Some time ago, at least a year from what I can figure, I picked up a box of these heavy weapons teams from Wargames Factory. They are part of their Alien Suns line, while not a deep line of miniatures, they have a very sci-fi nazi look to them. I bought a box of the regular troopers a few years back to use in Necromunda, but we stopped playing before they hit the table. They certainly have the generic sci-fi grey coat trooper look, and they even have some options for alien/cthulu like heads, so while generic, they certainly offer variety.
The heavy weapons team sprues come with what’s pictured below and 1 sprue full of bases, both 25mm round bases and 3 60mm round bases for the teams. Previous purchases from Wargames Factory have not included bases, so this is definitely an improvement over previous releases. Each sprue has the parts to make a Mortar, Missile Launcher, Energy Cannon, and Mini Gun. It’s great to know you could magnetize these and go all out with customizing them, I did not, I ended up making one of each. There are enough parts for 3 sitting crewmen and 3 kneeling crewmen, and 2 standing officers on the command sprue. This is great, but the combinations don’t add up to enough guys kneeling to fire the weapon and to kneel and feed the weapon. While that sounds like a minor quibble, it makes for some awkward setups when making the teams.
There is no shortage of bits in this kit, aside from what I mentioned earlier, with knives, ammo cartridges, communication devices, etc. One of the bits on the command sprue is a bit strange, it’s a katana. While it’s nice to have options, that’s a weird one for this kit. The command sprue does include nice things like holstered pistols and binoculars. As for the troopers themselves, there are plenty of head options, the variety is fairly nice.
Overall, I’m more pleased with the box set of troopers than I am with these heavy weapons teams. These are totally serviceable and will work out and look great once painted along with the troopers. They are definitely analogs to 40k Death Korps of Krieg miniatures by Forgeworld, but don’t match up in terms of quality for sure. On their own merits, they are still great miniatures that I’ll use for any suitable sci-fi game.
Pros
- Plenty of bits for conversion / terrain making
- Cost – $20 for 3 teams
- Bases included (would have been a con, previously)
Cons
- Not enough kneeling legs / too many sitting legs
- Arm with Katana bit? Doesn’t fit any need with sci-fi grey coat troopers if you ask me
- Leg limitation makes it hard/not possible to make 3 of the same team even though there are bits to make 3 of each weapon choice
**The sand bags are from Tamiya and not included with the Heavy Weapons box from Wargames Factory**