Showing posts with label jerusalem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jerusalem. Show all posts
Thursday, October 24, 2013
First Entry update; Arab Cavalry
I have added a new pic to the first entry, showing another way of painting the Italeri Arab Cavalry by Miniaturas Aconcagua, giving them a very dark and modern movie appearance;
Friday, May 24, 2013
HEBREW WARRIORS - Caesar Miniatures, Biblical Era 1/72 Figures Miniatures
We proceed onto the third review, this time, a Caesar set, the polifacetic Hebrew Warriors
Here is the box artwork;
This is what there is inside the small plastic bag;
SCULPTING - 9.0 out of 10
Nobody beats Caesar on details -you should know that!- and although there is a couple of weird poses or anatomical movements, it gets a quite high valoration. The height is strictly 1/72, which is very appreciated in these times were nearly all miniatures are "growing".
All the details are fantastically clear and sharp. You don't have to guess what they are wearing or were the sleeve starts or whatever, you can clearly see it.
The man advancing whilst jumping, (the second last figure in the pic above) is holding a weapon, but none of the weapons given seem to give a good impression.
One could say that the musculature in the archer seems exaggerated .They hadn´t put a foot in a gym in all their lives, so I am ok with that.
HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 6.0
Don´t get me wrong, there isn't anything like "that is a greek helmet" " or a hebrew warrior never carried thasort of shield", but the set tries to capture the first wars of the Hebrews till the revolts against the Romans. That is about 3000 years, and is tiny bit too much. Some are soldiers, other civilians or if you prefer rebels.
Each figure should be really analyzed. The leader depicts Samson (why him and not King Solomon or King David escapes me), which fought only with the jawbone of a donkey and killed thousands of Philistines (quite impressive, for a donkey jawbone). The female figure seem to represent Delilah, although you are given 4 of them. The figure with seashell also seems to represent a historical character, and you could hypothesize that the old man hurling a stone is indeed Moses, although in my opinion he is a rebel Hebrew throwing a tile at the Romans as in the Ben Hur film.
Oddly, you are not given 2 unique figures as normally with Caesar, instead we are given two palace guards, the only regular troops we can spot here.
Another ahistorical thing, is even if the figures seem to fit better with being rebel Hebrews, they are given bronze age weapons and not a single spear besides the two palace guards, so here you will need to have a good repertoir of weapons to make them a realistic Masada army.
Finally, the man with the mace seem a arab bedouin, which doesn´t seem to fit here.
If we leave out a couple of figures, this set will be better used as Hebrew Rebels during Vespasian or Titus' reign.
ARMY REPRESENTATION - 9.0
"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"
This set gives you endless possibilities about making Middle East armies, at least half of them could be very useful for making Assyrian auxiliaries,or you could use them to make Phoenicians, Mitanni light infantry, Babylonian auxiliaries, and many, many more. Both archers could be used for hundreds of armies and civilizations.
FUNNESS - 8.0
"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important slant on deciding if you buy this set"
This set is strong on funness. The hero Samson, the man hurling a stone, the man with the seashell, makes if a bit strange set a quite fun one.
Although one could say also that the theme could give even more fun figures, like a King Solomon, a Herodes, prophets, or many more.
WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0
You are given a leader, which is always nice, but for the rest the heterogenic nature of this set doesn't work very well with wargaming. I mean, a stone hurlers unit wouldn't be useful, although it will be excellent for a diorama.
You should be given more ordinary troops like the two palace guards, in different poses, etc.
PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.9
"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"
I had to pay at that moment (some years ago) a whooping 12 € for them (at that moment, the most expensive 1/72 figures that were available), as usually in retail stores, they are very expensive. But in eBay, they are quite affordable, like 10 € or less, and having the quality they have, it is worth the money.
Search for Caesar Hebrew Warriors on eBay here
PAINTING AND GLUING - 8.5
As can be said for all Caesar, the plastic is a sort of rubber that is rough and not slippery.Even if still a bit too dark maybe, a lighter grey would have been better. They can be nicely glued. A bad thing is that they come many times with bent lances or bent bases,( which in theory can be solved with hot water ), although many return to their bad poses again.
OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5
It is overall a very nice set, and as with 99 % of Caesar sets, worth having.
PAINTED EXAMPLES
"Your figures could appear here if you want! just send me a email with the pictures to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I´ll gladly include them"
These figures have been painted by myself.
Here is the box artwork;
Why Caesar have chosen this semi-renacentist style for their boxes? beats me. I have been actually convinced not to buy some Caesar sets just by the awful box art.
But in this case, they could have given me a blank box and I would have bought them anyway. The only positive point about the box art is that makes Caesar Miniatures recognizable.
The box art shows many poses which you don't get, and gives you the sensation that you are buying a bunch of rebels with just spears and slings.
