Resin: Iron Brothers (Ramshackle Games)

 

While Orks remain my main interest in the wargaming scene, that doesn't mean I haven't dabbled in other armies over the years. I have, at various times, fielded Dark Angels, Chaos Marines and Necrons. Some days, you want to actually have an armour save, you know? One WH40k faction I was always tempted by was the Astra Militarium, or the Imperial Guard as they were classically known. These were an army of underdogs and WWII tribute acts, but with one thing or the other, I never pulled the trigger on them. Part of the reason was skin tones; I always found that intimidating, and went out of my way to avoid fleshy bits on models. Ork green is a totally different matter. That technically doesn't exist, so have room for your own take. Human skin is something you see every day, so you can tell when it's wrong. But you know what? I'm better at painting these days, I'm sure I can figure that one out. Some day. Eventually. These Iron Brothers however have full head helmets and are quite inexpensive, so I can work out a colour scheme while I'm figuring how how to do skin. 

 

The Iron Brothers are from Ramshackle Games' military range, a source of Imperial Guard proxies sold on their low price and head variations. I used the default helmet style for these. After a couple of false starts, I decided to follow an old speed-painting guide from Midwinter Minis, see here, to paint 5 of them. In 40k terms, this would be half an Infantry Squad, or a heavy infantry unit in Xenos Rampant. The basic idea is to spraypaint the main colour, then pick out fabrics and detailing with appropriate colours, and then wash it with Agrax Earthshade. Once that's dry, tidy it up with a bit of highlighting and drybrushing, and it's done. I don't normally paint like this, and I'm very set in my ways when it comes to undercoating. That said, I can't argue with the results. I had an issue with my black paint, but these do pass muster as the rank & file. I even added in black boots and brown gloves for variety. It's a quick process too, you could easily do these of an evening and let them dry overnight. Here I used Color Forge Desert Sand Spray, Citadel Zandri Dust, and Death Guard Green for the major colours, with Vallejo leather and Dark Gunmetal for detailing.

I probably spent just as much time prepping and basing these models though. Part of that's just me being me, but its also the fundamentally "one dude in a workshop" nature of Ramshackle Games' product. Aside from a certain degree of flash and brittleness inherent to the resin, these come pre-moulded on little bases of limited use. the Killbots had these too, although I neglected to mention it then as they had plastic bases with them, so it didn't matter. Consider these tobe side effects of the casting process, because it's what they are, and that's fine. I used 32mm bases here with gap filler on top, which are possibly a hair too big, prompting some additional gubbins to fill the space. As models go, they are smaller than Orks and rough around the edges, but not in a bad way. Lessons learned, with a new bottle of Vallejo Black in hand, I took a swing at another 5. These had the benefit of experience, but also different poses. Generally I was happy with the process, and worked more brown into the mix for pouches. By completion however, I was thinking that black wasn't ideal for the guns so I tried something else for the next group.

 

The final l painted for this little project were a group of flamethrower troops with different heads, the "chem" variant to be specific. These heads had a face mask and goggles look which I felt matched the weapons. The bodies and guns meanwhile are clearly based off the chaps above, but with added bulk. I'd go so far to say the flamers are too big for the bodies, but I liked them more than the alternatives, and they match the backpack pretty well. I added some scrap plastic and EVA foam to improve the look and I tweaked the colour scheme a bit too, adding green, gunmetal and Soulstone technical to the head. The guns were done with Vallejo Sombre Dark Gray, while the business end of the flamers got an attempted burnt effect with copper craft paint. I probably shouldn't have bothered with that one black headband, but the overall effect came out pretty great. I'd use these as a Support Infantry unit in Xenos Rampant, with Close Quarters Doctrine and Engulfing to represent the burnyness, although I don't think there's a direct equivalent in 40k just now. I'd probably reshuffle these guys into other squads.

Much later: I realised that these had a "Bob the Hydra Agent" thing going on. Unexpected. But I think I have this method nailed down. I’m quite happy with the results.

