distributed by 19th Century Miniatures, Coopersville, MI.

Old Glory hopes to be able to utter Caesar's famous "Veni, vedi, vici" line about their foray into 15mm Ancients. They begin with the release of two lines covering the Great Man's wars, 'Marian Romans" (7 bags) and "Gauls/Kelts/British" (9 bags). I received GL3 "Gaulic Warrior in Tunic."

Upon opening the bag, I felt like the famous dictator must have then. Look at the hordes of them! The 50 foot ($12.50) contained 13 poses, by my count. About half carry oval shields, the rest the hexagonal "coffin" type. Roughly two-thirds feature swept back hair, doubtless meant to be painted as "limed," the rest wear helmets. About a third are armed with spears or javelins, the rest swing swords of many "different strokes."

The figures are cleanly cast with minimal flash. The warriors hold their weapons in positions that will make it easy to paint -- no shields partially concealing faces, or any other such tricky poses you sometimes see. I'd rate their height as comparable to Essex 15mm foot -- they would mix well in a unit. Not that you NEED to mix lines, since the sheer number of poses is Old Glory's greatest selling point, in my opinion. Their Gaulic line also contains three bags of cavalry, four of foot, one chariots, and one labeled "Command."

From their catalog I picked up at Cold Wars, they plan on charging bare-chested into 15mm Ancients. They list as future releases: Macedonians, Persians, Indians, Carthaginians, Parthians, Numidians, Libyans, Germans, Dark Age types like Normans, Vikings and Saxons, and several other varieties of Romans. It looks like they eventually plan on Biblical era troops, too.

Old Glory recent agreement with 19th Century Miniatures means these figures will be produced and distributed by this Great Lakes area company. Contact them at (616) 837-7045, FAX (616) 837-8568. Their address is 346 River St., Coopersville, MI 49404.

I will end my "Commentaries" on these Gaulic figures with a hearty recommendation ... pick some up!