French Cuirassiers 1807-1815 -- Plastic Model Military Figure -- 1/72 Scale -- #8037

Every miniature manufacturer has one subject that it does really well, above all else. It could be ancients, or modern figures, or Napoleonic figures. With Zvezda, it's cavalry. It is almost hard to pick a single subject that is Zvezda's best, because their figures are all of such top-notch quality, but their cavalry is just masterful. Look as hard as you will, you will not find any plastic 1/72 manufacturer that does cavalry as well as Zvezda. Each horse and rider is a miniature equestrian statue on par with Remington (well, maybe not quite). Anyone who has ever tried to draw a horse can tell you, horses are hard to draw and undoubtedly even harder to sculpt. But Zvezda's horses are perfectly proportioned, and their riders fit perfectly. The poses are so fluid that they seem to be frozen in the act of moving. Now all this praise may seem a bit overboard and silly - after all, they are just toy soldiers, right? But to a wargamer or other modeller, the difference between these guys and, say, HaT is enormous. If you don't believe me, just go to Plastic Soldier Review and click on a few other comparable French cavalry sets by HaT, Italeri, or Esci. Now I'm not knocking any of those manufacturers, but they ain't Zvezda.