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Always the First (35754) Air Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces have had to become their country’s protectors in the most practical manner, and it’s a job that they have taken to like the proverbial ducks to water. Their regular forces have been expanded by the general populace taking up arms against the invader, and their Special Forces, amongst which are the Air Assault troops, have become masters of stealth and tactics, causing many costly set-backs to the invader that helps keep Ukraine free. The title of this new box of figures from Ukrainian company ICM isn’t an immediately clear indication of what’s in the box unless you read the smaller text below or already know a little about their organisational structure. Air Assault troops are often the first to go into an area of operation, regularly behind enemy lines, causing disruption and uncertainty in the minds of the invader, which helps their brothers and sisters to do their jobs with less impediment, the enemy more concerned about which direction the bullets will come from next. They are well-equipped and armed, and due to the nature of their insertion, must be self-sufficient for the early part of operations and possibly longer, moving quickly and travelling light, which makes the choice of equipment crucial. The four figures are all standing in action poses, two aiming their rifles with legs planted wide for stability, while another prepares to toss a grenade in the enemy’s direction, giving an indication of close combat. The final figure is similarly posed, but could be dealing with a weapons jam of his suppressed rifle, or ducking incoming rounds impacting nearby. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the single sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model, especially the tactical vests, which are covered in MOLLE loops to hang pouches and equipment. Their battle dress is thoroughly modern, with integrated knee-pads on the trousers, which alleviates soreness behind the knee that you get from external strapped pads. Camouflage is a modern pixelated scheme that extends to the FAST helmets on the accessory sprues. Of course, you could always choose another colour, or you could also pick up a set of Ukrainian camouflage decals like I did, applying them to the figures in small sections, using plenty of setting solution to avoid voids and wrinkling. They’re made by a company called Breeze Decals, who are colleagues with Dora Wings, under the code 35-001 with the name “Ukraine digital camouflage pattern”, and you can find them on eBay as well as many model shops online. The accessories are on two identical smaller sprues that contain several AK74 derivatives, with a choice of different stocks, an underslung grenade launcher, and even the locally produced AK-based bullpup the Malyuk, which means baby, but it also has a more aggressive name of Vulcan-M. If you look closely, you can just about see the AK bones beneath the rifle’s skin. A light machine gun is also included, the Ukrainian variant of the PKM, which is known as the KT-7.62 that is manufactured by Mayak. One edge of each sprue has a pair of FAST helmets that are often used by Special Forces around the world, and have side rails plus a separate night vision goggle mount on the front. The last few parts are a couple of pistols in paddle-holsters, knives in and out of scabbards, optics for the weapons, and comms headset cans (probably Peltor) that are shown on the drawings, but don’t have their part numbers mentioned, but for reference purposes are parts W12 + 13. Markings Modern Ukrainian troops frequently wear digitally camouflaged BDUs and equipment, a swatch of which is shown on the painting guide, although solid colours could be used with a little research. The instruction sheet has drawings on the back of the sprue guide, which has red letters in boxes that correspond to the table overleaf giving colour names, plus the codes from ICM’s own range of paints, most of which can be found in boxed set #3025. You can find details of that set along with many others in our mega-review here. Conclusion This set represents a squad of Ukrainian Air Assault Troops in action for your next diorama or vignette, with great poses, detail and equipment to enhance realism. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Market Garden, Holland 1944, w/ Resin Heads (35393) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd There’s little doubt that Operation Market Garden was a failure due to several issues that led to delays in the armoured column reaching the beleaguered troops that were valiantly holding the bridge at Arnhem, resulting in heavy casualties and many of the unlucky soldiers ending the operation as prisoners of the Germans. This set depicts the end of the operation, where a number of British paratroops were being taken captive by German troops. The set arrives in a shrink-wrapped end-opening figure box, and inside are five sprues in grey styrene, a small sprue diagram for reference against the numbers on the instructions on the rear of the box, and a small Ziploc bag that contains the resin heads. There are five figures in the box, three of which are British Paratroops wearing their typical camouflaged jump smocks with boots and puttees, and two German soldiers in Feldgrau battle dress, one in knee-length boots, one with boots and puttees. Both the Germans are wearing the standard Stahlhelms and are carrying Kar98 rifles (there are spare MP40s on the sprues) with the usual equipment on their webbing. Only one of the Paras are still wearing their webbing with large ammo pouches, and he’s having his searched by one of the Germans for weapons or intel that their superiors may find interesting. The Tommies and the Germans are each on their own sprues, and the British smocks are made in two halves to prevent sink-marks, then you have three more sprues that contain the equipment, two for the Germans, and one larger sprue for the British. There are spare helmets on the equipment sprues, while the British have their camouflaged helms on the figure sprues, and the two still wearing helmets have their chin-straps moulded onto their lower faces. The resin heads have one with helmet straps moulded-in on the British side, and two for the Germans, who are both fully equipped. Interestingly, the helmetless British figure has a discarded helmet to place near him, and this has the interior suspension strapping moulded-in for added realism. Conclusion Sculpting is excellent as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, with tons of detail, realistic poses, fabric drape and textures that are appropriate to the material types. The resin heads are highly realistic, but the styrene heads are good too, as are the various accessories and weapons that you’ll find on the sprues. