Perry Miniatures - Desert Rats (Part 1)

The Perry Brothers first foray into WWII plastics, it has been a long time since the metal WWII models they sculpted for Wargames Foundry, and several years since their first plastic kits.

This set provides a "Platoon in a box", the instruction leaflet even shows the platoon organisation of the period that this box can achieve:

Three 10 man sections with one Bren gun and one Thompson SMG each,
One 2" light mortar team
One Boys anti-tank rifle team
And a command section with lieutenant, radio operator and platoon sergeant

 There is even one spare man to add where you like.

Infantry sprue (Front) 

 

There are three identical infantry sprues each with 12 men; 7 standing, 3 kneeling, and 2 prone as a weapons team. Helmets are seperate from the heads to reduce undercuts, but there are no alternative hats accept the LRDG/SAS heads which require you to remove the head  from the body.

The Afrika Korps box (hopefully out later this year) will have a variety of hats, but in the British case the separate heads mainly allow better moulding techniques.

Infantry sprue (Back) 

 

 

Each of the three infantry sprues come with a 2" mortar, a boys anti tank rifle and 2 bren guns with the minor issue that nearly all are designed to fit on one of the prone bodies with the other prone man serving as loader.

There are also 2 SMGs and lots of rifles on each sprue, plus a bucket load of picks, shovels and bayonets to add to the models.

Command Sprue

 

The command sprue has the radio operator and officer, with an option of SMG, pistol or rifle. The officer has a choice of helmet or cap, finally making use of the separate head system.

Bases

 

The bases were a bit of an odd choice for the Perry brothers.

20mm round bases for the infantry (left), which are rather small compared with the bolt action standard 25mm (right). Being thinner than warlord's semi heroic faire the Perry models look better on the small bases, but the difference still niggles me.   

 The weapon team bases annoy me even more.

40mm square bases!?! I hate mixing square and round bases in a game, it feels wrong. So I made my own 50mm round bases with a 20mm cut out so the loader can come off for casualty purposes.

Armour Support

 

I even Picked up a Tamiya Matilda to go with the army, though looking at warlords rules for it I'm rather sceptical as to it's utility.

But at least the scale doesn't seem too far off.

I will do a proper review with scale comparisons once I have finished painting them.

~Bob
  

Painted: Bolt Action Armour

It took me ages to get these finished. A month ago the Wirbelwind and Panzer III had the camouflage base coats painted on, but I was waiting for the puma before finishing them as the wash is time consuming.

The painting the Puma was more of a chore than it had to be, the primer kept flaking off! Vallejo spray paints are useless, even in perfect weather the paint would come off with even the gentlest of touches. Short verson  Vallejo - Good paints - Bad primers.

The Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind"

The "Yankmower" to my mind, a tribute to the American M45 Quadmount a.k.a "Krautmower". This beast chops through infantry squad in Bolt Action. Four light auto cannons means 8 shots, which can be further increased by firing HE rounds, and that is before adding the shots for the hull MMG. All protected by mid range tank armour.

This does come at a price however, using up a quarter of the points available in a standard game. In addition is uses up the Tank slot in the organisation chart, which means looking for anti tank solutions elsewhere.

 Panzer III Ausf. L

I picked this model up many years before I had heard of Bolt Action. I'm not sure if it was intended to be converted for use in a 40k army or whether I intended to write my own set of rules for 1/48 WW2 gaming. 

The Panzer III was retired from service before for Normandy, but the late war colour scheme was intended to match the rest of my force. This probably restricts its accuracy to a narrow period of the Eastern front; from mid 1943 to early 1944. In the game it is a fairly average medium tank, almost the exact equivalent of a Sherman, but without the special rules.

SdKfz 234/2 "Puma" 

The anti-tank solution for the Wirbelwind problem. Same average capability gun as the Panzer III on a lighter armoured, faster chassis. Though not as weakly protected as most armoured cars of the game it is not as impervious as a medium tank.

 

Its main strength comes from the Reece ability, when shot at it can reverse 12" before the shot is resolved, hopefully putting it behind cover or even out of range. The paint caking remains are annoyingly evident round the engine vents.
 

Something that has been very plesant about painting WW2 vehicles is the decals. In 40k decals tend to be rather superfluous and often have to fix to rounded surfaces. On these vehicle they add a crucial level of detail otherwise lacking.

More soon,

~ Bob