This is the latest in from Italeri and I liked it so much that I nearly started to put together a World War Two North African German African Korps army just to go with it…but I’m sticking to Napoleonics for the time being…

Anyway, the subject is a North African House in 1/72 scale and as you can see it looks superb! Italeri have released a steady stream of soldiers and vehicles from the Second World War North African Campaign and this is a lovely piece of scenery to go with these sets. It will make an objective for your battlefield or just a great centre piece for a diorama.

 It’s moulded in Sand coloured plastic but there is plenty of detail in the kit so even a simple paint job with a drybrush & wash will result in a very nice looking model.

Here are the pictures of the sprues:

As you can see, the pieces are well textured and detailed.

The model retails for around £29.99 and of course is available now from my ebay shop.

I’ve mentioned before that I have been very busy with an amazing number of new products that are being released at the moment. So here’ s the first of the latest batch to arrive. If all goes well today there will be more posted later.

The latest release from the Wargames Factory is a Science fiction themed set of Greatcoated Troopers or infantry for the far flung future universe. Armed with a mixture of Rifles, Flamers and Grenade Launchers, they will look good in any Science fiction army and the price tag of £14.49 for 18 figures makes them worth aquiring just to bolster your army!

Lets not mess around here, there’s no doubt that these figures are aimed at the Warhammer 40K gamer and to be fair, they will make a great addition to an Imperial Guard Army or as a Supplement to a Chaos Army as renegade infantry.

There are only three different bodies on the sprue but enough heads, arms & war gear to enable you to produce lots of varation. Here’s the official contents list:

18 multi-part/multi-pose hard plastic (polystyrene) 28mm future Greatcoat troopers! 6 full sprues each containing 38 parts! 228 parts per box!

Featuring:

3 different helmet options (with enough to outfit every trooper in the box) along with additional head options (14 heads/sprue – 84 heads/box!)

7 unique weapon designs – rifles, shotguns, laser/energy weapons, grenade launcher, flame thrower, pistol with 9 weapon arms per sprue!

Loads of extra “bits” to outfit your troops – ammo packs, daggers, canteens, holsters.

So, plenty of bits for future conversions and all in all a nice set. We look forward to more great releases from this Company. As ever, I have stock available in my ebay shop but for the moment supplies are limited until more stock gets into the country so if you like the set, get buying!

So here’s the next article tracking my progress in painting my first Napoleonic 28mm wargaming army. It’s designed to help beginners to the hobby or those like me who have decided to move from Science fiction to real history.

There is a bewildering choice of 28mm Napoleonic wargaming figures available, so before you dive in and buy some troops there are some fairly simple questions to answer. Firstly, do you want to have a British or French Army? I decided to start with the British. After all, I had been brought up on tales of Wellingtons victory at Waterloo and the heroics of Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe. And of course, although the French Army at the time was undoubtedly a fine fighting force and contained some of the finest troops ever seen, as well as a vast range of superb units and uniforms, it’s one draw back was that it was French………:)

Next, do you have a preference for plastic figures or metal? Plastic figures are usually cheaper, lighter and easier to transport. Metal figures are usually one piece and so do not need assembly, they ‘feel’ more substantial and the detail can be better although the new plastics are catching up. I have no strong feelings either way. I like working with plastic and I enjoy the process of putting the models together. I also like the infinite variety of poses that you can get when assembling your army. Plastic also tends to be less expensive so buying the Troops in plastic & the character and specialist models in metal is a good compromise.

So if you are happy to be building a British Napoleonic army that will be made up of plastic and metal figures read on!

The next decision was to chose the box set. Would it be the Perry set or Victrix….If you have read my previous blogs, you will know that I am a great fan of the Perry Miniatures sets. The quality and sculpting are superb and they have cleverly put together a set that makes up into a British Battalion formed up as a firing line and includes 4 British 95th riflemen. That said, the Victrix sets are also nicely sculpted and although they are split into Flank and Centre Company sets ( the Perry’s include parts for both) you get 52 figures in a Victrix set and just 40 in the Perry set.

I chose the Victrix set to start with…I just wanted more men to start with and I figured that if I started with Victrix I would have to buy the Perry set at a later date so that I could add another regiment to my army. I know, it doesn’t really make sense but remember at this stage I didn’t have a firm plan but just wanted to build an army and start painting Napoleonics.

Having chosen the Victirx, lets have a look in the box .  There are 8 sprues in the box. Four of these:

These sprues contain most of the soldiers torso’s. The top two bodies on the far right are for the Sergeant and drummer, the rest being normal Waterloo Centre Company troops. The  rest of the sprue contains the drum for the drummer, back packs for the infantry and the ensigns or flag bearers flag.

You also get four of these:

The one torso on this sprue is for the Officer and also doubles for the Ensign or flag bearer. There are also 14 different heads and lots of different arms. Fortunately, the instruction sheet is fairly clear and  you should have no difficulty in putting the figures together, with a minimum of ‘cleaning up’ required.

The only issue that I had with the set was that some of the pieces on the sprues aren’t numbered very well or not at all. That said, assembly is straight forward and mixing and matching the different heads & arms is the fun bit!

If you take a close look at the heads, some are clearly Veteran Campaigners and some are more suited to the Drummer and Officer figures. Also some of the Hats ( or Belgiac Shakos to be precise!) have covers. I dont think that it matters whether you use the covered ones but I prefered to have all of my troops with the plume showing.

Also included with the instructions is a small flag sheet. Although there are four flags, you actually have just two regiments to choose form, this is because each Battalion carried two flags. One was the Union flag or Kings colours, the other the Regimental flag. The colour of the Regimental Flag usually determined the colour of the facings on the Troops uniforms. Or to put it more simply, a blue regimental flag meant that the collars and cuff of the troops’ uniforms would be blue. For my first regiment, I choose the 4th Kings Own, with the blue flag.