 

Overall, I'd say these models are fine for what they are, but I had to keep reminding myself of the price angle. Depending which set you get, these work out to about 78p a model before postage, which is pretty damn cheap. Sufficiently cheap that any prep work you need to do, or additional basing material you need, seems churlish to complain about. Then again, Stargrave and Death Fields are a thing these days, whose models have a similar price bracket, look more professional if we're honest, and have all the advantages of being plastic. So, while I won't say that these models are for everyone, they definitely are a valid choice if the look of them appeals.

Transformers: Legacy Predacon Inferno is Something That Exists

Here's the thing, while I've written in-depth about the Siege and Earthrise toylines, I don't expect to ever write in the same way about Kingdom. The reason? Basically because Beast Wars exists outside of my nostalgia window, and thus I missed out on a lot of it. I've got a lot of respect for Beast Wars, don't get me wrong, but when you have limited resources and a bit of a sulk on about Transformers in general, sometimes you pass on a line. Perhaps I didn't miss that much, it's pretty obvious they didn't commit to Beast Wars fully, and went G1 again because of reasons. Possibly the single most depressing example of that was when the name "Inferno" appeared in stock listings and people got their hopes up. It was, of course, the G1 fire engine guy. Not the Beast Wars era fire ant. And this was a shame, because the ant guy is pretty amazing.

The 1997 Beast Wars Inferno toy

Inferno was a great example of how good the Beast Wars cartoon was. Inferno was completely bonkers. He was totally convinced that he was an ant, and that his status pod was his colony. He was actually a Maximal by birth, but it seems the ant mode he was forced to adopt overwhelmed everything. Or he was just insane in the first place, who knows? When Inferno officially joined the Predacons, this ant mentality led him to refer to Megatron as "his queen", which went down exactly as well as you'd think. He was also a cackling pyromaniac, whom flew around on a blender-butt contraption, burning things. Compared to that, the original Inferno is a cardboard cut-out, and this is me saying this as the son of a fireman with a baked-in love of the Fire Service. Like I mentioned, I'm not a Beast Wars guy, but a literal fire ant appeals to my perverse sense of humour. Inferno's history in toys meanwhile is a touch messy. He was originally supposed to be a new body for Megatron, and later on there was Transmetal ant called Scavenger, whom just seems to be Inferno renamed. There's also few convention exclusives and other trivia, but Legacy Inferno is the first modern retail release. Apparently because, despite of his undeniable charms, his original toy shelf-warmed something fierce.

The ant form is fairly typical of the recent Generations output, and also a demonstration of the fundamental issues there are with an insect mode. It aims for a realistic take as opposed to the original toy, and doesn't try to be as overtly monstrous. This means that this toy isn't trying to copy the transformation scheme of that toy either, resulting in a generally better looking thing with no balance issues. The downside to that is that it's basically a statue with moving mandibles and a port to mount his gun on top. You see, most insects have very small limbs versus their body, and they have a great many of them. Doing that as a toy with movable limbs, let alone one that transforms, is kinda tricky. You're looking at a lot of parts just to stand there, and they have to be thick enough so a child won't stick them up their nose or summat, so you compromise on something. Legacy Inferno's ant form is a compromise favouring visuals, which is fine given the end result, but there's a shortage of play features and 5mm ports. And maybe you don’t want to look at the underside. The mandibles move though. That's something. 

 

Inferno's robot mode however does one thing very well, with everything else being on the good side of adequate. That one thing is the head, his general vibe on point anyway, but it's the head that truly elevates this toy. Its got an opening jaw, and so he can very easily look like he's laughing manically. This is something they didn't have to do, but it really does sell the whole thing. There is this wonderful insane energy to the toy, one that turns the insect kibble from a negative to a reinforcement of the theme. That's another common problem arising from the leg issue mentioned above, its hard to integrate bug legs into a robot, so they just end up, well, there. Inferno manages to carry it off though, it only adds to the insanity. Plus you can do the blender-butt thing. Factor in the typical Legacy articulation, and you're in for a good time. But a realisation hit me, one that made me reconsider my whole stance on Beast Wars. 

