Review Longbowman from Legion Miniatures

planetFigure

Help Support planetFigure:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nap

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
42,332
Location
Beautiful Bampton, Devon
Hi to one and all


Legion Miniatures have recently released figures under the banner of "OLD SCHOOL is the BEST SCHOOL" one being the full figure I am going to share with you here

The release was announced along with another ( which I will review later ) here:
https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/legion-miniatures-news.241557/

The figure being this:
legion A.jpg

It does of course depict a archer with the infamous and lethal longbow , seen in deadly use at Crecy and Agincourt amongst others

  • The archer was a powerful man with archological evidence in skeletons that the shoulders were extremely well developed to pull the bow to its full capacity
  • Replicas of bows like those of the Mary Rose have demonstrated to withstand maximum traction of 84 kg, with an average of about 70kg.
  • With arrows that weighed half a pound, the longbows were able to shoot a distance of about 330 m.
  • Arrows that weighed one pound could reach up to 250 m.
  • During a sporting event, one of Edward III’ archers reached a distance close to 370 m.
  • However, during their training, archers had to aim for their target, which often consisted of a cloth lying on the ground. This target was placed at least 200 m away, which was the typical maximum shooting distance in battle.
  • The longbow can be considered the medieval machine gun. It has been calculated that an archer fighting in the Hundred Years’ War was able to shoot around 10 to 12 arrows per minute.
Here we have some references and of course books that are good reading as well

LLL.jpg

LLLLLLLL.jpg

leg 1.jpg
LLLLLLLLLL.jpg

leg.jpg
LL.jpg

L.jpg
a_very_rare_sallet_almost_certainly_italian_third_quarter_of_the_15th_d5356506h.jpg
LLLL.jpg
LLLLL.jpg
l bow.jpg
ed2d72802a729774914165b48e58ac16.jpg
th


some books

LLLLLL.jpgLLLLLLLLL.jpgLLLLLLL.jpg

LLLLLLLLLLLLL.jpgLLLLLLLLLLL.jpgLLLLLLLLLLLL.jpg


As with all Legion miniatures the contents were in a laser cut box with unpainted images on the top and a side

Legion Longbowman 001.jpgLongbowman.jpglegion 1-001.jpg

Contents consist of torso, legs, arms , head, a arrow case , a blanket/bedroll, 2 bows , a small bag , sword , helmet and a base

Note in the picture there are only 14 pieces , the missing piece is the hanging end part of the hood as seen here in the lighter resin hanging down at the back


Details of the release :

Title: Longbowman

Reference: LMM 007

Scale: 90mm

No of pieces: 15

Material: Medium Gray resin

Sculptor: A. Bleskin

Casting: In house

Box Art: N/A on Review box


Continued in next post

Nap
 
Lets look at the Prep

Torso...Casting line on the left side and resin post on lower edge
Legs....Remove casting post from under feet and put together ...slight filling needed
Arms ....Remove casting excess from shoulder and fit into position on torso
Head... Remove casting post from underneath and fit to torso
Bows...Small casting pot to remove on both and string bow as required
Helmet...Cut away excess resin at rear underside , fit to left thigh ( a resin pin is provided but on review it broke off ...use a pin )
Sword...Cut away small post from pommel and fit
Small bag... Remove from former
Arrow case/blanket roll...remove casting posts and fit into place

General thoughts
  • Casting is very good with sharp undercuts and details like lacing ties being well worked and shown
  • Minimal prep
  • Plan your build ie: paint before attaching the arrow case and bedroll, sword, bag
  • The figure shows very well the power of the archers body ...a robust and strong individual
Onto the resin

Torso


This is just the upper body with our archer wearing clothing often seen as in my reference pictures , strewn with belts holding his equipt with a belt
Very good folds and creases with the belts pulling correctly into the material , he wears a coif which sits on the shoulders , blousing out with the belts ...a nice touch
Whats always seen on the legion figures is the good undercuts and belt details like buckles
The lower edge is inset and rounded fitting nicely into the cutout when the legs are together

Locating areas for arm and head are deeply inset making fitment easy , a slither of putty is needed ..but only a tiny amount

Legion Longbowman 008.jpg Legion Longbowman 006.jpgLegion Longbowman 004.jpg

Legion Longbowman 007.jpgLegion Longbowman 005.jpg

Legs

Long and powerful in thigh , wearing pull up separate leg coverings , these are held in place by ties which are hanging from underneath the "jack"he wears , the jack is sectioned as this is shown well

The leggings taper slightly down towards the ankle with 4 seams in place , all defined well , a tiny bit of wear in the form of a tear on the right thigh at the front

On the right there is a cut out to fit the small bag into

On the left belts and straps , one leading to the sword at the front and rear the others are the chin strap for the helmet..matching well when in position

On each side we have his manhood which shows up well encased in a material

Particularly of note is the work on the boots on each foot , both well detailed with the tongue flopping over with wear at the top , soles are defined well with the lacing hanging over to the sides

Fitting together well with again a minimal amount of putty needed , these then fit to the torso , making the full figure

