The box for these figures claims they are for the Hundred Years War, a conflict between England and France that the state of Burgundy largely managed to avoid from its inception in 1364 until 1419, when its general antagonism towards France and the assassination of the Duke (which was blamed on France) meant it allied with England. That alliance lasted until 1435, when the Burgundians transferred their support to the French, although their participation was low for the rest of the war. Their most active period was as allies of the English, but as we shall see, that is not the whole story with this set.

Perhaps the first reaction to this set is that it is hardly a typical representation of Burgundian Foot Soldiers, since almost everyone carries a polearm. While polearms were plentiful enough in the 15th century, any army of the time, including that of Burgundy, had large numbers of swordsmen, archers, gunners, pikemen and usually crossbowmen too, so this is only a small part of the total, but perhaps other sets are planned covering other weapon types. That said, the poses are pretty good, and while there are many set moves that a proficient polearm soldier would use, all of these look reasonable. The first figure, with his right hand next to the head, was about our least favourite as the hands would normally be the other way round (perhaps he is left-handed), but otherwise we have no complaints. The banner man in the bottom row can also carry a polearm (the separate arm shown is how this set can claim to have nine poses), and again this pose is fine with either of the arm choices. The last figure, which we take to be some sort of commander, holds his sword in his left hand and holds out his right for some reason. Although not exactly wrong, we were not particularly keen on this pose.

The sculpting of these figures is about on a par with previous Ultima Ratio releases, so the detail is good but not as sharp as the best on the market, and the poses can be a little flat, such as the man at the end of the top row bringing his weapon down from over the centre of his head. Given the difficulty of producing figures with polearms, these benefit considerably from several of the figures having a separate piece with the weapon and all or part of the right arm. This applies to the last two poses in our second row, and to the banner man in the bottom row of course. This certainly improves the poses, and the arms do have pegs of a sort which fit into cavities on the figure, but everything here needs gluing to stay in place. Having a choice of arms for the man in the bottom row is a good idea as there is a limit to the number of banner men anyone can want. On the subject of the banner, it is nicely engraved with a typical Burgundian design of an image of a saint (nearest the staff), followed by the motto ‘Je l’ay emprins’ in suitable style, and ending with the ‘steel flint and sparks’ emblem. This will certainly help anyone wanting to paint it, but it is very large (60 mm long and 11 wide), as can be seen, and we found that the narrow base of this figure means it cannot be persuaded to stand when carrying this, a basic error which means the customer will have to rebase the figure themselves.

In regard to accuracy the figures all look to be okay. Most seem to have a breastplate or a tunic which probably covers such a plate, and many have a mail shirt underneath. On many of the poses the outer garment is decorated with the cross of St Andrew (the Burgundian field sign), on either front, back or both. The armour is nicely varied, and that applies to the limb defences too, as many have at least plates on the elbows (couters) and knees (poleyns), and many also have vambraces and greaves, meaning they are well protected (all also have gauntlets, as you would expect). One man has no more than a pair of long boots reaching to the thigh as leg protection however. The helmets are mostly sallets, some of which have a visor, and all of these are being worn with either a bevor (to protect the neck) or, in one case, a mail standard for the same purpose. One man has a small banner from his helmet, a bannerole, which generally identified a chef de chambre, but can be trimmed off if not desired. The officer in the bottom row wears a fairly short gown but is otherwise as well armoured as the men. He has a wide plume on his helmet, perhaps in the blue and white colours called for in regulations.

On the face of it then the accuracy is good, but there is one more observation to make, and it is an important one. The Hundred Years War officially ended by treaty in 1475, but the last actual fighting was in 1453, and Burgundy’s direct involvement ended well before even this date. Unfortunately, that causes a problem, since the banner we described above, which is so prominent in this set, is of a design produced for the compagnies d’Ordonnance, which were created by Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy. He was only born in 1433, and took his dukedom in 1467, so decades after the effective end of Burgundy’s war. The motto, ‘Je l’ay emprins’ means ‘I have undertaken (or dared) it’, and was the motto of Charles the Bold, so again, long after the end of the Hundred Years War. The style of the men, and particularly the banner, makes us think these figures work better for the years under Charles the Bold, and less so for a half century earlier, so these men would be more likely to be facing the Swiss.

Burgundian armies always contained a large proportion of mercenaries, most prominently Italians, so there was never one look that defined a Burgundian soldier beyond the cross of St Andrew on his chest. Although we have pointed out the problem with relating these men with the Hundred Years War, they are otherwise perfectly reasonable if far from representative of all foot soldiers, and with almost no flash, good sculpting and poses, it is only the need to assemble some of the poses which might not appeal to fans of the late medieval period.