Miniature Review: Damn It Man, We Need More Guns!

In addition to the regular troops that I was assembling for our Colonial games, we are also branching out into the Victorian Science Fiction genre as well.  For me the first thought was "Ah... steampunk!" so off I went to scour the interwebs to find something that would fit my needs.  A quick search turned up more than I'd expected but in the end I decided to go with a company I've purchased from before, Zombiesmith Miniatures.

While better known for their very cool Quar miniatures, they have also expanded their line to include some vehicles to go along with their 28mm troops.  Currently the choices are somewhat limited in this regard (okay, so there are only two choices but that's still a choice, right?) but the Crusader Light Tractor quickly caught my eye.  One paypal purchase later and it was on the way!

Kind of.

It did come and it was in good condition but unfortunately it took about two weeks to actually get here.  Then again I did order it at the tail end their annual sale so I'm sure that played into the time it took for them to get it shipped out to me.  Once it arrived I was quick to rip apart the package to see just what this little beastie looked like and see how its size compares to my British Troops.

Throwing down my Gauntlet! (aka Crusader light tractor by Zombiesmith miniatures)

The figure itself consists of four pieces of resin (two treads, one housing to attach the treads to the body, and the turret/body itself) with some metal detail bits as well. The resin casting is pretty clean though the underside of the tracks had some pretty bad flash on them and there was some bubbling on the bottom of the turret/body as well.  Even so the flash was easy enough to clean up and it was all on the bottom of the figure as well so its not like it was a glaring problem.

Attaching the metal bits (rungs on the side, the hatch, the cannon...) proved to be a little bit of work as I had to drill out some holes to get a solid attachment but even so I really like how it looks once it was assembled.

So why does it need more guns?  Well, that's more a comment from my experience with the tractor in our Sharp Practice game rather than a complaint about the miniature.  The figure only comes with one weapon mounted on it (some kind of small cannon mounted in the front of the turret/body) so I'm probably going to add a machine gun or two to the front as well just to supplement its firepower.  Even with this minor quibble, I'm really glad that I decided to pick this one up and I can't wait to paint it up and get it back to the table.  Until next time...