Legion Longbowman 017.jpgLegion Longbowman 014.jpg Legion Longbowman 013.jpgLegion Longbowman 015.jpg
Legion Longbowman 016.jpg

Arms

Again powerful in the look of each both show good details again with the sleeves tied up at the shoulder , good lacing work

Each sleeve is sectioned and again well shown , each separated by by what would have been stitching , the material pulling at edge

Moving down the arms we come to a hand on the left arm only , but this is really well structured with the knuckles and fingers well done , the palm also looks good with the fingers slightly angled in

The right has no hand as this is sculpted to the bow itself ...more later ! , there is as expected a nice and deep cut out at the sleeve for the hand to fit

Legion Longbowman 011.jpgLegion Longbowman 012.jpgLegion Longbowman 010.jpgLegion Longbowman 009.jpg

Head

This piece has the hood surrounding it , nicely open and easy to get to for the painter , good folds on the hood when in place it will sit well into the torso

The seam shows at the back with there being a cut out that will take the hanging end piece ( this was missing from review box )

The facial features are very good indeed ...a talented sculptor for sure , both eyes are well shaped with nostril work being the same , mouth is not open , the lips held tightly together

Under the hood he wears a cap with the sides sitting at the face sides , the materaal is coming away on his right cheek

Despite all this going on access for painting is really good

Legion Longbowman 021.jpgLegion Longbowman 018.jpgLegion Longbowman 019.jpg

Legion Longbowman 020.jpg


Continued in next post

Nap
 
lets look at the remainder of the pieces

Bows

A choice of 2 to use , one is wrapped up with a protective material often waterproofed to protect the actual bow , the covering is held by 2 ties just below the hand that is cast on , the hand details are good , with the thumb slightly away from the actual bow due to the covering, the fingernails are worked well

The 2nd option is a uncovered bow , the hand holding high on the bow below this the hand grip used when firing , probably a leather which is held together by lacing running along it in a crisscross pattern the ends are hanging on the fore of the bow

The bow is shaped the rear rounded with the front flatter

The hand shows the same good details but with the thumb closer to the other fingers as there is no covering


Legion Longbowman 025.jpgLegion Longbowman 027.jpgLegion Longbowman 028.jpgLegion Longbowman 026.jpg

Sword

This is in the style of a falchion , a favoured weapon with infantry , it is sculpted in a scabbard , with the rear having the stitching that holds the scabbard together

The quillons or crossbar are angled and shaped with a cutout with the over tang or grip being wrapped in a cord or wire for grip , the pommel being a flattened roundel

Fitting of the sword to the left upper leg is by matching the block of reson on the rear to a accirate cutout.

Legion Minaitures Longbowman 007.jpg
Legion Minaitures Longbowman 006.jpg


Small bag

This is a full bag ...does it contain money or esentials like food but either way , good strap work and buckle details , there are crosses embossed into the top straps .

Behind the bag there is a dagger of a type called a bollock ,due to the hilt having 2 oval swellings in the shaping of male anatomy

Fitting to the body is again by a good cutout and in place little if any filling needed.

Legion Longbowman 030.jpgLegion Longbowman 031.jpg

Helmet

A good shaping on a sallet type that protects the sides of the head with the front open , rivets and a edging are well defined on it with the fitting by means of a pin ( I suggest you repin it with wire ), in position it sits well on the body linking up to the cast on straps

Legion Longbowman 024.jpgLegion Longbowman 023.jpgLegion Longbowman 022.jpg

Arrow Case/Blanket

Both are large pieces of resin , the case being wider at what would be the flight ends with the base tapering where the arrowheads would be , the bag is full and must have been at times awkward to carry with some archers pushing arrows for immediate use through belts

The case is wrapped and tied at the top and has folds and creases , fit is by a good resin piece of resin

Legion Longbowman 034.jpg

The blanket is a full piece of material , tied twice along its length and rolled , the ends show this well , again fit is as the arrow case , on both I would say pin

Legion Longbowman 032.jpgLegion Longbowman 033.jpg

Base

Sufficient fro a single figure with a textured surface , rocks strewn around with 2 cutouts to fit figure to

Legion Crossbowman.jpg

Final Thoughts

A 90mm figure of a vital part of the medieval army , in a relaxed mode, with a lot of additions to the piece , adding interest

Painting will be enjoyable with the prep needed be the same , no major concerns

A solid addition to the Legion catalogue

RECOMMENDED

Lets have some pics from the website of the full unpainted figure ( master ), click on pics for larger images


legion 1 (2).jpglegion 1 (6).jpglegion 1 (5).jpg

legion 1 (3).jpglegion 1 (2).jpglegion 1.jpg

Contact details

Legion are members here ( user ID Andrey )
13002.jpg
)

....so you can order direct from him here on PF or via the website which is:

www.legionminiatures.org

They also have a FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214757915731528/

Thanks to Legion for the review item

Cheers also to you all for viewing

Enjoy the modelling

Nap
 
It makes you wonder what effect a company of archers would have had at Waterloo with a rate of accurate fire of 10-12 arrows per minute.

Mike
 
Back
Top