Review: Essex Byzantines

You might have seen them in the earlier battle reports, but here is the review of the 9th-11th century Byzantine force I built for my games.

The force is small and based on a few units, but I plan to expand it with more. Overall, I'm very happy with Essex Byzantines.

A few words on the company: it is a well-known manufacturer of 15mm and 25mm historical figures located in, well, Essex - southeast UK. They have exceptinal variety of armies and the price is very honest. Service is good and my items got shipped in a timely and efficient way.

Now, to the figures:

BZA01 - Byzantine: Command: Mounted General

Three figures, horseman and steed separated. Two different steeds, very well made. One, same figure for the horsemen. Seriously? They don't even look like Byzantines of that era, without armour and with a very simple helm. Armed with mace, no shield, a scabbard hanging from the side, under the cloak. Frankly speaking, I've seen better, but anyway.

BZA14 -  Byzantine: Kataphraktoi Extra Heavy Cavalry

These are not actually BZA14, since the shield is different - my figures have a kite shield, apparently not available anymore. BZA14 have a round shield. Everything else is the same.

Now I must say these miniatures are very nice - not like BZA01. They seem to respect history very well, and they have fine details and all. Again, they are four and all exactly the same. The horses have two poses, but again wonderful sculpt. Alas, the Essex website does not credit scultpors!

BZA17, BZA18 Byzantine: Skutatoi

Now the backbone of this force: the Skutatoi. These are my favourites. In every pack there are 8 pieces that are exactly the same BUT there are three different poses under different codes: BZA17, BZA18 and BZA25, so one can have some variety among the ranks. Additionally, the details on the figures allow for differentiation by colour:

BZA27 Byzantine: Varangian Guard 

These are also good: 8 figures with two poses, and fine detail. Historically realistic. Full of character, too.

They even have relief decorations on the cloak, Chinese brocade style.

All in all, Essex Byzantines are a good range and I'll be purchasing more of them. I'll probably need a command group and some archers, light cavalry and a couple more Caraphracts with different poses. Well done, Essex!

Generic fantasy Vikings (Alternative Armies Sidhe)

Got these two on eBay, together with a bunch of old Citadel miniatures. I didn't even notice these weren't Citadel, until I searched online (even though the Seller stated these were Alternative Armies Norse/Vikings).

"The Internet" tells me that these aren't actually supposed to be Vikings, but rather Sidhe, that is ancient Irish warriors opposing the monstrous Fomorians. But hey, they look enough like Vikings that somehow both me and the Seller on eBay got confused. I mean, not historical Viking, but Fantasy Viking can be a pretty broad category! Still, that explains the pointy ears of the red-haired one.

"The Internet" also tells me that these are sculpts of Bob Olley. He did quite a lot of sculpts with a very distinctive style back in the day, it seems, for many companies such as Citadel, Reaper and Ral Partha. Also, he's not the same Bob Olley who is as well a British sculptor, but working on bigger projects like lifesize statues of Stan Laurel (this one has a Wikipedia page).

The figures are from 1990, and at least one reports the author.

About these figures, I really like the detail, the bulkiness that is so typical of classic Warhammer style. And the best part are the cloaks.

I'm especially happy with the first one. The second, I was probably too lazy to finish properly. But still, it is nice.

I painted them to represent generic Fantasy Vikings, like for example Norseman mercenaries travelling to the Old World. They are handy characters both as allies and as enemies.

So I named them Olaf (after the PC of a friend) and Ivar (like the Engine Driver from the Who song).

 

Olaf Hrotkinson is the Viking every Old World's woman secretly wants. Blonde, muscular, confident and armed with a long moustaches and a thick, heavy sword. So lock your doors well, Nordlanders.

Ivar the Engine Driver had his nickname when he tried to steal a Dwarven Ironclad. From that moment on, he's always on the watch for the good chance to get rich at somebody else's expense. "A quick one, while he's away" is his motto, of course.