GREEN JACKETS Italeri 95th Regiment Waterloo napoleon British Infantry review 1/72 Sharpe Bernard Cornwell

Today we review probably the better detailed set made ever in 1/72! the British 95th regiment or Green Jackets from Italeri;

The artwork is very good indeed. If these soldiers had a bad artwork, maybe I wouldn't have bought them. I am not an avid collector of Napoleonic era, and I just have basic knowledge about this era, so, without being able to actually see the figures (I bought them in a shop where I didn't even know if they would have soldiers) the artwork was very important. Congratulations to Mr. Rava, who makes nearly all artworks for Italeri, as this is a masterpiece.

These are the poses;

All 16 poses are repeated 3 times making 48 figures in total.

THE FIGURES - 8.0 out of 10 - (48 figures, 16 poses)

I've decided to innovate and speak separately of every aspect that conforms the figures;

Detail; Superb, wait, no, more than superb. Wonderful? no, more than that. Anyway, I can spot the triggers on the rifles, you could paint the eyes on the figures, it is just the best detailed 1/72 set I've laid my eyes on. And I have more than 10000+ 1/72 soldiers. They are, some of the few figures which have a very clear and distinguishable faces.


Poses; Very curiously, Italeri has decided to give you 3 men of each pose, 3 leaders, 3 sentinels, etc. Which is not ideal but not as bad as you could think. The poses are quite good and realistic, the only criticism is that they are very static, like if they were posing for propaganda photographs, they would look strange in a battle diorama, and they are supposed to be very fast and mobile troops who would be always on the move.

The first man in the third row deserves a special mention as probably the awkwardest Napoleonic soldier. He is holding the rifle as he would hold a baby.

The second man in the third row, is holding his rifle in a very unnatural way, as his hand reaches the end of the rifle. I doubt strongly that this is a confortable pose to fire.


Proportions; Very good, heads a bit big, but in overall quite correct. 


Execution (how the company has made the figures); simply perfect. Flash is absolutely non existant. Zones without detail are very few and perfectly tolerable.

These soldiers seem made to have their bases cut off, as they are very small and thin, which will desesperate people like me who doesn't like gluing them into big bases or dioramas, and many the fall constantly. The only solution is to glue bigger stands made cardboard or clear plastic.



HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 9.0

Besides some small errors in equipment, that as a non-expert I don't notice, these figures are generally right.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 2.0
"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

Detail is very good, so using them to make something different than what they are is strongly not recommended.


FUNNESS - 6.5

"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 point when deciding if you buy a set"

They are better than the Revell as they have many soldiers with the forage cap, which gives them a very different aspect, at least in my opinion, among so many Napoleonic soldiers which you can hardly distinguish if unpainted. 

But they lack a bit of life. They look tired. This set would be fine for a regular Napoleonic army, but not for the 95th regiment. For example, making a prone man as in the artwork would have been very appreciated. 


WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0

Many arguments said in the funness aspect comes here too. We can add there is no musician like in the Revell set.  

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 6.0

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay and online stores"

They are more or less at 11 €, which is not very good value, considering the 41 men and all the flaws mentioned. Also, two sort of "sentinels", or soldiers just forming, are unneeded in this theme.



PAINTING AND GLUING - 10.0

To paint is excellent, it is a special matte plastic, very unusual (at least my example, I have seen others that look shiny as HaT figures). Gluing is also good.


OVERALL VALORATION - 7.5

In overall, I like very much these figures. They are different than the usual Napoleonic ones, not one of those 48 forgettable-if-you-don't-paint-them soldiers. The Revell alternative is also very good, and I just prefer these for the men with the forage cap and maybe I would say a bit for the proportions.

Conclusion; Excellent attempt at sculpting, weird pose selection.

Would I recommend buying them over other alternative sets? ; Yes, but merge both and you will have the perfect representation.  


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PAINTED EXAMPLES

I haven't painted mine yet, but if you do, please send me pics to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I will include them here!

Here there is some examples painted by the MicroModels shop (although they are very well painted, for some reason you can't appreciate the faces correctly, probably due to too thick paint, don't be fooled by this pic, each figure has a very sharp and well defined face);

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

Italeri BRITISH LIGHT CAVALRY 1/72 - American War of Indepence - 1776 - nº6044

Welcome to another Italeri review, this time the British Light Cavalry, representing the 17th regiment (with the insignia of Death or Glory). 

The Box

A lively and interesting box, with the cavalry immersed in a formidable charge through a forest, although it is not the best place to charge it makes for a good artwork. 

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 7.5 out of 10

This is Italeri, a big and powerful company (well, so big and powerful as a model kit & miniature can get!) and there is absolutely no flash (or I have been very lucky, or I have yet to see flash in a Italeri set). 

The horses are very well done, very dynamic, some of the best horses I've seen. They have also poses that are not exactly the same as always, which is very welcome.

The figures have very sharp detail, even if they have the typical problem of oversized heads. The poses are active and quite realistic,  except the man with the sword (the only figure you get 2 of.) that is really doing nothing, like just speaking with a companion. The rest are really doing something and not in the same poses as always.

