Books such as The Last of the Mohicans have helped to raise the profile of the various natives that fought for Britain or France in what is known in North America as the French and Indian War (1754-63). Their skills were of great service to their European employers, and they were widely feared in battle. Nikolai have a set of these warriors in battle poses, but this one presents us with a more relaxed selection of figures.

These figures are wearing typical dress of the time, with the simple loincloth and ornamentation expanded with items of European origin - one man even wears a white-man's military coat. The other obvious European influence is the musket that they all carry, but they have also armed themselves with the more traditional weapons of knives and clubs. This mixture of cultures is entirely authentic, and since no items of uniform were worn they could just as easily serve on either side in the American conflicts of that period.

As usual the sculpting on these figures is faultless, with fantastic detail and not a hint of flash. Use is made of the more flexible mould to avoid excess material, but to achieve the really great poses some of the men have a separate arm and the man leaning on his musket has the latter as a separate piece also. The poses are great both in design and realisation, and these figures cry out for a diorama of a camp scene. One man is carrying a rabbit, so he may be doing nothing more military than heading for the pot.

These resin figures are beautiful, although they only come in black (which is annoying as they cannot be photographed for this site unpainted!) and they are missing bases, requiring the customer to supply their own as we have done here. Still once they are painted the detail can be really appreciated, and they would grace any diorama of this increasingly popular period.