After having made my first purchase from Casting Room Miniatures in late fall to take advantage of their Christmas sale and liking what I saw, I placed a second order before year-end to reinforce that success. In that initial order, was a three figure pack of Norman Knights Charging. The photos on the website looked promising and my thought was these horsemen would fit in well with the Reconquista project.
Well, when the three-pack of figures arrived I was quite impressed. Terrific sculpting and the riders show great motion. They certainly look set on riding down their victims. Since three were not enough to field a complete stand, I quickly fired off a second order before the sale expired. Added into the mounted figures were a few packs of dismounted spearmen. Those look equally as nice.
After painting and basing these figures, what is my impression? To my eye, the figures are brilliant and are of no lesser quality than the mainline Wargames Foundry figures. I love 'em and would enjoy adding another stand or two into the collection.
I like these sculpts. They appear a little more dynamic than the ones from BTD. They blend together well on the base as well. (One of the issues I find sometimes is getting enough figures on the base that look like they are doing the same thing, nothing like having three chargers and two standing in a unit.) The faces also look much better than the ones CRM did for the Han Chinese. (No shellfish allergies in sight) The paint schemes look outstanding, my only suggestion would be to mix up some heraldry on the shields. These are enough to get me thinking about picking some up for my group as well.
The faces are actually quite good on these figures and the overall sculpting wrt to anatomy is much better than on some other CRM sculpts.
Good suggestion regarding adding a more varied heraldry. I thought about it but the plain red looked good to me and I opted for simple against messing up the shields. Perhaps next time, I will be more brave?
I recommend these highly! I picked up some foot too and they are excellent.
I really like these Jonathan. Great poses and you have done a splendid job on the paintwork! I agree they are some of the best Casting Room miniatures sculpts I have seen. Just a shame their Landsknechts weren't half as good!
Lovely figures Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ray!
DeleteThat's a nice looking unit.
ReplyDeleteI've some Casting Room figures, myself, and am very happy with them.
I find the CRM figures I have are a mixed lot. Some are excellent like these; some are not.
DeleteBeautiful Normans Jonathan, the overall impression is great!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them!
DeleteWonderful looking Normans Jonathan! They do indeed look fierce!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
With gritted teeth, they bear down on their enemy. Your comment is much appreciated, Christopher!
DeleteLovely looking normans /Spanish very lively!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Yes, the mounted knights will be seeing service as Spanish. Very lively, indeed!
DeleteGreat Normans Jonathan!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThey do look the part.
ReplyDeleteThey do look determined.
DeleteI like these sculpts. They appear a little more dynamic than the ones from BTD. They blend together well on the base as well. (One of the issues I find sometimes is getting enough figures on the base that look like they are doing the same thing, nothing like having three chargers and two standing in a unit.) The faces also look much better than the ones CRM did for the Han Chinese. (No shellfish allergies in sight) The paint schemes look outstanding, my only suggestion would be to mix up some heraldry on the shields. These are enough to get me thinking about picking some up for my group as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat observations, Jake!
DeleteThe faces are actually quite good on these figures and the overall sculpting wrt to anatomy is much better than on some other CRM sculpts.
Good suggestion regarding adding a more varied heraldry. I thought about it but the plain red looked good to me and I opted for simple against messing up the shields. Perhaps next time, I will be more brave?
I recommend these highly! I picked up some foot too and they are excellent.
I an not as brave, so I went with decals for mine.
DeleteWhat decals do you use for these?
DeleteIIRC it was Warflag and LittleBigMan studios
DeleteI really like these Jonathan. Great poses and you have done a splendid job on the paintwork! I agree they are some of the best Casting Room miniatures sculpts I have seen. Just a shame their Landsknechts weren't half as good!
ReplyDeleteThank you, very much, Oli! Quite right about the Landsknechts; they look anatomically a bit goofy.
DeleteVery well done! I wasn't aware of Casting Room Figures. They certainly are now on my list!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed! Don't overlook CRM. Many of the figures are quite nice.
DeleteThey look very fine, a step up from the earlier CRM figures you did. Clearly a case of careful selection of the castings to be roomed!
ReplyDeleteMuch better figures than the Renaissance range.
Delete