Mongol Camel Riders

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I dropped in at Simtac the other day, and on my way out the door, Steve Dinsmore made sure that I took with me a handful of these figures.

The camel really captures the right "look" - long legs striding, that silly camel expression on its face, and the saddlecloth drapes nicely. This is a one-humped camel, with a thick cloth over its hump, straps on front, rear and belly, and reins. There's an object of some kind hanging off the left side of the riding blanket - looks too thick for a scabbard, so I suppose it's probably a tall basket or blanket roll.

Roughly 40% of my sample camels had flash between fore or hind legs - fortunately, this is light flash that easily knocks off when you run a sharp knife over it. Minor seam visible along top of camel.

Bowman has arrow ready to fly. He's wearing a thigh-length coat of mail, belted, with scabbard, rectangular "briefcase," and quiver hanging from it. The arms are sleeved under the mail, and the hands look gloved to me though you could paint them ungloved if you like. Wears pants, footgear. Has distinctive "Mongolian" fur hat, with pointed fur flap.

Watch the back of the right leg and/or back/bottom of quiver - on some figures, there are nubs left that you'll want to cut away. Might need to trim end of bow. Minor seam visible on part of hat, arm, and quiver.

There's no indication where to mount the rider - presumably, the top of the hump? If so, one leg fits tightly to the camel, but the rider's other leg hangs into space a bit (and can't be bent without also bending the scabbard - but I don't know enough about Mongols to know if the leg should be bent).

All in all, these figures look pretty cool to me. Hadn't been thinking of getting into Mongols, but now I'm tempted...