Native Americans. From Russia.

As you will have seen, our rulebooks and website include images of 54mm models made by the Russian company Tehnolog.  Even though the people at Tehnolog were happy to give us permission to use their models, I personally still know very little about them.  That said, I was recently able to pick up a set of their figures that I hadn't previously seen available - this bunch:

Tehnolog's "Sci Fi Indians"

As seems to be the way with Tehnolog (with one or two exceptions) these guys come as a bundle of five and are all one-piece castings.  They are obviously inspired by Hollywood's "injuns" from less politically-correct times, with a slight modern twist.



Braves

These two braves are the most conventional figures in the set.  Armed with tomahawks, they're obvious close combat fighters but I reckon their shields might just give them the defence they need to get eye-to-eye with their enemy.  They're joined by, surprisingly given the theme, a single archer.

Missing something?

And as you can see from the above, he's accompanied by a comrade packing some more serious firepower.  Now, the idea of a native American with a space-age machinegun might bother some.  Not me.  I think he's great.  What bothers me is that the archer is missing an arrow.  He's clearly posed holding something in his left hand, and the bow is curved like it's under strain, but nope, he's completely arrowless.  Once you see it, you can't unsee it.  It's one of those things that'll have to be fixed in the painting stage, somehow.  In game terms, I wonder if the archer might make a good scout.  The other guy, well, he's got a big machine gun so I wouldn't be surprised to see him with rapid fire and/or heavy weapon.  Last of all, we've got the chief.

The Chief - front and back

This man means business.  One of the coolest details about him is the thing on his back with the little hose connected to the gun on his belt.  I reckon this has to be some sort of stolen alien technology, meaning he was tough enough to go and get it in the first place!  In my book he's a commander who's useful at long range and up close.  And I reckon that gizmo on his back maybe projects some sort of disruption field that makes him hard to hit and/or provides some impressive armour.

Size comparison - Warhammer figure on the left, Star Wars Command on the right.  Brave rested on a 50mm base.

Honestly, I love these guys.  The arrowless archer annoys me, but the rest more than make up for it.  You could field an all-native team or mix these in with other humans to form a cool ragtag bunch.  I paid US$10 including shipping for these and I am very pleased with them for that price.  They have that chunky look to them that may not be to everyone's tastes but I quite like it. Painted pics and maybe even a battle report to follow.

It's been a while!

Yeah, sorry about that.  The day job has been taking over a bit recently and while it's good to be busy, my other projects have had to take a bit of a back seat but here I am and with plenty on my hobby table to keep me occupied.

Firstly, a confession.  Whether I've turned to the dark side or taken my first steps into a larger world, I'm not sure, but I've only gone and spent my hard-earned money in Games Workshop!  In fairness, the new version of Warhammer is so far proving to be a lot of fun (prompting this review from yours truly) and right now, my hobby desk looks like this:

Also this week, something of a modern-day holy grail arrived at my door.  This:

As I have said before, these figures are great for games of Laserblade and Alien Worlds and just as we all thought the toy line had died (thanks to an over-confidence from Hasbro that the Emperor himself would have found a bit unfounded) this set emerged.  Whether it was meant to be released or whether it made it's way to the UK by accident after the line was cancelled, I don't know.  Fun figures though and that's what counts.  Laserblade stats for Jabba and Co. coming soon!

Lastly, I have to express my thanks to Thor Shiel, Army Men collector extraordinaire, for kindly taking the time to review Laserblade on his blog.  You can find his review here.  I am, as ever, grateful for any feedback I receive and it is all the more satisfying when that feedback is positive.  I will take all of Thor's thoughts on board - watch for special rules updates here and on the main site in the near future!