Anvil Industry Heavy Weapons with Mad Robot Miniatures Crew

I've always wanted to add a few heavy weapons to my Warzone Trencher force, but have not found any that fit the WW1 British look I wanted other than a mortar.

Then a few weeks ago I received news that may mean that these figures may see some playtesting action in the near future, so I started searching for suitable pieces again, and found some excellent ones at Anvil Industry. I ordered a Maxim gun and a Howitzer, and some Mad Robot Miniatures crew figures again.

The Anvil Industry models are excellent: clean, crisp casts with no mould lines and no flash to speak of, and they come with a number of accessories that let you make a mini-diorama of your base, which I have tried to do. The model is very WW1 in style, down to the canvas ammunition belt.

I did run into some trouble with painting the crew - I have forgotten which paint I used for the uniform, and had to just go with the closest one I could find; you can see the difference in the two crew figures above if you looked closely.

The howitzer model also comes with nice bits like a case of rounds and empty casings, which I've always liked to see on dioramas. For some strange reason, even in the far future they have chosen to make the ammo case out of wood and gave it a handle made of hemp rope. The gun itself is of course multi-part, and you get the options of a closed breech and an opened breech, which would be cool used with a "loading" crew figure.

Both the Maxim and the howitzer are beautiful pieces on their own. However, a slight problem emerges when you put them side-by-side: the two weapons have a similar size. The Maxim is oversized compared to its historical counterpart, and the howitzer is much smaller than a real one would be in that scale. This is of course so that both pieces would fit nicely on the standard wargaming crew-served weapon base. I would have preferred the Maxin to be a little smaller, but then being made of resin, it would have been more fragile as a result.

Over all I am very pleased with the models, and if I want to expand my force again, I will definitely look at Anvil Industry again.

I hope to have more news to report on the playtesting in the near future...