Eureka Miniatures has been a prolific producer of miniatures for years. They have a huge range of miniatures in a variety of scales for a variety of time periods. One of those many ranges is a pulp range. They have a unit of G.I.'s (I use their flame thrower trooper in my Battle of the Bulge Americans) and a fairly large range of Germans in gas masks... riding dinosaurs. Now dinosaur riders are not my thing but as part of that range there are also foot infantry wearing gas masks that are perfect for pioneer units. The problem was that for historically-minded Bolt Action players, the range was missing a few crucial pieces. Well, recently, the good lads at Eureka have expanded the range with a few new important inclusions, the most important of which is riflemen. They also made an anti-tank team, a flame thrower, a flag bearer (good for command teams) and a leader model. All of which can be seen below:
The models themselves retail for about $3 a pop. Not bad in the greater scheme of things. Additionally, Eureka is distributed by several facilities on several continents. I was able to get these models within a few days of ordering. For Australia, that is AMAZING! Here you can see the new rifleman sculpts:
Now, I had bought some of the older range assault rifle troops about a year ago and I was truly impressed with the quality of the sculpting. There is some flash but it is easily spotted and dealt with. The flash is not thick or in hard-to-reach-places. For an entire metal range, there are next to no issues, especially when compared to a lot of products out there on the market. Here are the assault rifle and submachine gun trooper sculpts:
As you can see, there are four of each sculpt (just like the riflemen). In the photo above two of the assault rifle guys are twins. There is a "bonus" SMG trooper. He is the one who looks like he is about to fist bump a mate. He is a "Velociraptor" handler from the dino range. Buy him without the dinosaurs (which you can do) and Shaazam! Another varied sculpt.
You might also notice that one of the assault rifle guys and one of the riflemen have seperate arms. Looking at these I immediate think a) Should try panzerfausts? and b) What a cool and easy way to vary kit and models with very little work. Hand swaps are easy, especially if you have extra arms left over from various plastic kits. IMPORTANT NOTE: if you look at the website you will not find the "new" models. They are "out" though. All you have to do is call or email Eureka directly and they can hook you up. Their staff is knowledgeable and can find the models you want with little verbal description and no hassle. After all, that is how I got the models for this article!
You can look forward to a painting article soon from our old friend Marky Mark, as he prepares for the LRDG's first major event at the Conquest 2014 event. Registration for which just opened. For more info please click HERE.
Now, Eureka has asked for feedback. What else does the range need? We though a generic artillery/gun crew and a sniper, but what do you think? Get on our forums and let us know!
Old Man Morin... OUT!
