This is the second of these Italeri battle sets that my son and I have put together (the first one having been their El Alamein set), and we are liking them quite a bit. The kits include at least four models — in this case, two Matilda IIs, one SdKfz 250/3, and an 88mm FlaK with crew — and 50 infantry figures for each side, but the most unique offerings in the box are the high-quality laser-cut diorama buildings they come with, which are designed to open up, revealing both floors of the two-storey structures. Some of our diorama photos also incorporate Armourfast houses. Our setup has a few different aspects to it: showing what the Italeri set includes; showing the German elements and the British elements separately; and then my son’s more interactive staging of both sides face to face, just as depicted on the box art. There are also some hidden Japanese pilots in some shots. We happen to have just painted them and threw them in here for fun.

The Battle of Arras itself, though it lasted only one day, is often seen as a rare example of Allied armor threatening the flank of the Blitzkrieg as it sliced across France in late May, 1940, but the reality of the situation was probably somewhat more modest than that. Please see my previous review of The Arras Counterattack, 1940 for more background.