British Infantry in 1/72 from Zvezda

I have built some models from Zvezda’s Art of Tactic series before, and on the whole I’ve been satisfied. When they announced that they were releasing early-war British troops I ordered a couple of packs of this and that, sprinkled with a couple of German packs also. 

So, here is the first of the Brits and my thoughts on them.

The pack contains five figures, one officer and four troops, and a choice of either one base for the lot of them (used in the Art of Tactic game) or individual (rather small but high) bases. Also included is a stats card used in the game, but I have no use for that, and instructions on building the figures.

As all have respirators and the early type of one-piece spade, they are easily identified as early war, and would hardly be seen in this outfit after 1940 or -41, and certainly not in -45, as the text on the box implies.

The troopers are multipart, made up of between 3 and 4 parts each, and the officer is in one piece. They could theoretically snap together without glue, but gluing with ordinary polystyrene-glue is preferred. The fit is good to excellent, and I only needed to greenstuff the left arm of the walking men to hide a thin crack. I advise you to snip off a bit of the pegs as they are a bit too long to get a perfect fit, and you’ll have to do that before assembly, or you’re stuck there having to cut off the whole peg losing the guidance and strength of the peg in question.

One weak point that I found was the rifle butt of the running man, it breaks off rather easily, being as small as it is, and that tiny little piece of plastics is easily lost in the clutter of your painting desk... I have cleverly hid that in the pictures, but will substitute the missing piece with a similar piece from another kit.

Paints used (Vallejo unless otherwise noted):
Undercoat: white with a black wash

Uniform: 921 English Uniform

Anklets: 821 German Camo Beige

Helmet: 894 Russian Uniform WWII

Boots and scabbard: Black

Webbing, pouches and gasmask bag: 819 Iraqui Sand

Water bottle: 875 Beige Brown

Rolled anti-gas cape on top of backpack: 886 Green Grey

Spade-handle: 310 Old Wood

Rifle Stock: 843 Cork Brown

Everything washed with Citadel Devlan Mud (RIP)

I based the troopers and their individual bases on washers and the officer on a rectangular base from Renedra. In our gaming group we have, as I’ve mentioned before, a local basing convention where officers are based on rectangular bases with a number of figures on it denoting the level of the officer/big man. In this case we have a level one big man.

A size-comparison of a trooper from Zvezda compared to late-war Esci/Italeri.

All in all, I think this is an excellent set of well detailed early-war figures. A bit on the expensive side for five plastic figures, but recommended all the same. You’ll be hard pressed to find anything BEF of this quality.

You can find reviews on more Zvezda models here.