Rubicon and Warlord Games 28mm Panzer IV, a comparative review

Warning, long post!

After getting back from Gothcon (still need to do a photo report I know) I decided to reinforce my Deutsche Afrika Korps with another box of Perry figures and a Panzer IV. Having received the Warlord Panzer IV from my Secret Santa I ordered the Rubicon Models' kit which is a more recent release. Rubicon models are 3D designing their kits as I think almost everyone are nowadays, but they share the design drawings on their forum, which gives a lot of people the chance to chip in their view and expertise. I have been frequenting it for a time and was really interested in trying of their kits. I will be comparing it to a Warlord Games Panzer IV which I realise I haven't done a proper review of yet, but you can find my first thoughts about it here.

The first sprue of Rubicon's Panzer IV. Note the tracks assemblies.

The Rubicon Panzer IV comes in a standard sized box with three sprues; one smaller than the others, along with a set of decals and a comprehensive assembly guide. The kit does not feature a crew or commander figure. The plastic seems a bit slicker and of a different kind than the ones used by Warlord games, Italeri and Renedra for example.

Warlord Games German Pioneers open box review (sort of)

Continuing from yesterday's post, here is the last item in my self-gratulatory shopping splurge:

German Pioneers, or assault engineers.

A box of German assault engineers, pioneers, or Sturm Pionier.

Opening the box reveals a lot of plastic frames and two zip-lock bags with metal bits.

The box contains 31 plastic and metal miniatures, allowing you to build german assault or combat engineers. These were highly trained, highly motivated and heavily equipped assault troops as well as regular field craft specialists. They operated in their own platoons or companies within an infantry regiment, often spearheading an assault.

For some reason I only got 20 Renedra bases and five Warlord bases... for 31 figures!

So what do I think about this set? You get a lot of stuff, right? No... not quite. Or yes you do, but most of it is not stuff that is useful for pioneers. Useful for regular infantry yes. Incidentally the price difference is only £2 between the sets and they contain the same number of sprues, making the Pioneer set a very good buy if you are after regular infantry because of all the extra bits you get.

Reinforcements with a Surprise

I got a raise at work, retroactively six months back, so I decided to splurge on some toys from Warlord Games. I originally intended to buy a Sarissa Precision mansion in MDF, but it was out of stock, so I just randomly added stuff to the basket until I felt content. Well, not entirely random, but almost, since my original plan was foiled.

Weeee, lots of goodies!!!!

Let's take a closer look at what I got, shall we?

DAK Hanomag WIP

I couldn't resist picking up a Warlord Games Hanomag at Gothcon last month. This is a plastic kit of the famous german halftrack, Sd.Kfz 251 (the funny little letters just mean special motor vehicle) ausf. C (the third version which was used roughly between 1941 and 1944). It features a riveted hull which was later changed to being welded which makes it more suitable for the earlier period. This is perfect for using with my DAK which currently lacks any transports.

The shape is accurate enough, but the details are a bit crude.