Contrary to the view of the liberation of Europe that Hollywood has there were, believe it or not, participants on the winning side who did not come from America. Many were from the Commonwealth, the British for one, Canada for another. Australia was at home fighting the Japanese and New Zealand was in Italy - which probably explains why the war in Western Europe wasn’t over sooner. This set by Dragon is entitled “Commonwealth Troops” but it has a distinctly British or Canadian look about it to me. But that is irrelevant really isn’t it.
This set comes in the usual Dragon open ended box on one large, light grey sprue together with a small light grey sprue that holds the weapons. The poses convey a sense of advancing cautiously but with purpose, as if moving forward whilst expecting to come under fire at any time.
The figures are an older kit but the moulding is still very good with good faces and a reasonably good level of detail. There is a little bit of cleaning up to do and the uniform folds and areas around the webbing could do with tidying up but nothing that really detracts from the kit. The faces are good, though they all look the same and all have moulded on helmet straps.
They all wear pattern 37 webbing over standard issue battle dress, with the Bren Gunner also wearing a long leather jerkin. Three get haversacks, two get Mk. III helmets with camo netting, one a Mk. II helmet with netting, and the fourth a Mk. II without netting. All four get the Mk. III ammo pouches, two get bayonets in scabards and two get entrenching head carriers with attached helves. Also provided are four waterbottles in frame carriers and two additional waterbottles in sleeve carriers.
In addition to all that the Bren Gunner gets a first aid pouch and a spare barrel case, one gets an ammunition bandolier, and two get a shovel and a pick ( one for each ). And as a nice little touch three of them get tin mugs to hang from their kit. The weapons included are a Mk. II Sten, two No. 4 SMLE rifles, and Bren gun with the option of an open or a folded bipod.
The ammo pouches are incredibly square as if they were made of a solid material rather than fabric. The haversacks suffer likewise, seeming to be far too perfect in shape. This seems to be a problem that crops up in all of Dragon’s earlier allied figure sets.
As I said this is an older kit and unfortunately it does show a little in some small areas, though they are mainly just a few niggly points like the poor shape of some of the webbing equipment and the repetitive faces. But those issues should be seen for what they are, small niggles, and putting them aside this does still make for a nice looking set of allied infantry.
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