Nobody beats Caesar on details -you should know that!- and although there is a couple of weird poses or anatomical movements, it gets a quite high valoration. The height is strictly 1/72, which is very appreciated in these times were nearly all miniatures are "growing".
All the details are fantastically clear and sharp. You don't have to guess what they are wearing or were the sleeve starts or whatever, you can clearly see it.
The man advancing whilst jumping, (the second last figure in the pic above) is holding a weapon, but none of the weapons given seem to give a good impression.
One could say that the musculature in the archer seems exaggerated .They hadn´t put a foot in a gym in all their lives, so I am ok with that.
HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 6.0
Don´t get me wrong, there isn't anything like "that is a greek helmet" " or a hebrew warrior never carried thasort of shield", but the set tries to capture the first wars of the Hebrews till the revolts against the Romans. That is about 3000 years, and is tiny bit too much. Some are soldiers, other civilians or if you prefer rebels.
Each figure should be really analyzed. The leader depicts Samson (why him and not King Solomon or King David escapes me), which fought only with the jawbone of a donkey and killed thousands of Philistines (quite impressive, for a donkey jawbone). The female figure seem to represent Delilah, although you are given 4 of them. The figure with seashell also seems to represent a historical character, and you could hypothesize that the old man hurling a stone is indeed Moses, although in my opinion he is a rebel Hebrew throwing a tile at the Romans as in the Ben Hur film.
Oddly, you are not given 2 unique figures as normally with Caesar, instead we are given two palace guards, the only regular troops we can spot here.
Another ahistorical thing, is even if the figures seem to fit better with being rebel Hebrews, they are given bronze age weapons and not a single spear besides the two palace guards, so here you will need to have a good repertoir of weapons to make them a realistic Masada army.
Finally, the man with the mace seem a arab bedouin, which doesn´t seem to fit here.
If we leave out a couple of figures, this set will be better used as Hebrew Rebels during Vespasian or Titus' reign.
ARMY REPRESENTATION - 9.0
"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"
This set gives you endless possibilities about making Middle East armies, at least half of them could be very useful for making Assyrian auxiliaries,or you could use them to make Phoenicians, Mitanni light infantry, Babylonian auxiliaries, and many, many more. Both archers could be used for hundreds of armies and civilizations.
FUNNESS - 8.0
"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important slant on deciding if you buy this set"
This set is strong on funness. The hero Samson, the man hurling a stone, the man with the seashell, makes if a bit strange set a quite fun one.
Although one could say also that the theme could give even more fun figures, like a King Solomon, a Herodes, prophets, or many more.
WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0
You are given a leader, which is always nice, but for the rest the heterogenic nature of this set doesn't work very well with wargaming. I mean, a stone hurlers unit wouldn't be useful, although it will be excellent for a diorama.
You should be given more ordinary troops like the two palace guards, in different poses, etc.
PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.9
"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"
I had to pay at that moment (some years ago) a whooping 12 € for them (at that moment, the most expensive 1/72 figures that were available), as usually in retail stores, they are very expensive. But in eBay, they are quite affordable, like 10 € or less, and having the quality they have, it is worth the money.
Search for Caesar Hebrew Warriors on eBay here
PAINTING AND GLUING - 8.5
As can be said for all Caesar, the plastic is a sort of rubber that is rough and not slippery.Even if still a bit too dark maybe, a lighter grey would have been better. They can be nicely glued. A bad thing is that they come many times with bent lances or bent bases,( which in theory can be solved with hot water ), although many return to their bad poses again.
OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5
It is overall a very nice set, and as with 99 % of Caesar sets, worth having.
PAINTED EXAMPLES
"Your figures could appear here if you want! just send me a email with the pictures to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I´ll gladly include them"
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Today we talk about... ITALERI ARAB WARRIORS 1/72 (SARACEN CAVALRY) nº6126
In this first entry of the blog, we´ll speak of a relatively new set of soldiers. It is the Italeri Arab Warriors, which really seems a set to correctly represent the artwork of the Italeri Saracen Warriors (originally made by Esci).
First we´ll take a look at the box artwork;
A nice box which I think compells you to buy the set, which is basically it's objective. If you are the type of Diogenes syndrom guy like me that collects boxes, it is a fine example.
For once, the artwork depicts what you get. But I miss the three cavalrymen in the background, which would have been great additions and we don't get them, specially the flagbearer, but this can be solved with a bit of modification.
Once open, this is what we see;
SCULPTING - 7.8 out of 10
We see here a very nice level of detail. Everything is crisp and this helps a lot with the painting. The only flaw is that in some points, detail is not present for moulding reasons, making the man with lance to have a big blob behind his shield, and the horse riding archer doesn´t really have a face.
