Bolt Action: Team America

I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. is down! I repeat, we have no I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.!

After painting up 2 batches of infantry and a Bazooka team, (which you can see here and here), I was looking for a change of pace

And so, I'm ronery
A rittle ronery
Poor rittle me
There's nobody I can rerate to
Feewr rike a bird in a cage
It's kinda sirry
But, not rearry
Because, it's fiwring my body with rage.

I pulled out the metal 50 cal and 60mm mortar teams. These two teams are the only metal figures in the US Infantry starter box. They are a pleasant change from frame after frame of plastic, multi-part infantry.

The teams are pretty simply setup and unlike the multi-part plastic figures, there isn’t a lot of assembly required.

60mm Mortar:

First up the Mortar. The pack comes with 3 crew and the mortar in 2 parts. There is also a large round base. I decided that I wanted to individually base the mortar and the crew so I could easily remove casualties. I used a single standard Warlord round plastic base for the mortar itself and glued the crew to washers. The washers are marginally smaller than 1 inch/2.5cm in diameter. I cannot imagine this would have much effect on the game. I added some filler to the bases before painting.

The models are a big step up from the plastics. For one they have clearly been sculpted with a final pose in mind so they are each in a specific pose rather than the very vanilla pose that the plastics end up as. There is a man radioing whilst crouching over a round. The 2^nd guy is covering his ears and turning slightly and the final man is covering an ear and surveying the environment. 

Progress Shot

In addition to having specific poses, the models are way more detailed. The creases and crevices are deeper and the detail that is present is more lifelike. These will be much easier to paint and will look better on the table.

Hans, Hans, Hans! We've been frew this a dozen times. I don't have any weapons of mass destwuction, OK Hans?

50cal Machine Gun.

Like the Mortar, the 50 cal is metal, comes with a round base but has 4 crew. The gun itself is made up of 2 parts and is very easy to assemble. There is a simple locating hole and matching nub to fit the 2 pieces together. One of the crew is firing the weapon and just needs to be lined up on the base.

Like the mortar, I based up the rest of the crew on individual washers.  I based up the HMG on the supplied round base with leaves the MG barrel sticking out past the base. I am not sure this is a good idea as it might get damaged in normal use. I also added some filler on the bases for the crew and HMG.

Progress Shot

Unlike the mortar, the crew have lost their heads! There is a separate row of heads that can be attached. I had trouble with attaching the head to the guy with binoculars but after some maneuvering and trimming, I got it to fit.

OK, Hans. I'll show you. Stand to your reft

A rittle more.

Good.

Painting:

Finally the fun stuff!

I really enjoyed painting up these guys. Yes, they are another batch of figures in the same uniform but these models really reward effort. The depth of detail is such that washes have more effect as there are more pronounced raised points, especially in the uniform than the plastic models.

Whilst I don’t pretend to be any good at blended highlights, these were easier to work on as there is more area and depth to add layers of colour.

In terms of paint, I followed the same process and colours as detailed on my earlier bolt action US articles.

Overall, I am pretty happy with these guys and I think they look pretty good. I cannot wait to get them on the table.

Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.