Lurkio ECW Range

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Always on the look out for new toys, I spotted Lurkio have started releasing their new ECW range after a bit of a hiatus. Thank you to Richard (of Lurkio) for kindly sending me some figures for review.

My favourite figure from the samples I was sent, not quite sure what has happened to his face though

I'll be very straight here, these might not be to everybody's taste. Why? They are headless (yay!) and the pikemen are open handed (double yay!). Whilst that makes me very happy, I know that many baulk at the idea of having to assemble teeny bits on figures, and see any assembly on anything smaller than 28mm figures a complete no-no. 

The return of the scale-o-matic, horizontal lines are at 5mm spacing

For those of you new to this 'sticking things together' game it isn't a problem, in fact it is pretty straightforward*. I find putting a big blob of superglue onto a palette, then using a cocktail stick as a glue spreader, the best way to get superglue into the precise area that you want it rather than on your fingers. I find medium gel superglue works best, your mileage might vary. 

But back to the figures.

Unfortunately, the Lurkio website is showing as 'great things are on the horizon' so I am unable to share with you the pricing structure, or pack details at the moment.

When the website was working only foot figures were available, with the mounted figures and artillery figures currently with the sculptor.

Figures are purchased in packs with no heads included, you select which head packs take your fancy for an additional cost. When the Lurkio website is back up and running I will update the total cost of a single figure.

The bodies are crisply cast with no visible mould lines (as you would expect from brand spanking new moulds), some bases will  require a little bit of levelling, and the occasional vent  cast will need cutting off, but that is the only 'normal bit of preparation' required. 

I measured the officer with halberd, 13mm from sole of boot to top of shoulder. The standing straight upright pikeman is consistent at 13mm too. With a Scots blew bonnet glued in place the figure was 17mm from sole of boot to top of head (about 16mm to eye). There's a nice officer with pistol and sword who comes in at 15mm to the shoulder, he is also a little chunkier than the other Lurkio figures I have, so there is some size inconsistency across the range.

My 3 x the height wire pike (top), compared with the provided Lurkio cast pike.

Pikemen: there are a number of poses, some with variants of with/without tassets. Pikemen are cast open handed, with soft metal pikes provided. Whilst the pikes feel quite sturdy I am sure that they might be susceptible to becoming spaghetti. The pikes provided are 38mm long, which falls a little short for those who, like me, utilise the '3 x height of figure' rule. The pikemen with pikes levelled require no cleaning up to accept their pikes, those standing upright, or at port may need pike holes clearing with a 1mm drill bit (really easy to do, as the holes are nearly completely formed).

For those of you like me who love a bit of a fettle, yes they happily take wire pikes. Both the levelled and at port figures, in the picture, took the pike straight away, the vertical pike needed a little bit of a wiggle with a 1 mm drill bit.

Heads come in strips of four. I'm very used to separate heads, but these come on very dainty mounts on a sprue with a short spigot. I'm used to Peter Pig heads where the spigot is much longer. Again nice clean crisp casts, with a good selection of broad brimmed hats (no feathers thankfully), a montero/monmouth mixed strip, a Scots' bonnet strip, and a morion strip. I'm particularly excited about the helmet strip, which might mean I have to revisit my Peter Pig cuirassiers. Might be buying a few packs of these when the website reopens 

Head holes: most are ready to use, but one or two I'd be tempted to deepen slightly with a 1mm drill bit. Don't try reaming the head hole out with an scalpel blade, as the blade tips snap off and embed themselves in the body. When I came to fit heads I had to widen the holes with a 1.5mm drill bit as they were just too tight. Those of you who have never drilled a body for a head before, these are perfect starter figures as there is a big indent for your drill bit already. You are just deepening it a little. Remember to dry fit your head first, cutting a little 'v' for the chin might make the head sit better.

Lurkio head strip on the left, PP strip on the right.

Again for those of us who like a bit of fettling, Lurkio heads are marginally bigger than Peter Pig heads. The head holes will definitely require widening out to 1.5mm in order to take a PP head.

With Lurkio head on left, with PP head on right

I must confess that everything that ends up on my cutting mat will, inevitably, be compared to Peter Pig figures. I have Peter Pig armies, made up of thousands of figures. Some of the Lurkio figures seem to match in proportion quite nicely. Slightly taller than PP, but considerably taller than the Steel Fist drummer I have to hand. I think I could get away throwing the odd Lurkio vertical pike onto a base with PP vertical pike, as long as they are tied together by using the same sized pike. 

Not so sure about the other figures though, Lurkio muskets are marginally longer, and chunkier than PP. More a case of same army, different units.

My favourite Lurkio figure (the officer with pistol and sword) towers over my PP dragoon horseholders, he'll be doing duties as a character for Witchfinder General, rather than joining my rank and file.

Whilst early days for the range, as we only have the foot to go on, I must say that I'm impressed. Alas, Richard you won't be able to retire on sales to me alone here (I have nearly all the figures that I desire), but they tick all of the boxes that I require with a range so far. Nicely proportioned, crisp casts, nicely and appropriately animated, no ostentatious feathers, with open hands and, the icing on the cake - headless.

Now, somewhat annoyingly, I have had to redo my 'Which Figures? What is Available', and 'Which Figures? Part 2a: Size Matters: Foot' posts and photos!

* the only problem I face with the 'gluing things together' thing is that one of my cats regularly steals my superglue. Where she takes it, no idea. So far she has had two pots of superglue, and a bottle of Vallejo decal fix. 

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Thanks.

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