deal but he won't let me give any further payment. To celebrate the fact that I am now overstaffed I thought that I might take them all out for a review. Now it occurs to me that I need a bigger table!
I had sworn to myself that I was done with the Japanese Army Air Force but I spotted this kit at a ridiculously reasonable price (and justified the purchase by thinking that it lowered the overall per unit cost - do I sound like a DoD representative now?). My second thought was that it is a much newer kit and would be less bother to assemble. I was very badly wrong. The kit presented issues that were different, but overall it was every bit as much a bother to get ready for use.
At last we have an opponent for the Great War German infantry, and by extension, any Second World War Germans you might have lying about. This versatile set covers French infantry from the switch to the "Horizon Blue" uniform in the middle of the Great War through to the end of Vichy France. The models are cast in a soft (not bendy, just not brittle) gray plastic that takes detail very well and exhibits no flash and nearly no mold lines.
Aside from the officer figure all of the models all wear the knee-length overcoat that was the trademark of the French army in this period. They also are cast with belting in place to support "light kit" or they can have the optional backpack added. As is usual with Wargames Atlantic kits there is a considerable assortment of head options; Adrian helmet, helmet with gas mask (both early and late versions), and the unique Sengalese Tirailleurs with their cloth caps. Officers in kepis are also a choice.
Being spread across two world wars means that there will be a substantial variation in weapons and this is accurately reflected in the array provided. Both Lebel and Berthier rifles are included as are the later rifles for the Second World War. The notorious Chauchatt LMG is included as is its replacement the FM 24/29. Having owned all but the FM 24/29 I can attest that the precisely cast weapons capture the look and detail of the original guns. These guns are molded into at least one of the arms carrying them (no fiddling around trying to hold two loose arms and a tiny model gun while gluing things together!) and you will have loads of spares once you are finished assembling these figures
Having seen these I can hardly wait for the upcoming Russians and British sets (maybe, just maybe, if we all write-in requests we could add Austrian and Italian troops to the Great War ensemble)
After a couple of very busy weeks I managed to get all of my "in progress" Japanese aircraft finished. This will provide me with pretty much all I need for my Nomonhan campaign as well as the forces for the Second Sino-Japanese War. I have the Russians lined up for my next building effort but I still need to get a couple of Polikarpov R-5 or R-Z bombers and a PO-2. For the Chinese I have a few kits in hand but they had such a complex assortment of aircraft in service that it may take a while to get them collected and assembled. Once the Russians are done I might just jump over to the Finnish Air Force (I have several kits already built and others in the queue) as the Finns and the Russians had a bit of a go-round in 1939.
Just a reminder that the Pro or Con Gaming group will be hosting their annual wargaming convention "Battlefields" on the twelfth of March in the Livonia Elk's Lodge, 31117 Plymouth Rd, Livonia, MI 48150, USA .
There is a bar and food available at the Lodge as well as many restaurants nearby. I-94 Enterprises, Bastion Gaming Center and Michigan Toy Soldier will be attending merchants. There is also the usual Bring and Buy so you can sell your excess figures and then buy someone else's minis!
This has been a great local convention and isn't one to miss so make plans to attend. Further information can be found at Tabletop Events where you can sign up to run a game or participate in a game and take a look at their Facebook page to see what sort of fun they have been having lately.
Having gotten tired of the slow progress on my Air Combat forces I decided that the "modelling" approach that I had been using (building whatever took my fancy at the time) simply wasn't getting the job done. I decided to complete one entire force all in one go; first up the forces of Imperial Japan. These aren't quite done as I do need to build three KI-10 fighters, but the monoplanes are built, painted and decaled; they only need matte coating and canopies to be complete.
Next is the rest of the Russians and I can have a go at a really big battle over Nomohan with my Red Stars and Rising Suns rules!
This month's edition of Wargames Illustrated featured a sprue of
Warlord's new "Epic Scale" (known in other terms as 15mm) Napoleonic
infantry. I managed to convince the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier to
give me an extra copy of the sprues so that I could review both. You
can find the British review here, and a look at the associated mounted troops here.
The minis are cast in a dark blue plastic that is standard hard
styrene which holds detail very well. I would have preferred gray plastic but this allows enthusiastic beginners to play the army right out of the box.
The eight stands of infantry are accompanied by eight skirmishing infantry, a mounted officer and an artillery piece.The groups of soldiers are cast joined at the elbows (as period drill regulations would have them) with their rifles at shoulder arms while the skirmishing infantry are modeled in active poses of firing and loading their guns The figures are cleanly cast with no flash and only the slightest hint of mold lines. The level of detail on the figures is very good, more detailed than many of the metal miniatures that I have seen. They are slightly larger than my old Minifig 15s so they ought to mix well with the new larger figures that fill the market but I would hesitate to try mixing them with the 18mm subjects that some companies produce.
Donations can be arranged through their Embassy or one of the Consulates.
Information regarding joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legion is available though them as well.
This month's edition of Wargames Illustrated featured a sprue of Warlord's new "Epic Scale" (known in other terms as 15mm) Napoleonic infantry. I managed to convince the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier to give me an extra copy of the sprues so that I could review both. You can find the French review here, and a look at the associated mounted troops here. The minis are cast in a jarring red plastic that is standard hard styrene. My curmudgeony old self would have preferred gray plastic but having the figures molded in color allows the enthusiastic beginner to feild an army right away.
The groups of soldiers are cast joined at the elbows (as period drill regulations would have them) with their rifles at shoulder arms. The ten stands of infantry bare accompanied by a mounted officer and an artillery piece. The figures are cleanly cast with no flash and only the slightest hint of mold lines. The level of detail on the figures is very good, more detailed than many of the metal miniatures that I have seen. They are slightly larger than my old Minifig 15s so they ought to mix well with the new larger figures that fill the market but I would hesitate to try mixing them with the 18mm subjects that some companies produce.
Wandering into a land of fantasy this set offers a horde of the ever-annoying Goblins. Dangerous more in their numbers than due to any singular battle-prowess the always present Goblins will happily flesh out the armies of bad guys in just about any fantasy world. Fully fitting the Hobbesian description of life outside civil society as "poor, nasty, brutish and short" these ugly little fellows follow the traditional model for goblins; slightly smaller than men their bodies twisted and deformed, their weapons crude and their faces ugly. These are simply excellent figures and anyone in need of a horde of truly unpleasant fellows to inflict upon an adventuring party need look no further.
This set come with six identical sprues, each with five bodies and a surfeit of weapons, arms and heads to assemble on to them. The selection of weapons includes bows, swords, maces, spears and a few odd daggers. There aren't enough to equip the entire force as all archers or spearmen but one can scarcely expect standardization is a force as chaotic as Goblins. The firgures are cats in a hard gray plastic that is flash-free and exhibits very few traces of mold line, The detail is crisp and comprehensive. One neat feature is that each sprue contains a saddle and set of legs to allow a Goblin to ride one of the Giant Spiders previously released by Wargames Atlantic. I can't say they are realistically proportioned, but I will say they are convincingly proportioned and very actively posed. The weapons selection is vast and the choice of nearly twenty heads to add to the five bodies on each sprue means that you will never have to have look-alike troopers in your Goblin band.
