Perry Plastic British 8th Army

The front of the box...

When I heard that the Perrys would be getting into 28mm World War 2 I was very excited.  I love the Perry's work and I love WW2 - a match made in heaven.  When I heard that they were starting with North Africa I was even more excited.  North Africa is one area where my collection 28mm is lacking so again another perfect fit.  I also need British 8th Army figures for my plans to do Crete battles in 28mm.

...and the back.

I picked up this set on vacation in California over the summer.  After spending a month working on my Flames of War French army I needed a change and I could not wait to dig into this set.

The instructions are very basic but serviceable.

Now, if you don't like to build models or if you did not like come of the other Perry plastic sets you will not like these.  This set is more on the model side than on the game piece side.  It is much more detailed than their ACW sets.

The back of the instruction sheet is an organization chart for a British platoon.

This is the command sprue with the officer and the radio operator.

This is the main sprue.  There are parts for 12 figures and you get three of these.

The set includes enough parts to build a proper platoon including officer, radio operator, Boys ATR team and a light mortar.  The set is targeted for the 1943 period with Thompson sub-machine guns for each squad and the officer.  There are enough rifles to build the earlier squads before the SMG became common.

These are the bases that are included in the set.

 The set includes bases for all the figures, including some 40mmx40mm bases for the gun teams.  The round bases are only 20mm and I think they are a little small.  Due to the light weight of the assembled figures i would not recommend the 20mm bases.  They are just too light. I recommend using a metal washer or base to add some bulk to the figures.

A selection of completed figures.

The completed figures are truly stunning.  I really love them.  The animation and sculpt quality are perfect. The plastic is great t work with and allows for easy conversion and modification.  In the end, what we have here is an excellent set of figures that will look great on the table and are very flexible.  Getting 38 figures for less than $30 makes this hard to beat.

From left to right - Crusader, Foundry, Battle Honors, Perry, Black Tree, Artizan

But...there are some issues.  First, I would have loved to see the heads separate from the bodies.  This would add the flexibility of the set without being any more fiddly.  Second, the arms use three different attachment methods.  Some arm sets are both arms on the gun.  Others are one arm on the gun with the other arm as an open hand.  And, yet, some others are an arm attached to the gun with the other hand molded to the gun (and then a separate handless arm).  I would have liked to see one way of doing the arms as this would make conversions easier.

Finally we have the biggest issue for me.  These figures are VERY small compared to other 28mm figures on the market.  Generally speaking, I am not overly concerned about mixing different brands of figures but these are so different they just cannot be on the same table, much less the same unit, as other figures.  It is not an issue of height, it is the bulk.  These figures are basically 1/56th scale models rather the 28mm game pieces.  It really breaks my heart because these are beautiful figures and I really wish I could use them.  I have built 8 of these and put the rest back in the box.  I doubt i will ever finish them or even paint the ones I have built.

If you are looking to play games set in North Africa I would recommend these as long as you are also using Perry Germans or Italians.  In that case they are great!