Flames of War "Open Fire" Review Part 2

As I promised a few days ago I did the second part of the "Open Fire" review.
For everyone who missed the first part *here* you can find it.
As always you can find the german original over on GW-Fanworld.net.

As I already already advertised in the first part today it's all about the miniatures and tanks the "Open Fire" starterset contains.

• 3 StuG III Ausf. G (late)
• 2 Sherman Firefly VC
• 6 Sherman V
• 1 V1 Flying bomb terrain feature
• 2 PaK40 Anti-Tank gun
• 32 U.S. Paratroopers
• 73 Panzergrenadiere

On the first glimps the tank sprues don't look that bad and because of the different colours (grey for axis, green for allies) even a layman can easily identify which faction the tanks belong to.

Although there are some annoying flashes and joints that don't fit exactly the tanks are quite easy to assemble. As long as one cares about unesthetic crevices he'll definitely need some liquid putty in order to get a neat and clean surface. Already before finally assembling I recognised the smooth details like tracks, running wheels and machinguns are quite blurry.

Painting the tanks is quickly done and with some patience one can quite easily achieve suitable results. What I realy missed were some decals for the tanks. So you have to paint them on yourself or you have to order some. 

The other sprues don't look that bad too.

But looking at the infantry sprues I was realy blown away. What the tanks are lacking in detail the infantry stands out with clearly defined details. The poses look quite naturally i.e. I couldn't find any unnatural dislocations. The almost invisibly flash on the miniatures is easily removeable with knife or file

Painting the miniatures was real fun because of the neat details and distinct edges. In order to play Battlegroup Kursk or Kampfgruppe at some point in the future I decided tu use single basing.

Conclusion:

Even with some minor flaws like the tanks details and the binding of the small rulebook you realy get a huge bunch of gaming materials, miniatures and tanks for your money. Not only for people just starting with WW2 tabletop also for veterans looking to reinforce their already existing armies the box  is worth a look.

In comparison to some competitors you get two legaly playable forces in addition to the rules and all the other gaming materials (except a tape measure) you need for your first FoW game. 

So there's a definitive 'thumps up' for this great little box.