 

Now, I known a few robots in my time. A lot of Japanese ones, transforming ones, and western takes. And Inferno doesn't strike me as a robot. I know he is, but the visual language doesn't say that to me. And that's for several reasons. The realistic ant mode obviously isn't a machine, that's the point, but the colour choices and detailing of the robot bits don't say machine either. The original toy has a similar look to my eyes. The Beast Wars era animation models didn't necessarily say robot either, which was both a technical and budgetary issue, so they often leant into the whole "90's shiny CG" look. And that's why I generally haven't gone in for the toys in the time since, visual design. It's not a thing that's bad. It's just an observation of my own tastes, and probably a big part of why I passed on Kingdom. So Inferno doesn't immediately register as a robot to me, but what he does look like is some cackling demonic alien wearing an ant carcass like a mardi-gras costume, and that has an appeal.

My point? Only that Legacy Inferno is something that exists. And they did a pretty good job of it.

Resin: Killbotz (Ramshackle Games)

A little while ago, I apologised for a certain Gaslands fixation. That's not so much stopped as pushed to the background as I work on a project I can't share yet. One thing that has however come out of that is my re-acquaintance with Ramshackle Games, a small provider of resin models based in Nottingham. I've had several dealings with Mr Fell's products over the years, as my interests ebbed and flowed. It's cheap and cheerful stuff, and a boon to kitbashers. So after I did my Orky cars, I put an order for some stuff, and here we are.

The Killbots are spin-off of Ramshackle's line of robot models, a mix and match selection of approximately 28mm scale. These feature new bodies that resemble nothing so much as artillery shells with orky faces on, or something from Enter The Gungeon. The idea of an Orkish robot is both old and obscure, these being a thing in first edition, but were dropped in favour of the Dreadnought Concept. You are encouraged to be free form with their build, RG being in the habit of providing more bits than you are likely to use in one go. What I ended up doing was roughly approximating Meganobs, with a top-heavy humanoid look, with one melee arm and a twin machine gun arm. I did get pretty creative with a couple though, creating a mecha-squig, and with one wearing the lid off some super glue as a hat. I call him Mr Pointy. With respects to Xenos Rampant, I see these as some form of Elite Infantry with Mechanoid, Super Heavy Armour, and maybe Unstable plus a weapons upgrade. Elite robo-infantry do sidestep downside of Unstable, so I'm not sure how balanced that it is, but I can see this unit being in real trouble if forced to do actual activation tests. I must remember to run the numbers...

There's a few things I want to mention here. First off, a completely resin model is a slightly different matter from just using one of their bitz kitz. You need to pin connections with a bit if paperclip, which requires a small drill bit. That isn't ideal, as you don't want to breath that dust in. You'll also need to take a bit of time to prepare parts and use a filler or two when things don't line up. None of this is remotely insurmountable, but it's worth mentioning given the extent to which I post about Gunpla and Plamo. Don't go thinking this is gonna be as straightforward as those, it's a different skill set, and closer to my scratchbuilding. In fact, hot glue and bicarbonate of soda returned to help things stick. The matter of painting is probably a bit over familiar to the 3ish people whom read these, it's almost exactly the same as recent Gaslands projects. I just used “Blood for the Blood God” technical paint in places. It works though, and the pictures speak for themselves.

Job's a good 'un.

 

 

Oldhammer: 1st Edition Ork Dreadnought (Warhammer 40k, Metal Miniatures)

Goddammit, I have a hoarding problem. I was cleaning out my bedroom, and found this. I must have brought it donkey's years ago, put it in a box, and forgot about it. Good thing actually, I needed something to do. 

 

