Battle Honors EHQ sent me a number of real goodies for review. Overall I'm really more pleased than I thought I'd be. Battle Honors carries excellent AB miniatures.12 figures/horses to a pack at $4.50, 3 personalities at $3.00. These are just plain great. First, to whet my appetite, they sent me a pack of 1806 Prussians quite an assortment, from just plain dead to being shot, retiring wounded, and fallen. Besides the fact that I like the idea, these are in great poses and an especially neat touch is the bicorn being knocked off. Real nice. A good companion pack is the Prussian artillerymen -- a very realistic batch of formal gunners at work. It hasn't been a long morning for them -- yet. We also have some of the nicest Prussian hussars, all in various positions and in the mirliton. If Prussians are your passion, any of these figures will class up your act and make your troops highly presentable. All recommended. Last, we have the personalities, in this case some French marshals, Lannes, Foopay, and Quackerjack. But all kidding aside, I have to tell you that besides the excellent animation and details -- from research material I have on hand -- the little suckers look like the marshals. A terrific job. Minifigs Blackhawk sent some samples of the new Minifigs. Well, I'm real happy with these: they're still the same scale as the old figures -- that's a plus to start with. We've got grenadiers (in bearskins), elites, and fusiliers all in march attack, firing and advancing. These are like classic Minifigs but better. They are much more energetic -- the castings are the cleanest I've seen in a long time -- but the details are all there, very crisp and accurate. The only drawback is that they don't have "hangers" on the shakos. I'm sure other castings do. If this is what the new Minifigs are going to be like you'll be very pleased. These guys will fit in with anybody else's line with no problems. Love those thin bayonets, too. Front Rank Front Rank provides the more wellheeled gamer and dioramaist with some of the finest 30mm figures at $1.25 a figure, $1.80 per horse]. The latest sample I received was a charging Scots Grey being hit, in campaign uniform. A nice example of the sculptor's art with attention to all the little touches. Here is more proof that in many cases wargame figures are better sculpted than those of our snobbish brethren of the 54mm and up "Collectors" group. Also, we have three fine Russian infantrymen; officer, line grenadier, and jaeger bugler. These are all real people in uniforms, well animated and complete with all the historical accuracy anyone could want. The detail is so good that the shako hangers actually look knitted. You can't get any better than that. I'd love to see these figures painted and on the field. I don't have the time to do it, but these figures are so great that wherever they appear, they'll knock your socks off. Old Glory The summer gaming season gears up with a bunch of releases before the Big Cons, or at least stuff that I haven't seen. I've got the Old Glory Austrian cuirassiers and dragoons/chasseurs. The heavies are in a standard reserve position at the trot. There are all the standard variety of positions that you've come to expect, including the one in which the poor fellow is missing his helmet and has his head bandaged. However, Old Glory really went to town on the lights -- these guys are fully animated at the charge. They're probably more excited than any Austrian cavalry has the right to be. Oh, one of the points I particularly liked was the addition of picketing sticks strapped to the carbines. Nice touch, definitely recommended. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 9 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com