This first (of many) World War II battleset from Italeri depicts the famous action in the Ardennes, when Germany made one last effort to turn the tide of war. It contained two full sets of figures, two tanks, accessories and a vacuform base, making quite a nice package. At the time this set was made, Italeri had not manufactured their own World War II figures, so had to go to their purchase of the Esci back catalogue for the necessary components. The figures included in this set are:
In addition, the set includes two tank kits: - 1 of Italeri M4 'Sherman' (7003)
- 1 of Italeri King Tiger (7004)
Also making a useful contribution to the whole, there is a set of their Battlefield Accessories, which was also originally made by Esci. Finally a vacuformed base, the first in these battlesets, completed the lineup. Both the figures and tanks are appropriate for the Ardennes, and the accessories are suitable too. The base is a very uneven design which presents issues when trying to free-stand figures or parts of it, but is well suited to the actual terrain and makes an appealing piece here.
This is the vacuform base, which offers some much more interesting terrain than many examples of the species.
The contents of this set follow a fairly familiar pattern, and include nothing that cannot be obtained separately except for the base. Nevertheless it is a good and reasonably accurate package.