So, allow me to do my usual context-providing ramble. The reason why this is a Dreadnought, and not the modern Deff Dread is because that term didn't exist yet. Rather, in the days of 1st edition, basically everyone had access to the same common pool of equipment, something which 2nd edition would move away from, and 3rd ed would largely remove. This was a period when the setting was still in flux, and often dictated by the moulding tech GW had. At this point, the concept of a "Dreadnought" was one of the few vehicle platforms available, and these were small, chunky affairs cast from lead. Plastic kits made by GW were much less common, to the point of actual rariety. There's much mystique associated with this period, although it's outside of my personal nostalgia window. I consider almost every Ork release prior to Gorkamorka and the 3rd ed revamp as early instalment weirdness. Ork Dreadnoughts of this period do however have their own charms, and are a fascinating precursor to what came later. Ork examples came in two distinct sizes, one with a claw and gun, and a taller one with double that. These are obviously the ancestors of the modern Killa Kanz and Deff Dread, if with a rather different look, like an angry potato. They also feature what are literally the same guns as the infantry models, with an odd curved mount. There's a lot of curved mounts, actually, with all the limbs attaching via ball and socket joints. And, yes. This allows for some posing, but only some. Mainly, this only serves to make gluing them together more of an arse than it needs to be. I will however own that I didn't notice some mould lines until it was too late, as I am prone to do. 

 

This model was incomplete when I got it, and I remember thinking at the time that I was not a fan of the weapons. The plasma cannons would be kustom mega blasters under modern rules, but this would have under the 4th ed codex, and I wasn't a fan of overheating. That's probably why I put in storage and forgot about it. The pilot was also missing and so was the banner pole. No biggie on either matter, I just kitbashed an exhaust, and closed the hatch. Getting the thing together though, as mentioned, was a bit of a ball-ache, this model needed some flat connection points and pegs. I attempted to pin these joints, breaking a drill bit in the process, before opting for the baking soda trick. That's probably not great in the long term, but this is a display piece, and a fairly light one at that. 

 

 

Once I got around to painting, I entered my usual zen state of simple/repeatable techniques. Dry-brushing, ink washes, technicals, contrasts and stippling etc. If you are one of the maybe 3 people whom reads these posts regularly, you know what I did. One point I would like to highlight are the orange sensors/windows. I wasn't entirely sure what these details were at first, but I did manage to find an old painting guide. Once done, these really brought the model to life. Job's a good 'un.

All in all? As a model this is really showing it's age, even versus 3rd edition era models like Killa Kanz. Metal minis are always tricky to work with if they have multiple components, but the basic sculpt is primitive. No disrespect to a model about as old as I am, but this is suspiciously close to something I could have moulded from miliput. It is also, smaller than a modern plastic Killa Kan . So, if you really want one, be aware of the work you'll need to do. I wonder if there's a 3d printed equivalent knocking about... 

 

Gunpla: The MSJ-121 Demi Trainer (HG, Gundam: The Witch From Mercury)

When I come to build a gunpla, I usually have some pre-existing experience with the design. Not with the Demi Trainer here, as I'd somehow managed to not watch any of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury in the 7 months since it came out. An unusual oversight for me. At the time of writing, I'm catching up with G-Witch, as it is short-handed, although I don't have any especially deep opinions on it. I like what it's doing so far, but I'm nowhere near that tonal shift that people like to meme about. Anyway, the Demi Trainer. What is the Demi Trainer? Well, it's more or less what would happen if the chinless wonders at Eaton or Oxford decided they needed giant robot classes. Most of the initial episodes of G-Witch take place at a school for the children of arms companies and the Demi Trainer, is, well, the official trainer mobile suit. People have their own, of course, when/if their often-terrible parental figure provides one, but this is the uniform standard. Such things have existed in the Gundam mythos before of course, but the Demi Trainer is a lot more prominent, as background set dressing goes. It attracted me due to its non-threatening grunt vibe. It's the head more than anything, it's just an uncomplicated and functional design.

As both a product and project, the Demi Trainer is very similar to 30MM kits, especially the Extended Armaments chap I've done recently. It's joints feature no polycaps, the sticker sheet is extremely inoffensive, colour separation is on point, and, of course, there's a weapon set sold separately. As such, it's quite a fun lit that goes together with minimal fuss in an afternoon. Once complete it's nice to look at, and quite posable. This is however let down by the ankle/ foot area, which is rather hollow to look at, and doesn't have much forwards/backwards movement. Instead, the toes and heel can rotate separately from each other in a pretty comprehensive ankle tilt. This, and the occasional limb popping off, make it feel a bit rough around the edges versus some 30MM kits, although possibly I'm being a bit hard on it. It does a few things that are very characterful to compensate. Both the gun and shield mount to hardpoints on the forearms, with a nice solid connection, but these ports are not fixed. Instead the entire forearm rotates. The waist joint is unexpectedly advanced too, with the butt-plate serving as a locking mechanism. Finally, there's the whole "saber stick" and "duelling antenna" business. The G-Witch school, inevitably, has giant robot duels, but it's not to the death, it's until you stoke off your opponents antenna. These two accessories let you practice without using actual weapons. 

