Red Storm
The Cold War is a great ‘What if?’ wargame to play. As it never happened outside the pages of fiction, it is to my mind a great period to game. There are no casualties nor any moral questions to pose about gaming all too recent wars. With the arrival of the Team Yankee rulebook from Battlefront, gaming this period is back in the spotlight, now reinfoced by a new range of plastic tanks.
Yesterday I received the Potecknov’s Bears boxed set, complete with nine T-72 tanks and two Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters. We’ve been playing (and playtesting) Team Yankee at the local club - now I have some of my own forces to paint up.
I do like the new Battlefront plastics. They are made of a hard plastic, which may be slightly hard to cut but isn’t brittle. Sure, put enough force and it’ll break, but it’s more likely to bend than break if accientally dropped or maltreated some other way. They are as durable as the metals, but without the weight. Added to that they have their magnetic turrets, making storage and portraying battle damage that little bit easier.
The T-72’s look great and fit together very well. The detail is very accurate, it even has the convoy light on the turret! The ony two niggles might be the lack of an open hatch for the commander and the position of the 12.7mm HMG. If I did that, I’d be a rivet counter! I’ve not assembled the Hind yet (it’s a bit scary!) but I will soon. You’ll probably be seeing these in future blogs over the next few weeks as I assemble and paint them.
