By David Kuijt
Catalog or Website: Irregular has an online catalog without illustrations at the website of one of their distributors, Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies. I haven't found any online catalog with illustrations. My favorite Irregular distributor is Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures. He is the Australian manufacturer for Irregular; because he is a manufacturer (rather than just a distributor) he is able to sell figures individually. He is more than willing to answer questions about the ranges he supports.
General Comments: Irregular make inexpensive figures. Their war wagons, in particular, are about half the cost of those made by most manufacturers. They also have a good range of 15mm animals and camp scene elements. I've found the limited number of Irregular human figures I've purchased to be a mixed bag. Some are quite good; some are poor. I like all their animals. I'm not so impressed with some of their human figures.
| Part # | Type and Pose Variety | Weapons and Armour | Grade | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15/9 | n/a | none | C+ | Two-wheeled ox cart with driver. The ox is very nice, the wagon is OK. The driver is a little hyperthyroid looking, but acceptable. There is a variety of chests and barrels to fit in the cart. I put turnips inside and used the chests and barrels elsewhere. |
| 15/13 | n/a | none | B | Hussite Wagon. A nice wagon with mantlet to protect one side. Acceptably close to reconstructions of Hussite wagons, although I added another heavy pole (toothpick) on the running board to bring it closer to the Hussite wagon shown in Osprey's book on German armies 1300-1500. The wagon is 45+ mm long, which is a bit awkward for basing for DBA on a 40mm base, but it can be worked around. 2-4 crew can fit inside depending upon their base sizes. |
| 15/14 | n/a | none | B | Hussite Wagon with ultra-light gun. A nice wagon. Same as 15/13 except the protective mantlet is now a casting of an open artillery-wagon casement with firing opening (very similar to ones shown in the Osprey book on German armies 1300-1500), and there is a small artillery piece to go in the wagon. The gun is a little crude, but paints up fine. Here is an image of the back view. Note that I've added two heavy poles (toothpicks) to the running boards. |
| 15/15 | 2 | crossbow or handgonne, lt/med armour | C | This "pack" is a mix of 4 figs from HR47 and HR48. See the entries for those types for comments. |
| 15/31 | n/a | n/a | C | Arab conical tent. When I got this piece I wondered why the tent had a rectangular base. After buying AS29 I discovered that the "15/31 Arab conical tent" was just the top of the "AS29 Nomadic tented wagon." As the top to AS29 it is excellent. As a free-standing tent, it is poor. It should be circular, or at best oval. Its base is ideal for a floppy canvas covering on a box; it doesn't sit flat as a freestanding tent. It isn't atrociously bad, but you should be aware that what makes a good wagon-cover doesn't make a great tent. |
| PR 3 | 1 | fully armoured on an armoured horse | C+ | Palmyran cataphract standard-bearer. 1-piece casting. This is almost the only draco standard for a cataphract that I could find. A little rough, but OK. |
| V 73 | 1 | spear, helmet, large rectangular shield | B | Korean Spear. Works very well for Mongol spear in the invasions of Japan; mixes well with Essex MOA8. |
| V 75 | 3 | spear, helmet, mail, shield | B+ | Goth heavy cavalry. 1-piece casting. 3 poses. Nice figures, much cleaner than many Irregular castings. Another image is here. |
| V 76 | 5 | spear, helmet, shield (no mail) | B+ | Goth medium cavalry. 1-piece casting. Nice figures, much cleaner than many Irregular castings. Another image is here. |
| AS 1 | 2 | lance, bow, helmet, body armour | C+ | Mongol medium cavalry. 1-piece casting. 2 poses, identical positions with helmet/hat and cloak differences. Hooked lance forward, sheathed bow, lamellar armour. Another image is here. |
| AS 2 | 2 | lance, bow, helmet, body armour | C+ | Mongol heavy cavalry. 1-piece casting. As AS 1, but with horses armoured with lamellar armour. Another image is here. |
| AS 3 | 2 | lance, bow, helmet, body armour | C+ | Mongol heavy cavalry. 1-piece casting. As AS 2, but shooting bow with lance slung. Another image is here. |
| AS 4 | 2 | bow, helmet, body armour | C+ | Mongol medium cavalry. As AS 1, but shooting bow and no lance. Another image is here. |
| AS 5 | 4 | sabre or axe, bow | C+ | Mongol light cavalry. Sabre drawn, bow sheathed, no armour. 4 similar poses. One has an axe instead of sabre, and one has the sabre sheathed and is reloading his bow. Two more images are axe and reloading. |
| AS 6 | 6 | sabre, bow | C+ | Mongol light cavalry. As AS 5, but shooting bow. 6 very similar poses. Additional images are 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5. |
| AS 8 (AS 7?) | 3 | bow, sword, helmet, body armour | B+ | Mongol mounted command. I just have the bannerbearer figure (there are apparently 3 poses; probably the other two are a general and a noble). Unlike the figures from the sometimes-crude HR and AB ranges, this figure and horse are well carved and detailed. 1-piece casting. The banner is a single horsetail. |
| AS 9 | 1 | lance, bow, helm, shield, armour | B | Mongol extra heavy cavalry. Lance, small round shield, lamellar body and horse armour, sheathed bow. 1-piece casting. |
| AS 10 | 2? | bow, sword, helmet, body armour | B+ | Mongol general and general's standard bearer. I just have the standard bearer. Small round shield, sheathed bow, lamellar body and horse armour. Carrying a pole with large multiple-horsetail banner. 1-piece casting. |
| AS 13 | 1 | none | B | Nacarra drummer on camel. Exactly what it seems; the two drums are separate and must be glued into position. Two more images from other angles are here and here. |