 

I had the bright idea to attempt three kinds of weathering and detailing, and maybe they don’t work that well together. I attempted to panel-line and pick out a few bits with black ink, which was alright, but I probably could have just used a marker for the same effect. I used dry-brushing and an ink wash to make it dirty, focusing on the extremities and the obvious points of wear. I know that this is a public schoolboy, so making it dirty possibly goes against the theme, but then the box art has one falling over, let’s pretend its that one. 

 

Yeah, I’m probably gonna get Chuchu’s custom example now...

 

 

Wargame Commentary: A Look at Xenos Rampant

This game first came to my attention via a Goonhammer article. I was looking for a fresh project, and it took my fancy. So, I got the book, and read it while travelling by train. Then again over the following weeks. Here are my findings.

Game Mechanics

The basic turn sequence is activation based, with a side order of "I rolled bad, now it's your turn". Each unit can perform one of several actions, like move, axe-to-face, shoot, and shoot back in your opponents turn, with more specialised units having additional options. Most units get a free action they usually do automatically, but most you have to test on 2d6. Pass, and you're good to go, but fail, and you end the turn. Further wrinkles are presented by mandatory actions like Rally, which is caused by unit morale, and the quite memorable Wild Charges rule, which is the Leeroy Jenkins approach to combat. The net effect is that your tactics cannot assume predictable behaviour from models except in a narrow specialisation, and that you need to manage their activations between what needs doing right now, and what a unit can do reliably without conceding the turn. It's not alternating unit activations, but it's inherently more dynamic than Igo-Ugo turns for this reason. The matter of causing harm meanwhile is something quite abstract, especially if you're used to weapons having discreet characteristics and multiple stages of dice rolling. To shoot a gun or throw a punch, a unit rolls ten d6, five if below half strength. You compare that to the relevant stat, I. E Shoot Value, and each you time you meet or exceed that value, it's a success. Then you compare that to the targets Armour Value, and for each group of successes that matches that value, you cause a loss of Strength; damage is done. So if you get 3 successes, and the target is armour 3, you reduce it's Strength by one, which could be either a guy biting it, or an armour plate falling off a vehicle. So it's an easily internalised system, where modest characteristic improvements have a big difference, rather than equipment explicitly improving something. A related concept is how the game treats weapon ranges. The range typically stated is it's optimal range, but guns can shoot at Extreme Range, which is unlimited by default, but the target gains an Armour bonus. On a standard 4 by 4 board, this means that anything with guns can hit everything it can see, but at distance such attacks are more about suppressing a foe, than doing real damage.

The Gimmick

So, with the basic mechanics summarised, what is Xenos Rampant unique selling point? It's positioned as a simple and adaptable system for 28mm scifi gaming. It's miniature agnostic, like Gaslands, meaning that players are encouraged to just take whatever they have in their collection, apply whatever rules make sense, and be gaming in 10 minutes, tops. You don't get an army list, you get a total of 13 often densely written unit entries, pus the commander, a chapter of further xenos rules for customisation, and 60 pages of sample settings. This looks more involved than it actually is, with many rules repeated for convenience. The book prioritizes the unit types over the turn sequence in its layout, which isn't actually my preferred approach, but OK. It's an undeniably flexible system, but one that seems to favour less is more. It's not a system where you finely tune every aspect of the unit, you are intended to make a generalist take, but I found it very tempting to layer stuff on like pizza toppings. There's often more than one way to represent something in this game, with probably the most interesting being the idea of a Reduced Model Unit, where you keep the stats as they were, but use fewer models, thus simulating a more powerful unit like your army commander. The xenos rules meanwhile, and the setting specific rules, tend to be a bit more focused. There's stuff for zombies, robots, demons, and the nature of the battlefield, all with numerous example forces.

