Bolt Action – British & Inter-Allied Commandos

With the two D-Day sector books that cover a lot of special operations, the need for British and Inter-Allied Commandos is certainly there. And Warlord Games delivered for this demand.

The first Commandos kit that was released around 2011, was based on the regular British infantry, with a recut of a part of the sprue. We did a review back then and you can not only see how far Warlord Games has progressed over the last decade, but our reviews as well (that was pre-bilingual coverage, so you'll only find the German one online).

This update uses a similar method and is a more elaborate recut of the "regular" British and Canadian / Commonwealth infantry, with quite the load of additional bits. The formula stays the same, 5 sprues at 6 soldiers each, an instruction leaflet, a small decal sheet and 25mm round bases with a small lip. If you're wondering about the price, this has increased a bit from the former 33 GBP price tag to 35 GBP. The price increase over the last four years is a bit steep, as 2018 these boxes were 26 GBP. But Warlord Games is not a listed company with a profit margin that your economy professor would tell you to run the numbers again, as they can't be true. Two years of hiatus, a trade network that had a hard time opening their stores and Brexit on top took their toll.

Never the less, we're still in a reasonable price range. As a single box of these along with a blister or box on top, gets you started with the game itself. The leaflet is very helpful, as it gives you an overview of the parts and some suggestions for the assembly. The decals are meant for British and French commandos.

The sprues cover 6 bodies, heads with beret and cap comforter, the larger bergen backpacks and more specialised gear and weaponry compared to the regular infantry sprue. Casting is pretty well-done. Only a few mould lines and the sprue is properly put to use, so not much of free space goes to waste.

The commandos share the same 6 poses with the British infantry kit. You have one kneeing pose (in a rather wide stand), one running pose and four upright moving poses leaning forward or to the sides.

As these are commandos, we're not going for regular rifles but give them some more extraordinary / special weaponry. The first three will receive a Vickers K LMG, a PIAT and a light mortar.

For the second set of three, a bit lighter gear. A grenade / rifle combination, a reloading SMG and a close combat pose. As usual the left / right arm ratio is a bit tricky and you'll need to build a few as regular "core" grunts, to have enough of the arms for specials.

The faces are well-done and you have the option between the caps and berets, very fitting for the commandos. Of course you can use the benefit of plastic and swap from the other British kits as well, not only the Infantry, but the Airborne kit as well (as far as it makes sense regarding the head gear).

The last step is often the baggage. Something that is a bit tricky, as it is not always clear were everything goes and adding the pieces tends to leave gaps. Some of them don't fit with every arm position. Therefore you might want to play around with that before gluing it down, until you've found a pose / combination that works for you.

For scale comparison. In the first picture we have an old "first generation" British Soldier, the newer updated kit, an Airborne trooper, another new Commando and another first gen 2011 British Commando. The second picture covers the same new models on position #2 and #4, but with Warlord Games metal Commandos and SAS on #1 and #5, and an Artizan Design in the middle. The newer metal commandos are a pretty well-done range. Taller than the old initial Bolt Action range, neat poses, not too overdrawn, so I can see that a lot of people are fine with that.

And our small squad of special operation soldiers all ready for battle.

Conclusion

Along with the "regular" British kit, you have a great base for a Commonwealth project with these. Even if you don't want to play commandos, they make for a great resource for more veteran soldiers. And with the vast options of plastic kits for vehicles as well, this should suit the gamers that don't want to work with materials like resin or metal, as you could easily build all the HQ options and such with these sprues as well. Especially as these sprues give you the option for an army that fought not only in Europe, but Africa and Asia as well. Especially if you can get your hands on some of the heads for example from the 8th army sprue, you can probably go for a really interesting themed army.

Yes, the prices were raised. But it is still quite easy to find a FLGS that gives you some percent off, so getting these for around 35 EUR isn't that hard. And we're still close to about 1 EUR per miniature, which is still very reasonable.

This kit and the sprues are a vast improvement over the old kit. The weapons directly on the arms makes it much easier to build and is less "fiddly". Due to the massive amount of gear the commandos carry compared to other troops (where you for example have mostly rifles and a smaller backpack) this makes posing a bit - but really only a bit - more ambitious, and I highly recommend a small amount of green stuff to fill in the gaps, as the final result will be much better if you do.

Bolt Action is a brand of Warlord Games.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.