Bolt Action Plastic U.S. Rangers

A few months ago I purchased a box of these little dudes more out of curiosity than real need for more World War II troops. For the most part I like Warlord Game's Bolt Action miniatures. All of the pictures I'd seen online of the finished product showed a very nice looking platoon-size unit with tons of possibilities for poses.

 

I have some experience with Perry's plastic ACW line, so I had an idea what I was in for. The first thing I would say to someone contemplating the purchase of any plastic minis where there is "some assembly required" would be this - plan on spending a decent chunk of time just prepping for the priming stage. The plastic-to-plastic assembly is easy enough with plain old Testor's modeling cement, but the metal-to-plastic assembly can be a little trickier. I would recommend fast drying superglue for plastic to metal. The set comes with a lot of cool accessories that allows for each model to have a truly unique look. Included are some metal heads that are supposed to portray many of the characters in the Saving Private Ryan movie. This could be up for debate, but they do look good.As for the unit selection, I chose the 29th Infantry Division because the patches are easy to hand paint and they would work well with an Omaha Beach scenario.

Once primed and ready for basecoating, these are a breeze to paint.  Personally, I enjoy dumping a bunch of little guys out a bag that require minimal prep work and on to painting I go, however, I can't say I wouldn't give another box of Bolt Action plastics a shot.

Dave Graffam Paper Terrain

I promised a while back to talk a little bit about some downloadable paper terrain kits produced by Dave Graffam Models.  I really like these kits a lot. They are very reasonably priced (about $2 each on average), offer tons of detail, and many have multiple layers allowing you to customize to your preference. The only downside that I have found is the time it takes to build. I'm guessing on average you will spend a few hours on a kit sized like the stone church you'll see below (I use these for 25/28mm, so less time would be required for smaller scales).

The method that has suited me is to print on 8.5 x 11 copy paper and use as skins I glue to black foam core (I use 3M spray adhesive but I imagine a thin film of white glue would do just fine).  I then cut my pieces and use super glue and butt joints to assemble.

These kits can be found on Wargame Vault (www.wargamevault.com) and there are freebies every now and then.