Review: Battlefront M113 (AJOBX01)

By Eric Lauterbach



When I was told I got to review the Jordanian M113 box AJOBX01 I said YEAH!!!  I had purchased two of the US Vietnam era boxes (VUSBX07) already and had not put them together so this was my chance to dig into M113.  First let me say wow, the sprues as they come out of the box are overwhelming. It's target overload.  Since the Jordanian box is the same box as the US M113 with all the variants you get a ton of extra pieces if you are only doing the plain Jordanian version.

So my first step, and I highly recommend you do the same, is to go find the battlefront assembly guide and study the pieces you need.  I did and I still messed up some hatches. This was my first all plastic Battlefront tank model and I was impressed with the quality, but I did add extra crew that you do not get in the box set.  Hey, these are for my personal army and I want them to be cool. 

In both the US and Arab boxes the two sprues pictured above allow you to build one vehicle.

The only difference between the US Box (VUSBX07) and the Arab Box (AJOBX01) is this bag of British Tank Commanders.

The basic hull sprue

Wow look at all this crap!  Seriously go check out the assembly guide you will need to look at to figure out what all this stuff goes to.

I like weight to my models. I guess that is why I have waited so long to get into plastics.  To make my M113s feel more heavy I super glued three nickels into the hull.

Assembly time was not a real problem. The model is very precise and goes together quickly, I will definitely try more Battlefront plastic kits. 

This is the basic Jordanian Mech Platoon of four vehicles of  light tank speed goodness. With .50 Cals a'blazing these guys are a bright spot in the Jordanian tool kit. 

I had left over seated British since I had to buy a ton of white scout cars to complete my Russians.  They came in handy for this project.

I love the plastic .50 Cal.

I had a tiny little bit of seam gap but not enough to worry about.

I decided to add the British seated crew since nobody wants to be in a hot M113 in the desert. Battlefront makes a nice US M113 crew pack for Vietnam but there is no such animal for the Arabs yet.

I did not add the decals since none were in the box, pretty standard now days I guess.

The back deck detail is very good.

This is the configuration you get in the AJOBX01 box with nothing added

Again the basic box configuration nothing added.

I will, when done, have 10 of these painted up for my Jordanians in order to do a mechanized company.  Two M113 for the HQ and two platoons of 4 M113 and Infantry. 

I really enjoyed this project, the modeling did not bother me at all and these guys painted up quick even with the added figs. Tactically, no Jordanian should be without these guys.  Since you have no recon, the Mech Platoon gets the job by default.  Making the Israeli deal with these guys in his face with their light tank speed is a valid tactic.  I agree its not a good one but anything that keeps him from killing your tanks for a turn or two is good in my book.

The Bad:  Not really that much of downside to this Box. The assembly time is slightly longer and the array of parts is dizzying.  Battlefront could improve them with the extra crew figs like they did for Vietnam.

The Good: Can't say enough good about this one.  The price point is fair and models are great. It's a much needed platoon for the army.  You get a ton of extra pieces that I have evil designs on.  I recommend you get this box for your Jordanians or US Vietnam army.  Go get this box!

Eric can by heard breathing heavy next to Luke and Jon on the WWPD podcast.

Models provided by Battlefront Miniatures.