Ral Partha

25mm NW Frontier

reviewed by Ian Knight

In view of past eulogies I've heaped on the Ral Partha Colonial range in these pages, it hardly seems necessary to say that with their North West Frontier range -they've done it again! At the time of writing, this range is still evolving, but already consists of a wide selection of Indian Army troops, infantry, artillery, Gurkhas and the inevitable 'Bengal lancer', a selection of British Highlanders, and a very fierce array of Pathans. The quality of workmanship is once again extraordinary, the Pathans, particularly, realised with a sharpness of detail and character that will stretch your painting skills to the limit. Every fold of the turban or cummabund, every dagger in the waist belt, every rivet on the jezail is perfectly picked out, and yet still the figures remain accurately proportioned, not overburdened with detail to the detriment of the over-all effect. Top marks in my book go to a very nice Gurkha, wielding the famous kukri -considering that this deadly knife has been at least in part responsible for the Gurkha's sinister fame, it's surprising noone has thought to model it in 25mm before, but once again, it's Ral Partha who came up with the goods!

My only complaints this time are on historical grounds; it's some indication of this firm's approach that the Highlanders include an excellent command group, officer, piper and sergeant (distinguished by the sword bayonet on his Martini-Henry!), but all are slightly marred as they are represented in scarlet doublets, with plumes and pugrees on their sunhelmets. Although such dress was official wear in the 1870s and 1880s - indeed, it was worn into action at Tel- el-Kebir in Egypt in 1882 - it was very seldom worn on the Frontier, where the doublet gave way to a plainer khaki frock, and the sunhelmet was rendered less conspicuous by a canvas khaki cover. This, however, is only a minor winge about a range which has already set a standard other manufacturers will find hard to follow.

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