| AS 15 | 4 | bow and sabre or javelin | B- | Turkish horse archer. Four different poses, although the horse has the same leaping posture for all four figures. Rider and mount are cast together. |
| AS 17 | 2 | bolt shooter | B | Bolt shooter and two crew. A nice little set. Shown mounted on a wagon (AS29 without the tent top). |
| AS29 | n/a | n/a | A | Nomadic tented wagon. This is a really excellent wagon with tent top. Flash around the inside edge of the tent top was hard to remove, and you had to remove it to get a good fit with the wagon base. But all said, a very good little fig. I'm using it for Pecheneg and Khazar war wagons; it would also be appropriate for many other nomadic horsemen as baggage. Note that the tent top is available separately under code 15/31; see that reference for a discussion. |
| HR11 | little | spear & pavise, medium armour | D | Some variety in helmets and cloaks, all figures identical static poses. Helmets, mail, plate leg harness. Spears are thin and weak. Faces are distorted and puffy; helmets too large. Another picture is available here. |
| HR20 | little | halberd,full plate | F | Some variety in helmets or hats, all poses identical (striding forward with halberd horizontal). Poor quality castings. The armour looks bulky, awkward, and ill-fitting. Faces are distorted, and the halberds (not bills) are weak with a dangerously thin shaft. I would not buy these again. |
| HR38 | 2 | shield, javelin, quilted aketon | C | Genitor/light cavalry. 1-piece castings with horse. The horse and figure are a little crude, although the proportions are good enough that it looks OK once painted. Like many Irregular codes, the two poses have the human in a very similar posture, although the hat, weapon arm position, and shield vary. Back view here. |
| HR39 | 2 | spear and javelin | C | Almugavar infantry. Typical of most of the HR range, it is a little crude but acceptable once painted. Two poses; they look quite similar. Mixes well with Essex XMED7 Almughavars. |
| HR46 | little | flail or axe, no armour | C | Some variety in carving (some helmets, a cloak) but identical poses, swinging a flail overhead actively, right shoulder back and right foot forward. The castings aren't badly carved, but two of them came with the flail missing or miscast, so I had to convert it into a spear. |
| HR47 | little | crossbow, light or no armour | C | Some variety in carving (some helmets, a cloak) but identical static poses. Castings are all right -- the shaft of the crossbow disappears oddly, but it is against the body, so when the figure is painted it doesn't detract. The few helmets are way oversized and needed to be filed down into sallet or kettle hat size and shape. |
| HR48 | little | handgonne, quilted jupon | C | Some variety in carving (some helmets, a cloak) but identical static poses, leaning on their gonnes. Castings are all right -- waist is a little thin for an armoured man, but that is hard to see when painted up. Face is a little pointy-nosed. |
| Ani.3 | none | none | B | Three pigs. Nice figures, and very inexpensive. Only one pose, but that isn't a big deal unless you want a large herd of them. |
| Ani.4 | none | none | B | Three goats. Nice figures, and very inexpensive. Only one pose, but that isn't a big deal unless you want a large herd of them. |
| Ani.12 | little | none | C+ | Two fairly nice pack mules, and very inexpensive. The two mules have slightly different distribution of packs loaded on them. The human figure in the image is Essex; the rope tying the mule is scratch-built. |
| Ani.13 | 2 | none | B | Two nice equines with no saddle or gear; one horse and one mule. Very inexpensive; fairly nice. |
| AB6 | several | shield, one or more javelins | D | Arab/Daylami/Kird Javelinman running. All the poses are very similar, with minor differences in equipment or heads. These are smaller figures, and hunched over very oddly. I can't recommend them. Another view is here. |
| AB14 | 1 | thick padded armour, helmet, shield, and bomb | C+ | Naffatun throwing naptha pot. No Mamluke army is complete without one. |
| AB30 | 2 | robes, crossbow | C+ | Arabic mounted crossbow. Two poses in identical position, but with different equipment and clothing. Acceptable, if a little crude until painted up. |
| AB38 | n/a | mail; lance and bow | B+ | Arab elephant with three riders; mahout, spearman, and bowman. Very nice. |
| FCR4 | 1 | none | F | Six wolves. This is from Irregular's fantasy range, which I had heard was "large". I didn't understand _how_ large. Now I do. These "15mm" wolves are appropriately sized to use with my 25mm Ral Partha fantasy figures. Against any of the other ranges on this web page, they are ludicrously large. My Elephants feel threatened -- the wolves are 2/3 their size. Other than being WAY too big, they are a bit crudely carved, and quite expensive ($4 for the pack) -- if I wanted 25mm wolves I'd buy from Ral Partha. These don't have good detail. |
Last Modified:
August 29, 2000. Added AB6
October 26, 1999. Added V73, PR3
July 26, 1999. Added an image for AS15.
May 20, 1999. Added an image for HR39 Almugavar.
April 13, 1999. Added images for many of the Mongol cavalry: AS 1-6 and AS 13. 20 images total.
April 9, 1999. Added V75 and V76 (Goth Cavalry) with two pictures each.
March 31, 1999. Picture replaces a unpainted scan for Ani.13; picture added for AB30 mounted arabic crossbow.
March 30, 1999. AS17 added.
February 13, 1999. Two pictures of HR38 added.
January 27, 1999. Split off the whole Irregular review into a separate page to reduce loading time for users.
The author may be contacted at kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu Please do not use any pictures or text from this page without permission.
