Out of all the games I’ve played in the last year or so, I think BPRE 28mm is probably the game that could mostly easily be played using with standees. Simple LOS rules, small play areas and 2D terrain – this game is basically a board game.
But hey, standees can only do so much. And with Black Powder Red Earth being a graphic novel series, getting models of the combatants in the series was honestly probably the biggest draw for lots of people when the game was announced. And when the previews were shown off, there was a lot of excitement for the crisp 3d sculpted figures – as well as quite a few asking for STLs but that might have just been me. In the end, Echelon Software decided to go for casting in resin (a sensible choice for small scale production runs).
If you want some supplementary material and to see the models slowly rotating, check out the video I did over on the ChargeBlog Youtube channel.
If you’ve seen the video from my first post, you’ll see how these figures arrive – in multiple parts on a support structure, with each type of figure separated out into different bags. The exact pieces each model is split into depends on the sculpt – Shurta are only two parts (gun and body) while the Scorch guys are commonly split into legs, torso, heads and two separate arms. There is also an amount of clean up to do on most of the parts, mostly some excess material to be scraped away.
But, once you actually look at the parts, you’ll see just how well the sculpting and casting has allowed to capture the details on the figures themselves. I’ll cover a little more when looking at the specific factions but as you can see on the Scorch Recce above, details like the adjustment dials on the holographic sight or the rail indents on the helmet, ribbing on AK magazines of the Aayari – even the rail segments have distinctive separation, with crisp lines on the edges. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it picked out during painting.
Having gone through and assembled them, I can safely say – these are not the best models for beginners. Maybe I’ve been spoilt by GW’s plastic output, but I definitely found myself having to take a fair amount of time to carefully clean up and prepare the models. This included plenty of trimming, sanding and more, so you’ll need the full set of tools to get to work on them. Placement of trimming points is mostly well designed and easy to trim down with only two exceptions – gates on the back of the helmets for Scorch has lead to some damage to the surface on the NVG batteries (and need repairing) while some of the arms that fit into sockets in the body needed a lot of work. There are also a few gaps I still need to fill before painting can begin, although this might be more down to me rushing slightly to get them ready for painting.
As part of this quality talk, we do need to talk about mould lines and air bubbles. While working through the models, I did notice a few air bubbles, mostly on the underside of the affected figures. Although not ideal, they are at least out of the way and easily fixable.
What is less good is the mould line that several figures have. Although managing to avoid the worst places for it (don’t worry, nothing directly across the face), a couple of the Shurta sprues have some more obviously lines running over the top of their head that might be close to . I have plenty of models in resin that have been ruined by these production issues and I’m pleased to report that none of the pieces from Echelon had me reaching for an angry email. That said, I think White Dragon Miniatures still hold the title for making perfectly cast resin figures.
Finally, I think these figures are actually very well designed. The modularity of these models is carefully done, with dynamic final poses made into smaller pieces to improve shipping. I was very glad to find that not a single piece had any damage or the dreaded broken barrels. I’m actually a fan of all the poses in the set – usually each block of four figures will end up with at least one that looks a bit off. In this case however, I don’t think there is a single pose I really dislike. All of them are fit and suitable for the close quarters war of Black Powder Red Earth.
The Small Unit Killteam box includes all the figures you need for the Scorch team. Inside, you get 10 figures – 1 Advisor, 1 Machine Gunner, 4 Assaulters and 4 Recce operators. All of operators are wearing the same basic kit – Ops Core helmets, AVS Plate carrier, jeans and t-shirt. However, there are little clues to tell them apart. The Advisor has a pair of aerials (for calling in Switchblade-esque drones), the Machine Gunner has a belt fed LMG while the Assaulter and Recce have different optic setups and different rucksacks to make them easy to tell apart. All of them are covered in little fine details such as the bundles of glowsticks tied to their belts or the literal stacks of details on the helmet – everything from patches on the helmet velcro to the various bits needed for night fighting (NVGs, IR strobe, battery pack). For all those not happy with painting faces, you’ll be happy to know the Cold Harbor dress code includes face coverings and red tinted sunglasses.
The Scorch guys were the first set released and are probably the most complex to assemble. Pretty much every operator is split into the max number of parts and there are definitely a few very specific fits that demand carefully dry fitting and filing down. Basically, don’t do what I did, which included trying to fit them together quickly and having to freeze the joins apart to make sure they actually fit. You can spot there are one or two gaps I need to fill in. That said, it’s not entirely bad – there are plenty of guides to help in the more interesting joins (such as some good cutouts at the waist to slot into items mounted on the belt rig) so you don’t end up with misaligned torsos.
In the unboxing, I mentioned a replacement arm appearing among the pieces I unpacked. As you can see, it’s very much needed as Assaulter 1 is entirely missing his thumb. However, that was the only miscast I found in the entire set and I already had the replacement to deal with it.
In the Hongbin Mercenaries + Aayari Guard pack, you get a literal pile of figures for the OPFOR. The Hongbin bring a single Enabler and four Mercenaries, while the local Aayari include four Muhtasib and a massive twelve of the local Shurta. One thing I particularly like the range from Echelon is it’s something different in terms of OPFOR – even the expendable and cheap Shurta are fully equipped and properly armed, even if they are missing some important gear… like body armour or night vision.
Speaking of, lets talk about the Shurta, the swarm of bodies the OPFOR will use to drown the Scorch player. As mentioned, you get twelve of them.
Phew, that’s a little easier to work with.
However, there are only three different sculpts in the pack, so you’ll find yourself with duplicate figures. All three of the variants are wielding the AK12 at the ready, with some tweaks in how the head looks. I will admit, it would have been cool to see some more variation in the weapon systems being used by them – the actual entry in the rulebook for the Shurta has a bareheaded gunner with a PKM which would have been a cool figure to include, especially when using them in other games. Part of me would be tempted to some conversion work but I’ll admit I don’t trust my skills to not mess it up – it would be cool to see some alternative Shurta figures in a future release.
Although, speaking of variety, lets talk about the Muhtasib. These four figures share the same basic look as the Shurta (thanks mostly to the Gorka suits and web gear) but with some extra bits of gear to make them stand out as the squad leaders. Their AKs have such mod cons as “optical sights” and “laser aiming devices” while their head has a clone of the rather distinctive Thales night vision. Their design looked cool in the original artwork, and it looks fantastic when brought to the tabletop.
Both the Shurta and Muhtasib are pretty similar in construction (and yes I didn’t grab a snapshot of the Muhtasib sprue because I am a PROFESSIONAL) – they comprise of the main body and an arm/gun/hand combination that can easily be assembled together. Even better, the edge of the web gear helps to cover up any gaps. Nicely done!
The Hongbin guys bring some slightly better equipped (and better trained) fighters to the OPFOR side. With clone Airframe helmets and plate carriers, these guys aren’t quite on the same level of the Scorch guys but are more than capable of inflicting the killing blow (either by dropping Chinese drone on their head or using the very nicely detailed RPKs on the Mercenaries).
Assembling these guys required a bit more work than the Aayari guys – however, there are definitely some tweaks compared to the Scorch box. For example, the heads and torsos are combined while only one arm is separated. These ended up being much easier to assemble than the first box, with much less clean up needed. Additionally, be very carful with the Enabler figure – the raised AK barrel is just asking for a casual swipe of an arm for it to bend and snap. As proven by the fact I literally had to repair it JUST before finishing this article
So, what’s next? Well after I do my final prep, the painting can begin. I want to try and get through these guys relatively quickly (especially as I want them before I go on holiday) so I don’t plan on going too hard with the camo schemes so I can make it relatively fast.
So standby for some SITREPs as I go along!