We would be the first to admit that our photographs of these figures do not really do them justice. The highly unusual poses are best understood by looking at the illustrations on the box cover, which help explain what is going on here.

What we have is a crew for a mortar. Two are crouching down and covering their ears, while the sitting figure at the end is holding a bomb. The middle man is naturally actually feeding the mortar, while the first man is using a periscope. While most of the figures would be suitable for a mortar in any environment, the title and box art show these figures in a vehicle, or they could just as easily be in a trench somewhere. The first figure is not, despite appearances, running. He seems to be resting one knee on an object (perhaps a vehicle seat) while observing the target, but in isolation he does look a bit strange. These complex poses are all pretty good and useful.

Again detail is hard to see in our photos, but these men wear a minimum of uniform. Three wear a tunic but two simply have a vest, although all wear the steel helmet and long boots. None have any kit or equipment, which fits better with the armoured vehicle scenario than with a trench in a field. Clothing therefore is very simple and with little requirement for fine detail, and the sculpting is reasonable, although the way the figures come in parts means there is some loss of detail which will be hard to detect, especially on figures this size. Their size and multi-part construction does make them a little tricky to put together, but nothing too challenging.

The one obvious component that is missing from this set is the mortar, so the set title is quite literal – just the crew. Also of course as 1/87 scale these figures are noticeably small compared to most on this site. However this could actually be an advantage if the figures are to be deployed in a model armoured vehicle as they would fit more easily. This is a set with a very limited range that it comfortably achieves, and as far as it goes it does it pretty well.