Which is the best of British?
April 12, 2011 by beerogre
Secrets of the Thrids Reich is one of my favourite platoon level wargames... in fact it's my favourite wargame that isn't a skirmish game and the only one I collect with any sort of regularity.
So, just in time for Salute, West Wind Productions has produced a new starter set for the British forces, this time the Para-Platoon. Which can be purchased at the event, or pre-ordered from their website.
This is a brave move by West Wind. Warlord Games have just launched their plastic box of British Commandos, which are cheaper and easier to assemble... although the plastic box doesn't have the mortar teams or anti-mech rifles... but it does have 25 models, including the light machinegun team.
If you count out the options, the Warlord box will make a 5 man command and two basic British Sot3R rifle units with full SMG and/or light machinegun options.
Now I only raise this point because I'm a German player, but I keep a pretty savage British force in reserve, so that I can lend it to the other guys and the most cost effective way to put it together was to use the Warlord plastic infantry, with a smattering of the West Wind separate head options.
But what do you think guys? Which do you like better?
BoW Andy
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Was planning on picking up a box of commandos and HMG crew Saturday, now my heads been turned by the extra weapon options in westwinds set. Hmmm…
Also, what scenery do you use for SOTR? I can’t find cheap 20th century building/ruins. Best I’ve come across is Urban Construct but they still seem a bit pricey, does look great though.
I’d love to try Sotr but all the miniatures from different sources you have to collect puts me off. I like plastic better than metal and it’s a jungle out there with all the different scales. That’s whats really puts me off Warhammer Ancient Battles to, where to find the minis that’s all the same scale? Dont’t want to buy a lot of models from different sources just to find out they aren.t the same scale.
You really can’t go wrong with Warlord, West Wind and Artizan miniatures. Their ranges will cover everything you need for Sot3R and they’re half the price of Sci-Fi or Fantasy games.
I picked up the Sot3R books just to read and found out the game is actually quite good and easy to pick up. Plus you can customise all that WW2 stuff out there to make some fantastic Weird World War stuff.
For example, I picked up a sci-fi resin, hovercraft command car from Old Crow Miniatures. With a quick [pulp… i.e. grey] German paint scheme and some weathering, my German Command group now have their own Luftwagon command car!
… and stats… well that’s easy! You buy a light amoured car and change the movement system from wheeled to hovercraft… same points cost and job done!
Half the fun of collecting for Sot3R is hunting for stuff to use for it. I have 5″ plastic Mech Miniatures from Japan pulling duty as German Mechs, Kinder Eggs and a mini eggs tube converted, with added legs, for British Mechs… I’ve seen conversions of space marines to make combat armoured British troops… and loads more.
If you just bought the stuff from one company, it would be boring.
BoW Andy
As to what are the best models, I cannot comment as I have never seen any of the official SoTR models in person. I do however own a huge collection of 28mm WWII models, the majority of my infantry come from Warlord (the plastic sets make this very easy) but it also includes a signifcant number of models from Artizan and Crusader as well.
My collection is mainly for the sake of collecting, but it is also for historic WWII gaming as well.I have been tempted to grab the SoTR books for a while now, much the same as Andy as I would like to have a read through them. Although that option may be in the distant future if I buy this RS at the local dealership.
@jabbaa, it may be worth having a look at some of the forums for the historic WWII games like Rules of Engagement; http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk, or Disposable Heroes; http://www.ironivangames.com, as the guys here have already tackled that problem.
I personally have a good range of models from Precision Model Designs; http://www.precisionmodeldesigns.com/timeless-models.html. I went for ruins with my collection…I personally find it easier to paint ruins and the lack of rooftops and full 2nd level floors makes it easier to access the building with your models.
The added bonus as a Warmachine player these work double duty really well. The same would hold true of just abour any 28mm European styled buildings. Again the fact I have ruins helps hide their direct origins a little on a Warmachine table.
A few others you can look at are:
Total Battlefield Miniatures; http://www.totalbattleminiatures.com/index.html, these guys do some REALLY, REALLY nice stuff.
Grand Manner; http://www.grandmanner.co.uk/home/index.asp, I have not see any models in person, but the photos do look really nice. They get a lot of positive comments on various forums.
The biggest hurdle with all of the above will likely be price. I cannot say that any of these are cheap as such, but they are certainly better value than what GW would offer at the same price.
Ah, so many toys in the world and so few dollars to buy them with!
I like the Warlord Plastics a lot, and they look good with or without headswaps. I would definitely like to gasmask them up, but at the same time I think commandos might be just badass enough to go on raids without it. 😉
A concern I have with the weapons on the Warlord set: in SOTR the commando squads are armed with SMGs as standard. There are enough rifles to go around for the plastics, but not SMGs.
On another note I too have read the SOTR books and would recommend them if you love pulp gaming! The rules really are simple when you boil them down, the models are nice, and can easily be fit into your existing collection (with a zombie or two).