Late Roman Infantry from Gripping Beast

     Not new, I know, but new to my workbench. These have been tempting me since they first came out. I have always had a soft-spot in my heart for Late Roman/Early Byzantine troops and these hit that spot dead-on. They also stoked the smoldering coals of my interest in Post-Roman Britain, the last vestiges of Romano-Celtic culture desperately trying to stave off the dark tide of ignorant pagan Saxons (yes, I am a fan of doomed causes). So now they are on the workbench getting painted, but that is an issue for a later post, today we look at the figures themselves.

 

the box, the artwork is clear and provides painting ideas without 

getting too "artsy" like the boxes from Fireforge

 

the contents; a painting guide, a sprue of bases, two command sprues,

 and eight sprues of regular troops

 

command sprue Side A 

the standard-bearer/musician seems a bit dull

 

command side B 

the centurion is quite vigorous on the other hand

  

facial details are very good

 

the troops, side A

I have to say that I wasn't thrilled that 40% of my force was archers

 

the troops, side B 

 animation and proportion of the figures are excellent

 

 

the choice of spears and sword arms is good, the level of detail is superb

 

the faces are good

 (I know that the silly pillbox hat is historical but NONE of my troops will be seen wearing it!)

 

the draping of the clothing is good, 

deep enough to ease painting without being excessive 

the hands and faces are properly proportioned, 

some that plastics seem to get right far more often than metal figures

     An excellent set, I would have preferred that one of the archers was made so as to allow him to be built as a spearman or a light skirmish infantryman but I can work around that easily enough. They are toward the high end of plastics pricing but still well below almost any metal figure in this scale. The uniforms are accurate and there is the nice touch of the applique work is lightly outlined to ease painting. I find them a worthwhile investment and will probably buy another box.