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I ordered a bag of Chariot miniatures from Campaign Game Miniatures in Barcelona. Like so many lines, they come 8 per bag, all one pose. Like so many of the figures reviewed here, these suffer an attack of what Spanner & the Yank call “gnome-itis.” They posit that sculptors shorten the uninteresting legs in order to have more room for a more detailed torso. Whatever the cause, we have here an infantryman with legs that are far too small. How he passed the medical exam will remain a mystery.
It is also clear that the sculptor made other aesthetic choices. The detail here is good, very clean. It looks to me as if the goal was a level of detail that was easy to paint and produce. Hence the straight lines, and selection of a pose that gives a lot of visibility to the figure. As a result all of the details are nicely defined and easy to distinguish. The musket, for example, is very simple - not overly detailed, but he’s clearly not carrying a pointed tube like some brands, especially Essex. As a result, I found this figure easy to paint quickly.
The proportions here are mixed. Again, the “gnome-itis” means we have large hands and small feet. But otherwise each half of the body is in good proportion to itself. The most disappointing proportion is the face. It’s a bit hard to tell from the photos that this poor fellow’s face is shaped very much like a beak. Consequently his mouth looks like he’s planting a kiss on his mistress’ cheek. If you don’t think this will bother you (and it would be hard to see in a gaming situation) then it will certainly be a good enough face.
The pose here is perhaps a bit static, but it is at least realistic. After all, advancing carrying a musket is not an overly dynamic pose in any case.
Overall, then this is not a bad choice. Especially if you are more interested in painting an army quickly than in getting a lot of extra detail and variety of poses.
Page Last Updated: May 1, 2005
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