The above picture shows the two gunners that are provided with this particular component of the Zvezda Art of Tactic game system. The gun itself was the principal divisional artillery piece of the Soviet Army during the War, and served in great numbers for decades thereafter. The model in this set looks pretty good, although we found it had several serious defects which make it a nightmare to put together - not the least being a hole in the axle that is on the wrong side.

Our primary interest - the figures - are also really badly designed. Although they wear perfectly correct uniform and are in poses that interact with the gun flawlessly, three of the arms are separate and it is virtually impossible to assemble these men with any chance of a realistic join. We eventually gave up and removed the pegs on the arms, trusting instead to gluing the arm directly to the shoulder, which produced a good result. While they are very poor kits from a technical viewpoint, the figures are otherwise fine and certainly useful for various Soviet artillery pieces, although they do not come with their own bases. Instead, like the gun, they attach to one large base as seen here. A nice but frustrating model and a rare example of poor Zvezda engineering.