Horn Man

The Tribal Warrior Hornblower is one of the last wave of Sons of Kronos figures. Intended for use with a warband of Tribal Warriors, the Hornblower has all of that band's regular powers - Ferocity, Thrown Weapon, Forest Warrior, Ice Warrior - and counts as being armed with Barbed Spear and Sword. In addition, he comes with the Horn of the Goddess, which bestows Magical Resistance on the Hornblower's warband. He costs a whopping 49 points, but since a Tribal Warriors warband can be as large as 13 figures, the Horn's effect can be signficant. (Rules for this figure are provided in the Sons of Kronos supplement.)

In an intelligent move not often seen in miniature packaging, this is a two-piece figure which comes in one piece. What that means is that the Horn comes attached to the bar at the bottom which fits into the slottabase, and must be removed and attached to the proper location. The reason this is smart packaging is that (a) it requires less handling at the factory, and (b) there's less chance of a missing piece.

However, the Horn also presents two minor challenges. First is the connection point. The Hornblower's right arm ends at the wrist, with the hand being molded onto the Horn piece. The pieces do not fit together - there is no socket-and-pin arrangement, just two not-quite-flat surfaces - so the user must gauge for himself how the pieces fit together. (Hint: Worry about the hand-to-wrist connection, check it from all angles to make sure you've lined it up right. The hand will end up bumping into the figure's nose, and may have a gap between mouth and Horn.)

The second challenge is at the other end of the Horn. The "business end" of the Horn is not hollow but flat with a slightly raised rim. When you remove the Horn from the base bar, you'll probably end up with a slight ridge in the middle of the Horn (even if you use flush cutters as we did). You could just paint the inside of the Horn black and hope nobody notices, or you could try very carefully removing the ridge with a narrow chisel, or you could just file or sand the whole end flat...

The Hornblower wears the usual bronze girdle (with claws, flap, and tassle), over-sized studded shoulder pad "of hardened leather or steel," and a studded steel helmet with one piece nose-guard-and-cheek-plates.

His legs are bare, with boots that have fur trim and fringed tops. The arms are also bare, except for studded bracers. In the back he wears a cape topped with fur-and-claws trim.

Despite his stats, the figure does not carry a sword. He does have a Barbed Spear, butt braced against his foot, held by his left hand.

The posing of the Hornblower - pelvis thrust forward, as if counter-balancing some great weight - gives emphasis to the Horn of the Goddess. The Horn is a simple 's'-shaped device with prominent banding, and could be painted as metal, wood, or other material.

Check the figure carefully for taps, as there are small "bits of metal" at the edges of the cape, top of the boots, and end of the modesty flap. Slight seams are visible on the Horn, shoulder pad, arm, helmet, and a portion of the cape, but are in areas that are not difficult to clean up.

The Hornblower costs 50% more than the standard Tribal Warrior, but the figures are not much different in size and weight. He is the same cost as the massive Tribal Warrior Leader, and less than the (also larger) Standardbearer. In comparison the Hornblower doesn't seem to give as much figure for the price, though he is priced as low as any individual Sons of Kronos figure.