These will be really a 8.8, but they have the typical Italeri problem (and a problem that is spreading to all the manufacturers in our days); if they claim to be 1/72, they are rather tall and big. A dismounted man is as tall as a Esci mounted soldier, that is much more accurate in height. This is clearly made to make more easy the painting, moulding,and to see better the details... but it is nonetheless wrong, and if you want to place this cavalry along with men of Esci or other makes, they seem a bit weird.
On the good side, there absolutely no flash at all, and as is usual with Italeri, their quality controls makes it nearly impossible to find a set with flash or moulding defects.
HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 8.2
This set is labeled as "Arab Warriors", not even cavalry, to fit the highest possible range. But the inclusion of the second figure in the row, which clearly wants to depict Saladin, establishes that these figures have to be Fatimid Cavalry of the period 1163 ad to 1193 ad.
Some figures seem to wear a rather elaborate kind of clothes and armour, and they seem to represent warriors of a later period.
The horse riding archer, which represents a Turkic mercenary, has a quite weird helmet, which is probably a adaptation of the sculptor which really is very sloppy. You can compare with the artwork to see how wrong it is.
As with nearly all sets, the given lance is a bit too short. I can´t say they were not used, but the most probable thing is that you wouldn´t use a charging lance that barely sticks past your horse.
ARMY REPRESENTATION - 8.5
These soldiers have a good level of "Army representation", that is, how many kingdoms and armies you can represent using them.
If we forgot the "Saladin" figures, this could represent many Arab armies from the 1100 to the 1400, like the Abbasid Caliphate, the Kwarizmian Empire (if we discard the camel rider), Ayyubid Sultanate, the Mamluk sultanate and the various arab kingdoms there were in Tunisia.
The exception to this is the camel rider, which could be used from the rise of Islam to the colonial wars with the Mahdi in Sudan!.
FUNNESS - 7.8
Yes, I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important statistic on deciding if you buy this set.
They are nicely done with active and combative poses, something that is greatly appreciated. But we find one big problem; we are clearly given 3 Saladins, which makes you have to discard two of the figures, and the Saladin we get, is one that is a bit dull.
The best one is clearly the camel rider, as it is a very under-represented aspect of the Arab armies.
They could have a higher score if they gave you some more poses.
Another fun aspect, is that you get some of the figures that were pictured in the Italeri reissue of the Esci set, the Saracen Warriors;
Both mounted archers in the first picture are exactly reproduced in this set. Clearly a lot of people complained (like myself!) that we were shown something we didn´t get at all, and you can only thank Italeri for making them. In the second pic we can see two non produced,as yet, figures, but at least we´ve got the horse, which has been also perfectly reproduced in this set.
We can only wait until we will get some of the other infantrymen!
WARGAMING VALUE - 7.6
We lack a bit some poses here, like a flagbearer, a musician, etc. We are really given very distinct types of troops - a Turkic mercenary, a camel rider, a lancer and a swordsmen who look like heavy cavalry or the Sultan´s guard, and finally 3 leaders which can only be Saladin.
There are too few poses to make a good overall Arab Cavalry, and they are too distinct to represent a single body, so you´ll have to complement them (not too easy with their height!) with others or make some modification to them to get them up to high wargaming level.
PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5
The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay. This appears to be between 8 GBP-10 €-12 $, which seems somewhat high. You are given 15 figures, but you nearly have to discard two of them. In my case I bought my set at a retail store at a quite good price (8 €), which makes them better.
PAINTING AND GLUEING - 9.5
They are made with a semi-hard plastic, which is really adequate for painting them. It also works well with glue. The details are sharp everywhere, and this makes painting them a very easy task.
OVERALL VALORATION - 8.0
Even if they have some flaws, these are the best Arab Cavalry that there are out there, and knowing that nearly all the manufacturers have already made one (we are only waiting for what Zvezda could do, which probably will be better, giving you more poses, a unique leader, and more men, but it doesn't seem it is on their line of future releases, at least at the moment), I strongly advise you to buy this set.
Finally, as will be done with all sets, I show you examples of the painted figures so you can fully appreciate their possibilities;
These have been painted by myself. Note that the 4th figure is a home made soldier, the 5th is a conversion using a "Saladin", and the flag bearer is another conversion of a Saladin figure (in the last pic).
24/10/2013; I update my first entry with another way of painting them, this time by Miniaturas Aconcagua (click on the pic to enlarge);
Make any comment! We´ll love to read it! If you want to share your painted version of this set, send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com with the subject "Painted Soldiers" and I will include them in this post.
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!
First we´ll take a look at the box artwork;
A nice box which I think compells you to buy the set, which is basically it's objective. If you are the type of Diogenes syndrom guy like me that collects boxes, it is a fine example.
For once, the artwork depicts what you get. But I miss the three cavalrymen in the background, which would have been great additions and we don't get them, specially the flagbearer, but this can be solved with a bit of modification.
