I’m still looking for suggestions, advice and opinions on different makes of 28mm WWII British figures. Black Tree Designs has a bad reputation on TMP, so I’m not even going to look. Who else makes 28mm WWII miniatures? Let me know.
Bolt Action Miniatures
British Infantry Command by Bolt Action Miniatures. Image from Warlord Games website.
While pictures of painted miniatures are a good idea for manufacturers to sell their products it’s important that the quality of image and paintjob are up to task. Looking at images on the Warlord Games website made me quickly dismiss BAM as a source of miniatures. I also heard that the miniatures don’t mix well with Artizan and Crusader, which seemed to further drive nails into the BAM coffin. However, some glowing praise from a club-mate has convinced me to take a second look. It was helpful to find painted examples on Tom Weiss’ site. All of a sudden I’m enchanted by the slimmer proportions of the BAM miniatures. The pictures from the manufacturer just didn’t do the line justice.
I would need British Infantry Command; 3x British Infantry Riflemen Firing; 2x British Infantry Riflemen Advancing; 2x British Infantry Riflemen; British Infantry with Sten Guns; British Infantry 2″ Mortar Teams; British Infantry PIAT Teams; 2x British Infantry Bren Gun Teams; British Infantry on Bikes (for the Orderly). That’s 14 packs at $11 a pack. All packs contain 4 figures except the Bikes, which contain 3 figures and cost $13. That’s 55 figures for $152, or $2.75 a miniature (not counting the bikes). Prices are approximate because I haven’t found a local stockist yet. This means I have to buy more packs to get what I need. There is an army deal available, but it only saves ~$8.
Foundry
Foundry doesn’t make useful WWII British, concentrating instead on Home Guard.
Mk.II vs. Mk.III Helmets
Bolt Action and Crusader have their troops in Mk.III helmets. By buying early war I can get Mk.II helmets from Crusader. My research tells me that Canadians had a spotty distribution of Mk.III helmets, with only on assault group being issued a full complement of helmets1. There were still plenty of examples of Mk.II helmets right until the end of the war. This means, for accuracy sake, I don’t want to go either all Mk.II or Mk.III. With Crusader and Artizan being compatible I should be able to get what I need.
Bolt Action, on the other hand, may not be compatible and if I go with their models I’ll have all Mk.IIIs and no Mk.IIs. A club-mate has Crusader, Artizan and BAM. I’ll have to ask them if they are compatible. If not I’m afraid BAM may take the back seat.
The Winner
Looks like Artizan is still in the lead, followed by Crusader and then Bolt Action. Bolt Action, in addition to only offering Mk.III helmets, are awkwardly packaged for my needs. That alone isn’t the deal-breaker and if I find that Bolt Action can mix with Artizan and Crusader I may turn to them for variety.
Tyler
1) Michael A. Dorosh; Canuck: Clothing and Equipping the Canadian Soldier 1939-1945; pg 76
