Tanks!

Opening up "Tanks" from Gale Force Nine, it's a cool little game with great models and a simple lightweight game system.

Not meant to be a simulation of any kind, Tanks is for 30 minutes of easy going gaming. The full colour rule book is only 22 pages and a fair bit of that is pictures helping to explain the mechanics.

Anyone who has played X-Wing the miniatures game will recognise many familiar aspects in this game from the (simplified) movement template to the crew and upgrade cards you can buy for your chosen tank(s) it's all laid out on the cards and a reference sheet, only needing the actual rule book for double checking bits.

The tank cards included in the core set.

The core set comes with a load of cards for a variety of tanks, including all the possible builds from the three tank sprues included.

Damage, crew and upgrade cards.

After you have selected your tank, you can then add a variety of upgrades including crew and mechanical options for a wide variety of choice. You might be able to build a (100 point) list of 5 basic tanks or maybe 2 highly skilled and we'll equipped versions of the same vehicles.

The models in the set (and the expansions) are multi part plastic kits and will require some assembly, the Sherman and Jagd/Panther models can be built in several variations, which is great. Whilst well detailed they are basic, you won't need to build all the track and suspension assemblies!

Tokens and terrain.

The starter set also comes with a ton of tokens & counters for keeping track of things and a selection of cardboard scenery, two wooded area terrain pieces and four buildings! Everything you need to get up and running.

All this for the very reasonable price of £18 ;)

Rubicon Tiger 1 unboxing

I have a Rubicon models Tiger 1 Ausf E kit here to build and paint, let's see what there is to see.

One of the first things I have noticed is the impressive amount of options allowing you to build early, mid or late war variants. This includes two entire sets of tracks and running gear! The tracks are single piece with the wheels, so you can select the set with steel or the set with rubber road wheels.

The options extend to most other parts too with three different turret tops, ventilation systems and a variety of accessories that may be selected and attached as desired.

Three different turret tops

Another nice feature of the kit is that each sprue is sealed in it's own plastic bag to help keep any bits that may come loose whilst the courier is launching it from orbit.

Two complete sets of wheels & tracks

The instruction leaflet is a very well laid out piece with all parts easily recognisable and clearly numbered (including all optional parts) as well as that is some rather cool historical notes, just telling you little bits of information about the vehicle during it's tenure as the beast of the battlefield.

"From Nov 42, for Tigers sent to regions like Tunisia, Sicily, Heeresgruppe Süd and Mitte in Russia, Feifel air pre-cleaners are installed.
After Aug 43, these were no longer fitted at the factory."

I'm thinking that I'm going to enjoy building this monster!

The instruction leaflet contains loads of detail

A quick count up reveals 68 parts (including various options) so it's quite detailed and sturdy at the same time. The main hull particularly looks hardy enough to deal with clumsy gamer hands (well, mine) and the front, top and rear hull facial glue onto the central lump.

The main options include:

• Steel or rubber road wheels.
• Early, mid or late production turret tops.
• Gun sight choices.
• Optional spare track sections.
• Three different headlight configurations.
• Pistol port.
• Optional Feifel filters.

A strong looking (half) hull.

So now we have seen all the bits and the great detail, I better get to building (my favourite bit) and then trying to figure out what colour scheme to go for.