Quick Review: "Napoleon at War" Chasseurs a Cheval Brigade Box Set

Since I'd finally made my mind up about which rules I was going to use I could sit down and see what units I could make with my eBay purchases and what I still needed to buy. One of the things I would need was a brigade of light cavalry for my French. I had a look on ebay to see what painted figures were available and added a couple to my watch list. But I also had a look around a few online shops for unpainted options. It was then I spotted that Northstar had some of the N@W Chasseur brigade box sets on sale at £14 instead of the usual £27.50. As the price was a bargain and the uniforms are fairly simple to paint I decided to buy a box. For those of you not familiar with this range it provides box sets and blisters containing complete units including bases for use with the N@W rules. I suppose the idea is to help people new to Napoleonics have an easy entry into the game.

A few days later the box arrived. As can be seen below the front of the box shows a nice picture of the painted up figures

The back of the box lists the contents and has a painting guide. While the painting guide is useful it doesn't show the back of the figure or the saddle cloth, so it's of limited use. It also doesn't show the elite company figures who have a busby and someone new to Napoleonics may find this confusing. Just as well I have numerous reference books and the Internet to help me out.

The figures come in a plastic tray with foam padding and have no more bent swords than you would expect with the usual ziploc bag packing you get from most manufacturers.

The figures themselves are fairly flash free, on a par with most other 15mm figures I've bought from various manufactueres. The detail is fairly crisp and they should paint up well but they are not as good as AB Miniatures or Blue Moon figures but they are cheaper. The horses look a little chunky to me especially for light cavalry, but overall they're a decent set of figures.

Before I'd bought this set I had the impression that they were overpriced and you were paying over the odds for a box set with bases and a painting guide. They're certainly more expensive than Essex figures but they're 18mm not 15mm and they also have the benefit that you just get the figures you need. No more having to buy figures in packs and having some spares left over. Now I've had a look at these I think they're pretty good value for 18mm figures and I'd certainly consider buying more. However the prices are going up on March 1st so we'll have to see if the new pricing makes them less attractive. As I only paid £14 for my box I give them 10/10 but at normal prices I'd rate them about 8/10.