Figure Review: What a Difference a Sculptor Can Make!

It‘s amazing to me the widely varying quality a company can have in its figures. Take for example the Freikorps 28 line. Some of you may remember my less than flattering review of their Skraelings figures on The Miniatures Page, so when I wanted to buy a few of their British Auxiliary Legion from their Carlist Wars range I was more than skeptical. My plan was simply to buy one of each pose just to see what these figures looked like, as I am looking for figures to recreate the 1838 Battle of the Windmill. (bonus points if you know what that is!)

The good news? These three figures are obviously not sculpted by the same person who made the Skraelings. As a matter of fact, I would say there’s a good chance the sculptor might be the same person who did the 1st Corps Mexican-American War line as the style is very similar to that line (and that to me is a good thing!). Very cleanly done (very little mold lines and no flash), with good animation and detail, and a hefty girth...we’ll call ‘em 28H on the Barrett Scale. The Brits are in “full kit”, consisting of backpack, wooden canteen, and haversack, all with the appropriate belts. Smartly dressed in a short coatee, trousers over shoes, and a round cap (think U.S. round cap worn during the Mexican-American War), all three poses are in an advancing mode. As a matter of fact, one could probably use them for Texas War of Independence figures, or mix them in with U.S. Regulars during the Mexican-American War. The kit might be a bit off, but it certainly wouldn’t be noticeable to the uneducated.

The three codes are CA51 - Standard bearer, CA52 - Advancing, and CA53 - Advancing high porte. Oh, the bad news? The fact that there are only three poses of British Auxiliary Legion in this range! I hope that Freikorps will make additional British Auxiliary Legion figures (perhaps an officer or NCO and additional infantry poses) because these are nice figures indeed. The figures cost 70 pence each (or £2.00 for three of the same pose), which is currently $1.29 U.S. each, not bad at all for a quality 28mm figure.

Because of a billing issue I had with LKM (the online source for Freikorps figures), I did not order from them. Instead, I picked the figures up from East Riding Miniatures (ERM has a line of 15mm British figures for 1820-40 I wanted to see as well). Ordering from ERM was a snap. They accept PayPal, and if you email them what you want, they will send you a PayPal invoice for the total. Send your online payment from that invoice, and that’s that! ERM responded to my initial email within 48 hours, and had my order on the way. I received it in the States (ERM is located in the United Kingdom) nine days from my original email, or just seven days from the day I sent them payment via PayPal. Shipping to the States was 20% of the order, which is a pretty decent deal. ERM also carries QRF, Platoon 20, the full Friekorps line, Bloodaxe Miniatures, Grumpy’s Miniatures, and their own range of figures.

I have not seen the rest of the Freikorps Carlist War line (which currently has 62 codes listed with more on the way), but if the rest of the range has the same quality as the British Auxiliary Legion figures, Freikorps has a hit (albeit an obscure one) on their hands!

Details

East Riding Miniatures
1 The Woodlands, Goddard Avenue
Hull, HU5 2BW, England
www.eastridingminiatures.co.uk

For more information
19th Century Conflicts in Canada Yahoo group – http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FenianRaids