Citadel

25mm Dark Ages

by Todd Fisher

Citadel has released a new line of 25mm figures covering the late Dark Ages. This line is further divided into Sub-ranges. These asof noware: the Vikings, the Normans, Barbarian Raiders, and a little later, the Feudals. The figure are only available as of now through Games Workshop, in England. The price is £ 2.50 for six infantry oy two mounted figures.

Unless the reader is familiar with the Citadel Fantasy line, these figures are going to have some unexpected features. The figures come with separate bases and shields that you snap on. This allows for a wide variety of shield patterns as well as being able to mount them on multiple figure stands. The mounted figures' stands have to be cut out with an Exacto knife; a process I found to be a pain. To be fair I am a traditionalist, and am reluctant to accept anything new. As a result I thought that the new style of stand was a lot of "Sound and fury, significant of nothing". For it seemed that for every good point gained, one was lost. While you could quickly mount figures for a game, much of the flexibility of stand decoration is lost. While you could quickly convert an army into individual skirmish figures, the required stands needed are too bulky looking for my taste.

The sculpting of the figures is about the industry average, with the later sculpted figures showing more detail. The poses are lively and diverse enough to give your army a good mix of poses. The historical detail is good with no glaring errors. However, there are several figures wielding clubs while having swords strapped to their sides. Also it seems that most every other man using a non-sword weapon has a sword as a secondary weapon.

While Citadel is not the first to do this, and probably will not be the last, this is historical nonsense! A sword was a very expensive piece of equipment and much prized. Few if any non-nobles could afford one. Most spearmen or bowmen might have a dagger as a secondary weapon, and count themselves lucky. The reason that spears were developed in the first place was to reduce the amount of metal needed for a weapon. Please miniature manufacturers, stop insulting our historical intelligence and quit arming men-at-arms as Fantasy adventurers,

But besides the aforementioned annoyance, I recommend this line of figures. It will serve well to fill out armies, or to create a new one. Also it is a good way to do both army and skirmish level gameswith half thefigures, for those of us on a budget.

The lines are available from Games Workshop Ltd., Chewton Street, Hilltop, Eastwood, Notts., England NG1 63HY.

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