Bolt Action PzKpfw VIII Maus

On friday, January 20th, Warlord Games offered a limited access to the first 35 Maus tanks for Bolt Action and Konflikt 47. I was lucky enoug to get one, as the tanks were quickly sold out. But do not despair, they will be available from mid / late february again in higher numbers.

Ordered on friday, shipped on monday and arrived on thursday in Germany. Solid timing. As the Maus is a direct sales / Mail Order exclusive, it comes in a bubblewrap bag without a box.

The Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a super-heavy tank project of the third reich, of which only two prototypes were manufactured by Porsche. The program was cancelled by Hitler in late 1943. Never the less, the two prototype 205/1 and 205/2 were at the Heeresversuchsgelände (Heer experimental area) in Kummersdorf near Berlin at the end of the war. And as the Soviet Army advanced to the eastern front, 205/2 was detonated to not let them capture the tank. The Red Army found the slightly damaged hull of 205/1, mounted the 205/2 turret on it and sent it back to the Kubinka, Russia, where it can be seen today at the local tank museum. It is the heaviest fully enclosed tank ever built.

In this case, we have a 1:56 / 28mm resin and metal kit. The hull, the turret and additional fuel tank are made from resin, the 128 mm (5 in) KwK 44 gun L/55 and 75 mm (3 in) KwK 44 gun L/36.5 are made from metal, as well as the hatches, lights and the optional tank commander. Pricing of this kit is 50 GBP, at which point Warlord Games includes free shipping.

Casting is pretty good, the only visible mold lines are on the underside of the tracks and the turret. The resin has black spots in it, but these only seem to be colour distortions, as the surface is smooth and without irritation. The master for this kit wasn't 3D printed but hand build from the look of it.

The fuel tank is added to the back of the hull by a connection joint. This is the only resin on resin build process of the tank. As the gun mantlet is massive and the 128mm KwK 44 is rather long, I decided to pin them to the turret. Drilling through the socket of the mantlet into the turret and drilling again from the other direction into the gun, so you can pin all three parts directly together.

If done correctly the gun will fit the pin neatly, but you can support the socket with a bit of green stuff to correct the alignment. It is not uncommon for metal barrels to be slightly bend, so make sure you take care of that before glueing it into place. The 75mm KwK 44 can simply be glued into the socket without pinning.

Last detail parts for the Maus, the drivers and commander hatches are added to hull and turret, as well as the lights upfront. Just add the turret to the hull and you are ready to go.

Such a huge beasts does catch attention, so the Wochenschau had to come by and take a few shots of the glorious Wunderwaffe. In the middle you can see it along with tank crew by Warlord Games and Perry Miniatures. In the third, to give you a sensation of scale, the turret is almost as large as the Panzer II.

Next up in comparison with the Maus, a Tiger II chassis by JTFM / Die Waffenkammer, a Tiger I and Panzer III by Rubicon Models.

Another comparison with the Opel Blitz and Tiger I from Rubicon Models.

And the Tiger II, the largest heavy tank actively used by the armies of Germany in World War II, still no match for the huge Maus.

The gun of the Maus was used as a anti-tank gun and even mounted on the Jagdtiger, the heaviest tank used operationally in World War II, with 72 tons. That is not half as much as the Maus would have weight with its battle weight of 188 (!) tons.

And a view around the colossal Maus tank from different angles.

Conclusion
Why the Maus and not an E-series like E-75 or E-100? Well, all of the "papertanks", prototypes and projects the Maus is the only one that was actually developed so far, that it even had "proper" prototypes and not only blue prints or some rough modifications to try out. Designwise I'd prefer a E-100 to the Maus, as it lacks width in my opinion, but that is not the point of this review. As this is a very special kit, with a very special / narrow usage, Warlord Games recommends its use for the very late theatre selector of Bolt Action or Konflikt 47, where it feels more at home. A Maus is a collectors piece and not really needed for Bolt Action, as other tanks like even the Tiger are already big in that system. The community feedback on the rules for the Maus was far from satisfied.

Warlord Games is the second company to offer the Maus in the scale of 28mm, next to Blitzkrieg Miniatures, which offers it one pence cheaper at 49,99 instead of 50 GBP. Both companies offer free shipping with these kits. There is a third Maus kit in development by Heer46. Is it better than the Blitzkrieg one? I don't own one myself, but I own other Blitzkrieg miniatures vehicles. With the 3D printer steps along and mediocre casting that mine had, I would choose the Warlord Games one over the basicly same priced Blitzkrieg Maus.

To sum it up,  50 GBP is a bit of money, but you get a not-everyday tank and a huge chunk of resin for it. The cast is clean and has a good fit. The design is solid, but has a few flaws, for example the edges of the joint armour plates are flat, most of the model kits in 1:35 or 1:48 show it more detailled, with wield lines along them. A bit of stowage would have been nice, or the in the Konflikt 47 rules mentioned additional MMGs. Maybe even celebrate the release of this huge tank with a bit of exclusivity, like a small "tank certificate" with a serial number or something.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.