The model warrior

I think a bit of background is needed to start

this post off and to explain why I happened to have

six Tigers tanks just lying about !

I recently attended a wargames event with two friends

and we were admiring a beautiful WWII board set up for

FOW which happened to have an SS Division fielded on the

board. Admiring the SS Tigers my friend pointed out he needed

to buy some more Battle Front Tigers for his army and the lad

running the table pointed out they were not Battle Front Tigers

and belonged to a different manufacturer ! We argued against this

,until the lad let us kindly handle the tanks which resulted in

humble pie on our behalf. This got us all thinking because at a

distance of two feet none of us could tell the difference.

So knowing I had two different types of 15mm Tigers at home and

my mate had a third manufacturer we decided to do a bit of research

and buy the remaining 3 on the market.

The plan was simple. Compare the 6 main manufacturers of 15mm Tiger

tanks(sorry if your product is not included) and then devise a cunning

plan to test our eagle eyed wargamers to see if they can spot the difference.

The Review

The six manufacturers in question were:

• Battlefront.
• Skytrex.
• Forged in Battle.
• Peter Pig.
• Zvezda.
• Plastic Soldier Company.

Ok a word of warning on my review. It is based on the kits I had

available to me at the time and there are other kits produced by

the same manufacturers which come in varying periods of WWII and

materials.

Here are the six kits below :

Click on any picture to enlarge.

So from left to right a quick summary.

First up was the Plastic Soldier Company

This tank came from a box of four tanks priced at £19.50 plus 10% postage.

Its plastic and comes with options to build either early, mid or late which is

a really nice touch. You also get two crew members and stowage options. The

only one query/criticism was the width of the tracks ? They seemed a little

narrow to me ? Plenty of hatches.

Second was Forged in Battle

This is a resin cast that costs £7.50 plus £4 postage. First impression was

that the tank looked a little to narrow. Its also comes based which I am

not a big fan of. Its made of 3 main parts so assembly is quick and you get

one crew member.

Third was Peter Pig

You get a totally metal product coming in at £7 plus £3 postage. It has 6 parts

in total and not a bit of flash on the parts so well done. The tracks have

a clever insert so you are able to attach them in the exact position. You also

get two hatches and a crew member.

Fourth is Skytrex(Command Decision)

Price was £7.70 plus £5 postage. All metal parts and very solid. Criticisms would
be a lot of flash on the rear of the tank and no crew.

Fifth is Battlefornt

Mixed parts of resin and metal and costing £8.99 and £2.75 postage. Best thing

about this was out of all the tanks is gave the best opportunity to customise in

my view. Down side was that some of the parts are very small and extremely fiddly

to attach. Lots of hatches and crew. This is the early version of the Tiger.

Last and not least is Zvezda

Totally plastic and quick to assemble. Cost wise, £6.95 including postage. You

get no crew.

So what’s my verdict ?

Well if I go onto the various forums for 15mm Wargaming and ask

peoples opinion on what Tiger to buy each manufacturer or supporter

of that product sings the praises of their model saying how great it

is compared to the others on the market, but the proof is in the pudding.

And in this case the pudding is going to be the finished model, the thing

you will see at two feet away on a board.

So I challenge you to identify the 6 Tiger tanks that appeared in
my earlier post. What I`m trying to prove is that once on the board nobody
cares who made the model because its all about the finished look and
playing the game, no matter what the bumf in the brochure tells you.

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