So I opened my mailbox today and there was a box that I have come to recognize as the packing method for The Foundry. I was so excited I dropped most of the remaining mail in a puddle trying to get the small thin box out of my mailbox. After reading a letter from Neville Carre of the Foundry confirming that he has never seen a copy of the Rebel Yell, I am convinced that someone in between Neville and I is getting a gratis subscription to the Rebel Yell. This stops with this issue. From now on, Neville gets a brown wrapper addressed directly to him and not The Foundry. As for the figures, WOW! Two packs of the new Pirates and Buccaneers Range. There are currently 24 packs and one artillery piece in the range. I received packs Cutthroats 5: Treasure Island Characters and Cutthroats 8: Sword and Pistolmen One. In the new packaging system, there are 6-8 figures per bag in differing poses. CUT 5 contains Long John Silver, Jim (lad) Hawkins, Squire Trelawney, The Doctor, Captain Smolleif, Ben Gurin and Blind Pew. All of the figures vary in size, dress and heft and are very good representations of the characters they represent from both the original novel and various film interpretations. Long John is excellent with the empty trouser leg and Parrot on his shoulder. Blind Pew with eyes bandaged and with a cane to search out his way. Lad is about half the size of' the others and his Pistol appears the size of a carbine until compared to those carried by the other figures. Ben is very appropriately scraggily looking while Doc, Squire and the Captain are all stately fellows. As for CUT 8, there are 8 figures in this bag All are armed with a combination of weapons; sword and pistol a pair of cutlasses, a pair of pistols and two that had a hatchet instead of a sword. Most have big floppy hats that make you think pirate, but none of these figures Would be Very Out 01' place in the ECW as low class rapscallions. In fact, I can envision this particular bag Out rounding up "volunteers" for the King's army in exchange for their own continued freedom. Big earrings and large moustaches (much bigger than mine or Chuck's, moustaches that is) are the order of the day. Most are about 28mm tall which is the standard for non-juvenile, non-pygmy Foundry adult male figures. The detail on these figures IS just as wonderful as any Foundry product I've Seen. The folds are deep in the clothes, good breeding ground for washes and drybrushing techniques. There is also plenty of raised buckle and buttonwork to be addressed. There was almost no flash and I have cleaned these figures up while typing this review. Next it's out to the garage for primimg. As most of you know, I am almost exclusively a 15mm gamer for both economic and space reasons. However, I am afraid that a purchase of' Foundry's Long John Silver Deal is certain. A shame since I have never even finished my 15mm Pirates. These figures are beautiful, wildly animated and can serve in a variety of roles in your armies I will try to get some photos in upcoming Rebel Yells and will have the figures at my tables at RECON 99 f' you want to take a look for yourselves. I only hope the paint jobs do them justice (another reason for me being a 15mm gamer). I think we could be in for a round of 25mm Pirates in the not too distant future, maybe for HURRICON 99. Until then, watch this space for tile continuing corruption of it perfectly happy 15mm gamer. Back to Rebel Yell No. 13 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by HMGS South 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