A while back I posted on some British troops I had picked up from Plastic Soldier Company. I usually end up getting two armies when I jump into a game system. So while I was happily working away on my British, I also decided to get some 1/72 scale German infantry from Plastic Soldier Co.

While I complained some on the detail of the British troops, I cannot say the same with the German figures. They all have very nice detail on the packs and other parts of the figures. I really hope the company considers dabbling more in the 28mm scale. These miniatures would be a great alternate to the official Warlord products out there.

You get a rather large platoon with LMG teams, NCOs, figures with MP-40s, even medics. Plenty here to provide a core force for a Bolt Action platoon. It’s a great buy with nice figures making up the set. These figures here were given a thin coat of black primer wash.

 

 

 

As I’ve been wrapping up my British platoon for Bolt Action, I wanted to get some armor to add to my force. For 1/72 scale there are a lot of options however I stumbled across Armourfast Cromwell kits and found them a nice buy. For a little over $12 you get two models in a single box.

The Cromwell tanks assemble pretty easily. It’s very much a wargame level of detail. The treads wheels are pretty simple in their representation on the tank. However the hull has a fair amount of detail for the hatches and such. The turret fits pretty snug and can be removed. For Bolt Action games I see this as a plus as destroyed tanks are kept on the table. As I’m working on some flame markers, might end up popping off the turret and placing a huge flame marker on it to represent a destroyed tank.

There is a small gap in the side where the main hull sits over the treads when looked at from an upwards angle, but the gap isn’t too noticeable looking at it from the side. Another gripe I’ll have is the hull machine gun. There’s a housing for it, but no modeled barrel (unlike the coaxial mg in the turret). So I had to model my own using a pin wire. Nothing too difficult but a little disappointing. 

Another small bit is that the inside tread wheels are hollow. At a low rear angle, the rear treat wheel appears to be a free floating hollow cylinder.

I’ve got a Plastic Soldier Co. British soldier as a side comparison for the dimensions of the tank. The Cromwell is nicely scaled (mind you the figure is on a pretty thick 2mm base) and looks appropriately bulky and menacing.

It’s been ages since I worked on tanks this scale. You can tell by the sparse detail I put on the tank markings. I might have to go back and touch up some more detail on the hull and treads. Here I gave it a wash and dry brush of mud on the treads which looks decent. For the price, you get a great set of tanks with good detail.

I will go on a rant here. I’ve noticed on a few of my photographs some white dots that would come out when I adjusted the contrast. With a large painted surface here, I definitely noticed white specks on the tank after I put Army Painter anti-shine varnish on it. Despite warming the can, spraying on a day with little humidity, and shaking the can well, I’d get these specs of white. Some could be brushed off, but some due to the matte spray were stuck on the model.

Now it looks like the matte spray is a clunker too. They seem to have nice paints, but I am not going to bother using their spray can products any more.

Still slowly finishing up by Bolt Action British platoon. As I mentioned a while back I went the route of 20mm using minis from Plastic Soldier Co. which is a great buy. The downside is there are not many options for other specialty teams. Finding something at 1/72 scale was a bit of a challenge.

Fortunately for me Zvezda has a range of kits for their own wargame system. The models are nice hard plastic and assemble very easily as they are designed to be snap together kits. I still used plastic cement to keep them firmly assembled. The teams also are mounted on a larger plastic base. So I opted to have mine split up on individual bases.

Overall the models are more in line with an early war uniform scheme, including gas mask satchels. That is a slight problem as most of the Plastic Soldier Co. models I have are in late war gear. However it’s not too disconcerting. Overall as a comparison to Plastic Soldier Co. the models are of the same height, but they do have a slight build compared to the other miniatures.

The Vickers MMG comes with a gunshield on a tripod mount. Not quite sure if that was standard issue with the weapon. So that is a bit of an oddity. I also opted to use a more uniform color scheme for the gun itself. I used the plastic base that came with the kit and altered the mounting so the base would provide 45 degree firing arcs. Just an easier means to handle LOS issues in games.

The mortar team depicts the 3 inch mortar. I might cheat and shed a team member to get some flexibility with the model, waffling between a light and medium mortar team as I toy around with my force list. It’s not quite proper, but I tend to have opponents that don’t might slight proxies with models.

