ALL72062

Who are the Windy Bay Warriors? Well they are men heavily clad in mainly plate armour with full-face helmets and riding horses almost as well protected, it would seem. The armour is of more than one design, but it is the helmets that are the most distinctive, with just a slit for the eyes and an array of ridges or crests strengthening the crown. Each man has a very large sword slung across his back, plus a second one on the left side, and a dagger on the right to complete the set. They each carry something like a heater shield but with the top rising to a point, and with an engraved design of a stylized sailing ship. The horses must be very strong, since they must bear not only these metal-encased gentlemen, but also significant armour of their own, as well as decorative straps and ornaments. When put together they make an impressive sight.

The sculpting of these figures is in line with the rest of the range, which is as well since there is great need for detail here. We thought the armour and decoration was nicely done, and the poses are pretty good too, benefiting as they do by having all the weapons as separate pieces fitting into ring hands. For the most part we found these ring hands needed to be enlarged before they would take the weapon, particularly the lances and the flail, but once man and armament are united they look good, although a couple of the shields are not as well positioned as we would have liked.

So the question remains, who are they? We don’t know, but there has been speculation that they are inspired by the men from Numenor, which is a kingdom in the Lord of the Rings universe which excelled in seacraft, hence the shield design. Others say that these refer to the Gondorians of Dol Amroth, but of course customers can decide for themselves. Be that as it may, these are appealing figures that look good when deployed in a charge, and while it is a fiddley process to release all the weapons from the sprue, the results are worth the effort.