This is the second instalment of what was originally meant to be a set of Allied General Staff to match the French Imperial General Staff set. For some reason (presumably to minimise costs and maximise profits), the set was split in two, and the Austrian and Russian figures appeared as Austrian and Russian Allied General Staff. Both sets follow the same formula, with a very small number of staff figures, and the box filled out with figures previously produced that have nothing to do with the set. All the new poses appear in the first two rows shown above, with the rest coming from Italeri's sets of Scots Greys (set 6001) and Prussian Cuirassiers (set 6007). For the purposes of this review, therefore, we shall ignore all these repeats, and recommend a visit to the reviews of the two sets mentioned above for information on these figures.
The first row shows the British figures. The officers of all armies tended to view regulations on uniform as guidelines to a greater or lesser extent, but these figures are mostly dressed as laid down. The sculptor has been rather over generous and shown the embroidery on buttonholes and sleeves as a chunky raised area where of course it would actually have no depth to it at all. The left hand mounted figure is reminiscent of the Duke of Wellington, though Italeri do not seem to make such a claim. Still he is wearing fairly typical garb for the Duke, with plain frock coat, hessian boots and a hat with feathers round the brim, though his coat is buttoned very high and the collar seems to be confused, suggesting a higher collar underneath. Also if he was Wellington then he would normally have his sword belt and sash under his coat, not on top as here.
The Prussians on the second row are much simpler, and have a late war appearance about them. The first mounted man wears a coatee with two close-set rows of buttons, and has a decoration on his left breast - possibly the Iron Cross, introduced in 1813. The other two men wear longer coats, and all have the schirmutze cap. Like the British they all sport the universal mark of an officer, the sash. Again the Prussian officer pointing could be taken as Blucher as he appeared during the 1815 campaign. Certainly none of them match the time frame of the cuirassiers in the set.
The horse supplied for the British has a pointed saddlecloth whereas we would have expected a square one, and it would seem that the Prussian one should have had a sheepskin cover. However it is the stance of the Prussian horse that looks particularly odd. We are no experts of equine posture, but that front leg does not look natural to us. Italeri cavalry sets have been noted for the fact that the riders actually grip the horses, making them very secure on the tabletop. Sadly as with the Austrian/Russian set, the riders here have an extremely wide gait which is both unnatural and means at best that they balance precariously on the animal, and at worse that they cannot be persuaded to stay mounted at all. Compare it with that of the cavalrymen in the set - fine if they are to ride elephants, but not for horses.
As with the first set, these figures are very tall (the figure of 26mm relates just to the command figures), but in general the sculpting is fine. Good detail and not too much flash. One curiosity is that one of the Scots Greys is larger in this set than in the Scots Greys set. Why this might be we do not know. Only including six figures to cover the commanders of two major armies cannot be seen as anywhere near adequate, however, and so this set is just as much of a disappointment as the first.