Orion SLAVIC WARRIORS Slavs Figures Miniatures 1/72 Soldiers Army Slavonic

Today we talk about.... the Slavic Warriors from Orion, a very important faction from the Dark Ages, with plenty of uses. But is this a great set that will fill a huge hole in history, or rather 48 scruffy looking men that leaves a lot to desire? Discover it in this review!

The Box

Not bad, with the typical Orion "website" style, and the box art is not my favourite style, but it is correct, and I have seen worse. On the back, we see the painted figures, while normally Orion showed the unpainted figures, and this is a change for the better (probably following Zvezda's steps). In the middle we see a sort of sacred "totem", which looking at the box seems that it is included (I did think that myself when I bought them!) but no, you don't get it. This makes me think I have to get some clay and make it. (Edit; as pointed by Umpapa, the idol is the famous Zbruch Idol, more info here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbruch_Idol)

                        The Sprues

SCULPTING - 7.0 out of 10

They are nicely sculpted, as Orion nearly always does. The anatomical proportions are good too. The problem comes with the moulding, as some examples have lots of flash, which is very difficult to remove due to the nature of the plastic used, and because instead of a big blob of flash, it is small sparks of flash all round the figures, which makes it very tedious to remove. 

Some examples don't have any flash (mine is quite good), but you can see in the pics how it is quite present, and by my experience with other Orion sets, if you get a bad one it diminishes the overall quality of the set.

The spears are pretty bad, I have seen worse (like the Early Byzantine infantry), and at least you will have the temptation of replacing the spear in one of the poses.

Finally, the third man on the first pic, I think it is depicting a slinger (no, he isn't a Indian waving a freshly cut head of hair). He has a very unusual pose, and the sling doesn't seem a sling, nor does it seem that it contains a rock. You probably be better off cutting it off and replacing it by another weapon. This is strange as Orion has done previously other slingers finely. It seems the sculptor couldn't make his mind if make a slinger or a another axeman, and finally he got the pose of the axeman with something similar to a sling.

The poses in general are not too conventional, which is very welcome when you have a lot of soldier sets.



HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10 out of 10

Orion has done it's homework. They represent perfectly the Slavic Warriors. I couldn't be happier with the representation, it is exactly as I expected them to be, and they fit all historical depictions.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 8.0

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

If we extract some square shields, and change a bit the heads/hats, you can have a generic european/eastern european standard army from 400 a.c. until 1000 a.c.

With these figures you will have excellent figures for Germanic factions from the time of the Fall of the Roman Empire. You could transform them into early Baltic Tribes, use some as early Lithuanians, and of course as from all early Slav kingdoms. Some of the figures such as the bowmen could fit as peasants for Medieval Russian and Scandinavian kingdoms.

FUNNESS - 6.0

"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 just boring. So I feel that this is an important point when deciding if you buy this set"

They represent very well the subject, but they are completely lacking a leader. They don't have any fun addition, everything is a bit flat, you would need to make conversions and take figures from other sets to represent heroes, priests, leaders, etc.

At least the figures seems fierce, and the man with the big club is very nice.

The archer standing, seems, at least from my first impression of the artwork, to be a woman. She(?)is slimmer than the rest, and she has long hair, but looking again, and as Orion doesn't say anything, probably she isn't.

WARGAMING VALUE - 7.5

They have a good ratio of different men, skirmishers, archers, slingers, axemen, men that could be used as Berserkers... but it lacks unique figures, or simply a repeated example of leader, sub-leader, musician, etc.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.0 

"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"


Their average cost is 10 € shipped, which is fine for a quite new set depicting a completely new subject. It is a fair price really.





Please make a click on the eBay listings to help support this site. If you plan on buying them, I will be very glad if you could do it through this ad, as it will help me improve these reviews by buying a new camera, new sets and paints etc:) .
PAINTING AND GLUEING - 5.0

The plastic is good both to paint and to glue, but you will have to completely remove all flash, and you could think it's not a big deal, but believe me, when you paint you need a figure completely flashless, and to achieve that it will be complicated. 



OVERALL VALORATION - 8.8

This is a notable set, and depicting a subject so important, and never made as it is, for me it is absolutely a must. I bought them right when they appeared from eBay. Some collectors if they are not too much interested in this period will not consider them so important, but I believe that in this world of miniatures so centered in famous subjects, having completely new factions not made before and that are not easily represented with other existing sets, the choice of Orion is praiseworthy.


