Bolt Action – Carro Armato M13/40 and M14/41

After a bit of a pause, a new plastic vehicle kit for Bolt Action. Not bound to a certain campaign book this time, and from the cooperation of Italeri and Warlord Games an italian medium tank multi-kit, the Carro Armato / Semovente.

This is the first italian plastic tank kit for Bolt Action, so far they only had access to resin kits and among those primarely tankettes. With this kit, the player is able to field either a Carro Armato M13/40, M14/41 or Semovente da 75/18.

The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian medium tank (the M refers to Medio, medium) with a scheduled weight of 13 tonnes and 1940 as the initial production year, thus the name. It was designed to replace the M11/39, but already in 1941 replaced by the M14/41 medium tank, which used the same chassis but with a more powerful diesel engine and redesigned hull for better armour. The M13/40 first saw action in the Greek campaign, with both 13/40 and 14/41 being used in the North African desert. As the vehicle was unreliable and caught easily fire, it was replaced / not further developed, but reused as a chassis for self propelled guns like the Semovente da 75/18, which mounted a 75mm on the chassis of these, as well as the M15/42.

Around 2.000 units of the M13/40 were built, 800 further as M14/41. Of the Semovente spg 220 units were build, the first 60 using the M13/40 chassis, the remaining production run on the M14/41 chassis. Due to the withdrawal of the Italian forces from North Africa, a lot vehicles were captured and saw action briefly during the shortage of Allied tanks in 1941. But the Allies were aware of the shortcomings of that vehicles as well, so it wasn't in service for long.

The plastic kit takes these facts into account and offers the option to build M13/40, M14/41 as well as the Semovente da 75/18 from the parts on the two sprues. As well as the decals not only for Italian and German forces, but Australian as well. Warlord Games sets the RRP of this kit, that includes a multipage instruction and painting guide, stat card and damage markers to at 20 GBP.

The sprues are provided by Italeri. So these have smaller frames and a bit different type of hard plastic, but can be assembled with your regular plastic glue (Revell contacta for example). Mould lines are present, but not to thick and as such not a big problem to remove. Casting is good, the details are not super sharp but not blurry either.

Assembly starts with the tracks. The track sections don't have a super tight fit, there is a bit of play, you keep that in mind while assembling and beware that those are not identical but specific parts for left and right. These are the same for all of the variants.

Next up the lower hull, the tracks are added to the sides and the pack and front plates are added. Here the first variants come in. The spare road wheels for the medium tank and M40 semovente, as well as the interior differs a bit (but as the tank is closed, you won't see it unless you go for the semovente). The track guards are continous for the later variants and shorter, single parts for the early M40 chassis. I went for the built of the M14/41.

Next up the engine cover is added along with tools and air filters.

This the late M14/41 chassis, on which either the regular medium tank or the semovente still can be build. I mistakenly added the left spare road wheel instead of the pin to the back of the chassis.

The regular medium tank of both M13/40 and M14/41 has a upper hull super structure. Due to the angled plates, the stability of the build group is well and the assembly fits. There is a small gap when added to the main chassis. You could probably try to magnetize the tank destroyer and regular battle tank super structure, unfortunately both share pieces in the further detailling procress, where you would need spare bits to do so.

The tank now only misses its turret. The fit of the turret wasn't great, as the guidance of the part is very loose and I recommend using a low amount of glue to tack the pieces together for a loose fit and then go from there. The turet can be build open or closed. There is the option to add a tank commander. As even the commanders hatch is closed on the medium tank and does not give you the chance to look inside the tank, you could probably skip the details from the lower hull unless you go for the semovente.

The other variants give you a good amount of spare bits, which can be used maybe for a tank turret bunker or so.

The M13/40 or M14/41 is a rather small vehicle, even for a medium tank. Here's the comparison to other vehicles it might have battled during the desert campaign in North Africa, as the Stuart or Mathilda.

The last row as always reserved for a few angle shots.

Conclusion
The plastic kit is even with the few short comings of the fit, a big improvement compared to the resin kits. It is a good thing, that it covers the variants and gives you a couple of options. The main problem might simply be, that Italian forces and their armoured vehicle as such are not for everybody. They simply didn't have Shermans, T-34s or Tigers and as the Italians agreed on a cease-fire with the Allies, there was no late war development of much needed heavier gear.

With that in mind, it is a good thing to see, that this plastic kit takes care of the niché projects within World War two. Not only the Italian forces, but as captured vehicles with the Allies and Wehrmacht. So if you're either looking for a lighter captured vehicle for 1941 for the allies, or something not that heavy against mid-war partizans (Panzerabteilung Adria), this might be an interesting base. Maybe even to convert some further vehicles like the Semovente 90/53.

I hope that the next vehicle kit is again Warlord "own" kit, as the Italeri kits are okay, but simply lack a bit of the stability the others provide.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.