The combination of my work (yes, that waste of time that allows me to revert to a far more pleasing 12 year old) and the holiday season has taken its toll. I'm madly trying to catch up on my backlog of reviews so I'm going to have to be somewhat of a slacker this month. While the review material is smaller, the quality, you will find, certainly does not suffer. This issue we re going to take an exclusive look at Sash & Saber Castings, a new player on the miniatures scene out of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The company's philosophy, outlined in its catalogue, is to produce figures focused on the 'standards' of the horse and musket era: the Napoleonic Wars, the Seven Years War; and of course, the American Civil War.

The selection of ACW castings reviewed are 28M (that's 28 millimeters high from bottom of shoe to the eyes, and of medium heft--ed.) on the Barrett Scale, mixing very nicely with models from Redoubt and Wargames Foundry.

What impresses me most about these models is the wonderful sense of animation and character conveyed in the sculpting. The mix of infantry poses gives a marvelous 'lived-in' look while still maintaining a utilitarian right-shoulder-shift position. Of particular note is one fellow wiping his brow with his kepi, and another older, folically- challenged recruit who's heavily bearded and with spectacles (Add a few pounds, exchange the musket for a Big Gulp and this guy would be a spitting image of a lot of gamers I know...). All of the infantry require a little bit of standard file work to clean up but certainly nothing serious. Great stuff!

The 6 pounder artillery pieces are crisply cast with a well-defined wood grain on the carriage which will allow some good paint wash effects. Additional accoutrements such as screws, swabs, and pails are a nice touch as well. The wheels suffer from being a little out of true, but nothing that a little bending won't correct. All of the constituent parts give a nice fit which will aid final gluing and assembly. (I always hate holding flimsy castings together while my glue  sets only to find that the single good join has been between my fingers.)

The artillery crews have many of the same benefits as the infantry castings, with several characterful poses to bring life to your gun batteries. I really like the fellow with hand spike wiping his face with a handkerchief and the chap shielding his eyes from the sun as he looks for the fall of shot down-range. The crews come 10 to a pack in either kepi or soft hats. My only criticism of the range, and this may only be my own flawed perception, is that some of the figures seem somewhat short in the arms.

To make things even more compelling, the price of the figures comes out to about $1.00 per casting (sold in packs of 10 or in Regimental packs of 30, -ed.)! An absolute deal when considering some of the recent price hikes from manutacturers across 'The Pond!

All in all, Sash & Saber Castings is a superb addition to the 25mm marketplace (a 40mm range is planned to be released by owner and sculptor Chris Hughes, -ed.), and I highly recommend giving these figures a place in your miniature army.

Sash and Saber Castings
119 Dublin Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27609
919-870-5513
Christopherhnc@earthlink.net

More New Recruits and Ordnance Reviews

Sash and Saber Castings 25mm ACW Review
Cotton Jim's 15mm and 25mm Flags Review
Mark Fenlon 28mm ACW Review

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