Polish rifleman from Leffler1999

Hello everyone and welcome to another review, part of my long-running campaign to provide documentation and guidance for the best (and worst) out there for the WWII wargamer and printer.

Today's review is focused on Leffler1999. They post their freely available designs on Thingiverse, and focus on figures from very uncommon corners of the WWII period, including minor powers and neutrals. I don't believe they publish files to sites other than Thingiverse.

No models were provided by for this review (but they are of course free anyway).

Printing

Most figures are easy prints. Do be careful with the bayonet and feathers, being the weakest parts. I did ultimately break a few during post-processing.

Test prints for figures were done as resin prints on an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, sliced in Chitubox and printed with Conjure Sculpt resin, using 2.7s exposure for .05mm layers. I encountered no issues with printing, either from file issues or otherwise, with all the models printed coming out fine. Models are not provided with pre-supported versions, but they are decently sturdy figures, so I didn't find placement to be complicated or tough. The only care would be making sure not too many are placed on the bayonets which are the thinnest part.

Models

Various angles of Leffler1999 figures.

I think the best description I would offer of the Leffler models is serviceable. To be frank, it is hard to see them being anyone's first choice of figures as they do have their clear faults, but I don't want to be overly down on them either. They are sturdy models for the most part, and any criticisms need to also be tempered with the fact that they are free models as well, and often constructed by drawing on other open-source resources of 3d 'bits', and in that regards they are indeed quite impressive. For the level they are at, the details are nice, and I appreciate in particular there is a real obvious drive in the design to ensure unique and interesting looks.

Close up view of a figure. A standard heroic style, this one shows the somewhat stiff posing common to the Leffler figures.

But I nevertheless must also note some of the faults that I found. While the bulk of the models feel decently solid, there are still some small protrusions at points which are overly delicate. The bayonets I wish were a little sturdier, and the feathers-in-caps from the Poles I printed also seem to be in need of strengthening too compared to how the rest of the model was approached.

I also found the posing of the figures to be at times bizarre. There is no real logic to the positioning of the feet in some cases, with the only possible way to pose them being on a heavily sculpted base with notable changes in elevation. In the ones I printed out, this meant some rather weird positioning on their empty base which I'll need to fill in later when I add basing bits, and hope for the best. In a few cases though, even that seemed hard to manage it just isn't clear what the intention was for the specific angle.

Some figures seem to be made to pose like this... which is a weird choice. The guy on the left I literally can't figure out how to even put on a flat base. Possibly he is supposed to kneel on the 65mm gun, but even that doesn't fit well.

The posing of the figures also isn't great. Many have some rather stiff positioning, but looking closer, there are some cases which go beyond merely 'stiff'. In particular is the case of the legs on several of the figures which seem to be twisted far beyond what is possible for a real human! Just how noticeable something like that would be at table distance is questionable, but it certainly is easy to spot close up.

This guy seems to be trying out for a remake of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks sketch... No one walks that way...

That all said, as noted at the start, these are still perfectly serviceable figures, and they look fine next to other 28mm examples, and at table distance a great paint job can make up for a lot of little issues, so at least specifically for the printer on a budget, these still have some really worthwhile value in giving an avenue for a pretty unique looking force.

Leffler1999 figures compared to WLG Plastic, WLG Plastic, and WLG Metal.

In addition to the figures, I printed out one small artillery piece, which was decently well done. The biggest fault I would draw there is less with the specific details of the model then is is noting my usual pet-peeve of printing in only a single piece. A multi-part print with the wheels separate is usually preferable and not an option.

65mm Mountain gun and crew. The gun is nice enough, but I would have liked the wheels to print as their own.

Selection

I mostly printed the Polish mountain troops, one of several factions available. Most models have these multiple clothing styles for each pose.

The biggest strength of Leffler's models is ultimately that for most of what they offer... they are it! Leffler has options for Latvia, Lithuania, Iran, Poles, Portuguese, and the Irish, and even for the Poles - the one nation which you can find much for elsewhere - he still manages to be fairly unique with the focus on the Podhale Rifle mountain troops, which I've never seen another print designer offer!

