by Tom Burgess
The Type 94 "Te-Ke" in China
I had the opportunity to do another review of Battlefront’s Japanese Tanks. This time it was the Battlefront Type 94 “Te-Ke” tankette. These were a great addition to the Type 95 “Ha-Gos” I already reviewed.
The Japanese army used the Type 94 tankette for reconnaissance, infantry support, and supply transport. In “Rising Sun” lists they can be found as headquarters attachments to tank a company HQs or as separate platoon of two tankettes as a support option in Japanese Infantry list. The Battlefront Type 94’s come in a single blister with a pair of tankettes which is just perfect for how they show up in the lists.
The Type 94 "Te-Ke's" stats in Flames of War
Accuracy: The Type 94 model is very accurate. The only aspect that made me raise an eyebrow was the ribs on the left side muffler seem y too pronounced. On the Battlefront model they look more like some sort of protective brackets. A very minor gripe really as the rest of the model is spot on.
Rating: 9/10
Quality: I think this was one of the easiest Battlefront tank models I’ve ever worked on. The detail is crisp and there were no broken/missing pieces. There really are just five or six (if you add the command figure) pieces to work with. All pieces fit well and required only minor flash removal. It’s actually a quite heavy model even being so small. The central resin portion of the hull is quite small, so the heavy pewter tracks and turrets really give the model a dense “hefty” feel. As with all blister packaged models from Battlefront, these do not come with turret magnets. I went ahead and glued the turrets down as they have a armor rating of 1-1-1, turret facing for this model is largely not relevant in the game terms and the turret is so small that worrying about rotating it really is not practical.
Quality: I think this was one of the easiest Battlefront tank models I’ve ever worked on. The detail is crisp and there were no broken/missing pieces. There really are just five or six (if you add the command figure) pieces to work with. All pieces fit well and required only minor flash removal. It’s actually a quite heavy model even being so small. The central resin portion of the hull is quite small, so the heavy pewter tracks and turrets really give the model a dense “hefty” feel. As with all blister packaged models from Battlefront, these do not come with turret magnets. I went ahead and glued the turrets down as they have a armor rating of 1-1-1, turret facing for this model is largely not relevant in the game terms and the turret is so small that worrying about rotating it really is not practical.
All parts accounted for!
Parts close-up
Rating: 10/10.
Versatility: The Type 94 can be used in any FoW period. They were used in China in the late 30’s right up through the late war period in places like Peleliu in 1944. Like most all of the new Battlefront Japanese models, anybody buying these tankettes for Early War “Rising Sun” lists will find use for them in later Mid or Late War lists as well.
Rating: 10/10
Paintability: These models were really fun and very easy to paint. I followed the same painting guide I used for my Type 95’s from Wargames Illustrated #310 with just one subtle difference. I painted the "yellow stripes" before I applied a wash (GW Delvin Mud). That helped tone down the stripes somewhat. I’m very happy with the way they turned out and think the Type 94s operating with the HQ platoons for my Type 95s look great.
Painted and ready to move out!
Rating: 10/10.
Overall Rating: 9.75/10.
Overall I’m very happy with these Type 94 “Te-Ke’ tankettes from Battlefront.
My growing Japanese tank force on the move!
Tom has been playing wargames since the late 70’s, and Flames of War since 2007. He maintains a gaming website www.battlevault.com for the BattleVault Gamers of Kentuckiana and posts and moderates as Iron-Tom on WWPD
Models provided by Battlefront Miniatures.
