ALL72065

Somewhat confusingly, the box for this set shows only cavalry (because it is the same image used for previous cavalry sets), but as the name tells us, we find foot warriors here. The most obvious feature of this set is that every warrior has a separate weapon, and a good array of weapons are provided as shown. Although this tends to mean most of the poses must have a weapon either directly facing the mould, or else at ninety degrees to it, but it does allow a lot of mixing and matching between figure and weapon, so that is a useful advantage as well as allowing spears to be pointed directly forward. The weapons are well attached to the sprue (along much of the weapon's length, not just by a small link), so removing and trimming them is not the quickest of tasks, but they fit well into the hands, as do the shields onto the pegs on the figures, so these are well engineered and the results are good.

The figures all wear body armour - mostly mail but with some scale and padded fabric too - and most have some form of protection on the arms and legs too. The basic clothing is a tunic and trousers, except for the female warrior in the top row (Eowyn by any chance?), who wears a long gown and perhaps a coat too. Most have helmets which are probably more Viking than anything else in style, but several also have a mail coif, and one has what amounts to a skull cap on top of his coif, which looks very odd to us, but then this is fantasy. The weapons are a mix of spears, swords, axes and maces, plus a couple of bows, and despite their strong attachment to the sprue, are not too bad to detach and look reasonable. The shields are all round, and while some appear to be bare wood, others have various geometric or animal motifs engraved on them. Some are clearly held by twin straps, and others equally clearly have a central handle, so it is unusual to see a mix of such styles in one subject.

The poses largely speak for themselves, and are not bad, helped by the flexibility that separate weapons provide. Almost all are apparently about to strike as they raise their weapon in the air, so these are very much a combat group rather than anything else. The archer holding his bow horizontally is an interesting choice too. The detail is considerable on all of these complex figures, and has been nicely done. No two are dressed alike, so you get a good feel of individuals equipping themselves based on their personal wealth and taste, and doubtless placed together in a mass with much mixing of weapons, these would make an attractive hoard to go with their mounted brethren. And like their mounted brethren, the look of these figures is very much that of the warriors of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings!