We have reviewed sets of animals before, and have always come up against the same problem – what is there to say? No uniforms to examine in minute detail, no weapons to evaluate and no un-military poses to criticise. In this case all the animals are at least very useful to all manner of armies down the centuries. The horse is obvious, and both the donkeys and oxen were common beasts of burden, pulling everything from cannon to the officer’s best kit.

As always the sculpting is exemplary, with very little flash that is so incredibly thin that it can almost be blown away. To our eye the anatomy of all these animals looks spot on, with good proportions and reasonable stances. While muscle definition is fine none of these have any particular texture on their hide, and our painting probably does not do them justice, but when seen before painting they look great. All the extremities – legs, ears and horns – are elegant and slender, but are more prone to breakage as a result. We added the bases you see in our photos in order to allow them to be painted, but all actually stand successfully without a base.

In preparing these models we could think of any number of useful applications for them, none of which involved a farm. The inclusion of a yoke for the oxen is a nice touch too. A truly excellent and useful collection that will delight as well as provide the essential support so many armies needed.