To be sure, the selections don't get too deep, with each nation having one or two infantry options - although usually each pose has multiple uniform detail options - and some limited support, but again, it is far beyond what anyone else has. Indeed, I feel very limited in what I would even offer as criticism there, as it feels like looking a gift horse in the mouth. It would be nice, I guess, for the Poles to have had a BAR option (although I confess that I don't know if that was part of the mountain troop TO&E), but yeah, this guy is out there just working on filling in some of the absolute most fringe niches out there, and that is cool as hell. How can you not love it?

Conclusions

An NCO or officer on the lookout for more figures coming in the future!

Leffler1999's figures are far from perfect. They definitely have faults, and don't quite shine compared to some offerings out there you can find. But those comparisons are also are largely against commercial designers, and context does matter. With so few options out there for freely available figures (as opposed to tanks, which have better availability for the most part), whatever their downsides, the models still deserve some real praise and doubly so for opening up new options which no one else is covering. I won't claim these are anything like a first stop for me, but all the same I wish there were a ton more Leffler1999s out there doing this, as the 3d printing community needs more people wit this kind of passion and a simple desire to do nothing more than share it with everyone.

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If you like these reviews and want to help me keep doing them, you can toss a buck via Ko-Fi page and a Buymecoffee page. I promise to waste it either on stls, or my crippling drug addiction, and nothing else. And a big thanks to a few folks who already have, and helped make these reviews possible!

Also be sure to check out:

• The Printed Vehicles Reference Guide
• The Printed Infantry Reference Guide

>1. M-101 (M2A1) 105mm howitzer + 2 Gunners (US)

>2. M1 155mm Howitzer +2 Gunners (US)

>3. M1/M2 90mm AA + 2 Gunners (US)

>4. Schwerer Gustav 80cm railway gun + 3 Gunners (Germany)

>5. 37mm Flakzwilling 43 + 1 Gunner (Germany)

>6. 5cm Flak 41 + 1 Gunner (Germany)

>7. 17/25-pdr Anti-tank Gun “Pheasant” + 2 Gunners (UK)

>8. BL 5.5-inch medium gun + 2 Gunners (UK)

>9. M30 122mm Howitzer + 2 Gunners (USSR)

>10. М1937 ML20 152mm + 2 Gunners (USSR)

>Stretch Goals

>ZIS 3 + 3 Gunners (USSR)

>LeFh18 10.5cm light howitzer (Germany)

>Rocket launcher 21cm Nebelwerfer (Germany)

A little bird told me the newest round of mystery boxes have started to arrive, so that means it is time for the new mega thread! While broadly, 'hobby haul' posts aren't allowed, we know that everyone loves sharing what they get in the mystery boxes, and also seeing what the current trends are.

[As we did for the last round](https://www.reddit.com/r/boltaction/comments/1ppve20/did\_your\_wlg\_mystery\_box\_show\_up\_share\_what\_you/), while we will remove standalone posts under the 'Hobby Hauls' rule, we welcome and encourage people to share what they get in this dedicated thread. As shipping times can vary quite a bit, this thread will remain as a highlight thread for awhile.

Thank you!!

Elements look to include:

• AA Gun Emplacement
• Ammo Bunker
• Barracks
• Checkpoint
• Desert Command Post
• Desert House
• Ruin
• Dock
• Warehouse
• Port Admin
• Tobruck Bridge
• Tobruck Gatehouse
• Tobruck Harbour
• Warehouse
• Truck Scatter
• Sandbag Post
• Bomb Shelter

A Finnish figure from the Trenchworx Winter War Campaign

Hello everyone and welcome to another review, part of my long-running campaign to provide documentation and guidance for the best (and worst) out there for the WWII wargamer and printer.

Today's review is focused on Trenchworx's Winter War crowdfunder campaign done via Backerkit. Trenchworx primarily does business through their own storefront site, where files can be found for post-campaign purchase, as well as their other files and physical models.

No models were provided by Trenchworx for this review.

PRINTING

MMG Team. The thickness of the stand I found to be particularly well balanced compared to some examples out there.

