Bolt Action M3 Lee medium tank
This is a M3 review double feature, as I'll show you today the M3 Lee and the M3 Grant (with track guards). The M3 Lee kit is a regular shelf product, that comes in a boxed set. Warlord offers the Grant as a made-to-order / direct order product.
The M3 medium tank (not to be confused with the M3 Stuart / M3A1), was an American medium tank, that was supplied to other allied forces, like the British, Australian or Soviets during World War II. The differentiation between Lee and Grant, was done by the turret. The American issued turret (like in this kit) was called Lee, after the Confederate General Lee, the British issued turret after the Union General Grant.
Bolt Action M3 Grant medium tank with track guard
In addition to the M3 Lee review, this article will cover the british Grant variant of the M3 with track guards.
Unlike the M3 Lee, this kit is only available as made-to-order and therefore comes without a box in a simple bubble wrap bag.
As the M3 is already introduced in the other article, I'll focus here on the M3 Grant. Of the more than 6,000 Units the Americans build of the M3 Lee, 2,855 units were handed over to the British, who supplied them within the Commonwealth. The British had added modifications to their order, a different turret was designed with thicker armor plate, more space to house radio equipment and the machine gun cupola to be replaced with a simple hatch. The later was even done to some of the M3 Lee turrets in use by the British in China, Burma and India. And some of the M3 that were to be deployed in North Africa received sand guards, as this kit has as well.
Bolt Action Campaign New Guinea
After Empire in Flames, Bolt Action revisites the far east with the supplement Campaign New Guinea.
With 132 pages, Campaign New Guinea set a short new high score for page load, trumping Battle of the Bulge and Duel in the Sun (both 124 pages), only second to the recently released The Road to Berlin (148 pages). This campaign supplement covers the part of the pacific wars on the planets second largest island, between the Japanese Empire and the Allied Forces (Australian and US American). The price tag on this book reads 19,99 GBP or 30 USD, which translates roughly into 25 EUR. I want to start this review with the comparison of the final cover (left) and the early cover (right), presented by Osprey in one of their product catalogues. Nothing unusual, we already saw different covers circulating early among others for Duel in the Sun as well.
Bolt Action Universal Carrier Wasp Mk II
Along with the previous introduced Chindits, there is need for suiting vehicular support. In Burma they used the nimble bren carriers to transport soldiers and goods, some of the universal carriers were fitted with a flamethrower and called Wasp, which I want to introduce in this review.
Of the more than 110,000 units that were build of the universal carrier, roughly 1,000 units were manufactured as the wasp. The wasp carried the Ronson flamethrower system, with the Mark I having it fixed in the front and the Mk II the projector on the co-driver's position. Both had two fuel tanks with a capacity of 100 gallons. The canadians developed the Mk IIC with a single 75 gallon fuel tank. As you can see from the product image, this is the Mark II of the wasp.
White Tigers in the snow
Currently continuing on the vehicles for my Winter germans. I started with the Kingtiger with Zimmerit, that will be covered in a review along with the regular Kingtiger, an IS-2 and the Road to Berlin Bolt Action supplement, just as a little teaser for the next weeks.
The Tiger II is accompanied by the Opel Maultier, SdKfz 251/1 Ausf. C and SdKfz 251/10 Ausf. D. I went with AMMO Dunkelgelb 010 by Mig after a black-white primer on the plastic kits. The paint is more suited for using with an airbrush, so I had bit of trouble to apply it by brush. But as this would receive an extensive white wash, getting an even coat wasn't that important. I thinned down Vallejo offwhite to a milky consistent and did a drybrush and stippling around the kit, to make sure and keep the Dunkelgelb visible in the recesses.
Bolt Action Campaign Gigant – Operation Sea Lion: The Second Front
Campaign Gigant - Operation Sea Lion: The Second Front, picks up where the first chapter of Campaign Sea Lion stopped or better said came to a hold. The german plan of invading Great Britain was spun further.
As the first chapter of the hypothetical campaign Sea Lion was incredibly successful as a product, it received a sequel quickly. As many topics of the foundation were already covered in the 124 pages thick book, the Campaign Gigant is roughly half the size with "only" 64 pages. This makes the book cheaper, as it comes with a price badge of 20 USD / 12,99 GBP, which roughly translates to around 15 EUR.
Ford M8(a) captured vehicle and further winter gear
On the weekend I managed to do the last touches on the captured M8 Greyhound, named Ford M8(a) by the Germans. Applying the last few weathering bits and the fitting decals onto the vehicle.
I used the Decal Fix and Medium by Vallejo, quite easy to use and the results speak for themself. Some suggest that you prepare the area with gloss varnish, I just used the Decal Medium, placed the decal and added a few thin coats of Decal Fix to soften the edges. Later "protect" the decal with matt varnish (and it dulls the decal a bit and makes it blend better with it surroundings).
Bolt Action Light Tank M3 Stuart ‘Honey’ / M3A1
You can't play a proper Duel in the Sun without the matching gear, and what would be a better match for this as the M3 Stuart? To show you all the different options of this kit in our review we went with the platoon box.
Bolt Action Duel in the Sun
The Bolt Action supplement Duel in the Sun covers one of the most well known campaigns of the second world war, the African and Italian Campaigns. And we want to share it with you in this review.
Warlord Games – Pike & Shotte Landsknecht Pikemen
This plastic kit of Landsknechts was finally released, after a very long waiting time, but I'll cover this a bit later in this review. Warlord Games provided the range of Pike & Shotte with this kit of 30 miniatures in 28mm scale.
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