Besides this, we get plenty of men using their fire-arms. This is probably what I like the most of this set besides their quantity and unique figures, as always having  the cavalry just with  swords and all their fire-arms kept in their holsters is boring, and cries for modification, and transforming a sword-holding pose into a fire-arms pose is sometimes very difficult.

If they've had smaller heads, this would be nearly a 10.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 7.5

There are some minor flaws,but I am not a enthusiast of this era, and really I don't care if a holster was on the left or on the right, or if I can hardly distinguish the sash. The biggest flaw is the standard bearer, who shouldn't carry a flag, but a guidon, which can be easily fixed.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 0.5

"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

Besides cutting the logo in their hats, to make another regiment, you can hardly make anything else. You would need to cut their hats at least, and all the same the jacket is very distinctive, so if you buy them, they'll have to be what they are.



FUNNESS - 8.0

This figures are quite "alive" (as alive as can be a miniature!) with 5 unique men, which is great and very uncommon from Italeri. They are nearly all active, and the man down with the horse trying to get up is a fun addition. Sometimes you think that just Napoleonic and similar eras can't be fun sets, as the brands tends to always make the same poses, with same numbers, with zero imagination, but this a truly different set.

WARGAMING VALUE - 10

Here we have leader, musician, standard bearer, and even captain or sub-commander, which is simply perfect. We have also plenty of men with fire-arms, so you will be able to make something like two regiments, and the quantity is good, 17 figures. Just the wounded man will be unsuitable, but knowing that normally you get 12 men, that is just not losing a bonus. So a full and nice 10 for these men.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 9.5

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between any shops you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

8 GBP, which is the cheapest eBay price, is very good for 17 cavalrymen. And you can easily spot it in retail shops, so even if you are not a super-enthusiast of this period, you will be attracted to buy it.
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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 - 9.2

Just that had they smaller heads and the faces a bit more normal (they seem a bit childish) this would be a full and nice 10.0. They may be very limited to the American War and not much more, but it is a set where thought and energy have come to it, which instead of a boring typical cavalry set, it becomes special. Add a good price here, and if you are for any reason  a tiny bit interested in the period, this is recommended for your next purchase.

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua for his beautifully painted British Light Cavalry.

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!

HäT 1806 PRUSSIAN MUSKETEERS set 8083 Early Napoleonic figures miniatures 1/72 soldiers army

Here comes my first proper Napoleonic review, the Prussian Musketeers.

This is how the box looks ;

Typical Hät box where you are shown one man with very realistic finish. Not my favourite box, but in this case, one man depicts all the set except the commander, so it is fine. As with most modern HaT sets, it is not a set you'll buy for the exciting artwork.

This is what the sprues look like;

SCULPTING - 7.0 out of 10

The sculpting itself is good, everything is sharp, clearly defined, which helps a lot when it comes to painting. But, (there's always a but), the proportions of this soldiers are sort of grotesque, like a cartoon. They have big heads and big feet. In some more than others. The firing man is quite correct, whilst the man in formation is probably the worst. 

This makes  them look a bit strange when compared with other figures. One of the problems with HaT is  the many styles used. With variety of styles you can make  a lot of people happy, but when you have a big collection of soldiers you cannot but think "are these HaT figures the same species as those others?". 

Luckily, this could be worse (like in Strelets) and you can still blend them a bit with more normal figures.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10 out of 10

I am not a expert on the subject, I  just have a passion for history, with more interest in ancient times and WW2. This represents the bulk of the Prussian Army in 1806, and by what I've researched it is completely 100 % accurate. 

In my humble opinion, all post-1700 sets should have 10 or 9 out of 10 historical accuracy. There are plenty of contemporaneous sources of information, and with a good research, error should be nearly impossible. HaT in this case have done  their homework well. The only thing you could say is that not all men would have carried all their original equipment in perfect condition, but this is fine for representing some regiments at the start of the battle.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 4.5

"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

With some small modifications, you could transform them into other armies of the same period, like Saxony infantry, but in general there weren't too many armies that wore this type of hat.

FUNNESS - 5.0

"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 consideration on deciding if you buy this set"

I must say it; this is a rather dull and boring set. Ok, they represent a much needed army that covers important events and battles, but they have few poses (only 8), and of these 8, 4 of them are marching or standing there with the rifle up! I had to look twice to see the difference between some of the marching poses. This is inadequate both for wargaming and diorama making.

Some men having lost their hats, half injured, or fighting for their lives in much more dramatic poses, are really required. 





WARGAMING VALUE - 5.5

As this sets covers an important era, they are needed for the wargamer, but you are missing a unique leader, and you must make your own standard bearer, musician, etc. You should have also been given  some more men actually fighting and firing.

If there was an alternative from any other manufacturer such as Italeri, Zvezda, etc, they would be much better.



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"

You can find them on eBay for a quite good price, and also in retail shops for more or less the same. 





PAINTING AND GLUEING - 6.0

They are made with a hard and shiny plastic, a bit slippery to paint but ok to glue. 



OVERALL VALORATION - 7.5

This is a regular set, quite dull, without much to say against or in favour. If Zvezda or Italeri decided to take this subject, they would with all probability beat the HaT product by far, but as this seems unlikely, if you like to cover this era and represent these battles you'll have to get them.


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.

Thanks to sociocoop's permission, I can show you these excellently painted figures;

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!