Firstly, I have to make an admission: I don't play WWII microtanks any more (when my first child was born, any small pieces had to be packed away or sold), so I had to borrow the equivalent 1/300th scale tanks from one of the guys at club to compare with Tumbling Dice's new 1/600th range of microtanks that they had sent me for review. My first impressions are how good they look and how tiny they are. They are completely free of flash, except for a single line from the right rear of the hull, which is presumably where the metal goes into the mould. This flash line is easily and quickly removed, without any damage to the model. As to the size, telling you that they are half the size of the equivalent 1/300th scale models is redundant - any of the tanks sit neatly on your little fingernail, while the Daimler (oddly the only armoured car in the bunch so far) is half that size again. For those of you with non-standard fingernails, the tanks are about half an inch long (just over a centimetre). The models compare very favourably with their 1/300th counterparts, having at least the same amount of detail, except for the Sherman where the track wheels were slightly unclear. The models are clean and easily recognisable. So far the range of vehicles is pretty limited, but it is early days yet. The Germans get Panzer III and Panzer IV (three types of each), as well as a Stug III. The British get Cromwell and Comet tanks and the Daimler armoured car. The Americans get the Sherman and the Chaffee. While the Russians get the T34 (of course) and the SU85. The vehicles come in packs of 6, allowing you to build up your forces pretty quickly. The range is fairly limited so far, but hopefully there will be more vehicle types available soon (if I can put in a plea for more Eastern Front vehicles). Of course, you already have Tumbling Dice's wide variety of 1/600th aircraft to choose from for your air support (for those of you who already have some of their aircraft, these vehicles give you something for your bombers to concentrate on). Tumbling Dice have set themselves a difficult task, given that there is such a wide range of 1/300th scale vehicles competing for the same market. But for no loss of quality I can have 50% more vehicles in half the storage space at the same price as the equivalent 1/300th scale models, so the only deciding factor is whether they have the models I need. The only way Tumbling Dice will know is if you ask, of course, so I suggest you get writing to them. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 143 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com