The Purchase: One pack of Fantassin’s new UN-74: Wellington and Staff. The pack contains four figures with mounts. The Wellington figure is a single piece casting, the others are separate horse and rider.

First Impressions: The first thing I notice is a great pose - an aide with one hand on the saddle just about to mount. Next I see the horses are good but have a lot of flash that needs cleaning up. Especially on the lower ends of the legs, there are lots of burrs and bumps that need to be cleaned up with a knife and file. This is unusual in my experience with Fantassin. I like the Wellington figure’s face - from this it is easy to see why they called him “Nosey.” I decide to prime white and then wash with brown ink. This makes the details leap to the eye and I’m looking forward to getting the base colors on. I’m just sorry Wellington is always such a boring figure - easy to paint but would it have killed him to wear some lace?

The Thigh Bone’s Connected to the Hip Bone: Anatomy in the Fantassin line is usually pretty good. Occasionally the lower legs can get thin leading to what one reader referred to as figures with rickets. Fortunately, there’s none of that here. The only real beef I have is that Wellington’s hands are small - I think because they are in fists, but this is not too noticeable.

In terms of the horses, I have not done an extensive comparison to Professor Wortley Axe’s Proportional Horse but they look pretty good. The necks are long enough, the heads in proper relation. The legs might be a bit short, but that might just be me.

Beware of Scrambled Eggs: Unfortunately there were a few places where the details tended to break down, and become very hard to decipher. The face of the mounting officer, for example. There is a lot of texture on his right cheek. Is this a sideburn? Flash / mold lines? The harness of the horses was incomplete. If you can paint a straight line on a curved surface, it’s certainly no problem. But why sculpt the crupper and not the strap running down the chest to between the front legs?

One other note - the mounting aide will eventually be based directly next to his horse, which means all the detail I attempted to add in to his jacket will never be seen. Not a bad thing perhaps, but something to think about if you decide to add this set to your collection.

God Is In. The Details: In terms of the equipment and uniform details, I can’t imagine getting Wellington wrong - bicorn and long blue coat. The aides all seem to have realistic uniforms and proper equipment.

The Verdict: There are certainly some minor drawbacks to these figures. However, the mixture of uniforms and poses, especially the mounting aide, the relatively good horses, and the overall look of the completed figures earn this a B+.

Paint By Numbers (My Paint Choices): Scarlet jackets - Colour Party Tunic Red; Blue jackets - Vallejo Dark Blue; Pants - Ceramcoat Lt. Ivory over Vallejo Sky Gray base; Flesh - Games Workshop Dwarf Flesh / Vallejo Sunny Skin / Vallejo Ivory; Saddles and reins - Vallejo Red Leather; Officer’s sashes - Model Master British Crimson.

Note: I am currently teaching myself to do more shadowing and highlighting. I think the photos here are good enough for the reader to distinguish faults due to the sculpt, versus faults due to the paint job.

Click on a thumbnail to see an image full size.

[Home] [15mm World] [Reviews Home] [How To] [Beginners Guide] [Gamer's World] [Spanner & The Yank] [Points of View] [The Annex] [Links] [Say Howdy] [Corporate Schill] [Rules Directory]