Bolt Action: British & Canadian Infantry (Winter) Preview

Warlord Games nehmen sich die Gussrahmen der neuen Plastik Kits für Bolt Action genauer unter die Lupe.

Bolt Action Sprue Focus – British & Canadian Infantry (Winter)

We recently teased you with some very early images of the newest Bolt Action infantry sprue to hit pre-order, the British & Canadian Infantry (Winter). These were created using prototype 3D prints, to give you an idea of what the finished models would look like once painted, and now that the first test sprues have arrived we can show you the figures broken down into their (many) individual components. Available both as a Platoon boxed set and as part of the ‘Crossing the Rhine’ starter army, it’s the core of a whole new British range. Let’s dive in!

Chilly business! These British troops move through a wintry forest at night, alert for the enemy.

As this is a winter kit, the bodies found on this sprue (six of ‘em, as usual for our infantry frames) are bundled up in plenty of warm clothing. One wears a long woolen trench coat, while the others have the practical and uniquely British leather jerkins over their battledress, perfect for keeping the bitter cold of the Battle of the Bulge or a 1945 spring chill at bay. With their range of dynamic standing, kneeling, and advancing poses, these bodies are the perfect starting point for all manner of units.

The full sprue in all its glory.

And what a variety of units this sprue builds! We’ll start simple, with the ubiquitous Lee-Enfield rifle and Bren light machine gun. You’ll find no fewer than nine rifles and a pair of LMGs on the frame, giving you a huge range of poses when assembling even your basic Rifle Sections and ensuring your force looks truly unique. There’s also some automatic firepower for your NCOs, with a Thompson and far more common Sten SMG, plus a pair of revolver-wielding hands for any dashing officer types that might need a sidearm – and yes, there’s a left- and right-handed one, if you really want to go ‘guns akimbo’!

And seen from the other side!

Moving onto some more specialist weaponry, we’ve got a No.4 Mk.1 (T) sniper rifle for all your precision marksmanship requirements, a light mortar for indirect fire support, and a Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank (better known as the PIAT) for dealing with enemy armour – all massively useful tools for any British Rifle Platoon to have on hand, no matter the mission. The options don’t stop there, though, as this sprue has plenty of specialist equipment and accessories, particularly for fans of combat engineering – when it gets cold, it’s time to turn up the heat, and the Flamethrower, Portable, No 2 is just the tool for the task! This is our second sprue to include a plastic flamethrower, after the German Veteran Infantry, and there’s even an attendant head wearing a respirator to protect the wielder from the fumes and heat!

Bring up the PIAT!

As we know, in Bolt Action: Third Edition, if you want to take a flamethrower team, you need an Engineer Platoon, and that means infantry with the Engineers special rule. While you could just use ordinary riflemen, we think you’ll agree that properly kitted up troops always look better on the tabletop, and to that end we’ve included plenty of engineering equipment on the sprue. Whether your troops need to work their way through a barbed wire entanglement with a big pair of snips, or sweep the road ahead for mines, or just dig a nice deep trench with a good old-fashioned shovel, this kit has you covered, and it’s perfect for representing plenty of units from the upcoming Armies of Great Britain.

Engineers clear a path through an enemy minefield.

Alongside these options dedicated to particular squads and teams are a host of components that can either add flavour to existing units, or create even more! Maps and binoculars can ‘jazz up’ an officer, or make spotters and Forward Observers, while an innocuous-looking satchel could contain extra ammunition, vital medical supplies… or a demolition charge! Most importantly for a British sprue, there’s also a hand flicking the famous ‘V’ sign, and one holding a mug of tea – just the thing for a chilly afternoon, and very civilised indeed.

All of this good stuff, and there’s still the heads to go! Traditionally, our British kits have had the heads and iconic ‘tin hats’ as separate pieces, to allow you to create a variety of appropriately jauntily angled helmets, and this sprue is no exception. As befits a kit geared towards the later war and winter combat, of the 12 helmets on the frame, 5 are the Mk III ‘turtle’ type, and there’s a great mixture of scrim nets and winter fabric covers – these can be painted either as white cloth (often a stolen bedsheet!) or as hessian sacking.

Weapons at the ready, an infantry section clears a bombed-out hamlet.

To go with the helmets is a host of heads, including four in woollen balaclavas, plus specialist options such as the minesweeping headset (to go with the mine broom arms) and the aforementioned gas mask – ideal for making your flamethrower operators look particularly pyromaniacal. That’s still not all of the heads, either. Three tam o’shanters allow you to make Scots troops, while a pair of General Service caps (the ones that look a bit like mutated berets) are perfect for more ‘second line’ troops and weapons assistants not directly in combat. Finally, of course, there’s a head in an officer’s cap, providing vital leadership to your miniatures.

As you can see, we’re not messing around with this sprue – it’s an absolute monster, and the perfect core for any British force. Winter armies always look fantastic on the tabletop, and you can expect plenty of additional goodies to support this new kit to appear in the not-too-distant future. Excited? Then it’s time to… pre-order now!

Quelle: Warlord Games