Thursday, May 9, 2013

Wargames Foundry eBay Deals: Normans

Hunting around for alternatives to Old Glory Normans, I found Foundry's eBay store. Foundry is under "new" management (actually the original owners have retaken control of operations), and Foundry is offloading a lot of figures at bargain prices that were sculpted and sold under the previous management as they don't match the classic range of Foundry figures. Are they as bad as Foundry thinks? A quick review after the jump.

I certainly see why the current chiefs at Foundry decided to cull some of these figures from their ranges. Poses are stiff, sizing appears to be inconsistent, and sculpting isn't quite up to the old Foundry standard. Still, with a big discount off of usual Foundry prices I think many of these figures give some of the modern ranges a run for their money. A few packs caught my eye:

Norman Characters

These were originally released as Citadel Norse figures. I quite like the mounted figure (it looks like he's wielding a club. Bishop Odo perhaps?), and the musician is unique. The rest of the figures are serviceable  and only the figure raising his shield seems a bit stiff to me.

Norman Crossbows 

These crossbows aren't particularly characterful but for the great number of ranged warriors you'll need in a Norman force, they look like they'd get the job done.

Norman Archers

Norman archers. Hardly seem like something you could screw up, and thankfully these figures all appear to be wielding their weapon correctly, with nary a squat legged pose or victim of friendly fire among them. And at around $2 a pop, they seem quite affordable.

Norman Spearmen

Another basic troop type. I dig that padded armor. Foundry also offers Norman Spearmen Advancing. These also appear to have been released as Citadel Norse.
These don't look too shabby to my eyes, but I'm only basing this off the photos, and my still nascent understanding of Norman arms and armor. What do you think? How do these old Citadel sculpts match up to modern figures?

2 comments:

  1. I bought these when Citadel released them (as Normans, not Norse - see http://www.solegends.com/citjour87a/cj87ap34af4normans-02.htm). They are excellent figures, sculpted by the Perry twins. The only issue is that they are quite small compared to current 28mm historicals but compared to the Old Glory Arthurians I am painting the same size and far better quality. Regarding the one waving his sheild, I carbed the boss off the hand and slung a kite shield on his back.

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    1. Thanks Steve! I thought the "Norse" identification in the eBay listing seemed weird, but these figures are before my time. Too bad about their size.

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