Elite Miniatures
25mm Napoleonics

Figure Review

by Adam Stone

Kriegspieler's Doug Walsh of the Winged Hussar painting service takes a quick look at some of the Elite Miniatures Australia Napoleonic range.

Early War French Line.

Only recently having gotten into 25mm Napoleonic wargaming, I've been slowly building up my French army from a variety of sources. Although I freely admit that I am primarily a Dixon and Foundry fan, I have been very impressed with many of the figures from Elite that I have seen of late as a result of my figure painting work. This is very much the case for the Revolutionary/early Napoleonic French figures in bicorn that I am currently painting. The figures are of a completely different style to Foundry and Dixon, being of the tall lean type similar to the Old Glory range and newer ranges of Essex. In fact, to give the appearance of an actual unit with men of slightly different heights, all these ranges can mixed together quite nicely.

Each Elite figure type comes in a variety of poses giving units a more animated appearance, and can be in either campaign dress or dress uniforms. The poses themselves are very natural as seen in the photo below and, unlike many other ranges, can still be bought individually. This allows units to be built up from their fairly wide range and allows the collector to make figure stands into attractive mini-dioramas that look superb on the tabletop.

Individually, flash on Elite's figures is minimal which cuts down the amount of time spent preparing figures for painting. The figure detail is deeply etched and the high relief of the surface allows for easy highlighting and painting of the equipment and faces. The white metal itself is a nice mix that is both flexible but still quite robust. One minor criticism I have with Elite is that the faces on some of the figures tend to be a bit on the lean side that can give the heads a narrow appearance and lacking detail. This appears to be a problem with only a few of the hundreds of different figures in their Napoleonic range and some of the later issues, such as Austrian Grenadiers, would rival Foundry in the attention given to the facial detail.

Also worth taking a look at is their artillery and cavalry, especially the Elite Austrian and French Heavy cavalry. The guns are superbly crafted and detailed and are amongst the cheapest (and therefore the best value for money) currently available on the market. Elite also produce an excellent range of horses that, like some of their infantry, first appear to be on the lean side. However, when the riders and saddles (which come as one piece) are fitted they are amongst the best I have seen, especially given their variety of Poses and anatomical correctness.

These figures represent excellent value for money and the fact that they are cast in Australia also keeps the prices down. So, if you are thinking of doing a Napoleonic army (without breaking the piggy-bank) I sug gest you give Nathan at Elite a ring, get hold of the catalogue and check them out for yourself.

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