Bolt Action M7 Priest Self Propelled Gun
As the M7 Priest was one of the kits that didn't make the cut for the tank themed week, I thought I added it to this latest bunch of tank reviews, especially as he fits the Gentleman's War theme.
The M7 Priest SPG and the next tank we will cover (the Hummel) are both made to order kits by Warlord Games - this does not mean they are Mail Order exclusive, it is most likely something that your local gaming store has to order in and it might not come in a boxed set with printed artwork, but a neutral packaging. As I had this kit for a long time (and this review is in draft since 2018), mine came wrapped in bubble wrap with a sticker on it. The RRP of this resin and metal kit is 26,50 to 30 GBP, depending on the variant.
Bolt Action – M26 Pershing and T26E4 Super Pershing
A while ago I started converting a M26 Pershing resin tank kit by Warlord Games into a T26E4 Super Pershing.
There are a few articles on the T26E4, among others on Tank Encyclopedia or Wikipedia, explaining what this Super Pershing is. Because it is not a paper tank like many E-series German tanks, but a real (field) conversion to further up-armour the M26 Pershing. The M26 was deployed rather late in January 1945 to Europa via the Port of Antwerp, and these 20 tanks would be the only Pershings to see combat in World War too, with the famous duel taking place later in March in Cologne. And while this heavy tank was a much-needed upgrade to the American armoured units, it made fighting Panthers and Tigers easier - compared to the Shermans, but it would still struggle against the Tiger II, while the units moved further into Germany. For that reason the M26 was uparmoured with a more powerful cannon, the T15E1. Yet a small batch of tanks were produced and further upgraded with a T15E2 gun, but only a single one of these made it to Germany in the very last moments of world war 2. I am huge fan of these rarities and field conversions, so I began building it, by using plastic card to recreate the salvaged Panther front plate on the chassis and added the "ears" and additional armour for the gun mount.
Warhammer 40,000 – Leagues of Votann Army Set
Today is pre-order day for the army set of the latest addition of playable factions for Warhammer 40,000 - the Leagues of Votann. The Leagues of Votann are the successors of the old Squats in the new Grim Dark design. Less cartoony, less ZZ top biker gang, more sci-fi with a bit of nordic inspiration.
These army sets were introduced a while ago and cover a medium sized force of miniatures, around the size of the Combat Patrol sets, along with a limited edition cover variant of the Codex, tokens and data cards. All this is usually set at a RRP of 155 EUR. Compared to the Combat Patrols, of which the most are around 120 EUR, you pay the upgrade for the Codex (~40 EUR RRP).
Giving Spectre: Operations a try
Depending on how you count, giving this game a try is years in the making. I've stumbled across Spectre Operations in 2016, when I saw the booth on Salute in London, and covered their miniature range in review the same year. But the rules or setting really caught my eye, on Crisis a year later, in 2017, when I saw the gaming table build by Ivan / ThreadHeadz on Lead Adventure and recognised it at the show.
Horus Heresy – The next steps
The Horus Heresy is around for about a month. And a lot of people are #HardForHeresy. Games Workshop has published additional content in the four weeks since the official launch, like a very extensive document with Legacies of the Age of Darkness covering a lot more units in addition to the Traitor and Loyalists books, along with a free Horus Heresy mission.
But that's not all, to keep the players interested, we had previews on the full Contemptor Dreadnought kit, because as it seems the Contemptor from the Age of Darkness box is not the final release. As well as teasers on the new plastic Predator based upon the Deimos Rhino (full plastic kit as well) and even a first peak on the Leviathan Dreadnought - coming as a plastic kit as well.
Beyond that, Games Workshop did not draw away the attention that period that much. The releases and novelties were rather supporting, for example adding the rulebook as a stand-alone or giving the Contrast Paints an update. Quite a clever move, especially as you want to have your customers paint loads and loads of Space Marines, so things like the new Imperial Fists yellow comes in handy.
Moors of Iberia – Camel Cavalry
With the majority of the moors being ordered from the Outremer Kickstarter, it is time to look at what I am missing. As I mentioned in the article, I wanted a cavalry unit to stand out, and of my ideas was to use camels instead of horses.
Why camels? Well, obviously something different than regular horses. As the Moors in Iberia, especially the ones in the set time frame of this project (Almoravids and Almohads) were Berber Dynasties. And as an old time Age of Empires fan, Berber Camel riders. Yet, there are only a few miniatures out there, and to put it mildly, they are not the best looking. As camel riders weren't part of the Kickstarter I had to look elsewhere and so I did.
As the majority of my Crusader miniatures are Perry sculpts, I looked up their store. Unfortunately their Crusader Arabs didn't cover camels either ... but other ranges did. For example the Sudan range, had these interesting looking Beja warriors on camels.
The Sudan range even had interesting riders to replace the Beja, the Baggara in different variants, with long robes and fitting head gear. But I went for the MA15 Bedouin Command and MA16 Bedouin Cavalry. The miniatures come with separate mounts and riders, so good baseline for a conversion.
Bolt Action – SdKfz 250/11 Ausf. A
We've covered multiple variants of the Sd.Kfz 251 on here already, with the regular 251/1 Ausf. D, 251/16 Flammpanzerwagen and 251/7 Pionierwagen. And thanks to Jürgen from Warlord Games, he sent me a pre-production copy of some of the new Sd.Kfz. 250 Ausf. A (Alte) kit, from their trade meetup in Nottingham.
So far, the Sd.Kfz. 250 was available as a resin kit and now got an update and turned into a multi-variant plastic kit that is now available from Warlord Games directly and their trade network. The final kit obviously comes with a proper packaging, decals and all the additional content you're used to. In my case, I got the base sprue and the one to build the /11 variant leichter Schützenpanzerwagen mit einer 2,8-cm-schweren Panzerbüchse 41.
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).
Stargrave – Mercenaries
The third plastic kit from the initial Stargrave release are the SG003 Mercenaries. Probably the most colourful from the trio, and certainly worth a look. So, let's upon up this box.
Where the Troopers are the uniform wearing military force of a corporation or government, these mercenaries are coming along still as veterans of their trade, but a lot more specialised and unique. You get troops in once again heavy armour, but with more humanoid (and less humanoid) variation in terms of face and a wilder mix of their gear / weaponry.
Frostgrave – Knights
One of the first boxes that came along with the second edition of Frostgrave was the new kit for Knights. But it covers a lot more than just knights, but let's take a closer look into this new plastic set.
Unlike the other troop kits, we have had so far, this just covers 10 models instead of 20, but the sprues and layout are similar to the latest male and female Wizards. You get two sprues of the new unit and a base sprue with 10 round bases with a 25mm diameter. The kit is 15 GBP instead of 20 GBP for the other plastic kits of 20 miniatures.
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