The fourth and final plastic kit included in the Konflikt ’47 Starter Set is the all-new Linebacker Jump Walker. Unlike the existing metal & resin US and British Commonwealth Walkers, the Linebacker is a plastic kit. Similar in design to the Mudskipper, the Linebacker brings both speed and firepower to the table. Let’s make the drop with this new unit!

The Sprues

Using the same Rift-tech as the Fireflies (but on a much larger platform), the Linebacker is designed to match the speed and agility of the Fireflies as a way of providing direct, heavy weapons support to the otherwise lightly equipped Airborne Infantry. The US M2A5 Linebacker Jump Walker is a three-sprue kit that includes several armament options.

• Arm loadouts include:
  • Right arm Twin HMGs or
  • Right arm Twin Autocannons or
  • Right arm Twin Super Bazookas.
  • Left arm Light Tesla Cannon.
• Chin-mounted weapon can be:
  • Twin MMG or
  • Flamethrower.
• Two different pilot head options.

This is not a complex build, but rather a lengthy one; the instructions span 20 pages. There are considerably more steps than your standard Bolt Action vehicle. Not a bad thing! Just more building is required.

The Build

We start with the cockpit and the main body of the Linebacker. Straightforward steps with a few things to note. The kit includes a clear plastic cockpit canopy that can be left detached until after the model has been painted. Or you can glue it into place and paint over it like the Warlord box art. The pilot at the controls is well detailed and comes with two different head options. The body of the pilot is one piece attached to the seat and the controls. If desired, you could leave the whole bit separate for painting. The canopy is on a hinge, and you don’t need to glue it closed unless you want to. For those interested in painting the pilot, the most effective process would be:

• Attach the pilot head to the body and set it aside.
• Build the rest of the cockpit and body of the Linebacker.
• Attach the canopy to the working hinge.
• Paint the Linebacker.
• Paint the pilot.
• Glue the pilot into the Linebacker.
• Glue the clear plastic canopy into place.

Or, just glue it shut and not worry about painting the pilot at all!

I did very much enjoy that once the body is built and these first steps are completed, the entire sprue is used up with no bits remaining. There is something satisfying about that.

Now for the legs. First is the hips/lower torso. It’s only a handful of pieces and went together easily. Building the legs themselves wasn’t too complicated either. It was the two feet that were a bit of an issue. Not so much a difficult build, but fiddly. Really fiddly. Each foot had more components than anticipated and required sub-sequences of building before bringing together the fully constructed foot. I’m sorry to say, but the mold lines were rough. Lots of filing is required for each bit (and there are a lot of them). Luckily, the hard angles made clean up easier than, say, the Fireflies, but still. It was was chore.

Once completed, we were left with five distinct parts – the hips, two legs, and two feet. All five components are attached together with ball-and-socket joints that make posing the Linebacker possible. In the photo above, I’ve used sticky tack in each of the joints to get a sense of the posing. I didn’t want to glue any of the lower body together, as I am not yet sure how I wanted the final pose to look. As with the Vogelspinne, you are going to want a base for your Linebacker. With just a little bit of manipulation, it would be no issue to model the Linebacker running, walking, or even landing from a jump.

I put a Warlord Games Late-War British Infantryman next to the Linebacker for scale, and even though it’s only the legs, we can already get a sense that this is going to be a big model.

Now to build the arms. The Linebacker’s right arm can be built with three different sets of weapons:

• Option A: Twin HGMs (the base option)
• Option B: Twin Light Autocannons
• Option C: Twin Super Bazookas

The left arm has one option – the Light Tesla Cannon. Unlike the Vogelspinne, the right arm options cannot be swapped without some modification. All three weapon options can be fully built, but the little pegs on the “hand” are not sturdy enough to hold the weapons on their own. Adding a pin or a magnet would be a breeze, so I’m not too bothered by this. The Linebacker’s left arm will always be armed with the Light Tesla Cannon. As for the right arm, all three options can be fully built and swapped out as needed with a little bit of extra work. You love to see it.

Beyond the arm-mounted weapons, there is also a “chin-mounted” option for either a Twin MMG or a Flamethrower. Luckily, these two can be swapped on and off the model without any additional pinning or magnets.

The weapons themselves were the easiest part of the build. The HMGs and the Autocannons were only two parts each, and the Super Bazookas were only three. The Tesla Cannon itself was one piece with a handful of small additional bits to add. Some mold line removal was needed, but it was no trouble.

Scale

The Linebacker is imposing. It towers over the Infantry and a Matilda II (as it should). Sadly, I don’t have a Warhammer 40,000 Brutalis Dreadnought for scale, but I think they could go toe-to-toe. The Linebackers’ verticality contrasts well against standard Bolt Action tanks. The unique silhouette adds much-needed variety on the tabletop. To the untrained eye, units on the Bolt Action table can look very same-y. Konflikt will not have that issue. Heavy Infantry look heavy, and Walkers look like they could step over a tank. I am thrilled to see Warlord lean in with unique vehicle and infantry designs for Konflikt. The Linebacker is no exception.

The Takeaway

Honestly, when I first saw the photos of the Linebacker, I wasn’t impressed. It looked bulky and lacked character. But once I actually sat down and started building the kit, I was pleasantly surprised with what Warlord had created. What I thought would be a static hunk of machinery was actually a dynamic kit with a host of options. I am truly impressed with the aggressive posing opportunity. The torso, the arms, the feet, and the legs are all on ball joints that can easily swing and rotate, allowing a great range of motion. The official images of the Linebacker all show this Walker just … standing there. The images fail to capture all the hidden dynamism with this kit. I have a feeling we will see some truly impressive Linebackers in the near future, modeled to be running and jumping across the battlefield.

The inability to swap the right arm weapons on and off is a miss, but hardly a big deal. You just need to add a pin or a magnet. The fact that all the weapon options can be fully built with no shared components is a huge win. The mold lines were extensive and frustrating. But that was somewhat expected with a kit of this size, and it was nothing that a couple of files and a sharp hobby blade couldn’t take care of.

It may sound repetitive at this point, but I am once again impressed with a new K47 plastic kit. Of the four that I’ve built, it’s all hits and no misses. Rumors are flying that we will get a massive preview of what’s to come for K47 at Warlord Games Open Day 2025, and I cannot wait to see what Warlord has up their sleeves.

Thank you to Warlord Games for providing the Linebacker Jump Walker featured in this article. The Linebacker is up for pre-order now as part of the new Konflict ’47 Starter Set for a late-September release.

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More Konflict ’47 coverage:

• Chicago Dice Builds Firefly Airborne Infantry
• Chicago Dice Builds a Vogelspinne Light Walker
• Chicago Dice Builds Stahltruppen Heavy Infantry
• Konflikt ’47 Review
• Chicago Dice Builds a Panzer IV Ausf. X Walker Tank