Review: Battlefront V4 Crusaders

Today I review another of Battlefront's V4 boxsets.

Decals and Crew Frame.

Review:
The new Crusader box contains 5 tank frames, a commander frame, a sheet of decals and a set of new V4 unit cards. All this in the new V4 orange themed box. I have said it before and may mention it again in the future, I like these new plastic box sets because they contain everything needed for a unit - cards, models and decals. No more shopping around for one more blister.

Cards

Each of the frames has all the pieces to make one tank. The tank can be either a Crusader II CS, a Crusader II with a 2 pound gun or a Crusader III with a 6 pound gun. The hull is universal for all options as it the base of the turret. There is a different upper turret piece and mantlet setup for the Crusader II and III. Finally the frame contains the deck turret to turn the Crusader into a Crusader I.

One of the Crusader Frames.

As usual for these new kits, there is a smattering of stowage included. For the crusader this is a spare wheel, some cans and a tarp. Best of all, across the various new plastic kits, the stowage varies slightly allowing you to mix and match between boxes to increase variety.

Assembly:
The assembly was straightforward but was a little time consuming. I put together and painted two boxes (10 tanks) in this batch. I assembled a variety of models and it did take a few hours. As with most things, it got quicker as I moved through the process but expect to put aside an hour or two, depending on your speed, per box.

Hull Pieces

The upper and lower hull fits nicely together with nice guiding groves. I glued the tracks on next and these have 3 groves on one side and two on the other to ensure you fit them on the right side. I would have left these off for painting but the skirt fits over these and I didn't want to put this all together after painting. The skirts have a handy guiding rail on the top to slot into the upper hull pieces. Of course you could leave these off. Next up was the rear panel which is sloped at the bottom - to again avoid incorrect assembly. Finally the fuel tank sits on top. Care should be exercised here as the bonding points between the tank and the engine deck are small.

CS Turret Components.

Onto the turrets and I started off with a plan for how many of each type I wanted. I then simply clipped out just those parts I needed to make sure I ended up with the right type of turrets. I went with 2 x 2 pound turrets and 2 x CS turrets for the HQ section and then 2 x 2 pound turrets and 4 x 6 pound turrets. These 6 turrets would give me 2 full Crusader platoons.

6 Pound Turret Components.

The Crusader II turret was assembled by gluing the upper and lower turret parts together. The gun was then glued on (either CS or 2 pound) as appropriate. Finally the distinctive sliding hatch was either glued shut into the open slot or closed onto to back of the turret top. There are 2 guiding groves to ensure these are correctly located.

Assembled Crusader II turrets.

The Crusader III turret follows a slightly different model. Again the upper and lower turrets are glued together with the front piece then sliding in between. The 6 pound gun is a separate piece and fits into locating tab in the front. Finally the open or closed hatch drops into the slot.

Two platoons ready for painting.

I used turret pegs for all my tanks. For whatever reason, these are a tight fit, which I like as it means the turrets are less likely to fall out during transport.

Platoon Commander

I then glued in some tank commanders. I chose to make one of the HQ CS tanks the commander. The CS and 2 pound guns are pretty similar so I popped a commander into the other CS tank. I will be able to tell them apart from the 2 pound tanks from across the table. In the 2 platoons, I went with the 2 pound vehicles.

Finally, I applied some stowage. I used the spare wheels to distinguish between platoon. Each platoon has the wheel applied in a different spot. I used rolled up tarps and other pieces in a random fashion to create a little variety.

HQ Unit - 2 x CS and 2 x 2 Pound Turrets

Painting: 
I followed the same painting steps as the earlier 6 pound gun review. You can find that article here. The tracks on these tanks were painted German Camo Medium Brown and were then hit with a wash and a Iraqi Sand dry brush.

2 Pound Crusader II

Historically, not all Crusaders had camouflage. However most I see on the table are painted that way. I chose to paint mine without camo so that mine looked slightly different from other armies in my area.

CS Crusader II

Decals:
Up to this point it was all going really well. It was at the decal stage that it went downhill. After painting on the gloss varnish to the areas to be decaled, I cut out the necessary decals for the first 5 tanks. These were soaked per the normal process and then - disaster.

6 Pound armed Crusader III

Each time I moved a soaked decal off the backing paper gently with my brush, it would split. Often in 3 or 4 places. Initially I thought I may have been too heavy handed but even the slightest movement would result in decals tearing. It wasn't one type of decal, it was the whole sheet.

As I didn't have spares, I persevered and was able to get all the tanks fully decaled. Often each of the decals were applied in 3 or 4 parts, carefully matched together as much as possible. Only a close inspection will reveal the tears. What should have taken about 30 minutes took 2 hours.

2 Pound armed command tank.

I have never had this happen before. I have torn decals due to rough handling but this was something else. After finishing up the first 5 tanks, I took a break, fully expecting to follow the same frustrating process but was very pleasantly surprised to find the 2nd decal sheet was fine. No tears at all. Perhaps the sheet in the first box sheet was just a dud!?

I could have contacted BF customer service and I have no doubt they would have sorted me a replacement. I have used their excellent service before. However I wanted to finish these for an upcoming tournament.

Cost:
These boxes retail on the FOW site for $45 US. The 2 boxes I picked up from bricks and mortar stores in Australia were $64 and $67 each. This equates to about $13 per tank. Considering this includes decals and cards, I think this is pretty good. Single tank blisters are $16 at the moment. The plastic boxes are certainly a better price point than the old resin and metal models.

Crusaders on the table ready for battle.

Conclusion:
These are fine models. BF have done well to provide a single box that can provide 4 different makes of Crusader. The box contains decals, commanders, turret pins, cards and instructions. There is nothing extra needed here to field these in the game. The models are well details and robust. I expect I will get lots of service out of these despite my clumsiness. On the negative, one of my decal sheets was bad. Overall, I am happy with this box and will put the decal sheet down to a bad batch.


I hope you enjoyed this article.