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 to Miniaturas Aconcagua for the permission to use his image of these excellent painted soldiers;

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

Today we talk about... Zvezda 1/72 Zaporozhian Cossacks 8064

Welcome to the second entry of this blog. This time we'll change the era and we'll speak of a 16th century set, the Zvezda Zaporozhian Cossacks.

Here is the box artwork;

Box art is good and absolutely shows everything you get (11 poses), which is very welcome in this world of box arts that show you great figures that you never get. The quality of the drawing is very high as in all Zvezda boxes.

And also as usual in Zvezda, on the back we find a clear picture of everything given, and superbly painted, that functions as a great guide when it comes to painting. 

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 7.5 out of 10

Nothing to complain about here. The detail could be a bit sharper everywhere, it´s  kind of a bit "diffuse", if compared to other manufacturers such as Caesar Miniatures, but everything is well done. 

About the height, they are a bit taller than   they should be for 1/72, but it´s not very important. 

What is a bit worse, is that the mounted figures are as tall as the dismounted figures, this in the same set, which is a bit of common problem in Zvezda, where all cavalrymen seem bigger than the foot soldiers. 


HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 9.0

This set shows that it is supposed to cover from the 16th to the 18th century, this is maybe stretching it a bit ; they are better used as 17th century.

Maybe we are missing a bit more firearm weapons, but as it is a set that stretches across 3 centuries this is acceptable.

The cannon on the wagon would have to be subjected in a more sturdy way; it seems that it could snap with a single shot.

Besides this, I see a very good historical accuracy.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 3.5

They don´t score too highly in this aspect, as their clothes, weapons and haircut limits their use to just what they are, Cossacks, although they could pass for some other nomadic tribe of the same time era, like the Astrakhan Khanate, or Kazan peoples.

The cavalrymen with the lance doesn't have anything that identifies him specially as a Cossack, and could be really a russian soldier of the same era.



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"

Making  so bellicose a tribe as the cossacks means they need to have aggressive and combative poses, and these are well made here. We don´t get any "I am just passing by" pose, nor "I don´t know what to do now" pose.

The only lack here is, first, we could have a few more  poses, although thanks to removable arms you can modify slightly each pose and give them a bit more life.

The big drum is something very nice and appreciated. The three drummers  maybe are too many,  one or two  would have been probably  enough.

We are given, as always, 3 unique figures, which is hugely appreciated.  

Also we are given 9 sacks, probably of gunpowder, or maybe some smuggled goods. It is a very nice touch to fill  the wagon up a bit.

The wagon with cannon is also a very fun addition, this will give plenty of life for the dioramas and the like. 
Curiously we are not given horses to attach, so we'll have to draw them from another set, but it is not really a problem if you have a good range of other sets.

A 

WARGAMING VALUE - 7.0

Wargaming value here is not very big, as we know Zvezda tries to give you a bit of everything and you end up with few figures, so you would have to buy another set or use it along with the Orion Ukrainian Cossacks.For a wargamer maybe you'll prefer the Orion Cossacks, which are more standard and better, but you would have to also purchase their cavalry then to have a full army. 

All the same Zvezda gives you the musicians and flagbearer which Orion doesn't have.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

"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"

The average eBay price is 12 €. I was lucky to get mine from a retail shop for just 6,50 €, so that was a great price. 12 €  might seem a bit steep, but you are given 8 cavalry figures, 19 infantrymen and one wagon, and many brands will take 10 € just for 12 cavalrymen, so it´s not too bad.


PAINTING AND GLUING - 3.5

They are made with the typical Zvezda plastic, which is quite bad to glue and worse to paint, always very slippery. If you dont apply a good primer, you´ll have to apply two or three coats of paint.

About glueing, fortunately everything fits so well that glue is hardly needed. 


OVERALL VALORATION - 8.5

It is in overall a very nice set, and as with 99 % of Zvezda sets, worth having. If you are a true Cossack enthusiast, this is a must. If you want to have a nice representation of the Cossacks, this is also a must. Either way, it will probably be a good purchase, even if the Orion infantry and cavalry sets are quite nice too.

I am not specially a follower of this era,  my main interests being pre-16th century and WWII, but these were so nice and they just asked to be bought. 


PAINTED EXAMPLES

 These figures have been painted by myself.

Now, thanks to Model Maniac, a great modeller and miniature painter, his rendition of this great set;

You can see more of Model Maniac's work on his website; http://www.falconbbs.com/

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua, we can show you yet another great way of painting them!

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