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Reviews of Pass o' the North Miniatures

[POTN Website]

Chris Brantley on POTN New Releases (Aug. 2002)

Jeff Caruso of Pass o' the North has sent along several samples including new releases for the benefit of the Fanatici. The figures are all well proportioned and pretty consistent in size, roughly 15mm from bottom of foot to eye level, and almost 18-20mm tall with headgear.  The figures were well-molded with some flash at the release points that is easily removed with the fingers.  Only the Gothic archers require metal snips to remove the flash that connects their bows to their bodies.

The Libyan Spear (Lib1) are pretty classy and well detailed foot who could pass for Later/Hellenistic Greek hoplites in a pinch. They come with a seperate hoplon-style shield.

Carthaginian Auxilia (Cart1) or citizen foot come in three overhand spear poses and are dressed in long tunic with conical helm and separate scutum shield.

The Numidian Auxilia (Num3)and Psiloi (Num2) are also well carved figures.  The tunics really stand out with their deep folds and will add life to what is often a pretty boring figure in other manufacturer's ranges. The variations in pose are relatively minor, reflecting adjustments in the angle of the head and/or shield. The auxilia come with scutum attached.

Spanish Auxilia (Span4) is the latest addition to what in my opinion the premier range of15mm Ancient Spanish on the market.  And the latest figures are the best to date. The fine detail, the variation in helmets, the metal pectoral plate armor all make these a cut above. Here is a close-up shot so that you can appreciate the detail. Compare these to some of the earlier Spanish figures in my POTN Ancient Spanish army gallery. Two of the poses come with open hands so that they can be fielded with javelin or equipped with one of Jeff's outstanding falcata swords.

Spanish Weapons (ANC2) comes complete with several pairs of small "trophy heads" as well as a goodly number of Spanish curved (falcata) and straight swords and caetrati (small round) shields.  Although small, the heads are clearly detailed.  They offer a variety of possibilities for the modeler to spice up Spanish (or Gallic) standards or horse bridles, or used in a camp scene. I understand Jeff Caruso is still adjusting weapons pack contents and may add the trophy heads to the Gallic weapons pack as well.

Gothic Archers (Goth3) come in four poses (two with similar heads).  The facial and hair detail and realistic poses are just what I would hope for in Goths and other period "barbarians" and early Dark Age types.  There's not as much detail (e.g. folds, crevices, wolfskin, etc.) on the tunics as in some other "barbarian" figures, but I think these will paint up beautifully.

Jeff also sent along a Gothic general and his high spirited Andalusian horse (with long flowing mane), which I wasn't able to scan effectively, but which mirror the quality and detail of those above.

James Hughes on POTN Ancient Spanish

General comments: These are more or less true 15mm, generally measuring 15mm from foot to eyes. They are "chunky", at least my reckoning. Detail is large and crisp, and should be highly visible on the painted figures. There is relatively little flash, and what there is is not difficult to remove. Good variety of poses within the army. I compared with other figures I own, and concluded they would mix well with Old Glory in particular, and also with Museum and Xth Legion. They should mix tolerably well with Essex. Although they are of the same height as Gladiator, they are much stockier than the delicate Ochman figs, so mixing these would be a subjective matter. All require the addition of wire spears and javelins where appropriate, something many gamers prefer anyway. They have a clean, charming style with very good facial detail throughout. (I may attempt to paint eyes on 15mm for the first time ever with these!) Excellent figures, good variety, and quite reasonable prices. Located here in the US, so shipping is cheap and quick for us Yanks!

Psiloi and Auxilia: Several figures have separate shields, small round ones for the Ps and flat, Celtic looking oval ones and hoplons(?) for the Aux. A nice touch is that, GW style, shields figures have a round nub on the back of their hands that fits neatly into a slot on the back of the shields, making for a sturdier assembled figure. Removing the nub would be easy and would in no way damage the detail of the figure if you desired to leave the shield off. There are 6 poses total, all of which are represented in the Ps, and three of which are only in the Aux.

