28mm Wargames Atlantic British Expeditionary Force (and Dad's Army)

       The folks at Wargames Atlantic keep finding new areas of the plastic minis market that others have failed to explore, this latest offering is an example of that; the 1940 British Expeditionary Force. Like it's precursor, the Old Contemptibles, the B.E.F. was highly trained, well equipped and tiny. It also had the additional and unfortunate similarity of being led by men entirely unprepared for the coming conflict. Fortunately this lack of ability did not apply to the common soldier and the individual parts of the B.E.F. fought bravely and with skill. The minis are cast in the usual medium gray plastic with no flash and only the faintest of mold-lines needing clean-up. 

       The troops represented give you everything needed to build a 1940 B.E.F. platoon except a Boys Anti-tank Rifle (which could be easily modified from the prone Bren gunner, which I intend to do!). This isn't a huge liability as the Boys was unpopular for being large, heavy and generally ineffective and was probably "lost" at the earliest opportunity. 

       An interesting addition to this set is the inclusion of obsolete and imported weapons to allow the player to represent the Home Guard, a.k.a. "Dad's Army", that was raised to protect Britain after the debacle at Dunkirk and the fall of France. These include the Lewis Gun, a Browning Automatic Rifle  and a couple of Springfield M-1903 rifles. These can be used to reflect the desperate days when England felt that it was under dire threat of invasion. This is a great inclusion for players wishing to play out a scenario from Operation Sea Lion

 

front of the box, its nice to see well-painted minis as box-art

 

 

back of the box, more nicely painted minis

 

box with contents, five identical sprues

 

sprue, side A

 

 

sprue, side B

 

 

lots of head options

 

 

and. happily, they aren't all shouting

 

 

 the excellent proportions and posing of the minis

 paired with the draping of the fabric and crisp casting will make these figures a joy to paint

(plus there is an aggressively held bayoneted rifle for Lance Corporal Jones*)

 

the 2" mortar, which was issued at the platoon level in 1940 

and lots of extra arms for folks wishing to modify figures

 

more bodies, all excellently proportiones and naturally posed, I'm not generally a fan of prone minis 

but the need to depict Bren, Boys and Stokes Mortar teams makes such a figure unavoidable

 

bits and bobs of kit, some people don't care for such items being separate but rarely do two soldiers carry these items the same way in the field and the Home Guard would often be short some of these 

oh, and lots more heads

 

 weapons galore! Thompson Machine gun, Bren gun, Lewis gun, Enfield MK III, Springfield M-1903, Browning Automatic Rifle and the ubiquitous Enfield revolver

 

 

someone asked online about the equipment so I annotated this picture,

a MUCH more comprehensive review of the '37 Pattern equipment can be found here 

       All in all a very versatile set of figures and, at just over a dollar a mini, very reasonably priced. Kudos to Wargames Atlantic for bringing out this set! I intend on adding a couple of boxes to my collection (and might even enter the Darklands of building a Bolt Action early British force). This set will allow the gamer to build a proper platoon with three eight-man sections and an HQ, fully kitted-out with support weapons (aside from the previously noted Boys Antitank Rifle)

Highly Recommended!

* Lance Corporal Jones in the classic British sit-com "Dad's Army" would accompany his catch-phrase "They don't like it up 'em" with a thrust of his bayoneted rifle, a reference to his service under Kitchener against the Hadendowah at the turn of the century.