Test prints for figures were done as resin prints on an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, sliced in Chitubox and printed with Conjure Sculpt resin, using 2.7s exposure for .05mm layers.  Printing was fairly straight forward, and while I did have one print error, it was not one which I could directly ascribe to a file error. I printed a set of heads, using the pre-supported file, and they came out poorly – while everything else on the plate printed fine - but reprinting again later they came out fine. As such, it seems equally likely it was one of those odd quirks with resin printing where something doesn’t go right versus an actual file issue since I couldn’t replicate it again. In any case, aside from that one hiccup, all other prints came out just fine. Files are provided with both pre-supported and unsupported versions, and I found no meaningful difference between the two, that one error aside. Supports seem well placed, and are decently light for easy removal.

One of the terrain pieces. I did include some minor supports at the edges, but fairly minimal needed.

For the terrain pieces, I printed these as FDM prints, using a Prusa MKS4, a .6mm nozzle, and Overture Easy PLA. These printed without issue. There is nothing particularly challenging about the models, but some minor supports on a few overhang points probably are work doing.

MODELS

Several Finnish figures

The most recent crop of figures from Trenchworx differ slightly from their earlier figures, although broadly speaking are done with a similar apparent philosophy. These are figures done in a very clear heroic style, with clear, bold features and the standard levels of exaggeration you would expect. I find the quality of sculpting to be quite nice, and the posing of the figures in particular is well done. There is no stiffness or feelings of awkwardness, with both the more static figures and the ones posed in motion having a nice, natural look, which I always like to see. Protrusions are kept to a minimum, and the obvious ones like guns are bulked up in a nicely proportioned way to the rest of the figure. For the accompanying squad weapons like the mortar and machine gun, this continues to hold true, and I appreciate that they are sculpted enough to feel sturdy, but not so bulky as for the thinner parts to look off.

View of various angles on several of the figures

On the more technical side, I’m particularly a fan of the use of puddle bases on most of the figures, especially those with a single contact foot, as while a small thing, I always prefer this for my figures as it just makes basing so much easier. The figures are all in mono-pose, but they include versions both with a head attached, and without a head attached, the latter ensuring that there is still some degree of customization.

Figures are mono-pose, but you can print with swappable head options

I am, however, baffled by one figure with an arm detached from the body, as it seems to serve no purpose, lacking multiple options to stick there. I know in the past some Trenchworks models have reflected design needs for metal or plastic and being updated for printing, but one would think that this being designed more recently they would have just done it as one piece for the print file, even if there is a physical version they are doing as well? It is so minor that it hardly can be considered a real negative, but it is nevertheless just weird and lazy. Even though they did a crowd funder for the digital files, it makes them feel like an afterthought.

Why...? Why does this guy have his arm missing as a separate piece? It makes sense for the metal version maybe, but fix it for the print file???!!

As far as scale goes, the figures are a pretty decent match with Warlord Plastic in terms of their style, but I do think that they are ever so slightly bigger, so if you’re looking for a perfect match, printing at maybe 98% would be best. But I expect for most people they will be close enough to not be concerned.

Comparison to WLG metal; WLG plastic; WLG metal; WLG plastic

For the terrain pieces, the log bunkers I printed are perfectly nice. Nothing fancy about them, but for a simple defensive position such as this, I’m not sure how much ‘fancy’ is even possible! They are hardly a draw, but they are a nice little addition.

Selection

Medic figure

The Winter War campaign essentially went for a ‘game in a box’ approach, with a set of Soviet and a set of Finnish forces roughly equal in comparison. That is to say, in both cases you get a command group with medic, a 10 man rifle squad, an LMG team, and MMH team, and a medium mortar team, for 21 figures per side, and 42 in total. I also appreciate their choice of focus. We aren’t completely without Finnish options out there, but it is a small enough pool of existing options that more are welcome, and for the Soviets, while better covered in general, the focus on the Winter War means that we are getting some figures in the very underserved theme of 1930s Soviet garb! With the digital bundle pledge coming in at $55, it wasn’t the best deal I’ve seen, but also not the worst by far either, especially taking into account the nice sculpts and the less covered themes. I would say that two issues ultimately did stand out though.

