A Review of M.Y. Miniatures 15mm Ancient Indian Range
I have always been interested in Eastern Native American subjects, particularly of the 18th and 19th Centuries, but recently I have been going further back in time, back to the age of the Vinland Sagas. In those sagas we hear of encounters with Skraelings, the Viking term for Indians ( probably the now extinct Beothuk ) . In my search for suitable figures, I came across a mention on The Miniatures Page about the M.Y. Miniatures line for this period. They have Vinland Vikings, Ancient Indians, and Inuits ( yes, I said Inuits! ) . Naturally I placed a small order to see how the Ancient Indians looked and if I could use them for early Mound Builders as well.
After some confusion ( I sent my payment via PayPal, but had an incomplete email address to send my payment to, but an email to the owner got the issue quickly rectified ) , my figures arrived from the U.K. I ordered one of each pack, just enough to see what all the figures looked like, but not enough to regret the purchase if I didn‘t like the figures. There are only three packs in the line, but there is enough variety within each pack to make a nice looking De Bellis Antiquitatis army. Before I detail each pack, let's give some standards about the line. Each pack comes with eight figures, ranging in height from 15mm to 17mm from the bottom of the foot to the eyes and in "heft" having a medium build ( using the Barrett Scale ) . A quick go over with an X-acto knife will clean up the little flash and the minimal mold lines. There are a variety of weapons, many cast individually for the gamer to glue on, giving the potential for even more variety.
Okay, let's start with AI1, the Warband pack. There are four different poses ( standing with arms at side, running with right arm forward, standing with both arms upraised, and standing with right arm upright in a throwing position ) , and three different weapon types ( long and short spears and clubs ) . All the figures are wearing only breechclouts, and all of the figures have their hair pulled back, two of them being adorned with feathers. Most of the poses are proportionate, but the two with the feathers in their hair seem to have legs a tad on the short side. The spear points resemble flint or chert, and the clubs are stone, which would be correct for 1000 A.D. as the Indians did not have iron weaponry at this time. There are also two bundles, almost like quivers, perhaps they represent some sort of token or relic.
AI2, the Bows pack, lacks the variety of the Warband pack, having only two poses within its eight figures ( four standing, four kneeling ) . Again, the ubiquitous breechclout is present and the hair is pulled back ( four figures having feathers within ) . All of the figures have a quiver across their backs, the four kneeling figures have an arrow notched, the four standing must have just loosed theirs on an unsuspecting Norseman. The figures are cleanly cast ( one must cut a bit of flash from the standing figures' bows ) and in the correct proportions.
The last code in the line is the Command pack ( AI3 ) . It has five figures from the previous two packs ( two from the Bows and three from the Warband ) and three leaders. The leaders are all the same pose, standing holding a spear, with feathers in their hair, but instead of the ever present breechclout, they have some sort of flax coat draped around their shoulders ( I bet there is a breechclout underneath though! ) .
Oh, I cannot forget, but within the Inuit listing I found a woolly mammoth to order, so I did! Measuring 30mm from sole to shoulder, the mammoth comes with a separate head and tusks. Okay, I do know that the mammoth is in the Archaic Age, thousands of years before the Beothuks, but I couldn't resist. Also listed with the Inuits are polar bears, a rhino ( a rhino?! ) , sleds, dogs, and even Inuits with firearms!
Okay, so now I've got you interested, you probably want to know a bit about where you could use these figures. In the DBA rules booklet, the Eastern Forest Indian list ( IV/9 ) satisfies that question. To complete a DBA army from this list, one would need nine stands of Warband ( one being the general ) and three stands of Psiloi. Buy one pack of Command, three packs of Warband, one pack of Bows, and you have your DBA army. Cost: $13.67 USD plus $4.10 USD for shipping, a total of $17.77 USD. Not too shabby!
Oh, and don't forget about the six packs of Vikings ( have to have an opponent, right? ) and the ten packs in the Inuit listings. M.Y. Miniatures also have many other ranges as well, from Ancient Egypt through the Greek War of Independence.
One could also use these figures for early Mound Builder groups such as the Adena and Hopewell, just leave out the bows please.
Let's talk about how much these figures cost, and how to order them. Standard packs run £1.50 GBP for eight foot or four mounted figures, which at the time of this writing comes out to $2.73 USD ( 34 cents a foot figure ) . Shipping to the U.S. is 30% of the order total, which on my order was only $3.55 USD. M.Y. does not have a U.S. distributor, you have to order directly from them. If you email them your order, they will send you an invoice to pay from using PayPal. You can also mail them a payment using cash or check ( in U.K. pounds ) drawn on a U.K. bank an made out to M. Yarrow, but PayPal is so much easier. Turnaround time ( once I got my payment correctly sent ) was about two weeks.
Details
M.Y. Miniatures
7 St Peters Lane
Laxton, Goole
East Yorkshire
DN14 7UA
Tel/fax ( 01430 ) 431009
link
royalistmymins@yahoo.co.uk
For more information
Mound Builders Yahoo group – link
Skraeling vs. Viking Yahoo group – groups.yahoo.com/group/Skraeling
makes an addition to his Flash Gordon collection.
