New Poles -

Czapka!

I love getting new toys! Especially in unpronounceable square topped hats.

Czapka!

When I heard that RTB (Burgundy swilling cynic) had commissioned a range of Napoleonic Polish I was very interested to see what would happen. Various reasons for this interest; firstly I want some Poles and they seem to be strangely neglected, I know of various ranges but they fail to excite! Second reason is that Poles are the first range that I ever had commissioned - they were 15mm by Falcon UK, many years ago, hi Barry, not sure if they're even in production still. Thirdly RTB was using Paul Hicks to do the sculpts - Paul has come along way these last few years and I was keen to see what he would make of this range. Fourthly I want some Poles, again, - you can't capture Utitsa without them so Borodino remains curiously unbalanced.

Check out RTB's blog here. He is one of the inspirations for Marauder Moments - this very blog.      

 http://rtbatlarge.blogspot.co.uk/

Pictures nicked from RTB's site with his kind permission.

Command types; sapper and chaps with pole arms and standards.

More command types; drummers and officers.

A healthy mix of command types.

Line infantry - lots of lovely variation.

Voltigeurs - the guy on the right looks smaller than his chums.

Grenadiers - they never did make a square topped Bearskin - too lazy.

Mounted officer.

Another mounted officer.

 So, what are they like? I bought 3 battalions of 36, any less seemed an irrelevance, I'll only comment on the ones I've got, for instance I didn't get any skirmishers.

In short - I love these! They are exactly what I hoped for. The sculpts are full of character; Mr Hicks has imbued them with a sense of natural movement and some wonderful expressions. The Grenadiers look like big tough men - and they know it. The voltigeurs look like they could nip off to shoot a duck at any second - wouldn't trust them at all. The line look like they would rather be somewhere else and the officers are obviously trying to convince the line to keep walking forward to certain death to the sound of the drummers who are struggling to multi task ie walk and drum! The two mounted gents look great, one yelling his head off, the other's just too cool for school. Each has a different horse too.

The superb sculpting has been rewarded by fine casting with no flash at all on my batch. No lines or holes either.        

Size wise these fit alongside my Perry, Front Rank, Elite and Victrix stuff just fine. The Foundry ones are a little smaller but not disastrously so.  

I am no expert on Napoleonic uniforms so can't comment on the accuracy of these toys. The fact is that they look exactly how I want Poles to look and that is the most important thing for me - end of. 

Until I get these painted here are some wargames standard ones I found elsewhere. More pics of the Poles in action at http://rtbatlarge.blogspot.co.uk/

I will get a few more battalions and almost certainly the artillery & cavalry when they are released too.

Congratulations must go to RTB for having the balls to do this and to Paul Hicks for doing the job justice. If this works out we're all in for some very pretty new toys!

Czapka!