So that’s enough to be going on with now. In the next installment, I’ll have a look at the differences between Centre & Flank Companys and Waterloo and Pennisular Uniforms as well as showing you some pictures of my own version of the 4th Kings Own Regiment.

I’ve just received the latest releases from Airfix for the month. In a slightly new departure for Airfix, these items are not plastic kits but resin models. They are part of a series of scenery and diorama models to be released by Airfix this year and very nice they are too! First up we have the European Ruined Cafe, representing the typical French small town cafe.

The buiding is reproduced in off white resin and is very crisply moulded with plenty of detail that will be ‘brought to life’ once the model is painted. The model comes with brass etched window frames for those who would like to add the windows.

The buildings are 1/76th scale and so are ideal for 20mm figures and will also suit 1/72nd scale figures for wargaming purposes. On that note, the design has been well thought through to allow plenty of cover for your soldiers!

As well as the Cafe, there is also a ruined workshop, again based on those typically found in Northern France.

The same attention to detail is present in this model and again there is plenty of cover for your troops.

Of course being a workshop, there is room for a tank to take cover here and if you look closely at the box art you can see a Tiger Lurking in the background!

There are two other pieces due for release later in the year, a town corner house and a cottage, so World War two Wargamers will have a good selection of scenery and a basis for creating a mini town for their troops to battle over. Well done Airfix! Yet more evidence that this much loved brand is on the rise again.

Both of these models are available from my eBay shop at £12.49 each.

I have already mentioned that I was very impressed with the recently released Victrix 54mm British Peninsular Infantry Flank Companies Boxed Set. So I thought that I would show you the contents of the set.

There are 4 sprues in the box. Two sprues of Heads, Bodies and Arms:

One of the torso’s is for the Officer and one is for the Drummer, so this means that each box will contain 2 Officers and 2 drummers, leaving 12 torsos to make your rank and file.  As there are 14 ‘non’ Drummer arms it will be fairly straight forward to  convert one of the Drummers to another Rifle man if you would like the extra man. The officer has a choice of two sword arms so producing two different officers is quite straight forward by using the components supplied.

The other two sprues are weapons and packs:

Simply by mixing and matching the different arms, heads, torsos and packs you will be able to make a huge number of different poses. The box art is a great source for colour schemes and there are assembly instructions  but even the most inexperienced modeller should be able to put these figures together successfully.

The set that I had will need the minimum of cleaning up. A quick scrape along the mould lines and sand along the sprue attachments and you will soon have a model ready for painting. All in all a superb addition to the range of 54mm figures available and by mixing with the other sets available from other manufacturers you should be able to produce your own Napoleonic wargaming army in 54mm.

When it comes to buying on line, it’s not always easy to decide whether a new product is right for you. It’s usually a safe decision if you have bought products from a company before. Lets face it, when Games Workshop release their latest Tank or figure, you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect in terms of quality and style and a picture will be enough to help you decide whether you want it or not. Likewise, when Airfix or Italeri release a new scale model of, say, a 1/72 scale Sherman Tank, then you will have a clear idea of what you will get. There’s also usually reviews of these new releases in the trade press such as Military Modelling that will help you to decide if the kit is right for you.

But what about the smaller company releases? Or what if you are new to the hobby? How do you know whether what your buying is going to be right for you. I know that it’s tricky enough when you can get to a model shop but at least you can handle the product. Mind you, these days everything is sealed and you are not always made to feel that you can take a peek inside the box. So with that in mind I thought that I would add a series of reviews to my blog. Now I’m not a professional kit reviewer and I dont have access to scale drawings of models so I’m not going to be able to tell you if a model is 0.5mm to short or if the style of boots on a certain type of 5th century B.C. Assyrian Warrior is right or wrong. So if you’re looking for that information, move on, there are other sites that will do it better than I ever can.

Actually, I’m not into that sort of detail either, but I’ll save that discussion for another day. What I can do, is show you the contents of a kit, tell you whether I like it ( I tend to be positive, I’m selling these products!) and give you the alternatives that I know about. So for my first look at ‘What’s in the box?’ I’ve chosen the Gothic City Buildings by Pegasus. Why, you may ask. Well, first of all, I like this company. It’s based in America and they produce a nice range of  reasonably priced scenic kits and accessories that are great for wargamers, as well as a super collection of scale models and soldiers. To see the range check out my shop, I have most of what is available most of the time!

So what do you get in the box?

Box Contents

You don’t get the Games Workshop Chapter Master! He’s there to show you the scale. You do get a huge amount of plastic which is as follows:

Gate, Pillars and short walls

As you can see , there is one entrance or gate section, 24 pillars (only six in the picture) and six short walls (8.25cms long), the picture shows two of them, front & back.

There are 6 short window sections ( 8.25cms long) and 6 long wall sections (16.5cms long).

Finally, you get 6 sprues of gargoyles and details for the building.

There’s the Chapter Master again to show you the height of the walls, which are about 8.25cms tall. So that’s enough parts to build a really big impressive centre piece for your wargames table or to use as a back ground for a diorama. The only thing that would have improved this kit would be a roof or floors for the buildings. This is easily remedied with some plasticard but it would have been nice to have included this in the box.

I think that this set is a great way to build scenery for your warhammer 40k games and of course it would be ideal for complementing the new planet strike, City fight and apocalypse supplements.

So if you are looking fo some competively priced scenery for your wargames, pegasus is a great place to start. As well as the Gothic City Buildings there are three other building sets available, some ready built gothic rubble and packs of bricks so there’s no reason why you couldn’t build your own city to battle over. As always, take a look in my ebay shop for prices and availability!