Salute saw me picking up a few things, one of which was a very exciting upcoming release from Spectre Miniatures. For months we have been teased with render and prototype images of perhaps the most complex kit they have produced. Perfect for Spectre games of special operations, this new vehicle will be perfect to transport your operators around the board at high-speed.
I am of course talking about the Razor, the lightweight 4WD that has been recently introduced into use by the US Special Forces Community. Airportable and capable of transporting four troops across rough terrain with all their kit.
As much as I can talk about the real life thing, what’s more important is how the kit is. I need to first mention that I built mine without the instructions sheet that is coming along soon (probably when they are put onto the Spectre site for sale). As a testament to the guys at Spectre, they have done an excellent job, packing the resin and metal kit with detail and minimising the number of fiddly bits.
The parts split into a mixture of resin (main chassis and wheels) and metal (everything else). There are some cool design features (seats at the back have a recessed bottom, seats in the front have an exposed plug to slot in place) and it’s mostly simple to put together once you start using the locator blips on the underside. As with all kits, a dry run is a great place to start.
The reason why this is a preview and rather than a review is that I’m waiting for a few additional items before I paint it up and get it into action. Spectre have mentioned crew and stowage are coming and this is a vehicle that is begging to be covered in gear.
As you can see at the back, I was a little overzealous with my trimming when trying to fit the outer suspension legs (something I’ll fix before painting). The rear section required a bit of dry fitting to put into place, working out its exact arrangement. However, this should be much easier when following the instructions
A view of the underside shows off the wheel arrangement and the join between the two pieces of chassis. Most of the seam is hidden out of sight thanks to positioning under the front console.
Not a great picture, but it does show a pretty good view of the dashboard and it’s detail. The M240 will sit on the right hand side on a two-part arm, giving it a wide range of positions.
So comparison time. As you would expect, it’s quite a bit smaller than most of the other vehicles currently available.
Comparing against the Spectre SUV and Technical Alpha, the Razor is tiny.
This is even more obvious when compared to a fellow vehicle in US arsenal, the Humvee (this one from Empress).
Finally, lets look at who else will be using it. Model on the left is a Spectre Tier 1 Operator. Model on the right is an Empress US Army Ranger.
To conclude, I think this is one of my favourite releases from Spectre. For such a small vehicle it has a very nice weight to it, prompting none of the fear you would normally have with something this small; I can’t see it being knocked off the table by a stray arm. It was fun to put together and now just needs some final details. Then it will be off to go cruising round the deserts of Bazistan.
As for its role in the game, it’s going to be a taxi – getting your team in to do the mission and then back out again. As you can see, there isn’t much armour so leaving it exposed is an invitation for anyone with an explosive weapon. However, the MMG and crew guns will put some fire down and you can always just drive really fast. Just remember to leave a space for any “buddies” you might want to pick up.
Final thought? I’ll probably be getting a second one for the rest of the squad once they are available to everyone.