As there's probably too much for me to meaningfully analyse at this time, let's do a case study. Assuming that I did want to play this, how might some of my orky projects be represented? Xenos Rampant has a lot of moving parts, and the whole army building bit is somewhat more literal than it usually is. So lets have a go.

 

Ork Boyz: there's actually two good candidates off the bat, and which one you'd pick would be based on your clan and preference for shooting. Light Infantry is the obvious pick, as that's what Orks usually qualify as. You'd take Increased Squad Size, Assault Doctrine, and Close Quarters Doctrine, and you'd a have a good approximation. Alternatively, Berzerk infantry are much better at close combat without modification, if loosing ranged options. They are also subject to the Wild Charges rule, which is a major downside given how activations work, but TBH, it's a rare day when I wouldn't want to charge my lads in. There is also the Lesser Xenomorph unit, which is probably better suited to Tyranid beasties, but it might work for you. So, it helps to have a clear concept in mind, and pick whatever fits best without making more work for yourself.

Trukks: Xenos Rampant usually limits you to one armoured vehicle, I. E. a single tank, but has freer access to "Softskin vehicles". This could quite happily represent the Kult of Speed, and you can make a trukk by simply taking Transport(10). Softskins don't natively have a ranged attack worth mentioning, so you could make it a Technical for added dakka, but it's not hugely necessary.

Killa Kanz: these I had to think about for a bit, because they exist in one of those weird tactical niches 40k has, and Xenos Rampant is less granular. Making a Softskin Walker with Technical is the obvious choice, but one that tends to get expensive versus regular vehicles. I found that it was nessecary to apply a few downgrades to make them cheap and disposable i.e. Close Quarters Doctrine, Green Crew (heh) and Slow.  Alternatively, you can lean into the adaptability of the system and have them count as a reduced model unit of something. By comparison, Deff Dredds are much easier to represent in game. Just have a Fighting Vehicle with Walker, and it's done bar the tweaking. 

 

Meganobs: these are quite obviously Elite Infantry with Super Heavy Armour, a melee upgrade, and possibly Close Quarters Doctrine or Heavy Weapon subject to your clan and play style. You could probably do a mega-armoured warboss as a reduced model unit too. Point of interest for 40k players, you do get a free trait for your army commander, but it's randomised, and half of which are purposefully bad. You could also do Killa Kanz this way, although the irony makes my head hurt. 

 

Gunwagon: there is a bit of limitation with the rules in that it treats Fighting Vehicles (tanks) and Transports as two very different things, and Orks don't. In the absence of an IFV equivalent, I'd lean towards a Fighting Vehicle. As an alternative, Softskin vehicles have the option for a Large Vehicle & Transport(10), which could make a degree of sense, although it's more of a Mad Max War-Rig sorta thing. So, potentially awesome, but not nessecairly ideal.

Other ideas: The Support Infantry unit lends itself well to the more specialised forms of Orks, like Burna Boyz, Lootas, and Tankbustas. Militia Rabble are obviously Gretchin. The Beast Snagga units are a little trickier given the overlap with regular Orks, but you could give them Force Fields to represent their durability, and Hatred(Big Things) for their love of hunting. Their squiggly mounts, meanwhile, are either one of the Xenos units or the Mobile rule.

Conclusions

I'm both impressed and fascinated by Xenos Rampant. It's like encountering The Mecha Hack, but for wargames. As a system, it's boiled things down to essentials for faster play, with a self-aware sense of humour about it. Probably the main arguments against it are a matter of design objectives. Xenos Rampant isn't trying to be a tournament style competitive game, it's more a laissez-faire system, and that ain't for everyone. On a more personal level, I found the infantry focus to be a bit limiting, see the case study above, but that's something you're encouraged to fix yourself. I may very well give this a go.

