Frontier

25mm Crimean War

by David Raybin

The recent interest in later 19th Century figures has been most notable in Franco-Prussian War offerings. Other conflicts of the era are only now getting some much needed attention. Frontier Miniatures, 629 Centennial, El Paso, TX 79912 has been busy filling the void with Austro-Prussian and Crimean War figures in 25mm. Some time ago I received their earliest Franco-Prussian figures but was somewhat disappointed. The castings were not very clean, and worse, the figures were very brittle. An arm would break if bent for even a minor conversion; quite a problem when a figure type comes only in one pose. They now appear to have corrected these matters with their Crimean figures (and with their Franco-Prussians as well - ED.). The casting is good with only a little flash on a few figures.

The Crimean line in 25mm consists of 29 figures: British, Sardinian, French, Turk and Russians. The Russians have but two types of infantry figures: one Caucasian and one line soldier. A few more poses for the Russians would be in order since one must have quite a few Russians in an army to confront the allied hosts.

The review figures included a Russian Caucasian in advancing pose. The facial detail is very good and even appears somewhat oriental, as he should. The Turk, in a fez, sports a mustache. The Sardinian is in fact a Bersaglieri with a wide brim hat decorated with cock's feathers. The British line infantry wears the early full dress jacket with winged shoulders and laced buttons. However, he sports the undress "pork pie" cap which is appropriate since most men discarded the Albert shako. The Highlander appears to be wearing the double breasted jacket which was not issued until very late in the war, long after the big field battles. However a bit of paint could turn him back into the laced jacket.

The figures are of the slightly larger 25mm variety and compare with Minifigs in size. Proportion and anatomy are fairly good; only the hands are a bit too big. The figures are now $5.50 for 8 foot or 4 cavalry.

Frontier should add figures (and poses) to the Crimean range. For example, the British light brigade lacks hussars' There is a British lancer, however, which will allow you to paint your very own Flashman. There is no French cavalry listed, but the mounted troops from the FrancoPrussian line will fit in exactly. I don't know why the Crimean conflict has been neglected for so long. Now that there are some good figures available everyone should have a chance to ride into the "valley of death" with the 600.

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