As the numbers of European settlers in North America increased the Native Americans increasingly found themselves marginalised in their own land, and when they fought back they were in time ‘punished’ by the new immigrants. The 18th century was a time of many wars between the European powers, particularly Britain and France, and these wars were echoed in their American colonies, as well as more local conflicts as both tried to increase their influence and power. Inevitably the natives got involved, and indeed they were very valuable allies in a land Europeans found hard to handle.

The Nikolai Indian range covers the period around the mid 18th century, during which the major conflict was the Seven Years War (known as the French and Indian War to English-speaking settlers of the time). By this time trade and general contact meant the Indians had adopted some aspects of European life, including some clothes and weapons. The look of these figures reflects that well, as they all wear the traditional breechcloths and leggings while the seated warriors hold the white man’s muskets. Naturally this means they also carry the powder horn, while the standing men also wear tailored shirts. The hair is still shaved apart from a small tuft at the top of the crown, which is decorated with feathers.

As the set promises to deliver a war council you can’t really ask for much more than men standing or sitting apparently in discussion, which is what we find in this set. Everyone seems fairly relaxed, with one man smoking his pipe, and it is easy to imagine this group discussing strategy or tactics. All the poses are very lifelike and entirely appropriate.

Sculpting as always is superb, with the fine detail and slender limbs making this quite beautiful figures. There is some assembly required as you might expect considering the complex seated poses, but the result is well worth the effort. There are no bases in this set (those shown above were added by us to aid painting), which is a pity as they could easily be offered as an optional extra. However in all other respects these are another great sculpting job.

Once again we have some great figures that deliver exactly what the label says. While resin is more fragile than plastic it seems to deliver great clarity for these finely sculpted figures which are always a delight to the eye.