Yuexing Animation: Tank Alliance Is Something That Exists

Generally speaking, I don't bother with the euphemistically named "third party" Transformer scene. A better name would be "unlicensed”, such things trading off the brand recognition while inviting legal action that never quite seems to happen. I'm not gonna be a snob about such things, as some of ‘em can be honestly very good, but there is a certain tendency for these manufacturers to create hugely expensive boutique items for collectors. Often the same item, by five or so different companies in rapid succession, that may be short on actual fun or creativity. So, I only deal with that market very intermittently, and for oddities. Hence the Tank Alliance and today's article. The back story of this set is a little mysterious. As near as I can figure, Yuexing Animation is one of the innumerable Chinese companies making robot toys, either ripping off Transformers, making their own stuff, or bootlegging the work of others, and/or being bootlegged themselves. Specifics seem to be hidden behind the language barrier, but this does seem to be an attempt to do something a bit different. And just looking at the stock image should tell you immediately how different. It's a set of six cutesified WW2 tanks, similar to the World War Toons models by Meng now I come to think of it, that transform into similarly cute robots, which combine into a giant robot by way of Funko Pops. Given the general vibe, and similarities to the Combaticons, this has prompted various half joking nicknames like "Cuteicus" and “Bruticus, whoops all tanks edition". It's a frankly daft idea, which I absolutely had to have. Even though I knew that it was probably going to be a very silly waste of money even by my standards of self-indulgent purchasing. 

 

So, what's it like in general? Well, it's like a late wave Combiner Wars giftset. You know, one that came in a big box, changed up the accessories, and possibly had a suggestion the moulds are wearing out? Or, put more charitably, that the design team is doing their level best, creating an interesting piece, but with a few flaws. It also comes with a massive box too, which is actually kinda nice, but don't feel bad about ordering these guys loose. As individual toys each is fairly reminiscent to a Combiner Wars era limbot deluxe, notably with respects to the waist joints. It's not direct a copy though, the combining bits are entirely different, in fact reminding me a lot of CW Devastator with how the torso goes together. The inevitable question is build quality, and I'm happy to report a favourable comparison to a modern Transformers deluxe. It's not as refined, some things just don’t fit like they probably should, but I still remember the issues with joint tolerances and tabbing in Combiner Wars, not to mention the occasional modern stinker, and the Tank Alliance is definitely holding it's own. You've got six pretty good tanks, at least five of which are better than CW Brawl, all sharing similar but distinct engineering, that combine into an adorable, if not hugely posable, gestalt form. There is also s seventh tank formed from leftover combiner bits, and it's a special kind of lunacy. Let's break this down into segments.

Arm Buddies: “TH-38” S35 Somua (desert drab) & “ST-39” M5A1 Stuart (olive drab)

The most similar to a Combiner Wars deluxe, these two chaps set the tone for the set. We got tank modes that edge into Advance Wars territory visually, but are actually based on WW2 tanks, lighter ones of the early war period. “ST-39” is based on the American Stuart, the compressed portions dropping a set of bogey wheels, which led me to initially think it was a Sherman. The S35 Somua led to go dumpster diving in youtube comments to figure what it was, but it turns out its a French cavalry tank, given how the war went for France, its probably not surprising I didn’t recognise it. These tanks rely a lot on plastic for their colouring for, with metallic paint picking out details like the tracks. The sculpts are simple on first glance, but there’s plenty going on. The turrets also turn, CW Brawl, I’m looking at you, and the guns can pivot up and down. A regrettable downside is that they lack rolling wheels, or weapon storage, which would have made the tank modes basically ideal. Thier robot modes are similarly dumpy and cute. These bring more grey into in the mix via the revealed robot bits, which ends up being the common visual element of the team. Posability is decent, if not spectacular. All the major joints are covered, for 16 points of articulation, so each can happily use their firearm. I’d say “ST-39” was my favourite here, but its a very close race. 

