ALL72027

The Cimmerians were a real historic people, nomads who appear around 1000 BCE, migrated from what is now Ukraine into Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe, and disappear from the record around the seventh century BCE. Known to the Greeks, they are mentioned in some early works, and also feature in a number of modern fantasy stories. Their most famous son is Conan the Barbarian, a character created in 1932 and featured in numerous comics, films and games, most famously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s. With that portrayal in mind, these figures look like a good match for that image. Most wear nothing but a kilt or loincloth, allowing their very muscular bodies and limbs to be seen to good effect. A couple wear very elaborate helmets, but most wear either a headband (fabric or metal perhaps) or nothing at all, allowing their long hair to sway readily in the breeze. The weapons are a selection of very long swords, enormous hammers, large axes and a couple of very spikey maces. Given their size, they help to emphasise the immense strength of the warriors. The single bowman, although muscle-bound and stripped like his comrades, seems a little out of place here, in a group that is otherwise all about brute force and power.

The sculpting of these figures is pretty good, with some nice ideas for weapons and some of the decoration. This sort of weapon means we have the usual poses, which tend to have an open body and the weapon held to one side or the other, but they are quite effective for all that. Even the two-handed weapons are quite well handled here, so they all look good. However the large amount of flash is a disappointment, as it will take time to clean all of these figures before they are ready for battle. They are sculpted to an average height of just under 25 mm (apart from the little guy at the end), which is 1.8 metres - Schwarzenegger was 1.88 metres tall, so if anything these could have been a bit taller to our mind, though they still work well for us.