Mars 1/72 Imperial Mounted Arquebusiers

Continuing their series of semi-flexible plastic war-gaming figures, Mars offers this set of mounted troops, each carrying an arquebus. For those unfamiliar with the term, the arquebus (from Dutch haakbus, meaning "hook gun", or "hook tube"), is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. It is basically a very early rifle and quite effective at relatively close range against armored riders.

This set includes two sets of duplicate sprues. One contains six different horses and the other six different riders for a total of twelve figures. As you can see from the image of the raw figures, there is some flash that will have to be removed and, of course, they will need to be painted. Those who do these sorts of figures use, I believe, a lacquer primer to bite into the plastic then standard acrylics for the rest of the figure. For a painting guide, Mars offers nicely done examples on the back of the box and one could also use the box front artwork as well.

These figures are from the 30 years war and should be most welcome by war-gamers and those who enjoy building dioramas from this time period.

November 2010

My thanks to www.scale-model-kits.com for the preview set. Get yours at the link and at a discount.