For fans of the 1970s film 'Kelly's Heroes' the three M4A3 Sherman tanks co-opted to join the raiding party are among the 'stars' of the movie. We first meet the displaced (or deserted?) unit in camp, where it's obvious that these guys have seen service in North Africa, possibly Italy and are now in France. The three 'battle buggies' have been customized by their long-serving crews in a variety of ways both for comfort and for military reasons. Indeed, at rest, the position looks more like a gypsy encampment than a military post.
Warlord Games have faithfully depicted Oddball's command tank as described by its commander in the film. There's the attached and definitely non-standard loudspeaker to play music while going into battle, the length of drain-piping to 'convert' the 76mm gun into a 90mm to fool the enemy and lots of extra stowage including knapsacks, tarps, track links, buckets, boxes and just about everything but the kitchen sink.
Assembly is easy. The tank itself is cast in resin in four main sections, tracks X 2, superstructure and turret with all stowage cast on to add body and speed assembly. This is handy as were the modeler to have to add all these details separately it would result in quite a fragile model on tabletop. Some fine details (MGs, hatches) are cast in metal to be added.
Also included are four metal figures representing Oddball, the fez-hatted Turk and two half-mins to be placed in the forward hatches.
All round, an excellent kit.
