Dystopian Legions: Basset tankettes

I bought these little monsters a couple of days ago, so I thought it might be an idea to put up a review of them here, as there are a couple of things I would like to say about them.

First off, the resin. I am extremely impressed by the quality of the resin on these sculpts. there are no issues with mold lines, bubbles or excessive flash (which has been somewhat of an issue with Spartan's metal minis so far).

There are a couple of things I did not like so much, mostly with the metal parts.

First off the bat, the kit comes with 4 little metal parts that I was unsure where they went. With a little experimentation, I figured they went one on each side, as a middle support for the treads. I'm unsure as to whether or not they are completely necessary or not, but there you go.

The offending part, in what I assume is the right place.

Secondly, I would have preferred if the part of the gun barrel that goes into the tank was just a touch longer. The hole in the resin is of ample size, but there is only just enough of a nub on the metal side to place in the hole. In fact I may end up having to pin these, the joint is so fragile. An extra millimetre on the metal would have more than fixed this issue.

Another niggle I have with the metal parts is the doors of the hatch. I love that the hatch doors are separate, this allows for addition of what I assume will be a leader figure for the section at a later date. Great idea. However, the to allow for this figure to be placed, the hole in the hatch is deeper than the hatch doors that are supplied. I understand why this is the case, but it did mean I had to find a filler to ensure the hatch doors I glued as closed did not sink into the tankette. This was easily remedied with a chunk of metal flash from the treads. On the plus side, this space leads to easy conversion options, and as I stated further options for Spartan to sell tank commander minis. Also, the doors being metal, even if you glue them closed, they look a little more realistic than moulded parts.

This brings me onto my last point. The treads this to me was the major issue with these models. At the back of the tread, there is a point where each part was attached to it's sprue. The point of contact was rather large, and was snipped at the factory before packaging. What you are left with is a rather unsightly flat part on the back of the tread. This shouldn't really be a problem, as you can file it flat, or try and shape it to look like the rest of the tread. I think the best way to deal with it is to cover it when basing, with either mud or something else, as it's placed on the back of the tread at the bottom. So maybe not a deal breaker, but it was less of a quality finish than I have come to expect from Spartan.

Other things contained in the box include a blank activation card, and two game cards that will work for all Britannian Ironclads. There were also a couple of random cards with pictures of The Prussian character and the Teutonic Knights artwork. These seem to just be adverts for Spartan Games.

In summary. These look good, and although I have stated some niggles with the metal parts, for the most part, these are miniatures do exactly what is says on the tin.

All in all, I give this kit a 7 out of 10. I can't wait to get them put together and painted, and get them on the table.

Wonky gun on the LHS and if you zoom on the RHS you can just about see the metal holding the doors in place.