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Fallschirmjäger! Helion & Co. via Casemate UK Before WWI there was no such animal as the paratrooper, although it was considered briefly by the Americans but was rejected due to the lack of preparedness of any aspect of the mission, troops, technology or method of delivery. Under the circumstances it was little more than a pipe-dream, but you could also argue that it was some seriously advanced thinking by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, he of B-25 fame. After WWI the static-line parachute was developed, and with the rapid progression of aviation technology, the idea became a reality, initially in a small way. With the rearmament of Germany after Hitler came to power, Göring had a rare good idea that the Luftwaffe could benefit from having a parachute division, which in German the parachute part is Fallschirm, while the Jäger element originates from the Prussian hunter regiments of yore. Their initial success at the outbreak of WWII made the Allies sit up and take notice, resulting in most countries establishing an equivalent group within their military structure. The members of the Fallschirmjäger were initially volunteers, and wore a distinctive brimless variant of the Stahlhelm worn by the Wehrmacht and SS soldiers. Their battle dress was also different, consisting of knee-length smock and voluminous trousers tucked into their boots. They were a respected foe, as they were well-trained and heavily indoctrinated, so after their usefulness as paratroopers waned, they became more of a special forces outfit that fought on the ground, and were called upon to provide support to struggling areas of the front. This book by Helion & Co is a collection of memoirs of survivors of the Fallschirmjäger, that have been gathered together by author Greg Way over a number of years. Greg is a self-confessed addict to their history and exploits, having served in a totally unrelated branch of the British military himself, cultivating his interest through correspondence with survivors of this dangerous branch of the German military via the internet and upon his own dedicated forum. It is a perfect-bound measuring 170x245mm in portrait form with card cover as you can see at the top of the page. Inside are 308 pages of glossy paper, the last of which is blank. It is divided into chapters based upon the experiences of one contributor per section, some of which are longer than others, depending on what they each have to say. Each soldier has seen action of varying types, which differs but has a common theme of initial success that is coupled with sadness over loss of their comrades, and eventually leads to more loss and eventual retreat as the conditions of the war turned against the Nazis, with the inevitable resignation to captivity or death. These brave guys were little more than boys when they took weapon in hand and offered to jump out of perfectly serviceable aircraft to carry out their orders. It is interesting to hear the story from the opposite side of the lines, and how they fought as individual fighters, made their way through the battlefield when they got separated from their units, and how often it was random chance that one man lived while another died, sometimes horribly. On this subject, there are some stories that might be hard to read and some photos that might be upsetting if you’re of a delicate nature. I wouldn’t say I was, but one photo in particular of a heap of dead people in a building was quite disturbing, so you have been warned. The sections of the book are broken down as follows: Foreward Preface Acknowledgements Fallschirmjäger Rank Structure Glossary of Terminology & Abbreviations Précis of the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger operations and campaigns 1939-45 Introduction Part I Dr Kurt Erich Schulz Wolfram von Beck Rudolf Jackl Sebastian Krug Wilhelm “Willi” Schulte Freidrich “Fred” Wilhelm Kranefeld Helmut “Bolle” Bollmann Karl-Heinz “Charlie” Pollmann Kurt Engelmann Josef “Sepp” Jendryschik Bernd Bosshammer Carl Bayerlein Erwin Bauer Robert “Bob” Frettlöhr Rudolf Müller Volker Strutzer Part II Bernd Bosshammer Heinrich Gömpel Franz Rheza Afterword Bibiography Index This is a book that you get to read primarily, but there are plenty of photos interspersed with the text, often from the protagonist’s personal collection, including photos of friends they lost along the way and some that survived to take more photos together in their old age. Also, at the end of some of the stories there are notifications of the date of death of the contributor, as their stories have been collected over a number of years, some of them 20 years or more ago, and no-one’s getting any younger. Conclusion This is a very interesting book for anyone that is interested in WWII, regardless of your interest in the parachutes, which to me adds another intriguing aspect, as they floated into some interesting places at times. Of course they were on the losing side, and that becomes evident as their stories progress, with occasional incidents of joy in amongst the pain along the way to the end of the war. Very highly recommended. Currently out of stock after a discounted offer, but worth looking out for the next restock Review sample courtesy of