The 3 Ps include the slinger, a fellow throwing a javelin and wearing a tunic, simple helmet, and round shield; and a similar pose with a slightly different helmet and advancing while throwing.

The 3 Aux are all shieldless, though some come with small round shields to match the Ps. The first is walking with tunic and cape, very simple helmet (possible a sinew cap) with spear held upright before him. (similar to the illustration on Page 122 of Warfare in the Classical World by Warry.) The second is equipped similarly, but is thrusting overarm and has a crest. The third is the best. He has long hair, with braided decorations forward of the ear hanging down. He wears what appears to be quilted armor. An aggressive pose, one foot before the other and striking overhead with a vicious looking falcata, the curved Spanish sword (looks like a giant Gurkha knife!) As I said, all these last three may be given either the small round shield for Ps, or the oval shield or the large hoplon-like shield for use as Aux. All in all, very nice.

Cavalry and Light Horse: There are three different horse poses between the 5 figures, a nice variety. All appear to moving at a trot. There is only one pose for the LH rider, a fellow throwing overarm, wearing a simple tunic and helmet (possibly sinew cap) and separate small round shield. The CV are nice, three poses and evidently intended to be the General element. All carry large round shields and wear crested helmets, the general having a falling crest. The general is wearing cloak and scale armor, thrusting overarm. The others wear shoulder and simple disc chest protectors. One is thrusting, the other is meant to carry a Celtic looking boar standard, which is very nicely molded separately. Fine figures.

Warband: The dreaded Celtiberians! Only one pose, standing with legs braced apart and thrusting overarm with spear. Bare-chested with Montefortino crested helmet and rectangular/oval shield.

Jeff was also kind enough to send some sample figures for review:

Gauls: 4 poses, armored nobles on foot. All striding forward, either holding spear upright or thrusting. Wear chain mail, some with cloaks. Dramatic mustaches look good. A variety of crests, including a boar ornament on one helmet. Shields separate, an oval and a convex rectangular. I think I'll throw a couple into my Celtiberian warband to add variety. Very nice figures.

Carthaginians: An unarmored militiaman and an armored Libyan spearman, both thrusting overarm. The Libyan wears greek style armor still, and would work for Hellenistic armies perfectly. Nice detail on the armor and sandals.

Roman Engineers!: These are going to make a great camp. To animated poses, one crouching and about to dig his shovel in, the other walking with a large basket of dirt or rocks balanced on his shoulder. Unusual and useful figures of a hard to find type, I was particularly pleased with these.

James Ivan Hughes on POTN Carthaginians, Spanish, and Gauls (Jan. 2003)

I just got a batch of Pass O' the North figures, here is a review of those codes which had not been previously reviewed either by myself or other Fanatici, except the new Spanish Auxilia, which are so amazing I had to add my own review of them!

General comments: All are cleanly cast, with minimal flash which is easily removed. Metal is high quality and durable. The head variations are skillfully done, positioned so that they are looking in many different directions, which greatly enhances the variable look of the poses. In all cavalry packs there the same 3 horse poses. Some people say that POTN horses are a little small, personally I think they are a good representation of the small size of horse available in antiquity. In any case, they are nice horses, with well defined heads and dynamic poses. Jeff hopes to make bigger horses soon.

Carthaginian Mtd. Command (CART 2): Three seperate figures. General and bodyguard have swords brandished in the air. The standard bearer has a nicely done separately cast standard, with the Carthaginian crescent symbol. Very fine detail on the mail armor worn by the General and bodyguard. Grade: A

Poeni Cavalry (CART 3): At last, rank and file Carthaginian mounted. These are in fact variants of the standard bearer from CART2, but with nicely done changes in the position of the arms and direction the heads are looking in. 4 different variations in fact, so the end result is that of a uniform unit, but with lifelike animation. These would work well for Hellenistic heavy cavalry too, and the hoplon style shields are cast separately, and could be left off if needed. Grade: A

