A Review on Fireforge Games' new 'Foot Sergeants'

On Friday I recieved a package from Italy sent to me by Francesco from Fireforge Games in order to do a small review about their newest release. So who Iam to deny the request :-) ?
As always you can find the german version over on GW-Fanworld.net. As I already did a Review on their 'Mounted Sergeants' in German I think I'll soon translate that one and release it here too.

Releasing the 'Foot Sergeants' there are finally some footsloggers in plastics available from Fireforge Games.

The box contains:

• 2 Sprues including the bases used for their in-house ruleset 'Deus Vult' i.e 8x 60x40mm and 12x 20x20mm
  
• 6 Sprues containing all in all 48 Miniatures, weapon options, shields and seperate heads

The individual sprues contain the following:

• 8 torsi with cast on feet
• 8 shields with separate arms
• 10 separate heads with slight differences
• 4 swords in scabbard
• 2 arms holding swords
• 2 arms holding axes
• 2 arms holding maces
• 3 arms holding a crossbow with separate left arm
• 1 single crossbow including the appropiate arms
• 6 arms holding spears

On the first look I realised the absence of a corresponding command sprue. Following this there's no possibility to build a proper command unit nor unitleaders at leasts.

Looking at the miniatures you'll find almost no flash but crisp details and clearly defined details. Unfortunately (at least to me) the poses are a bit too dynamic for building units making ready for battle or awaiting the enemies charge. So you'll have almost only real fighting frontline troopers without making heavy conversions. For me as a fan of knobby miniatures the feet seem a bit to meagre but I think this is credited to historical correctness. All in all I think that's up to evrybodys personal taste.

The weapon options, shields and heads make a solid impression, though the spear tips aren't casted that accurately. The faces are well modelled too but a little more diversion in their expressions would have been nice. This way they all look a bit unemotional.

Assembling the miniature for the review was quite easily done. A little bit of cleaning up is necessary but in comparison to some other plastics on the market it's realy simple. Realy positive are the arms fitting exactly on the appendant surfaces. While assembling the miniatures you should always keep in mind to glue on the shield after painting the miniature as you'll do you no favour trying to paint the areas covered by the shield.

Because of the crisp casting painting was a real joy. Only the fabric wrapped around the guy's head is a little flat and has no real recesses so I had to paint on the highlights somewhat free-hand.

Some shots for scale comparison:

1. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Perry Miniatures "Crusader Range"
2. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Gripping Beast "Norman"
3. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Musketeer Miniatures "Late Roman"
4. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Gripping Beast plastics "Late Saxon"
5. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Crusader Miniatures "Norman"
6. Fireforge "Foot Sergeant" - Westwind Miniatures "Early Saxon" 

As you can see from the pics the 'Foot Sergeants' lie well in the middle field of 25-28mm scale and will mix up quite well with other manufacturers I think.

Conclusion:
Buying the box you'll realy get a lot of miniatures with a big bunch of weapon options. On the other hand Fireforge Games are charging a bit more than usual for historical plastics as you have to pay something around 0,72€ per miniature. As I mentioned above the lack of a command sprue set me up a bit but as Francesco told me over on gw-fanworld the box is made in view of the two boxes of heavy infantry (Teutonic infantry and tamplar infantry) to be released soon, from which you should be able to build some unitleaders if need should arise.
What I don't realy like too, are the miniatures only wearing light armour, no mail armour, mail hauberks or at least completely unarmoured infantry only wearing tunics. Keeping in mind the projected price of the box I expected a bit more.
On the other hand you're getting a lot of universally deployable miniatures for warfare during the middle ages.
All in all I think it's a nice box that can compete with other companies historical plastics on the market or even leaving some well behind in terms of quality and options included.