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.  


If you have enjoyed this review and want to say thanks, the best way is to click in one of the advertisings in the blog. Every little help will be appreciated. 






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!

Zvezda VIKINGS 1/72 IX-XI AD north warriors Set 8046 norse miniatures figures Harald Hardrada

Today we review some epic miniatures, the Vikings.

A very good and correct artwork, showing the real poses made in the same set. The box art is good, but the figures inside are even better.

On the back we can see the painted soldiers (excellently, not like Mars, which is to show how not to paint them) and a brief description.  

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 9.0 out of 10

Usual Zvezda set; detail a bit diffuse everywhere, without very sharp detail, but perfectly (and when I say perfectly, is perfectly) made proportions, lifelike poses (not the plain pseudo-egyptian poses we get in HaT and similar),  and absolutely no flash at all. 

All the shields are given separate, which gives a very nice detail to figures.


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10.0

We have a perfect historical accuracy here. Maybe we should have more axemen, the chief could wear a more special and ornamented helmet and shield (horned helmets are now regarded as unhistorical by modern historians, but for those we have seen hundreds of films and other representations, to see a full set of Vikings without any horns seems strange).

Another thing is that these Vikings seem Swedish Vikings of the east, the ones that confronted the Slavs, mainly for the archer with that hat and a bit for the standard bearer, but is nice to see an approach not so directed to fight in 1066 at Stamford Bridge like other sets.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 7.0

Two or three could be used for any Dark Age barbarian/germanic faction (the skirmisher could be used as a Goth of the 3rd century to a light Medieval troop), many also could be used for Medieval kingdoms of the north like the Denmark, Norway or Sweden, or early Russian kingdoms. 

Finally, some could be used as early Angles, Saxons, Frisians or Jutes. 



FUNNESS - 8.3

"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 this set"

Vikings are always a fun theme. Maybe this are very historical, wargaming-adapted and correct Vikings, which makes them not so fun, but nevertheless we have besides the unique leader and standard bearer, a nice Berserker biting his shield, and the very interesting figure kicking a enemy, literally a figure I've never seen before, but you can be sure that Vikings bited, kicked and punched, any sort of way to defeat their enemies. 

You could say that this set is more really like a Viking Army, like those of the late Viking age, and not so much an adventurer gang of wild Vikings like those of the early Dark Ages.


WARGAMING VALUE - 10.0

Zvezda is a wargaming-concerned company, and this set gives everything a wargamer might need. There is many Vikings made, but none so useful to wargamers as this one. The leader, the standard-bearer/musician, the skirmisher and archers, etc.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.0

"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"

Not everything could be perfect in this set. The cheapest is about 8-9 GBP, and it can be more on retail shops. The question is that you are only given 41 figures, which seems a bit few, to make way for the shields that are made separate.


PAINTING AND GLUING - 5.0

Zvezda plastic is not too good to paint and glue, it will not be required glue if you don't to modify them, but painting them can be a bit tricky.


OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5

When they were released, there were existing already 4 sets of Vikings (Emhar, Orion, and Strelets have made two), of which I already owned two,  I don't like having more than one set of every faction, nevertheless , I did buy this set making it my third pack of Vikings. 

Is this the best set of Vikings? many would say yes, but my heart is still with my first set, the Strelets Vikings against Franks, but this is a very personal opinion. 

If you are a wargamer, this is your set. If you want epic and diorama usefulness, maybe the Strelets Vikings against Franks is better. 

I strongly recommend getting this set, even if you already have some of the previous sets. They are very nicely made, and although can be a bit expensive they represent very well a Viking army.

In my opinion, the Orion and Emhar sets seem to be very early Vikings, nearly more Angles than vikings in the Emhar one, and the sculpting of all the 4 previous sets are inferior in quality.


PAINTED EXAMPLES

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua, I can show you this great way of painting them!

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