Mortar team. The campaign includes one for both the Finns and the Soviets

 The first, and related to the bundle price, is the ultimately poor performance of the campaign. While it did hit the minimum, only two of the five announced stretch goals ended up being hit, and they were the least interesting ones at that. The terrain pieces are certainly nice, but they aren’t much in the way of added value in the same way that a Komsomlets, T-26, or BT-7 would have been. There is always a danger with stretch goals as they create feedback loop where some people don’t want to back until they are hit… which then means they aren’t hit, and that perhaps was the case here? Hard to say, but it was unfortunate either way. As noted before, the digital campaign already felt like an afterthought, and I am left to wonder if they under-marketed this given how low the backer rate was.

An Officer and an NCO

The second is that there was no half-pledge option! I do wonder how many people might have been interested in one, or the other, but not both sides? I’m of course not the business, so maybe they decided they would get more people who would prefer one, but take both, than they would people on the fence who would pledge just for half, but from a consumer perspective, it is one oversight.

Figures with the separate heads attached and also the arm attached on that other guy

Also unfortunate is even outside of the campaign the pricing doesn’t seem to be ideal. They sell the figures as physical models in metal, at a fairly hefty price of $45 for a 12 man squad (10 riflemen and 2 man LMG team), but also sell the ‘snap tray’ for $20, which seems to be simply be a way to sell you a 3d print tray that hasn’t been taken off the supports. But if someone wants to buy just the files, one can’t buy one unit, but only the whole set of Finns or Soviets at $40 apiece, so you’re paying nearly $2 per figure ($1.90 if you want to be pedantic). Compared to the metal prices, that does seem reasonable, even if there is a lack of smaller a la carte options, but while it isn't the worst price out there for files, they are literally selling their 3d prints for less than the files! That snap tray is 12 dudes, which means it is $1.66 per figure. What the heck? Sure, a file means you can do multiple, so abstractly I get that it isn’t a true direct comparison… but still, a file set shouldn’t cost more than the printed figures that result from it in my opinion. It just goes against some sense abstract sense of the matter... I know Trenchworx is primarily in the physical models business, and the files are basically secondary, so I get it to a degree, but yeah… just makes for a weird juxtaposition.

Conclusions

I printed these ages ago, actually... so some are actually painted up by now. And they look pretty nice!

On the whole I quite liked the Winter War bundle from Trenchworx. In terms of the figures themselves, the set provides some well modeled heroic style figures, and I am particularly appreciative of new models not only for the Finns, but for pre-1940s Soviet uniforms. These are nice, easy prints, and with good strong details that paint up fantastically. Aside from that one weird arm, my criticisms are mostly limited to the abstract aspects around the campaign. While the product itself is decent, as noted already the campaign in many ways felt like an afterthought, both in terms of the middling success of the campaign with regards to stretch goals, and the post-campaign pricing as well. I can understand not wanting to have files competing with your physical models, but when the only option is a $40 bundle and no way to buy just the files for the squad, or the mortar, or the MMG, I honestly have to wonder if they even want to sell these files now that the campaign concluded.

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If you like these reviews and want to help me keep doing them, you can toss a buck via Ko-Fi page and a Buymecoffee page. I promise to waste it either on stls, or my crippling drug addiction, and nothing else. And a big thanks to a few folks who already have, and helped make these reviews possible!

Also be sure to check out:

• The Printed Vehicles Reference Guide
• The Printed Infantry Reference Guide

>This project will offer a wide range of terrain solutions: hills, plateaus, rock formations, cliffs, rivers, paths, forests, trees... Every terrain element you can imagine will be included in this project, whenever possible. Some of them will be one-of-a-kind pieces, while others will be designed to be printed in parts and, if possible, will offer modular options to expand the assembly possibilities.

I noticed that some globs had gotten on the print (I know why. Can fix but would like to save the print too!) and know that can cause problems, so I was keeping an eye on it and saw it did indeed happen so I paused it within seconds after the 'bump' happened

The printhead now is aligned a few inches over from where it should be though...

But if i resume the print now, it will still be misaligned. In the 'Tune' menu, I don't see anything that would force it to re-check the X/Y and reset to be properly aligned again... Is there a way to do so, or is this a lost cause?

Using MK4S and have newest firmware.

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Halfway through the year as we wrap up the June vote!

With the nod from his peers, the Flairs' Choice award went to /u/commustar, and their dive into "In general, former British colonies in Africa seem to fare better politically, socially and economically than former French colonies. Is there a reason for that?”.

