By David Kuijt
Catalog or Website: AB Miniatures has a website here. Some of the Napoleonic miniatures have images, but none of the Romans, Greeks, or Sassanids. Some images are available at the Eureka Miniatures website in Australia.
General Comments: Anthony Barton (AB) is a tremendously talented sculptor. Sadly, most of his efforts are concentrated on the Napoleonic period. His figures are quite tall, perhaps closer to 18mm than 15mm.
Beyond the Napoleonic period, AB has a range of Early Imperial Roman figures (circa 19 AD), a Sassanid range, and a Greek City States range. These ranges are available (as AB Miniatures) through Eureka Miniatures in Oz. Battle Honours/19th Century Miniatures sells those two ranges in the USA.
The only two negative comments I have regarding AB figures are these: first, they are too tall to mix with other manufacturers in many situations. And second, their spears are beautiful, long, and thin. Therefore fragile, easily bent, and easily broken. This is true of their SAS1/SAS2 Sassanid Levy, their ROM10 Roman Cavalry, and their SAS10 Clibanarius with lance.
| Part # | Type and Pose Variety | Weapons and Armour | Grade | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sassanid Persia | ||||
| SAS1, SAS2 | 2 | shield, spear | A+ | Levy Spearman. Superb carving. Code SAS1 (spear upright) has two poses and wickerwork shields. Code SAS2 (spear at 45 degrees forward) also has two poses, and the shields are covered with leather. Two more images are here and here. Note that there is one Essex figure mixed in with the four poses of AB on these images. It can be recognized by the distinctive alternating bands of leather and wicker on its shield, and by its more bulbous hat. |
| SAS7, SAS8, SAS9 | 2 | varies | A+ | Clibanari with various weapons according to figure code. There are two poses of SAS7 (shooting), two of SAS8 (loading), and two of SAS9 (with lance charging). More pictures are here and here and here and here and here. Since the different codes can be identified by their pose, I won't bother trying to split up the three codes by individual type since I based them all mixed together. |
| SAS10 | 2 | fully armoured with lance on an armoured horse | A | Sassanid Cataphracts. Nice figures; they mix well with Essex and Irregular cataphracts, size-wise. A view of the other pose is here |
| SAS11 | 1 | unarmoured horse archer | A | Sassanid Light Horse. Nice figures; good detail. Only one pose, but in three parts (horse, rider lower body, rider upper body) which allows you to position the rider in a variety of ways. For two examples shown, one is shooting nearly forward and the other at 45 degrees to the left. Another image is here |
| SAS12 | 3 | varies | A+ | Royal party (King, Prince, Standard Bearer). Excellent figures. More pictures are here and here. |
| SAS13 | 4 | varies | A+ | Elephant and crew. Three warriors, a mahout, and an elephant. Stunning figures. The elephant comes with two varieties of tusks, either banded with metal or plain -- you pick which you glue on. Superb detail. More images of the elephant and crew are here and here and here and here. |
| Greek City States | ||||
| GR1 | lots | hoplite array | A+ | Front Rank Hoplite, spear thrusting forward or down. Hoplite images including GR1 poses are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. |
| GR2 | lots | hoplite array | A+ | Rear Rank Hoplite, spear up. Hoplite images including GR2 poses are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. |
| GR3 | ? | hoplite array | A+ | Front Rank Spartan Hoplite, spear thrusting forward or down. |
| GR4 | ? | hoplite array | A+ | Rear Rank Spartan Hoplite, spear up. |
| GR5 | ? | hoplite array, no body armour | A+ | Nude Hoplite (Boetian/Theban), spear in various positions. A rear view (hehe) is here. Another view is here. |
| GR6 | 2 | bow, quiver, small shield | A+ | Cretan Archer. Two poses, one firing and one with bow down. |
| GR7 | 1 | Helmet with transverse crest, cloak. | A+ | Spartan Officer. |
| GR8 | 1 | Hoplite array. | A+ | Hoplite Officer. Another view is here, and two images showing the whole command group (GR8, GR9, GR10, and a hoplite) are here and here. This is a gorgeous figure. The only problem with him is that his spear is cast (rather than open-hand with hard metal spear), so it is quite fragile. |
| GR9 | 1 | none | A+ | Pipe player. Another image is here. |
| GR10 | 1 | none | A+ | Horn player. Another image is here. |
| GR11 | 1 | petasos, kamax | A+ | Thessalian Cavalryman. More views are here and here. A nice figure, although I could wish for more than one pose. |
| GR12 | 2? | kamax, helmet, sometimes breastplate | A+ | Athenian Cavalryman. The other pose is shown here. Some other images (combined with GR11) are here, here, and here. |
| GR13 | 2 | bow, varies | A+ | Greek archer. |
| GR14 | 3 | bow | A+ | Skythian archer. |
| GR15 | 4 | pelte, javelins | A+ | Greek Peltast. Four poses, all very active. Three of the pelte are oval; one is crescent shaped. It doesn't take too much work with a craft knife (exacto) to make them crescents, though. Another view is here. |
| GR16 | 2 | pelte, javelins | A+ | Thracian Peltasts. More images are here and here . |
| GR17 | 2 | sling | A+ | Greek slinger. A back view is here. |
| Early Imperial Roman, AD19 | ||||
| ROM10 | 2 | helmet, body armour, shield, spear, sword | A+ | Roman cavalryman, ca. 19 AD. Separate horses and riders. Two poses, one in scale armour and one in mail; two different horse poses. Superb carving. Figures and horses are in relatively static poses. Another image is here. |
| Napoleonic (but useful for Ancients) | ||||
| T4 | n/a | n/a | A+ | Camel, handler, and optional baggage bundle. This is carved as part of the Ottoman Empire range for Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, but it is perfect for any army with turbans and camels from 600 AD on. An absolutely stunning camel. The baggage bundle is organized like a rider; if you want a bare camel you can just leave it off. |
June 18, 2001. Most of the Greek images are added.
May 23, 2001. Page separated from main figreview page; Greek listing added. More Greek images coming soon.
The author may be contacted at kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu Please do not use any pictures or text from this page without permission.
