Warlord Games Stone Bridge

Before the Coastal Defense by Warlord Games is released in the next month, I'd like to present the Stone Bridge in this review. It is part of the cooperation of Warlord Games and Italeri and added to the Bolt Action plastic terrain range.

Warlord Games sets the price tag at 15 GBP / 16,95 EUR.

This is not a new product, but a repack of Italeri 6128 that originally was introduced as a 1:72 model kit. It consists of two identical sprues of light grey plastic. The material is rather soft and has a bit of mold lines.

The build is pretty straight forward, as it only consists out of 6 pieces, of which 3 are identical. First up, glue together the lower arc, the pieces fit quite well, make sure to press them firmly together and put them into the lower slot of one of the side parts.

The fit of the upper bridge arc is basicly the same. Put glue on the area, hold it together firmly and insert it into the upper slot of the side part. While the glue settles, add the other side part to the arcs and hold it firmly. The fit isn't the best, but with a bit of pressure it will stay in place until the glue settles.

The gap in the middle of the road has to be taken care of by some green stuff or spackle. The surface of the bridge is rather flat and not very well designed. I assume this has to do with the age of the kit.

The bridge fits a broad selection of settings, as shown on the box with Bolt Action (WW2), Black Powder and Pike & Shotte. The path is broad enough for 3 models on 25mm bases, so it measures slightly below 80mm in width. It is broad enough to place a tank on top of it. For game play I suggest that you add a bit of grit (sand, spackle, something with a bit of roughness) to the surface, as bases tend to slip on the lower thirds of the bridge.

And the Stone Bridge from different angles.

Conclusion
The stone bridge is 3 GBP more than the smaller resin stone bridge Warlord offers as well. Yes, it is a quite large piece of terrain and fits 28mm very well (could easily be used up to 40mm+), but the design is a bit blunt. I don't think that drybrushing will have that much effect as the surface is flat with the outer line of the stones carved into it. The stones have no texture themself and painted this kit could easily be mistaken for a MDF kit.

As this is a repack and the initial costs should be covered, I think it is a bit to expensive for my taste. 12 GBP or 14 EUR is okay, more than that seems a bit expensive for such a basic item. I'm aware of the long chain of distribution, that drives up the costs. Warlord has to buy these at Italeri, add margin for whole traders, add margin for resellers and that is how we end up at a high(er) price tag. I wouldn't have that big of a problem with the price tag, if the kit had more to it, more structure on the plastic, maybe even a bit of variation. With that said, this item is larger than other bridges of the same price, but the resin kits maybe more appealing.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.