And in turn taking the top vote from the community as a whole, the Users' Choice award goes to u/JamesCoverleyRome with their musings on "What was our "Fall of the Roman Empire" for the Romans?/"

Moving over to the Dark Horse Award, which recognizes the top-voted non-flair, u/Fawfulster took the cake with their piece on “I'd like to learn more about El Halconazo (The Corpus Christi Massacre), what actually happened?”.

Finally for the Greatest Question Award, chosen by the mod team, this month went to /u/UndercoverDoll49 for pointing out the weirdness behind "Was getting wardship of a minor as easy in mid 20th Century US as super hero comics make it seem?" And don't miss the response from /u/bug-hunter either!

As always, congrats to our very worthy winners, and thank you to everyone else who has contributed here, whether with thought-provoking questions or fascinating answers. And if this month you want to flag some stand-out posts that you read here for potential nomination, don't forget to post them in our Sunday Digest! For a list of past winners, check them out here!

The new collection of the WW2 Motorcycles & Riders: Volume 1 (scale 1:56, 28mm) will contain:

1. Harley-Davidson WLA + 1 Rider (US)

2. BMW R75 with sidecar + 2 Riders (Germany)

3. BSA M20 + 1 Rider (UK)

4. IMZ-Ural M-72 with sidecar + 2 Riders (USSR)

5. Sokol 1000 (CWS M111) with sidecar + 2 Riders (Poland)

6. Moto Guzzi Trialce + 2 Riders (Italy)

7. Gnome-Rhône AX II with sidecar + 2 Riders (France)

8. Nimbus Type C with Madsen 20mm with sidecar + 2 Riders (Denmark)

9. DKW NZ350 + 2 Riders (Germany)

10. Indian 841 + 1 Rider (US)

Japanese MMG Team from Studio Grozny

Hello everyone and welcome to another review, part of my long-running campaign to provide documentation and guidance for the best (and worst) out there for the WWII wargamer and printer.

Today's review is focused on Studio Grozny. Studio Grozny focuses mostly on minifigures and terrain, and they maintain storefronts on both Wargaming3D and MyMiniFactory, although I believe only some of their models are available on the latter. I'm not aware of a Patreon/Tribes/etc. or any past Kickstarters.

No models were provided by Studio Grozny for this review.

PRINTING

Officer figure from an artillery crew

Test prints for figures were done as resin prints on an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, sliced in Chitubox and printed with Conjure Sculpt resin, using 2.7s exposure for .05mm layers. Printing went smoothly, and I encountered no printing errors which I would ascribe to either file design issues or otherwise. Most (but not all) models do include pre-supported and unsupported options and I printed a mix. While the placement/orientation of the supports in a technical sense is fine, and resulted in successful prints, ultimately I was not a fan of the pre-supports. I found them to be very excessively done, using a heavy support style that even after a long soak in IPA, and a final dunk in hot water, left some serious pockmarking on a number of the figures I printed using them. I was happier with the ones I did my own support work on, and think that they came out cleaner. If you are very uncomfortable even using the autosupport function, pre-supports are there as an option here, but I recommend avoiding them.

The remains of the overly heavy supports that Studio Grozny uses for pre-supports.

In addition to the resin prints, I tested some FDM terrain pieces. There were done on a Prusa MK4S, with a .6mm HF nozzles. Printing was done with Overture Easy PLA, and sliced in Prusa Slicer. From a printing perspective, I did not fond the models to be well designed. There are large buildings, so make more sense as FDM prints, but they are not at all optimized for it, resulting in a lot of poorly positioned overhangs and rather excessive support requirements at some points. They are printable, to be sure, but I would recommend manually editing the files for ease of printing in some situations.

Roof of the building I printed. As designed the edge is flush to the build plate, but that doesn't seem at all necessary and the whole thing could have been flat on the plate.

MODELS

Heavy mortar and crewmen

If I'm being frank, I can't say I was impressed by the selection of models that I printed out as test pieces from Studio Grozny. While the models seem well sculpted in a technical sense, with good, clear detailing that definitely should hold up well when painted and viewed at table distances, there is something just kind of off about many of the figures. I find the poses to often be very stiff, with a certain unnaturalness to them, and in some cases the proportions seem off. If the style was strongly heroic it might be less noticeable, but in going for a more balanced style it definitely shows. Likewise it really shows with the figures who are in motion, which lack the fluidity some designs bring (and also they lack a puddle base, which by this point everyone knows I really like).

