Zvezda has announced the back side print of their new Blitzkrieg game where we can see all the new game contents. For those of you who may not know this will be a second expansion for their AoT (Art-of-Tactic) game system and the third "big box". The 2 previous were Operation Barbarossa 1941 and Battle for the Danube. You can read more about the game at www.zverzda.org.ru and www.art-of-tactic.com. But I think the miniatures can be interesting even for those of you who play FoW or other wargames. The scales present in the box are 1/72 for soldiers and guns, 1/100 (15mm) for vehicles, 1/144 and 1/200 for aircrafts. All the pictures below are taken from official Zvezda's websites or Facebook.
English Version
Russian Version
So, what do we have here!? A mix of 'old' and new miniatures.
All the British are absolutely new:
1) British infantry (1939-45). 3 pc. Each base contains 5 miniatures with 4 different poses. 1/72 scale.
2) British machine-gun vickers with crew (1939-43). 1 pc. 4 figures and a machine-gun. 1/72 scale.
3) British mortar crew (1939-42). 1 pc. 4 figures and a mortar. 1/72 scale.
4) British QF 2-pdr anti-tank gun with crew. 1 pc. 2 figures and a gun. 1/72 scale.
5) British headquarters. 1 pc. 4 figures. 1/72 scale. This is a unique unit. You can't buy it separately from 'the big box'.
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6) British fighter Hurricane MK-I. 1 pc. 1/144 scale.
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7) British infantry tank Matilda I. 1 pc. 1/100 (15mm) scale.
This unit is said to be exclusively sold only in the Blitzkrieg game BUT... Zvezda will produce both Matilda I and II. Matilda II (see the picture below) will soon be sold as a separate mini-kit while Matilda I will also be sold as a mini-kit but some time later (mb next year). This is probably done in order to make customers who want to have more First Matildas buy 2 or even more Blitzkrieg boxes (which are quite expensive comparing with the mini-sets).
8) British truck "Matador". 1 pc. 1/100 (15 mm) scale.
Now the Germans:
Nothing special. We have already seen all these kits in the other AoT games but for 1.
1) And it is German regular infantry (1939-43). 3 pcs. 4 figures with 4 poses on each base. 1/72 scale.
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The thing which I don't understand (or mb I do) is why Zvezda is releasing this unit. The game already has a unit called German Infantry (5 figures, 3 poses on 1 base - see the picture below). It can be found in the first box Operation Barbarossa 1941 (3 pcs.) and in mini-sets (2pcs. 10 figures). What is probably Zvezda doing is 'cheating' the customers trying to sell them the same unit again. Infantry is the main battle unit of the game (if you want to play as close to the reality as possible), so after buying the big box you have to buy several mini-sets to have more infantry. When the game was released 2 years ago the standard was 2 infantry units (up to 10 figures) per 1 box. Then Zvezda changed the standard which is now 1 infantry unit per box (up to 4 figures). While the price for 10 figures sets and 4 figures sets is the same. So, now I think Zvezda will probably stop producing German infantry and Soviet infantry sets with 10 figures and will produce new 4 figures' sets. The less plastic you use the more profit you get. Moreover, Zvezda will make a new game card for new 'REGULAR' infantry sets and the players who already own plenty of 'old' infantry units will have to buy these new units again with the difference that now they will have to buy twice more mini-sets then before. I'll be glad to be wrong.
2) German Sturmpioniere 1939-42. 1 pc. 4 figures. 3 poses. 1/72 scale. Here is the back side of the mini-set just to give you the idea how the miniatures look.
3) German paratroops 1939-42. 1 pc. 4 figures. 1/72 scale. The back of the box again.
4) German reconnaissance team 1939-42. 1 pc. 4 figures with equipment. 1/72 scale.
5) German Headquarters. 1 pc. 1/72 scale. This is a unique unit. You can't buy it
separately from 'the big box' but it is also present in other 2 'big boxes'.
6) bf-109. 1 pc. 1/144 scale.
7) Ju-52. 1 pc. 1/200 scale
8) pz-II. 1 pc. 1/100 (15mm) scale. WRONG! Here Zvezda's made a big mistake. The actual size is much less than 1/100. You can find some blogs comparing the sizes of the Zvezda's and Battlefront's pz-II.
9) pz-38(t). 1 pc. 1/100 (15mm) scale.
The game will also include 3 sets of decals for the aircrafts, fire and smoke markers, some fortifications, 10 dice, 6 double-sided boards, 30 extra hexes, 2 markers, unit game cards, rulebook and a booklet with scenarios.
The front box art
All the models will be made of hard plastic. This is the current policy of Zvezda which, personally, I dislike. I prefer hard plastic only for the aircrafts and vehicles but not for the miniatures and guns which are very difficult to assemble from Zvezda's shitty new hard plastic that breaks so easily.
To sum it up, I wanted to say that I've been waiting for this box since I learnt that Zvezda was planning to make Tommies. I hope to see other national armies in the game. But the British give us new great opportunities like playing German vs British or Soviet vs British (we can imagine that the British dicided to support Finland in the Winter War) or we can add new lend-lease Matildas to the Soviet army.
As for the date of release, I think it will be August - September. The last time I was in the official Zvezda shop in Moscow I was told that all the contents are ready but for the box cover. Now we see that the box cover is ready. Moreover, there was some information from Zvezda on their official Russian forum that there would be lots of British in August. But I have no idea if the representative meant the game or mini-sets (they can probably appear first). Ok, let's hope to see the game in the shops soon. I also hope to see new mini-sets with the British in the nearest future.