Ligurian Auxilia (LIG1) Foot and archers, an interesting and unusual pack. What is useful about this set from a DBA perspective is that it combines Ps and Ax types in the same code, which reduces the number of packs you need to buy if you just need a few elements. There were 4 variants, 1 archer, 3 auxilia. All are bearded, the archers have long sleeved tunics, the auxilia have short sleeved with long cloaks. Two of the latter have crested Montefortino helmets. 3 different shield variants, similar to those in the Gallic packs. Grade: A-

Gothic Weapons (ANC4): Contains 8 franciscas, 8 spears, 8 small round shields, $3.75). Spears have very nicely cast spear heads, a nice change from those un-menacing Essex spears which just look like harmless poles! Shields are beautiful, with rivets on the boss. Grade: A

Spanish Auxilia #2 (Scutarii) (SPAN4): Stunning. 4 poses, each completely unique. Two cast with swords in hand, one of which is a falcate. The details and style are straight out of the Osprey book, but the nice thing is that most of them aren't exact copies of a particular figure from that book, instead they each incorporate details drawn from various plates. One figure even has the animal head on his circular chest armor, as seen on the cover art. Grade: A++

Gallic Inf., unarmored (GAL2): Contains variations/conversions of GAL 1. There are 2 poses, but I got 4 different head variants for each, so that all 8 figures in this packet were unique. These are a great mix, running from bare-headed fanatic to elaborate animal crest, with several different styles of helmet. There were also no less than 6 different kinds of shields included. Grade: A

Gallic Cavalry (GAL7 or 8): Not sure which pack, Jeff sent these without my asking him to! These are unarmored, apart from their helmets and circular shields, which are cast on them. One rider pose, but with 2 head variants, both Montefortino type helmets, looking in different directions, one with a falling crest, the other with a very gallic bird crest! Cast with nice spears in hand. Grade: B

Dave Kuijt on POTN Marian Romans and Allies

David Kuijt has published reviews of Pass of the North's range of Marian Romans and allies, from POTN's 15mm Gallic War range.

Vincent Tsao on POTN Marian Roman DBA Pack

I received a DBA pack of Marian Romans recently. Every possible variation listed in the 2.0 DBA lists for this army are in the pack, including a general fighting in a legionary element and a general fighting in a Roman cavalry element, plus a group of engineers to adorn your camp site, or work on that ramp youıre building. There is little flash on these figures and the sculpting is very fine, with the kind of detail that makes painting easy for the likes of me. My wife notes that the sculptor does my work for me. The one caveat is that these figures suffer from that very frequent tin soldier problem, namely big heads. Shields and weapons are separate. This means some extra work, but will yield more variations in the resulting army. The figures measure 15 to 16mm from bottom of foot to the eyes. Enough talk, on to the scans:

Here we see Numidian skirmishing foot and Roman legionaries. Note the separate shields and pila that look like pila, and the distinctive Numidian hair style.

Here we see the manipular or cohort command, with centurion, standard bearer (signifer), musician and a sword wielding legionary. All the legionaries are in mail tunics.

Here are the figures you need if your general decides to fight in the legionary ranks. The standard here is the legionary eagle.

Here, from left to right, are Spanish cavalry, horses, and Roman general and cavalry.

Here is a Numidian light horseman and his bare-back pony, and the Roman engineers, busy at work. Well, one of them is mopping his brow and holding what appears to be a jar of wine. Perhaps itıs break time.

The figures that somehow evaded the scanner are: Spanish caetrati, Roman auxilia and a pair of Balearic slingers just about to release their stones.

This pack will give you all the figures you need for a DBA army. If youıre using other rules, the figures are also available by the bag.

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Last Updated: Jan. 23, 2003

Comments, suggested additions, and/or critiques welcome. Direct them to Chris Brantley at IamFanaticus@gmail.com.