Various angles of view for Studio Grozny figures

To be sure, that isn't to say there aren't positives, as the style definitely makes for figures that feel robust and durable, without protrusions like weapons seeming too thickened, and a generally good job in ensuring that there aren't unnecessary protrusions. There is little of that, and these are gaming figures which should hold up well to a lot of play on the table. Compared to other models, they are roughly the right height, but they don't quite match in terms of style, so might not be ideal for someone trying to fit these into an existing force. They strike me as figures that won't satisfy people who like heroic, nor true scale, since they split the difference but not really in a way that quite fits in with either.

Warlord Plastic; Artizan Metal; Warlord Plastic; Warlord Metal

In addition to the figures, I printed out one artillery piece in my tests, and again I have mixed feelings. The model itself is well sculpted, but the decision in how it was broken down is honestly just weird. I'm certainly a fan of making large prints into a multi-part model, but would have been happy with just the base and the gun separated out. But splitting it into 10 pieces was strange, and in particular making the barrel three pieces I just don't get. It seems unnecessary - it can't quite be called FDM optimization as even broken down I wouldn't call it an easy FDM print - and just results in the assembled barrel looking worse than it would otherwise.

This felt excessive to me for breakdown. The barrel in particular I would have liked to have as one piece instead of three.

And then finally as to the buildings, these too are a mixed bag. Visually I find them to be quite nice, and when pieces separate out, there is usually some sort of peg and hole system to keep things in place, but not all of them separate out in ways I would call ideal, either with places I would expect a removable floor or roof noting having one at all, or else done in a way that seems kind of awkward, and in both cases less than ideal for tabletop play where you use the interiors. Combined with the poor printing optimization, there just seem like buildings where the main design philosophy was 'make them look good' and actual functionality was secondary.

FDM printed building. It looks decent, but see the previous image fo the print issues.

SELECTION

The body of this one in particular struck me as a very weird and awkward pose.

The main focus of Studio Grozny is on the Japanese and British/Commonwealth, so mostly with a Southeast Asia theater focus, although also some looks over at the 8th Army for a North Africa/Middle East flavor at times, and a few US stuff sneaking in. There is a pretty good array of core infantry type releases, as well as a variety of support options. For the Commonwealth in particular, SG is one of the few designers out there who really has done it as a focus, so one of the few places you can find strong options for stuff like Gurkhas or ANZACs. And in addition to the full models, a lot of their stuff has been broken out into 'bits' sets too, so good to look for whether planning a digital kitbash, or mixing printed pieces with your plastic sets.

Japanese flamethrower

One thing worth noting is that while they have multiple storefonts, the MMF site has a smaller selection than Wargaming3D. At the moment only the former is open, but once the latter relaunches, it is simply the better place to be looking to ensure you find what you seek.

Assembled AA Gun with crewmen

CONCLUSION

Generic artillery crewmen set, with empty hands so you can choose which shells will be used.

I want to like Studio Grozny, as they have a pretty nice selection, and in quite a few cases are, if not the only designer with a specific offering, at most one of the very few, and I'm always appreciative of folks who make it their focus to do the less frequently trafficked content. But all the same, I feel there are a number of flaws in the models. I wouldn't call them fatal, as whatever the issues these are serviceable models. Whatever flaws I'm identifying here, if SG is the only one who has what you are looking for, I wouldn't warn you off from even touching them. But at the same time, I just was not impressed by the figures I printed out, with poor pre-supports, and with their often stiff and ungainly posing, not to mention a poorly broken down AA gun model and the underwhelming terrain pieces. So while SG is filling in some very welcome gaps in what is available out there for 3D printing, I can't say that they would be my likely source for many models where another designer also has them available.

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If you like these reviews and want to help me keep doing them, you can toss a buck via Ko-Fi page and a Buymecoffee page. I promise to waste it either on stls, or my crippling drug addiction, and nothing else. And a big thanks to a few folks who already have, and helped make these reviews possible!

Also be sure to check out:

• The Printed Vehicles Reference Guide
• The Printed Infantry Reference Guide