Jinetes were Spanish light cavalry, useful for protection and skirmishing, but also capable of charging an opponent if disordered. Although lighter horsemen were not unknown in Europe in the medieval period, the origins of the jinetes were partly in the Moors in Spain, or rather in the struggle against them known as the Reconquista. In counteracting the Moorish light cavalry the jinetes had been a feature of Christian warfare long before the 16th century, but with the Reconquista complete Spain would become the major power in Europe during this century, which would now see jinetes on many battlefields such as those in the Italian Wars.

This is the first of two sets from RedBox covering this subject, and in this one nearly all the poses are carrying a spear or lance. Jinetes are often described as armed with a javelin, which does not seem like a great description of the weapons here as they are about 28 mm in length, which is just over two metres, so quite long for a javelin, but a number of sources suggest these are in fact correct, and in any case they can be cut down if desired. Here they are being held upright, levelled or in one case held nonchalantly across the shoulder. The two that are levelled are tilted downward, suggesting an attack on infantry, and all the poses seem reasonable. Clearly no one is attempting to throw these long weapons, as you would a javelin, but with the weapon to hand all the poses are fine. The last man seems to be gesticulating something, so is perhaps in charge and a nice pose too.

As always, the nature and quality of clothing and armour depended on wealth and luck, and while some jinetes wore plate or mail armour, many more wore more modest items such as a brigantine and perhaps some elements of plate on the limbs. These figures wear a really nice selection of such padded items, plus one man apparently wears a mail shirt and another a plate cuirass. Some have protection to the knees, and all wear one of a number of styles of helmet, all of which would have been in use during this period. Therefore all the armour and clothing looks good. Several also carry the characteristic heart-shaped shield, sometimes called adargo, which was a feature of the original Moorish cavalry and made of hardened leather.

The horses these men ride are unarmoured but otherwise fairly typical of their day, and all those in this set (which is shared with Set 2) look authentic. However some of the poses are wild and dreadful, with legs flying in all directions at once or else far from the normal galloping stride of a horse. Since all the men have their legs well apart and quite straight (which may also be an issue as the legs were often bent), they sit well enough on the animal but do not grip it at all so will require gluing.

While the sculpting of the horses failed to find favour with us, the men are much better. The poses are all quite good and the figures nicely proportioned. Detail too is very good, so it is easy to see what sort of clothing is being shown, and while three of the poses have a shield as part of the figure, this does not create any extra plastic. Indeed all the men are mostly very clean and free of flash, but the horses have a good deal of this, so once again a contrast in quality between men and horses.

In total then we really liked these figures, with good detail, nice poses and an authentic look. However we really did not like the horses, which are both poorly posed and very untidy in terms of extra plastic. Coupled with the Set 2, which provides some of the other weapons these men carried, these are a fair selection of jinetes armed with a spear, and worth the effort to perhaps rehorse them in order to produce an attractive late-renaissance body of horsemen.