Frontier Miniatures

Redesigns Victorian Colonial Range

by Bob Beattie

It seems to me that a figure company shows dedication to its customers when it makes the effort to redesign an entire range, especially so when the original range was adequate. Such is the case with those energetic folks under the direction of Atley Turner at Frontier Miniatures, 7343 Branding Iron, Canutillo, TX 79835. They had a nice range of colonial figures covering both the Zulu War and the Sudan campaign (early and later) including natives and British. Not satisfied with work done during the infancy of the firm, they re-did the entire range to match the outstanding sculpting of the more recent releases.

The re-done figures are gems - good proportions, fine detail, and animated poses. The figures are comparable to Ral Partha and MiniFigs in size. A good example of the range is the dismounted Camel Corps figures complete with bandoliers and goggles (on helmets) firing, advancing, and lungeing. I also have seen the Egyptian infantry firing, the Highlander advancing, Fuzzy with sword and shield, and the Ansar advancing. All are excellent. My personal favorite is the Naval Brigade rating. It has every strap, belt, and button I've seen in pictures and a very nice cutlass bayonet. It is well engraved for easy painting and has the rifle at an angle that makes it easy to paint the front collar. Atley says that with the re-designed figures and the new ones in production, there are some 200 different figures available for the British conflicts alone. This includes Zulu, Boer, Sudan, and Northwest Frontier wars. I found the large boxed setsthat they offer to be a very good way to build up units with a variety of poses. The 1987 catalog lists everything and includes coupons worth $100. -

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