by Richard Brooks
Unfortunately, this time around their are no buildings to review. However, there is a very nice selection of figures from Guernsey Foundry, 1549 Marview Drive, Westlake OH 44145 (216-871-4587). Actually, what I wrote in #2 above is incorrect, they are no longer Pendragon Miniatures but Gernsey Foundry. Cossacks Cossacks (Krovski's Raiders): There are 16 foot and 16 mounted Cossacks, also horses, ponies, dead cossack and dead Pony. Each of the foot matches a mounted figure, which is similar to their American Indian line of figures. The detail is extremely good, the poses are very lifelike and they are well animated. As soon as I can get an idea of what colors to paint these guys they are going to terrorize my Afghans on my new game table. I realize that they were made specifically for the SYW, but I can't think of how better to initiate these "Krovski's Raiders" with my Afghan hellions. Unfortunately, I do not know enough about Cossacks to even describe their costume accurately. So I can use a little help here, does anyone have references I can check so that I can describe them with some semblance of intelligence, I know that won't be easy, so no wisecracks. Expect to see a more detailed review sometime in the future. Below are a few of the Cossack figures available. Plains Indians Plains Indians: There are five mounted and five foot Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and another five foot and five mounted Young Braves. These Indians could, for the most part, be from almost any of the major Plains tribes. While most had some sort of distinctive dress, they were just as likely to look like one another. Nearly all the Cheyenne and most of the Young Braves could be mistaken for Sioux. Of the Young Braves only the hairdo on Running Rabbit makes him definately a Crow, but then again I have see old photographs that could call that observation into question.. The detail is amazing and the figure animation is great. Mark Copplestone deserves a rousing three cheers for these figures. After seeing his SYW Grenadiers I thought he had reached the best of the figure sculptors, but these Plains Indians are better. They should paint up the easiest and best of your figures if you are so inclined. Mark you have to get sloppy sometime soon as I am reaching the limit of complimentary adjectives. I feel certain that you will agree these are very fine figures. Just perfect for skirmish gaming. I am not going to start a new period with the Plains Indians, so if you have a start on these figures already or have other plains Indians here is your chance for 20 men and ten horses, first come first serve for the price of postage. If there is sufficient response I may break these into smaller groups. This offer is only available to subscribers of The Heliograph, not to MagWeb members--RL You could mix these 28mm beauties (from bottom of foot to eyes) with Dixon, Essex and Connoisseur, maybe even Pass of the North. They will add magic to your Plains Indians force. When you write for these tell me about all your forces-Indians, Colonials, whatever so I know how to distribute these figures and the types of figures we play with. Don't get the idea that just because I am giving these and other figures away does not mean I wouldn't like to keep them, since I now have more gaming room, but I would rather these go to someone who maybe can't afford too many figures or wants to add a few to their collection. I don't have all the figures I really want, but I can't see keeping figures I am pretty certain I will never use regardless of how good they are. And these are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Besides maybe I could get some feed back from those of you who have already received and will receive figures that I can pass on to the rest. I am sure that these and Wargames Foundry figures will be available at the Guernsey Foundry display area at Cold Wars. I will be sure to twist my arm to spend time roaming through the dealer area at Cold Wars and report back to you next issue. If you go please meet me at 5:30 at the Host's Bar on Friday afternoon. Back to The Heliograph #99 Table of Contents © Copyright 1997 by Richard Brooks. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. |