Monday 28 July 2014

The Great War - Tommies Part I - Unboxing

Well, I'm a very lucky winnerDave, today Ben arrived at my door with a bag full of British for Battlefront's latest release, the Great War.

Let's take a look shall we...our first offering is GBR702 Rifle Platoon.
I've filed the bases, de-flashed and airbrushed primers black and then grey in a pre-shading style.

The advancers, come in 4 poses
Amount: 4,2,3,2

Another 4 poses for grenadiers
Amount: 1,2,1,1
 Only 2 poses for shooters
Amount: 2,1
 You get quite a few pointers and wavers.
Amount: 1,1,2,2
 This first guy looks grumpy like me :)  I love the guy in the middle working the bolt.
Amount: 2,1,2
 Officers
Amount: 1,1
 Sniper and spotter
Amount 1,1
 Gunners
Amount 2,2
 Group shoot
Amount: 38



So you get 38 figs, that's the right amount to make
4 x 4 man rifle teams
2 x 4 man rifle/grenade teams
2 x 3 man MG teams
2 x 3 man command teams
1 x 2 man sniper team.

I took the time to check my other rifle platoon blister and had the exact same number of figures.
The idea of the 2 command teams is that one forms the platoon command team and the other is used as one of the HQ section teams.

These figures are reminiscent of the Japanese, the detailing is superb.  I only had to do minimal de-flashing although there seemed to be a fair amount between the chin and weapon, so look out for that.  Some of the poses are simply fantastic and I think battlefront have done a great job of capturing what we imagine Great War PBI's to be doing, very few are shooting, most are advancing.

My only complaint (and we all know how I like to complain) is that the commander checking his watch with a walking stick is too iconic.  On his own, he'd be a great CinC, or some special character, but I imagine he's going to be seen quite a bit...he's already featuring on both CinC and 2ic stands.  Gripe over ;)

Next we have GBR704 Machine-Gun Platoon.

The crux of the platoon is these fellas, the Vickers HMG, gunner and loader
Amounts: 4,4,4
 A selection of rifle guys, tbh I'm probably going to swap some of these for some from the rifle platoon.
Amounts: 2,1,1,1,1
 And here he is :)

Group shot

Amount: 15
Perhaps I should gather the commanders together onto one stand, have them face the middle and make a speech bubble saying "Synchronise watches!"

Sweet, I love them and can't wait to throw some paint on them.

Stay tuned for 18 pounders and tanks, coming up in part II

Thanks for reading.

Dave

p.s. forgot to say you get the appropriate amount of the new style brown bases....not my cup of tea, but most people like them.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks Dave. I'm interested in getting into this period. Does the box set have blisters within it does it? I could look at the FOW site I suppose, but this makes up the core of the company with 18 pounders and tanks in support? If so, it seems there isn't anything you can't buy separately I suppose.

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  2. This platoon came in a standard sized blister pack...as far as I can tell the deal is simply a collection of blisters, so yes I'm sure we'll be able to buy these separately. I'm going to need at least another rifle and hmg platoon. I didn't take a photo of the blister pack, but Ben did and you'll be able to see it when his post goes live...stay tuned.

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  3. Thanks for the pre-views Dave, the figures look good so that is at least a +1 for starting WWI for me. I'm looking forward to seeing part II!

    CdlT

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  4. Officers meeting around a table synchronizing watches would make a great objective.

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  5. Great post and thanks for showing the cool minis!

    Must ...resist ...WWI...!

    Troy

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  6. Less pointing, more running for their bloody lives over the top, please!!!

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