Warlord Games -Royal Navy Section.

This is a set of ten metal 28mm (1/56th) scale figures made for the 'Bolt Action' rules. It consists of a Chief Petty officer armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun; a Lewis gunner with his number two; and seven riflemen (armed with the ubiquitous Lee Enfield), three of whom also have 'Molotov Cocktails' -more of which later.
The figures are well moulded but had numerous vent trails but only required a little tidying. They all have the tall gaiters normally worn by boarding and landing parties. The ratings have the 1908 pattern webbing with rifle ammunition pouches, except for the Lewis team, who have four Lewis magazines each.
The 'Molotov Cocktails', however, as moulded are a let-down; they are the shape of a milk bottle and have large wicks -in other words they are petrol bombs! I cut off the wicks and painted the bottles dark brown (to make them look more like beer bottles) with a red crown cap. In order to reinforce the point I managed to add a small white square with the number '76' in black, as the official designation was the Number 76 Grenade.
The pack describes the set as suitable for Early, Middle and Late war periods; I would disagree with this. They are perfect for 1939 to early 1941, but in the first few months of 1941 Lanchester sub-machine guns were issued for boarding parties. Landing parties would probably have half their number armed with Lanchesters and the rest with Lee Enfields. Those armed with the Lanchester would have a pair of the distinctive three-magazine pouches on their 1908 webbing. By 1944 the Lanchesters were being replaced by Sten guns and the ratings would be wearing Navy Blue battledress with the 1937 pattern webbing.
Despite my reservations I like the figures with their blue uniforms -I ended up painting them in Humbrol Oxford Blue (104) as it looked better- and it makes a change from the normal khaki of the British infantry, and my fellow club members agree. And yes, I've ordered another pack.
I think these figures would benefit being moulded in plastic as multi-pose figures with a choice of weapons and pouches.

This page copyright SR Jenkins July 2022; reproduction except in its entirity is prohibited.
Page last updated: 17^th October 2022.
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