Introduction

Weird Armies Reign (WAR) is a new resin figure producer from Greece, and they have chosen a subject not covered before – Soviet ’46 army. Many know the Panzer ‘46 concept and it was strange that it was without this counterpart for so long. Such figures can be used along with IS-3, IS-4, Object 704 and later equipment in the context of Soviet ’46, nuclear war, cold war or whatever your imagination is.

Contents

So far WAR have offered modellers three sets of resin figures and this review is focused on one of them – WM002 “Soviet-Asian Coalition tank crew”. The set comes in a hard cardboard box with the parts inside isolated by pieces of foam. My sample was a pre-production item and had no box art, but now they all come with pictures of the items on top. Inside the box the parts are sealed in clear plastic zip lock bags. Additionally there are some signs printed on paper that can be cut to make signs.

Review

This particular set has one standing figure and a tanker-mascot – a teddy bear in a helmet. Not really a full tank crew? But to be honest, this is well compensated by the number of optional parts for the standing figure!

The crewman appears to be a female tanker and is dressed in a Soviet NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection suit with the difference that it has shoulder marks and an arm patch. There is also a belt with a large holster, presumably for a Stechkin pistol, and a pouch on the left side of the figure. I haven’t seen photographs supporting the presence of shoulder marks on NBC suits and don’t really understand how they could have been placed on it, as it would compromise the impermeability of the material, but as this is a fictional figure for a fictional coalition and fictional events let’s assume it is fine “as is”. On the other hand, if you would like to use it as a standard NBC figure you could remove the shoulder marks with a knife and it will be fine.

All optional heads have different head gear (side cap, peaked cap, standard tanker headgear) and separate gas mask filters. The headgears are placed on top of the NBC suit and are nicely sculpted; side cap and peaked cap have stars in the front. The right hand is supposed to be raised next to the head while the left hand is hanging down and has optional parts – either with a signal pistol or signal flag. There is also a holder for something – either a bayonet or the signal flag that is supposed to be glued to the belt next to the pouch.

Decals provided are fictional and are supposed to be placed on the indicated area of the left arm. They include various communist symbols and can be Chinese, Soviet or anything else that comes into mind.

The sculpting is very nice and anatomically good. The folding of the uniform is well shown and there are no casting defects. Only minimal clean up from casting blocks is necessary.

Can’t say much about the teddy bear – it looks like a relatively large toy with a standard Soviet helmet. Well cast with some sort of plush texture imitation and should be removed from the casting block before use.

Overall, I think this is a very interesting set that could be used in various post-war and Cold War dioramas/vignettes. The bear mascot can be used in many other settings as well. The casting is good, the sculpture is very attractive, and optional parts for heads are a very welcome addition. If you care about authenticity – simply remove the shoulder marks and insignia patch, and you will get a NBC suited figure of a female soldier.