More Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr from Warlord Games!

Warlord recently announced the release of several new 28mm metal sets meant to compliment their Plastic Landwehr released last month.

You’ve eagerly grabbed our new plastic Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr with both hands so you’ll be delighted to see that we’re releasing more metal miniatures to support them! First up are these two mounted Landwehr officers. Utilising our Figure Head system (TM) of separate heads they’ll give you plenty of options to lead your brave boys in blue into battle.

Both of the officers will fit either horse and their heads are interchangeable and repositionable too.

Ok so the idea of plastic for the bulk of your army and then the 'characters' in metal is a good one and makes a lot of sense from many angles, I get it and support it. The set is priced at GBP 6.00 for two mounted figures which I think is fair these days for top quality metal. All good so far, however I really don't like these sculpts! No if, but's or maybe's here, the first figure, with the sword down, reminds me of Dolph Lundgren, he looks like he must weigh about 300lbs, all muscle, and is probably as wide as he is tall, the horse is a bit 'cart horsey' more something I would expect from a GW fantasy range rather than a historical one. The other figure with sword raised looks like his head has been slammed between two blocks of ice, at least from the pic it seems to be abnormally thin, like a throw back to the old Hinchliffe casting of the 70's, and the horse, well it look like a real butt clenching pose, maybe it has had one of those fabled pikes shoved somewhere where the sun don't shine, again I don't know whether this is just the camera angle but if so then someone needs to take a lesson in miniature photography quick otherwise this set misses the mark.

With EBob's horses available for licence there really is no excuse today for 28mm horses that are less than perfect these day's, and these are definitely less than perfect for what they are supposed to be.

and what about those 'Ironing Boards' they each have or were they meant to be scabbards? Something I might expect from Renegade in a moment of madness but surely they could do better here.

I bought the reason for the issues with the plastic set but I am really disappointed with these metals, there is really no excuse as to why they aren't sculpted to the highest standard, 'cartoony' is the phrase that comes to mind, sorry to say but I will give these a pass and wait to see if Perry can do better next year. Don't get me wrong on the evidence of these sculpts the 'talent' is there, it just seems to have been misdirected in this set.

And, of course, you’ll be wanting a few casualties to act as as markers in your games of Black Powder or to add a bit more flavour to your regimental bases…

This pack contains ten random casualties. Also included are four 50mm steel pikes and 6 separate muskets. This will allow you to portray your casualties in many different ways!

So what about these, 10 figures for GBP10.00 and these are what I would call 'low demand' items so I think that is very reasonable, no complaints at all. I think these are much better than the mounted set. Still, the poses look a bit 'stiff' and as I have said before I think really the pike is a waste of time from a gaming perspective. I am not sure how this would fit into a march attack battalion, though would look good in a more static firing line, but then again WG tout them as markers which is fine I think. So Ok, not wow, but worth picking up a pack from several points of view.

For completeness sake I might as well include here the one other metal set from WG, though not part of this release, it was announced along with the plastic set last month.

This pack contains 3 great models than can transform your Landwehr battalion into a mini diorama, or simply give you a differing choice of command.

It has two choices of officer, randomly supplied, and a "twinned" figure of a wounded ensign being supported by his Drummer comrade..includes flagpole and finial
Stirring stuff indeed!

This set contains 2 metal models, representing three command. The officer model is randomly supplied from the two shown. It also contains metal standard pole and finials. Models supplied unpainted. The paper flag is not included.

Though this set doesn't really fit in with the march attack poses I like them, I think very well sculpted, nice natural poses,  and something different, something you have not seen a million times before or is part of every other manufacturers range.

So a definite thumbs up on this one, you should grab it, you will find somewhere to fit it in I am sure.

Overall a mixed bag, one set a clear thumbs down, one a clear thumbs up and the other, worth having if not inspiring.

Report card reads 'flashes of genius but could do better'!