 

 

Leg Buddies: “BP-35” Panzer V Panther (Desert Drab) & “SU-34” T-34 (Olive Drab)

Evoking the meatgrinder that was The Battle of Kursk, these two chaps form the legs, while having a number of subtle but meaningful differences from the arm chaps. They are the most similar to the aforementioned Brawl in terms of overall appearance in robot mode. Admittedly, they are still in the super-deformed style, if not as wide in the chest as the above pair. Other visual changes include painted mouthplates, and their turrets worn high. The leaner proportions help with posing, as do the wrist swivels, but the forearms are undeniably messy. I suppose you could flip over the bits as knuckledusters, if that does it for you? Their tank modes meanwhile continue the positives, and these two are undoubtedly the big name tanks of the set. Their part in the combined form is however is kinda minimal; I wouldn't be shocked if you told me these dudes weren't originally intended to combine. Forming legs is mainly a matter of putting them into tank mode and flipping a small strut out at each end. It works, but I have doubts in the long term. Of the two, I’d probably pick “SU-34”, but only because the other had a non-essential tab break.

 

Body Buddies: “GT-37” Panzer IV (Grey) & “WWT-36” Panzer 38t (Blue)

For the final pair, we go back to the early war for a Nazi doubleheader, although to be fair to the 38t, that was originally Czechoslovakian. Here is where the CW Devastator comparison comes in, as we have two dudes forming the torso, one having the unenviable job of being the pelvis and thighs. The pair are heavily reliant on the combiner kibble and tabbing to stay together, and so the pair diverge significantly in their engineering from the above. When it comes to “GT-37”, the experience isn't that different, but “WWT-36” is really taking one for the team. It's the weakest individual toy in both modes, the tank form being the most difficult to place and no real turret rotation. Meanwhile, the robot form suffers from having a weird and limited neck. It does however have the most interesting transformation, the scheme being reversed from the norm, so the robot chest is formed from the rear of the tank. He's not actually terrible or anything, but he would have benefited from another draft, maybe thick ratchet joints. “GT-37” fares better. He's somewhat more kibblely given both the additional armour and combiner ports, but his functions as an individual are less compromised. Both are pretty good though for what they are, it's just the blue chap feels like the one with the most difficult job, and he's kinda of a C-. 

 

 

Combiner Tank

Before we get to the main event, let's talk about the combiner bits. Now, in the pursuit of a great big robot made from many smaller ones, a problem that occurs is where to store the giant head and hands etc. when not combined, while still having everything look good. Many toys, especially those of 80's Transformers, opted to have these as external parts you just put to one side, which is the original meaning of the fandom term "kibble" I've used above. It's not great as such things go. A lot of modern toys still do it that way, including in the third party market, and the Tank Alliance does do too. However two things run in its favour, in that the head wasn't gonna store anywhere, and that they've done something delightfully daft with the leftover bits. A ridiculous assembly of all the combiner bits, this put me in mind of the old Micromaster Combiners like Sixwing. It is however reliant on you putting all the individual guns on it for full effect, which allows that one last gun barrel to store. While this probably isn’t the reason you’d buy the set, you have to respect the insanity on display.

Combined Mode

I’m not gonna mince my words. This poses better than you’d think, but its main skill is just standing there being adorable. Between the engineering, the weight, and the proportions, you can’t really do dynamic with this guy. The best you get is a kind of “angry puppy” vibe. My criticisms here are the head and knee design. The head is lacking both articulation and a good connection, while the knees are kinda theoretical and based on tabbing. Said tabs are honestly robust in a manner befitting a tank, so I’m probably worrying needlessly, but I’d feel a lot happier if there was more mass to them. Your expectations having been adjusted, Cuticus is however doing two honestly good things beyond being adorable. The first is articulated hands, and the second is a gun to hold in them. Said gun is formed from the individual weapons of the team, and its a very well-executed little gimmick. It helps that its all the same colour, and that there’s a dedicated tab for the hands. The articulation in this form certainly allows him/them to that gun too, with 15 points in the major joints, and a further 6 in each hand. You can make the toy just that little more expressive which feels honestly a bit premium for the price. And there’s the simple pleasure of having a big robot made from six tanks. I don’t think I need to defend that.

 

 

My point? Only that the Yuexing Animation Tank Alliance is something that exists. I don’t know why it exists. There’s a certain train of though that suggests it maybe shouldn’t, but it does. Its like someone purposely made this for me, possibly through the misuse of a time machine. Its got is weaknesses, but its also got charms.