Friday, January 2, 2015

106mm Anti Tank Jeeps Comparison (FOW)

I have received the first wave of the new Battlefront, Six Day War miniatures (the rest are still backordered), that go along with the new Flames of War Fate of a Nation book!

With the arrival of two blisters of Anti Tank Jeeps, I now have twelve 106mm Jeeps for the Arab Israeli Wars. So I thought it would be a good idea to show you the differences  between a few different manufacturers.

Front two rows contain BF jeeps, the last are Quality Castings Miniatures.



In the four pictures shown above, the closest row contains the new Battlefront Miniatures Anti-Tank Jeeps, the middle row contains modified Battlefront WWII jeeps with the 106mm Guns from the plastic M113 box set. The farthest contains Israeli Jeeps with 106mm Recoiless Rifles made by Quality Castings Miniatures.

These fun little jeeps feed my fix for neat vehicles... that are somewhat tough to use. In game terms that have good mobility and a 3+ save which can make them rather survivable, as long as they keep away from too many machine guns. The 106mm gun is a good AT gun against most tanks from the front but can struggle against the Arabs heavier armored tanks. From the side they will can reliably deal with anything. However getting to the sides can be tough with their awkward layout rule, which keeps them from moving and shooting in the same turn. Their best use is for ambushes or long range fights from cover.

I think they are almost a given in most Jordanian list because of the lack of options, but will have more competition in Israeli lists which contain many different options.




One on one comparisons. Left modified BF Jeep, Middle BF Anti Tank Jeep, Right Quality Casting Israeli Jeep with 106mm Recoiless Rifle. The jeeps I used in the past to make the Jordanian Anti Tank Jeeps are old WWII era M38 (Willy's) Jeeps, the Quality Castings Jeeps also seem to be M38's. The new BF jeeps correctly use the later M38A1 jeeps that both the Israelis and Jordanians would have used in the Six Day War.

Israeli M38A1 Jeeps with 106mm Recoiless Rifles in 1967.

Notice the 106mm Guns are in black, unpainted.

A Jordanian Anti Tank Jeeps in action.
I painted my jeeps as the above historical pictures. The Israeli jeeps are in a green grey color with air recognition marks and the 106mm gun in black. My Jordanian custom jeeps are in a sand color with green camo stripes.



As for quality, the new BF jeeps are absolutely the best buy. They are for one, the correct make of vehicle, come with both Israeli and Jordanian crews, and just look the best. One note for them, they do not come molded on small bases, unlike other BF jeeps. I chose to mount all of my jeeps on BF small bases.

The custom jeeps were fun to make when there were no other options but are still historically incorrect and end up costing more to make than just buying the new BF versions.

The Quality Castings Miniatures are on the small side, poorer on detail and seem to be the incorrect model of jeep for 1967. They also do not come with bases, the base pictured is a BF one.

The cost for the BF Anti tank jeeps is $13.00 for two. The Quality Castings are $10.00 for two jeeps. I have to give the nod to BF for these jeeps.

Also, I used my new Samsung Galaxy S5 to take these pictures, and I really like how they turned out. I'm surprised by the quality from a phone!


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