Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Frigians from Battle Valor Games

I recently purchased some models from a new company called Battle Valor Games.  They are producing 15 mm metal fantasy figures.

There are only a few races currently available, but the list of upcoming races is pretty staggering.  The traditional races (such as human, dwarf, elf, and orc) are all present, but the company also has a variety of other races including a snake race, beastmen, ratmen, and others.

Each race has a name that ends with -ians:  Orcians, Dwarvians, Elvians, etc.  The setting of the universe they are making these models for is called Legian so the names all fit with that.  A bit silly in my opinion, but if the models hold up, I don't really care what they call them.

I am very excited about the upcoming Decians (skeletons), but since they are not yet available, I thought I would get a few Frigians (Viking-esk humans) for the Decians to fight against when they become available.

I have to say I am pretty impressed.  My 15 mm experience has primarily been with sci-fi, but I do have a few DBA armies.

The variety of poses and armament options are pretty impressive.  I believe the pack of axe armed Frigians has 20 poses and the bow armed Frigians have 10 poses.  There are packs available with swords, axes, bows, double handed axes, spearmen, mounted with spear, and mounted with hand weapons.  In addition to this each force has a smallish beast unit (war hounds for the Frigians), a large infantry unit (ice trolls and giants for the Frigians), a large monster unit (war mammoth for the Frigians) and a flying unit (hippogriff riders for the Frigians).

With this variety of troops and about 20 factions on the list, this looks to be an enormous line of figures and I hope them the best as they work on bringing all these out to the market.

I ordered a pack of Frigian axemen and Frigian bowmen.  Each pack contains 35 models.  Some of the poses are not hugely different, but they are enough to give a good look of variety to any unit.  Included in each pack is also a selection of command models; a champion, a musician, and a standard bearer.

Below are some pictures of the miniatures so you can see how these look.

Frigian axemen next to a roman soldier (Essex)

Frigian axeman (right) next to a Viking (I don't know the manufacturer)

Champion  (I love the looks of this model)

Bowman (the bow seems a little short, and I'm not sure why he is standing there with both arms sticking out?)

Bowman

Bowman

Bowman

Bowman

Bowman

Axeman


Axeman

Axeman


Axeman

Sheilds (front and back)
Standard Bearer
Overall, I am happy with these guys.  They look nice and are cast well.  Not too much flash.  One of the bows was a little short (I'm guessing that was a casting issue) but everything else looks good.  Eventually, I will try my hand at painting these up for a game.

Note:  Each of the axemen has a hole in their arm.  This is where the shield goes.  If you don't want shields, I think a little putty would fix that easy enough.

I plan to get some Decians when they become available and depending on the other models, might get a few others as well.

4 comments:

  1. They do look great! Especially the champion!

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  2. Hi,
    Your history miniature on the first picture come from ESSEX range and it very usefull to see the size difference between these two manufacters. So thank you for this article.

    Stéphane

    ReplyDelete