Once open, this is what we see;
SCULPTING - 7.8 out of 10
We see here a very nice level of detail. Everything is crisp and this helps a lot with the painting. The only flaw is that in some points, detail is not present for moulding reasons, making the man with lance to have a big blob behind his shield, and the horse riding archer doesn´t really have a face.
These will be really a 8.8, but they have the typical Italeri problem (and a problem that is spreading to all the manufacturers in our days); if they claim to be 1/72, they are rather tall and big. A dismounted man is as tall as a Esci mounted soldier, that is much more accurate in height. This is clearly made to make more easy the painting, moulding,and to see better the details... but it is nonetheless wrong, and if you want to place this cavalry along with men of Esci or other makes, they seem a bit weird.
On the good side, there absolutely no flash at all, and as is usual with Italeri, their quality controls makes it nearly impossible to find a set with flash or moulding defects.
HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 8.2
This set is labeled as "Arab Warriors", not even cavalry, to fit the highest possible range. But the inclusion of the second figure in the row, which clearly wants to depict Saladin, establishes that these figures have to be Fatimid Cavalry of the period 1163 ad to 1193 ad.
Some figures seem to wear a rather elaborate kind of clothes and armour, and they seem to represent warriors of a later period.
The horse riding archer, which represents a Turkic mercenary, has a quite weird helmet, which is probably a adaptation of the sculptor which really is very sloppy. You can compare with the artwork to see how wrong it is.
As with nearly all sets, the given lance is a bit too short. I can´t say they were not used, but the most probable thing is that you wouldn´t use a charging lance that barely sticks past your horse.
ARMY REPRESENTATION - 8.5
These soldiers have a good level of "Army representation", that is, how many kingdoms and armies you can represent using them.
If we forgot the "Saladin" figures, this could represent many Arab armies from the 1100 to the 1400, like the Abbasid Caliphate, the Kwarizmian Empire (if we discard the camel rider), Ayyubid Sultanate, the Mamluk sultanate and the various arab kingdoms there were in Tunisia.
The exception to this is the camel rider, which could be used from the rise of Islam to the colonial wars with the Mahdi in Sudan!.
FUNNESS - 7.8
Yes, I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important statistic on deciding if you buy this set.
They are nicely done with active and combative poses, something that is greatly appreciated. But we find one big problem; we are clearly given 3 Saladins, which makes you have to discard two of the figures, and the Saladin we get, is one that is a bit dull.
The best one is clearly the camel rider, as it is a very under-represented aspect of the Arab armies.
They could have a higher score if they gave you some more poses.
Another fun aspect, is that you get some of the figures that were pictured in the Italeri reissue of the Esci set, the Saracen Warriors;
Both mounted archers in the first picture are exactly reproduced in this set. Clearly a lot of people complained (like myself!) that we were shown something we didn´t get at all, and you can only thank Italeri for making them. In the second pic we can see two non produced,as yet, figures, but at least we´ve got the horse, which has been also perfectly reproduced in this set.
We can only wait until we will get some of the other infantrymen!
WARGAMING VALUE - 7.6
We lack a bit some poses here, like a flagbearer, a musician, etc. We are really given very distinct types of troops - a Turkic mercenary, a camel rider, a lancer and a swordsmen who look like heavy cavalry or the Sultan´s guard, and finally 3 leaders which can only be Saladin.
There are too few poses to make a good overall Arab Cavalry, and they are too distinct to represent a single body, so you´ll have to complement them (not too easy with their height!) with others or make some modification to them to get them up to high wargaming level.
PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5
The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay. This appears to be between 8 GBP-10 €-12 $, which seems somewhat high. You are given 15 figures, but you nearly have to discard two of them. In my case I bought my set at a retail store at a quite good price (8 €), which makes them better.
PAINTING AND GLUEING - 9.5
They are made with a semi-hard plastic, which is really adequate for painting them. It also works well with glue. The details are sharp everywhere, and this makes painting them a very easy task.
OVERALL VALORATION - 8.0
Even if they have some flaws, these are the best Arab Cavalry that there are out there, and knowing that nearly all the manufacturers have already made one (we are only waiting for what Zvezda could do, which probably will be better, giving you more poses, a unique leader, and more men, but it doesn't seem it is on their line of future releases, at least at the moment), I strongly advise you to buy this set.
Finally, as will be done with all sets, I show you examples of the painted figures so you can fully appreciate their possibilities;
These have been painted by myself. Note that the 4th figure is a home made soldier, the 5th is a conversion using a "Saladin", and the flag bearer is another conversion of a Saladin figure (in the last pic).
24/10/2013; I update my first entry with another way of painting them, this time by Miniaturas Aconcagua (click on the pic to enlarge);
Make any comment! We´ll love to read it! If you want to share your painted version of this set, send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com with the subject "Painted Soldiers" and I will include them in this post.
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!
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