Review: Conquest Games Plastic Norman Cavalry and Infantry

As promised, here are some product reviews to alleviate the boredom of waiting for me to paint dozens of similar figures. 

A selection of assembled foot models. I only recently restrained myself from sticking on the shields before painting: it makes the whole process less fiddly.

Today I'm reviewing the plastic offerings from Conquest Games. I'm reviewing them together because most of the bits are interchangeable with each other but not other kits. Conquest games have abandoned the traditional arm with shoulder gluing onto the torso in favour of shoulders moulded to the torso, and having the arm stick on at the elbow. Whilst this could be construed as a crude marketing ploy, it does eliminate the awkward shoulder join line that plagues many plastic sets, instead leaving a more natural gap at the sleeve.

Cavalry models assembled, banner and musician shown

 I've not included pictures of the boxes and sprues because you can find those pretty much anywhere, in terms of content, you get 15 knights (10 in metal armour) and command frame or 44 infantry (10 in metal) with two command frames, depending on the box for about £20. Very good value.

The horses have 3 heads, 3 left halves and 3 right halves, all of which can be mixed, giving 27 combinations.

The models themselves are easy to assemble and take paint very well, and the fact that I like these models and recommend them to all wargamers looking for troops from the 10th-12th century. This recommendation should be born in mind as my next paragraph consists solely of complaints.

Selection of painted cav, armoured and unarmoured.

The models come with a single sprue of bases that are a mix of single and multibases (ugh)*. ALL of the models have swords in scabbards attached, even the unarmoured infantry who have no business owning such an expensive piece of equipment. I cannot understand why this design decision was made. Finally, the knights box features flat shields only, while the infantry have mostly bosses: yet more evidence of a plot to get people to buy both boxes to get full sets.

In conclusion, buy them and complain about it on the internet.

You get 3 tunic chaps and 2 gambsons per box, in addition to the mailed fellows.

In 1200 point challenge news, I have done over half of the infantry, forgotten to count some of the knights last time, and made a dent in the slingers. My totals stand at 22/40 foot, 11/30 horse, and 4/20 archers. On track, I think, for goal-reaching.

I forgot to mention that there are two casualty figures in the infantry box and one in the knights box. They're very characterful.

 Finally, I can announce another battle report is on the horizon. A warhammering acquaintance was bemoaning the lack of opponents for his Dwarves, whereupon I remembered the vast hordes of chaos left over from my teenage years. We're set for a bargin-basement End Times on Saturday, in which I am including my Normans as auxiliaries, plus unpainted command figures because Warhammer is like that. Huzzah!

Dice for the dice god!