Saturday 17 March 2012

Review - Oddzial Osmy's New Vistula Legion (NVL)


Painted Samples from Pico Armor site.
 I want to start off by apologising to John at Pico Armor and the rest of the folks involved with Oddzial Osmy for the tardiness of the this review. John at Pico Armor sent me samples of the NVL troopers and anti-tank missile teams as well as a pack of heavy worm troopers (covered in another post) over two months ago. Sorry guys!


Anyhow, all good things are worth waiting for and these figures are no exception. The NVL are wonderful mid-tech troops. Looking like something right out of a Cameron film they are right at home in some classic science fiction universes like Aliens, Traveller, and 2300 AD. All are equipped with advanced fatigues and partial body armor, helmets with built-in optics and compact futuristic assault rifles. The anti-tank troopers are armed with shoulder fire missiles with built-in sighting systems and each comes with a secondary trooper holding a designator.


The range includes many other combat unit options, making the NVL one of the most complete future soldier ranges out there. Other options include -
  • SAW Gunners
  • Heavy Rifles
  • LAWs
  • NCOs
  • Specialists
  • Characters
  • HMG/AGL on tripod
  • Mortars

Technically speaking, these are beautiful, crisply sculpted and cast miniatures. All of mine had almost non-existent flash, no mold lines, pits, miscasts or any of the usual boogens that haunt minis. The only cleaning I had to do was to clip off the excess left from the mold channelling on the bases and the occasional little spur from an elbow. Amazing figs.

My only real criticism for these figures is that the troopers are sold in random assortments of 6 figures out of 8 total poses. For me this meant getting only 5 of a possible 8 poses in my sample set. But that is a minor issue. I imagine that over a decent sized force you will end up with enough to mix and match properly.

-Eli

8 comments:

  1. I've had my eye on these since they were released. And the new command pack just makes them even more tempting. Even though these are obviously intended for hard sci-fi use, I think they would work beautifully in space opera settings.

    Eli, did you notice that these were cast in an exceptionally rigid pewter? That's one unusual thing about the Space Worms and Media Teams in my collection. Nothing wrong with it - it's just a bit different than other pewters I've seen.

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  2. Almost psychic, I've been eyeing this set for awhile and my only issue is a lack of comparison shots out there. Does anyone have a comparison image to share?

    Thanks!

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    1. And I discovered spelling "Vistula" right might help in searches - Here's a great size comparison link folks (includes multiple ranges) :

      http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=248355

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  3. I did note the type of pewter used was particularly "tinkly". I imagine it must have a higher tin content than most or something.

    I did not take any pictures but did pull out some of my figs while I was snapping the other shots. I feel that most of the claims that they are too small are unfounded.

    They stacked up nicely against my Rebel figs (Sahadeen and Titan Marines) as well as my Khurasan Control Batallion figs. I think they may seem small because they have incredibly thin bases, something I see as a major plus.

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  4. Many of those figures (1/3-1/4) present woman . Of course You can dremel pony tails.

    Because of rigidness of pewter (similar to ArtCrime) they can be very detailed - you will not believe how many keys has the keyboard of laptop of Specialist.

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  5. Very nice! I'll need to pick up these guys to act as the regulars along with my Khurasan neo-Sov militia/colonial police.

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  6. They are very nice. I've a review myself here: http://glueinthecarpet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/new-kiev-defence-force-part-2-infantry.html

    G.

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