Today, I'm presenting you a review of Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar. This boxed kit has been on my list as soon I've heard the news, The Perry brothers were going to make it. I've been patiently waiting for the release and the next discount moment of Maelstrom online shop and then decided to buy them! The miniatures can be used for their intended role as the different tribes of the Sudan or they can also serve as proxy Arab slavers or traders with some minor conversion work or none at all!
General information
Just like most of the wargame industry, the Perry twins also invested in a plastic range of miniatures. However their plastic range is made to bulk out armies and their metal range fills the ranks with artillery, command and other specialised units! This is a good balance between quantity and the pricetags. As the Mahist forces mostly consisted out of foot soldiers supported by some irregular cavalry units, the creation of a cheap multi-part Mahdist Ansar kit isn't such a surprise. The boxed kit is intended to contain the follow tribes in several time periods during the Anglo-Sudanese wars, the Ansar, Beja, Northern Nile Arabs and the Kordofani.
The box
Just like their other plastic boxes, the artwork is done by Peter Dennis and is breath taking! But the most important is the content. The
box contains 40 foot soldiers which can be assembled in all sorts of ways such as charging, advancing, firing, ... The combiniations are endless as the kit is packed with tons of parts such as different heads, arms and other equipment suchs as drums, pipes and flagpoles! The box also includes a short but useful guide of the different tribes of the Sudan together with details of their weapons and clothing. As you can see on the following detailled photograph of the main sprue.
The boxed kits contains two of the following command sprue which enable you to make a two man command. The sprue contains enough material for the creation of a captain and a drummer or flagbearer. However I'm not sure if all the Sudanese tribes had a flagbearer.
The most interesting sprues of the boxed kits are the main sprues packed with fierce warriors and all sorts of different weaponry and equipment! As previously seen the kit contains enough miniatures to make 40 warriors which all can be constructed as Beja or other tribes! The bodies of the warriors come in three sorts, bare chest, partially covered chest and clothed. The bodies which are partially naked are probably most suited to represent the early Beja but there were exceptions in which some Beja were totally clothed. The sprues are also packed with different heads ranging from the Fuzzy Wuzzy hairstyle of the Beja to the heads with the more civilised skull-caps.
Each main sprue contains the following number of heads
- 12 Fuzzy Wuzzy heads
- 5 Heads with skull caps
- 6 Heads without headwear
- 1 Head with a turban
The main sprue also contains the following interesting bits (not all parts are mentionned)
- Several arms grasping a sword
- Several arms holding a spear
- Two arms holding or firing a Remington rifle
- Twelve rhinoceros-skin shields
I've also managed to assemble some of the miniatures but forgot to take pictures! But all I can tell you the parts fit ideal and you don't need tons of greenstuff to fill gaps. The poses you can form are also very realistic, they really look as they are ready to storm a British square! The boxed sets also includes some useful plastic bases which enable you to base your miniatures in an instant!
Opinion
In my humble opinion the Perry brothers succeeded in releasing yet another stunning boxed kit of which the alternative in lead is too expensive. The miniatures really look stunning and are dirt cheap! The miniatures can be bought at Wayland Games by following one of the ads on this very blog at a measly 19,60€! for 40 soldiers, simply amazing the cheapness of plastics!
For the assembled miniatures go to
I hope you enjoyed this small review!
Greets,
2 comments:
Sound and look good to me also.
Thanks they are really stunning!
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