Bolt Action – Jagdtiger
After covering multiple King Tigers on here, in resin and plastic, it is time to go for the heaviest beasts of the Tiger-Class tanks, the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz. 186 Jagdpanzer VI - also known as Jagdtiger.
This beast is available in 28mm by multiple companies as a resin kit, but now comes for the first time in plastic, by the joint production of Warlord Games and Italeri. The kit I got, was a pre-release provided by the Dutch wargaming shop Tabletopper.nl. As such it didn't come in a cardboard box, it was simply the sprues in a plastic bag. The final product of course comes with instructions, decals and so on.
The Jagdpanzer VI was another tank destroyer, based upon the chassis of a regular tank. The Germans did this multiple times, as we've seen with the Jagdpanther, the Sturmgeschütz III, Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer or Marder III (both based upon the Panzer 38(t)). But in this case, building upon the already pretty heavy Tiger II tank, the Jagdtiger became with around 70t the heaviest tank produced in series in history.
Rubicon Models – Tiger II with Zimmerit
This is going to be the third time that I'm doing a review on a King Tiger, but this time it is the one by Rubicon Models.
I've had the older resin kit by Warlord Games with the Henschel turret on here, as well as the Italeri / Warlord Games plastic kit of the King Tiger with Zimmerit, so I'm quite curious where the Rubicon kit stands in comparison.
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.
Bolt Action Campaign Stalingrad
The last Bolt Action supplement I've reviewed here was Korea and that was a spin-off, which covered for the first time a conflict outside of world war 2. So considering world war 2 books for Bolt Action, the latest one before that was Operation Overlord released in summer 2019, one more reason to see how Warlord Games covers one of the biggest battles of the second World War - Stalingrad.
So far, the only campaign book covering Stalingrad, yet in a brief way, as Ostfront from the first edition of Bolt Action. Campaign Road to Berlin covers the epoch two years after the Battle of Stalingrad. But this battle and the fighting around it, had such an impact on the war in the east that they absolutely deserve a supplement of its own and Warlord Games spreads that on a very solid 176 pages. This is upper region for the length of Bolt Action supplement, and it stays with the regular price band of 20 GBP or 30 USD. And as often with the Bolt Action / Osprey books, we had an early cover (right) and a changed final cover of the supplement (left), moving from a Soviet soldier in winter gear to a sailor.
Cruel Seas – Royal Airforce and Luftwaffe
While I'm currently reading the Close Quarters supplement for Cruel Seas, I return to the aircrafts that I have around for air support on the channel.
Quite a while back I bought a few of the larger Trumpeter packs, as I thought an air combat game in topgun style would be fun, maybe to defend an aircraft carrier. From that idea I still have the F4F-4 Wildcat here, the other kits (Douglas TBD and SBD) I traded with the Sweetwater travelling box, as only the Grumman were used by the British under the designation Martlet / Wildcat Mk. IV. As it would be unfair to just give the Royal Navy some support from above, I got something for the Kriegsmarine as well.
Bolt Action German Grenadiers
Among the plastic kits for Bolt Action, the German army has the most kits to choose from. Maybe that is to reconcile for the very first plastic kit of the German Infantry (we have come a long way since that), or just because they are the bad guys and due to that higher in demand. Following up on the Blitzkrieg Infantry (sorry, that article is only available in German, as it was published prior to this blog being bilingual in 2014/15) that covered the early war troops, this German Grenadier kit covered the late war.
More were about to follow, mostly mid to late war, like the Waffen-SS Grenadiers, Afrika Korps Grenadiers and Winter Gear German Infantry in means of regular infantry.
SdKfz 6/3 Diana for the Afrikakorps – but how?
As if the decision about the Sd.Kfz. 7 wasn't hard enough, a few weeks ago I found this one, the Sd.Kfz. 6/3 Diana. It is based upon the Sd.Kfz. 6, which is basically a lighter predecessor of the Sd.Kfz. 7 "only" being able to tow 5t instead of 8t. It was fitted with captured Soviet 76-mm divisional guns model 1936 (F-22) and an armoured superstructure was build around it.
The Sd.Kfz. 6 is not available in 28mm, the Diana can only be bought as model kits or 15mm, but it was in service in the Afrikakorps. So it would fit in the project and would be another great field conversion and outstanding rarety. Yet, how to approach this project?
SdKfz 7 for the Afrikakorps – but which variant?
Didn't we need a tow for the 8,8 cm FlaK? Here it is! The mighty Sd.Kfz. 7, or Sonder-Kraftfahrzeug 7 − Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t (German for medium towing motor vehicle 8t) as the full name of this interesting vehicle was. So far, there are a couple of resin kits on the market, and then Rubicon came along with a plastic kit.
The Rubicon kit comes with a few variants incl., it can be build open or closed, so covers a tarpaulin for the back seats, or can be build with a flat bed to cover the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 and 7/2 variants, sporting different FlaK guns on the back.
Bolt Action US Infantry 2019 American GIs
This kit has been around for a while, but I think it makes sense to team it up with the Campaign supplement for Operation Overlord. Warlord Games gave the US Infantry, one of the oldest kits for Bolt Action along with the Brits, an overhaul. And that box is todays topic, the new US Infantry, WWII American GIs.
The kit is meant to be used for mid to late war period armies and covers the regular troops of the Americans, from the battles in the Mediterranean until the end of the war in Europa. As usual we have 30 miniatures spread across five sprues, along with multiple weapon options and of course round bases. You'll find a construction leaflet with multiple sample poses on it, along with a detail list of which part is which and a sheet of waterslide decals. The price for the 28mm hard plastic miniatures in heroic scale is 27 GBP.
Blood Red Skies – Battle for Britain
Warlord Games has expanded their popular World War 2 range of Bolt Action into the skies and the sea. I've done a lot of Bolt Action coverage already here and am keen to try out other scales and settings. I have talked about both systems and their potential position on the market, but today I want to take a look into the starter set of Blood Red Skies.
The boxed set is priced at 40 GBP and comes with english rules, but Warlord Games offers free PDF downloads of the rules in German and French. The rules themself, at least the Quick Starter Rules, are available as a free download as well. Presentation is very much like a board game, with a plastic tray to hold the gaming components and miniatures them self.
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