"Gripping Beast Plastic Late Roman Cavalry" Topic

According to an announcement on the GB FB page this new set will be available at Salute.

The kit looks interesting but I am not a big fan of the horses. Long skinny necks. Gripping Beast seems to have a historic problem with horses (which have been nicely resolved in most of the metal lines.)

I've so far resisted GB's cavalry sets for mainly that very reason; it is a major deterrent. I can't understand how such obviously misshapen models got as far as production – but then I wondered the same about the helmets in the Late Roman Infantry set that made it to the production stage with incomplete neck-guards.

Economising seems to be the priority at GB these days no matter how severely such faults might detract from the salability of the commercial product. They're just fortunate that many gamers either don't seem to notice the deformities or don't care.

got any pics that highlight the weird necks?

They're not hard to find. Try, for instance, the GB Facebook page. First though, to give you a clear idea of the extent of the distortion, have a look at some photos of real horses.

I suppose one could argue that horse anatomy has changed since the classical era, but then you'd have to back that claim up with archaeological evidence, and I don't think there's anything in the evidential record that suggests that horse necks have shrunk over the centuries.

I wonder why people are so worried about the proportions of horses, when the proportions of humans in the GB plastic sets, as with many other 28mm figures, are not realistic. All dark age warriors are apparently chunky (and in the case of the GB Vikings rather dwarf like) and middle-aged – look at the GB faces. I think we have the 'archeological evidence' for dark age warriors and as we would expect many of them to be young men it would be nice to see some. Maybe I'm not a 'horsey' collector, but I'd look at the humans first. If you can accept those then what's so bad with out of proportion horses?

I'm not at all worried; just deterred from purchasing.

I agree, and have previously commented on these boards, about the faults with the GB infantry sets, but then many of those shortcomings (pun intended) afflict 28mm wargame figures in both plastic and metal generally (except the sculptor's tendency to model faces on those of his peer group/friends).

There are many figures from numerous manufacturers and periods that, if anatomical fidelity was a concern, would make excellent 40mm dwarves.

I think though, that distortions of human anatomy have become so general for so long that the majority of gamers have adapted to them; almost, in fact, come to expect them. I also think that horse models attract the eye more readily due to their relative size, and that our tolerance of equestrian anatomical distortion isn't – yet – as high as it is for human figures. Of course, that might change if the practice becomes more widespread.

Just look at the current quality of GB metal horses which is pretty good (a real improvement over their past efforts) with their current plastic releases. Now compare GB plastic horses to Victrix or Perry plastic. Are you really prepared to stand on your point Hobhood? Sure, their are always conventions with wargaming figures. GB is a top line of figures and I think they should be able put out a decent horse in plastic. Sadly, in my opinion they don't. Which is unfortunate because some of the specific releases would work well for me. I will stick with GB metal cavalry for the time being.