So, the 2nd Steppe Warriors and Minotaurs arrived today (more about the Minotaurs another day - suffice it to say, a very loud SQUEEEEEEEEE! was heard from the Pickstock household)
Showed the Steppe Warriors to She Who Must Be Obeyed, and she was very positive, quite impressed even. "You're going to love painting these!" Abso-bloody-lutely!
Okay, the pictures. I've changed my picture hosting service - so no more being gouged by Photobucket, but I'm still getting used to it, so please, bear with me. They're not the best photos, I was in a bit of a rush. As per people on Youtube and the like - I have no affiliation to DDS or Red Box, this is me talking honestly, calling them how I see them.
First up, the horses. The same as the previous set - 2 of the 'heavy' sprue, and 2 of the 'lighter' sprue, in pale blue this time. Just as nice.
The Riders - like the previous set, there are lots of extras on the sprues, extra shields, quivers, bow cases, saddle bags, swords and spears for the ring hands.
All of the parts of this set have good definition in things like armour and weapons, the poses are realistic and the horse poses are lovely (to my mind, always a mark of a good set) and the figures look like they are actually riding the horses. In fact these are so nice, I'm thinking of having a tinker with some of the Red Box
War of the Roses figures to see if these new mounts will work with them. (love the figures but the horses are a bit Meh!)
Really like these, they're good representations of the
Rohirrim as per the film. I have it on good authority that this set represents a "royal cavalry squad". Hmmmm - I'm not sure that that is the feeling I get from these on looking at them initially. There is nothing that screams 'royal troops' - but to be honest that's not really a problem. They're as nice as the first set, and will mix and match without any issues.
I'm using mine for Dragon Rampant, as usual, and one box will work out as two
eoreds - one of 6 warriors and one of 6 horse archers.
There is a commonly held belief that the riders of Rohan were mounted Vikings, but Tolkien himself saw them as more Gothic/Dark Ages and I think you could slip these into an Ostrogoth or Vandal army no problem, maybe change the shields. They're also compatible with figures from the under-rated MiniArt set
Germanic Warriors - a few of whom are going to end up as the Men of Westfold Vale under Erkenbrand.
Hope this helps.