In some ways this is a repeat of the earlier Siege of Orleans battleset from Italeri, in that it is themed on the Hundred Years war and has a castle as its centrepiece. In fact there were many sieges during this prolonged conflict, both of castles and towns, so figures and accessories for such a battle make good sense. Unfortunately the pool of figures from which Italeri had to draw was not the best, as we shall see. The figure sets included in this product are:
Both the sets of French and English soldiers have some issues, but they are very nicely made and have proved popular over the years. However, neither are particularly appropriate for a siege, and that is especially true of the cavalry. When assaulting or defending a castle there was little employment for mounted men most of the time, but even the foot figures here are without any poses that look like they are assaulting some wall or defending from one. Items such as the stakes for the defence of the archers from cavalry make no sense here, so this is very much a case of use what you have for the period rather than worry unduly about the supposed purpose of the product as a whole.
There are no accessories in this box apart from the biggest one of all - the castle. This is laser-cut MDF like most of the rest of the range, and of a fair size, at least compared to the Airfix model, though naturally many castles were rather bigger than this. Of particular note is the square towers, which would suggest quite an old design as by the Hundred Years War the advantages of round towers meant they were the preferred design. The castle has no keep either, and basically is more castle-like than a particularly realistic model, but for a fun battleset that is perhaps not so important.
As always, the back of the box contains many images of a fully made up diorama. Again as always, this uses many elements that are not in the box such as a large base and various terrain features. The enclosed instructions include some guidance on how some of the accessories could be made. The diorama is very nice, but the builder has had to resort to the usual device when modelling a siege and has the defenders obligingly opening the gates and coming outside to do battle with the attackers, horsemen and all. It looks appealing, but has little to do with most sieges of the period.
As you may be able to sense, this is not one of our favourites in the Italeri range. Although the castle is a very nice model, there are a lot of compromises here, giving it more of a play feel compared to some of the others in the series. Still for those who enjoyed the old Airfix Sherwood Castle set, or at least dreamed of owning it many years ago, this is the modern equivalent, and is certainly a big improvement on that ancestor.