Bolt Action British Airborne
One of the latest kits and the youngest of the paratrooper plastic kits, are the British Airborne. A must for this week's series of reviews around the Operation Market Garden along with yesterday's US Airborne kit.
The British airborne is one of the many special combat divisions of the commonwealth's armed forces. They were founded in 1941, roughly a year earlier than their US American counterpart, and the 1st Airborne Division was send to North Africa for Operation Torch. But this kit covers the Red Devils in their North Western European gear, making them the best fit for the mid to late war operations of Pegasus Bridge, Operation Market Garden and the late fights crossing the Rhine / Operation Varsity, the largest airborne operation in history. In cinema the British paratroopers are mostly known from A bridge too far.
Bolt Action US Airborne
After we started the themed week with the supplement Campaign Market Garden, it is time to introduce and cover the matching Airborne units in a review - starting with the US Airborne. They were the second paratrooper unit released in plastic after the German Fallschirmjäger.
The US Airborne was founded more or less in 1942, when the 82nd Infantry Division was renamed 82nd Airborne Division, regrouped and assigned a new task, Operation Husky, the airborne landing in Sicily, Italy. The 82nd Airborne are along with the 101st Airborne Division the only airborne division of the American forces, and both took part in Operation Overlord (D-Day / Landing in the Normandy) and Operation Market Garden. US Airborne soldiers were heroically represented in movies like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan.
Bolt Action Campaign Market Garden
After covering the battles in the Pacific, the Eastern front and the Ardennes, the next Bolt Action supplement moves to North Western Europe with Campaign Market Garden. An instead of whole years of war, this battle has its eye on very intense 9 days in late September '44.
This campaign supplement covers the story of Operation Market Garden, the unsuccessful allied military attempt to take 9 bridges along the Dutch-German border. The military operations between September 17th and 25th are covered on 116 pages. Warlord Games charges the usual 19.99 GBP or 30 USD for the book, which is roughly 25 EUR. I've covered both the final cover (left) and the early cover (right) in the first row of pictures. We've often seen changes in the artwork between the first announcement and later publication; it was similar with The Road to Berlin and Campaign New Guinea.
Heroes and Commanders for the Landsknechte
After or better said, during, assembling the Landsknechts for the different reviews (Pikemen, Missile Troops and Zweihänders), I tried to get a bit more out of the kit, as with the three boxes, I only got one command sprue.
The bitz come from the old command upgrades for the Empire plastic infantry, the drum is from the Soldiers of the Empire box (with swords and halberds) and the banner is from the Crossbowmen Regiment.
Warhammer 40.000 Killzone: Sector Mechanicus
As supplements for the Kill Team Starter kit Games Workshop released a series of specific Killzone Environments. These kits are bundles of already available terrain kits with added content for the Kill Team rule set at greatly reduced price.
In this unboxing and build review, I continue with the terrain kits after the Sector Imperialis Basilicanum and move forward to the Killzone: Sector Mechanicus.
For 65 EUR we receive a huge and heavy box, with a lot (and I mean it, a lot!) of sprues. I had to add the comparison with the Primaris Space Marine so you get a feeling for that huge stack of frames you get for that money. But that is not all, as mentioned above, this is not simply a discounted terrain bundle, this is a Kill Team Killzone supplement, covering a double sided thick card board gaming mat and additional gaming material, like an environment chart for the Sector Mechanicus, 4 new scenarios using the terrain from this kit and 12 new tactic cards.
The Great Wargaming Survey 2018
And in 2018 Wargames Soldiers & Strategy once again hosts the Great Wargaming Survey!
For the fifth year in a row, Wargames Soldiers & Strategy magazine is running the Great Wargaming Survey. With many thousands of respondents every year to an ever evolving (and sometimes revolving) set of questions, it gives a constantly improving image of 'the average [responding] wargamer'.
Warlord Games – Pike & Shotte Landsknecht with Zweihänders
There is a third plastic kit for the Landsknechts available, or at least hybrid kit - the Landsknecht with Zweihänders. Along with the Pikemen and the Missile Troops, there are now plastic Doppelsöldner and soldiers with metal halberds around.
Same as in the Missile Troop review - I've covered the background of this range and the change from Pro Gloria to Warlord Games, along with the Indiegogo campaign in the Landsknecht Pikemen review, I won't bring that up again, but will give a brief introduction on the Landsknechts themselves.
Warlord Games – Pike & Shotte Landsknecht Missile Troops
In addition to the Landsknecht Pikemen, that were released last year, Warlord Games added two further kits based the puffy-sleeved soldiers to the Pike & Shotte range. I'll cover both boxed sets on here this week, beginning with the review of the Landsknecht Missile Troops.
As I've covered the background of this range and the change from Pro Gloria to Warlord Games, along with the Indiegogo campaign in the Landsknecht Pikemen review, I won't bring that up again, but will give a brief introduction on the Landsknechts themselves.
The Landsknecht were dominantly German mercenaries, instigated by the Holy Roman Empire under Maximillian I, but fought for other European rulers as well. They were involved in battles in the 15th and 16th century, in wars like the Italian Wars. The idea of the landsknecht was to have an armed service similar to the Swiss mercenary pikemen. As they were a mercenary force and the orders by Maximillian were to give the troops the freedom to wear what they wanted, it resulted in very colourful bright colours, with slashed sleeves and plumes. The fancier, the better.
Warhammer Fest Europe 2018 – Part 2
Continuing with the coverage of Part 1 on Warhammer Fest Europe 2018, the main venue was a two story hall with a large store, covering products of the main range along with Black Library, Forge World and Warhammer World exclusives. The glass cabinets of the Golden Demon painting competition started to fill up slowly.
Warhammer Fest Europe 2018 – Part 1
This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, was the first time for Warhammer Fest Europe to open. It is a new event following in the steps of the former Games Days. Games Days in Germany were held in Cologne at the Gürzenich and the new event uses the convention area of the Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf, right next to the Düsseldorf Airport (DUS).
Parking was not a logistical problem, as there were plenty parking lots around the Hotel and the airport area. At rates of 3,50 EUR per hour they weren't exactly cheap. But the airport brought for those who didn't travel by car a couple of benefits. The visitors were quite international, so they had an easy way to get there by plane from the UK, France, Italy or Spain (and from what our readers told me, even Australia!), and for the "locals" of North Rhine Westphalia, the state has superb local service by train and bus.
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