[DL] Ral Partha's Old West minis

[Phadris@aol.com]

Howdy -

I stumbled across Ral Partha's new Banditos minis yesterday in our local 
store.  The true shocker is that our store (and our entire town) isn't 
exactly what you'd call avant guard when it comes to getting in new releases. 
 But I thought I'd share my impressions with y'all.

For $4.95, I was disappointed to see there were only two figures in the box 
(either the industry really is getting more expensive, or GW's Greed 
hindrance is contageous).  I was also disappointed to see they are built for 
slotta-bases (is the whole universe getting just a little more entropic?).  
And I was again disappointed to see how two-dimensional the castings are.  
It's a personal hang-up of mine, but I hate seeing a mini who's wrists, 
elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles are all lined up in one plane.  Try 
standing like that sometime - unless you're lying on your back, it's not easy 
to do.  You can often break up the 2-D effect by grabbing an arm or two with 
some pliers and bending them around, but the Bandito wearing a sombrero and 
cape had an awful lot of rigid detail draped across his arms, and he wouldn't 
bend easily.  Ral Partha's Ralladium is notoriously difficult to bend around, 
too, but one of the minis looked like his shoulders would break away easily 
to make repositioning simpler to attempt.

The detail was not eye-poppingly fantastic.  I'm getting spoiled by the high 
quality standards we're seeing today from just about every figure line, and 
these figures seemed to be a step back by a decade or two, when we'd buy 
anything because there was so little to choose from.  I would compare the 
quality in casting with Old Glory's Old West line - not bad, but not great.  
But where Old Glory is wonderfully historically accurate, with these there 
was a touch of cartoonishness to the figures.  Pistols seemed a little 
oversized, spurs definitely were bulked up to keep them from breaking off.

I don't know how tall the figures stand.  I'm unsure if they are big, like 
PEG's, or smaller, like the Foundry's.  My guess is that they are just a 
little oversized, closer to PEG's size.  I bet they would fall almost 
seamlessly in with Old Glory's figs - but such judgements are hard to make 
when you're staring at a mini in a box - especially when the slottabase stand 
isn't attached yet.

Okay, all the negatives being said, I have to admit the figures did have some 
appeal.  One wore a sombrero and cape, almost a requirement for a Bandito 
pack.  The other was dressed a little more dapper, with an almost 
bowler-style hat.  Faces on both held some good detail, and I found myself 
imagining how I'd paint them up.  I didn't buy them, but somewhere deep in my 
mind a little voice keeps saying "you mean you didn't buy them  YET."  I 
don't know if that's a little voice I need to listen to, or not.

Tom Huntington
The Truth Is Yonder