Why oh why, Victrix
Miniatures, have you gone and done this too me now? Just when I'm revelling in
the delights of building and painting Celtic warriors, in all their checky and
stripy glory, you tempt me with this!
No less than 60 Germanic warriors all sprued up in their hairy
nastiness and presented to the world in a plastic bag. Do those Victrix people
actually, for one moment, believe that I'm going to be tempted by a bag
of 60 of my absolute favourite of all time wargames figures? Well,
yes of course I am, but I have managed to limit myself to just one bag and a
load of LBMS shield transfers.
My initial plan had been to use my Germans for a Batavian Revolt army, which would allow me to add some Victrix Roman Auxiliaries to my ever growing mountain of plastic and enjoy lots of head swapping and figure conversion. At the moment, I have enough Germans for an army of Germania Magna and I've left the project there for the time being, while I concentrate on more figures for Dux Britanniarum.
The Germans are the
usual superb quality that we have grown to expect from Victrix and knock the
Warlord re-hashed Celts into a cocked hat. They have the usual casting lines
which are easily removed with a craft knife and, as usual, there are loads of
modelling choices you can make to give your warband that haphazard barbarian
look. Some of the torsos are a little neat and tidy in my opinion, looking like
they may have bought their trousers from the chino section of Cotton Traders,
but the massive choice of hairy heads makes it obvious exactly what they are
supposed to be; the deranged frenzies of the Teutoburger Wald, the nightmare of
Publius Quinctilius Varus and his Roman legions.
Perhaps my only slight gripe with these figures, is their lack of fur! I don't know why, but in my head, Germanic warriors should be covered in loads of fur. After all, they live in the Teutoburg Forest and grow up hunting wolves and bears and other furry beasts. How do you prove your bravery and skill? By hunting furry things and then you show off by wearing the hide of whatever nasty beast you have killed. Having said this, I really enjoyed using my supply of Green Stuff to fashion some additional fur trim to cloaks, just to beef up the general furriness.
I sort of wish I had
the time and inclination to build a Germanic army, or any other army for that
matter, for a set of big battle rules because a couple of hundred of these
figures based in huge warbands would look amazing on the table top. For my
Infamy! Infamy! Army I have added some figures from other manufacturers,
particularly Wargames Foundry and old Black Tree Design and they blend in together very well, but without
the bag of sixty Victrix figures I think even a large-scale skirmish force
would be well beyond my price range. They are, without doubt, both great value
and superb quality figures and just what we descendants of Arminius and Julius
Civilis have been waiting for.
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