Battlefront European Village Bundle

The postie turned up with a heftly parcel today, one I really wasn't expecting; the next batch from Battlefront's European Village subscription deal.

Battlefront changed the release schedule recently from their original plan (one house per month) to increase the supply of their buildings.  The subscription deal could have easily sold two or three times the initial offering, judging by the earlier grumbling on the FoW forums and some crazy prices on eBay.  That alone makes me glad it took up the offer.

So this release has the next two houses; Cherbourg and Dieppe, as well as the two expansion kits, walls and house extensions, and a blister pack of villagers.  First things first, the paint jobs on the latest two houses is a vast improvement on the first four.  I wasn't particularly bothered by the initial quality, taking a little time to tidy up the houses wasn't that big a deal, but these two look outstanding in comparison; better coverage and depth on the main colours, tidier roofs and much neater painting all told.

The expansion sets are to the same standard and are a nice, flexible set.  The villagers comprise six vignettes, including some nuns, a couple at a cafe table and a couple ladies of the night (charmingly, one has a gendarme telling here off, while the other has a gent doffing his cap to her. Quality.)  Not sure how much use I'll get from them, but it's an enjoyable wee set.

As I recall, Battlefront never explicitly said whether the extras were free or not, so I was delighted to see that the credit card was only charged for the two houses!  Result.  Still to come are six more houses, the Bastogne church and whatever else they come up with.  I'd still like a duplicate house to make a terrace building, but I can cope without for the moment.