Cavalcade French and Indian War Review

I painted some of the Cavalcade French and Indian War figures for my friend David for Christmas.  Dave has always been interested in the conflict and has read extensively about Robert Rogers.  When Cavalcade released a range of French and Rogers Rangers in winter dress, wearing snowshoes, I thought they'd make a great gift. 

 David plays FIW games in skirmish 1:1 scale, so picking up a pack each of the French and Rangers was fine. I picked up the rangers firing and the French marching.  The figures are large and bulky, the latter due mostly because of their winter clothing. There was some flash on the castings, particularly on the French between the musket and body, but I did my best to clean them up. 

 I primed them and mounted them on one inch square Litko bases. This takes some doing because of the size of their metal bases, necessary due to the snowshoes.  I started with the French.  Generally the figures are well cast, and anatomically consistent.  They are larger than OG or Perry, but not as chunky as Front Rank.

I started painting the French first.  The detail is uneven.  The muskets are almost delicate, but some of the musket stocks and musket detail is crude.  The hands aren't great either.  The figures are well accoutered with cartridge box and haversack, but the belts and straps seem to disappear as they head from the back, over the shoulder and down the front of the figure behind the hands and arms.  Two of the figures wore standard uniforms, and two wore blanket coats.   I liked the way they painted up.

 Then I turned to the Rogers Rangers.  I enjoyed painting these more than the French.  Same complaints with the muskets.  Three of the four miniatures wore mittens, which I thought was a nice touch.  There were several different versions of leggings, which was nice.  The figure in the blanket coat I particularly liked. I thought the cuff detail was clunky, and could have been a bit cleaner.

All in all I would rate the Cavalcade figures 4 points out of 5. Some of the  detail issues are offset by the uniqueness of the miniatures and I could see ordering a some figures for myself.