They are nice models and pretty cheap. The detail of the main figures are a little muted. Additionally they are certainly geared more for an early war theater. As specialty teams it’s not much an issue, but I would be hesitant using their infantry sets to round out a force of other models (unless you wanted something like an engagement during Dunkirk).

Been chipping away at my Plastic Soldier Co. Brits. Finally got the bulk of my platoon done, including a field artillery observer, sniper, medics, NCOs, etc. along with the regular foot soldiers. Still have a MMG and mortar team to paint up, along with a paratrooper PIAT team. Once I get my Bren carriers done I should be finished. So a tad more to do but the end is in sight for that pile of unpainted plastic on my bench.

While I had bitched some about the lack of detail for some of the figures, they really did turn out pretty well. Overall I’m happy with how the platoon painted up. I was super lazy with these figures sticking with a single sepia ink wash. I might revisit them with some more highlights via dry brushing. Will have to consider that. For now, they are sealed and ready for the table. Now I have to consider working on my Germans…

A short while back I talked about British minis from Plastic Soldier Co. which I thought were okay. The detail on the figs are pretty good but I have a few issues with them. I’ve been slowly painting up my platoon and been making fair progress.

I’ve been using Vallejo paints which has been a fairly new process for me over traditional paint pots and I did go through some rough spots. However I’m getting more comfortable and able to achieve uniform consistency with them now (should look into making a wet pallet). I’ve gone with a complete sepia ink wash for the minis to save a bit of time.

I also might have to go with single figure photos in the future and/or invest in a better camera. Still getting out of focus shots, not to mention I need a better lighting setup. Please forgive some of the crappy pics.

The backpacks have a fair amount of detail, but there is no crease in the miniature separating the top of the pack with the back of the figure, so I had to stick with painting my own line.

Some prone bren gun teams with a firing and loader figure .

Overall I’m happy with how the figures are painting up. For the price, it’s really a great deal and the models do paint up well (despite some grumbles I have with some of the detail).

Slowly I’ve been making some progress with my Bolt Action troops. One manufacturer I’ve been gushing over is Plastic Soldier Company. They have pretty decent minis. However from my understanding the sculptures are done digitally. Hence the figures for 15mm are the same for 20 and 28mm. While they can get a lot of mileage out of the plans that way, at higher scales the detail in the figures get a little muddier.

I’ve picked up some WWII British from Plastic Soldier Co. and I’m pretty happy with them. However you really get more detail from the raised portion of the models. Creases, folds, and lines tend to get blurred some. For my British, this is especially noticeable with the back of the models and the packs they are wearing, where there really isn’t a nice fold in the miniature separating the depicted pack. If you look closely in the picture below, the kneeling figure has the stock of the rifle sort of blurring into the shoulder and arm some.

I’m certain this has been one reason why the jump to 28mm hasn’t been fully done yet. I do know some wargaming sites were floating around the blue boxes (28mm) to be released later in the year. Those have dried up and it looks like just the Russians are out. The red boxed 20mm seems to be the scale they are focusing on now. Maybe they’ll wait and see for the Russian figure line before going too heavy into 28mm.

The figures are pretty good though with a decent mix of poses and troop types. There are a few prone Bren gun teams, along with command and radio teams. The figures I have here were primed white with a wash of thinned black primer.

You get a good mix of regular troops and a few NCO types armed with sten smgs.

There are even sniper and medic figures.

Still you can’t beat the prices for these miniatures. I got a full platoon (66 figures) of British for $17.50. The going price for the 28mm kits (with over 50 models) is about $28. Compared to the price of the Warlord sets of $45 for 40 troops, it’s a great deal.

I’ll freely admit that the Warlord kits are fantastic. You really have lovely figures in those sets with a lot of potential variety of poses and the quality is top notch. However if you are really on a budget, it can be a bit steep. Having a cheaper alternative out there (especially if you wanted to dabble in another army) would be great. I hope Plastic Soldier Co. considers getting into 28mm more. As for 20mm scale, I’m very happy with my purchase. It was well worth the investment.