Although all wars cause casualties, and each is a personal and family tragedy, it is natural that such casualty figures are quite uncommon in general figure sets, yet after a major battle the field would be covered with perhaps thousands of dead and injured – it is likely that some tens of thousands were killed or wounded in the Celtic relief force that unsuccessfully attempted to aid Alesia in 52 BCE. It is useful therefore that some manufacturers make sets such as this, concentrating solely on such casualties, so that customers can buy as many or as few as they need, and it is an always timely reminder of the ugly reality of warfare in any age.

In this resin set we have eight figures, all in different poses, and all lying on the ground. Many are in the traditional and perfectly valid pose of lying on their back, with arms in various directions or perhaps clutching some abdominal wound, but for us the three stand-out poses are the first three in the top row. These men are all on their side, although one is almost face-down, and are particularly effective at portraying men who are still alive but in agony. Although harder to sculpt and mould than simple prostrate men, these were well worth the effort and perhaps have more of an impact than the apparently lifeless poses of the rest of the set.

The average Celtic warrior would have worn a tunic, trousers and shoes, although they might well have partly or even completely stripped off for battle. Only the wealthiest (or a lucky looter or ex-mercenary) would have had any form of armour – perhaps a mail shirt and/or a helmet. Five of these eight figures are simply dressed, but three have mail shirts, which is quite a high proportion (although this would vary depending on the time period). Nevertheless all the clothing and armour looks authentic. Four have a helmet, which again is quite generous for some eras, but again the various styles are all appropriate. Two have a plume and one has ‘wings’ and a form of crest, so these would be particularly expensive and exotic, and therefore rare, so if you were to use several of this set to litter a battlefield you would probably want to trim many of these helmets to get much simpler and more likely examples. One man also seems to be wearing a torc.

The sculpting of these figures cannot in any way be criticised. The proportions and all the detail is first rate, with every crease and muscle being flawlessly realised, and doubtless these would look terrific painted. That rather leaves us with nothing more to say, except that there is no flash anywhere (although as resin figures this would be easy to sweep away anyway).

Our bottom row shows the accessories or detritus that might go with these figures. The various shield designs and shapes are all valid for the Celts, and all have been perfectly detailed on both faces so could be laid either way up. Our thoughts on the assortment of helmets are much the same as those on the figures themselves; very nicely done and entirely accurate, but with so many crests etc. they would be relatively unusual on a battlefield. These very delicate items have the ear flaps and the cavity for the head (which steel plastic moulds could not easily produce), so they look great, but are certainly quite fiddly to handle. Finally there are some spears, swords and a couple of axes – all nicely done and all in metal.

With much lower production costs and therefore much lower sales required to break even, less glamorous subjects such as this are an ideal choice for resin figure production. This set is extremely well made, properly researched and attractively presented – indeed our photos probably do it less justice than the artwork – so as an addition to the many Celt/Gaul figure sets already available from other manufacturers this is highly recommended.