Casemate publishing, a prolific publisher of military history titles, has begun releasing a line of books that focus on huge array of subjects from a single battle, campaigns, hardware, and military units. They are paperback and richly illustrated with contemporary photographs, color profiles, and maps. For many of you, this format may be familiar to other publications that dissect a well-known battle, examining the opponents, armies, weapons, plans, etc. For this series, the publisher has chosen to organize the material as follows:

The British Main Battle Tank Challenger II entered service in 1994 as a significantly upgraded version of the successful Challenger. The tank saw extensive service in the 2nd Iraq War from 2003 and is still in service with the British Army – a new upgrade programme should see them in service until the mid-2030s.

This all-new kit from Tamiya features a desertised version of the Challenger II, depicting vehicles as they appeared in the Iraq War. As such, it features the blocky side skirts with canvas drapery that cut down on airborne sand, enhancing non-visibility, as well as the improved turret and combat identification panels to help prevent blue-on-blue errors.

This set contains all the products required to recreate the texture of snow on any surface including terrain, vehicles, and buildings.

This product has been designed for easy use, particularly for beginners. With the products included in this set, you will be able to recreate recently fallen pure white snow to the distinctive slush and refreezing of the thaw. The unique formula ensures near identical real snow in any scale from 1/16th to 1/72nd, adding a stunning finish to your models, scenes and dioramas.

These products can be diluted with water to make them more fluid. Once dry, you can apply effects with oils and enamels over the snow effect to obtain extremely realistic results. Non-toxic.

Included in the box are:

Ammo by Mig is a well-known provider of all sorts of modeling supplies, from paints to weathering powders to tools. They also publish a fairly extensive library of ‘how-to’ type of books, such as this example.

Printed on good quality, glossy paper and bound between stiff, glossy boards, the publication values of this book, as with others I have seen from Mig, are quite high.

This particular book is written by Artur Miniszewski, an established figure painter and diorama builder. He also has a company, Mantis Miniatures, which produces resin figures and accessories. As can be expected, both Mantis and Ammo products feature prominently in this guide.

The author uses six vignettes that he created throughout the book. There are six chapters, not including the ‘summary’ at the end, with each section focusing on a particular technique or type of effect. The final chapter shows multiple views of each of the vignettes, without text.

The AMMO range of acrylic paints for figures has recently been expanded to include two new sets of paints specifically designed for the late war German Eichenlaubmuster (‘Maple Leaf’) and Erbsenmuster (‘Pea Dot’) camouflage schemes, the latter of which is the subject of this review.

Opening the box reveals a set of six industry-standard 17ml. ‘eyedropper’ style bottles of high-quality acrylic paint from their Ammo line. The assumption is that the paint set would serve as a one-stop shop for producing the intricate uniform pattern that bears its name. These complex schemes have been a favorite for military figure painters and armor modelers alike.

From the Manufacturer’s Website

The M44 Dot Pattern - This set includes the colors required to paint the distinctive and complex German Erbsenmuster (‘Pea Dot’) camouflage pattern, first delivered to the Waffen-SS in 1944.