Yo-Ho-Ho and a Barrel of Bones!
The True Heroes Pirate set is unusual in several ways. It plays on a theme that has been around for a few years: Pirates versus Skeletons. The first of these were in plastic tubes imported from China about 3 years ago. The True Heroes version set has a bit more.
Opening the set, I came across 41 figures: 20 Pirates and 21 Skeletons. These are all new figures and differ from the Hing Fat figures and recasts of Marx and Ideal figures. Both the Pirates and skeletons in this set are in the 45 - 50mm size range, most being about 50mm. There are six different pirate poses and five different skeletons. The pose animation is pretty good as is detail. I think they would look great painted.
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| Egyptian-style Skeletons! |
The skeletons could be used in Fantasy games. They can also be converted to other poses with relative ease. An average hobbyist could build quite an army with these bony fellow. Simple conversions might yield anything from standard bearers to command figures.
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| Swordsman and axeman - Shades of Harryhausen! |
I was informed that the skeletons were originally offered by a company called Toyway in a large playset. The original set had one more footman - an archer - and a mounted figure on skeletal horse. (Of course, it would not take much to convert an archer from the five figures in the Toys R Us set.)
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| A rather large morningstar. |
The accessories stood out. There were rowboats - one large and two small. Also included was a snap-together platform, possibly meant as a dock. Platform dock? Barrels, boxes and sacks were included, as were treasure chests and some very small cannons. As for scenery, there were a couple of plastic rocks and two Palm Tree pairs.
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| Good assortment of hard plastic accessories: boxes, barrels, bags & treasure chests |
Some of the pirates looked more like Vikings.
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| Axe-wielding Pirate or Viking? |
The True Heroes pirates would blend well with the Hing Fat and recast Ideal pirates. They would be rather short compared to the recasts Marx pirates. There are only six poses, but they are definitely different. One man has a hammer and a short sword, for instance. Another is wielding a hatchet.
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| Charge! |
This is a nice little set that can boost your Pirate and Fantasy armies as well as provide interesting accessories. The small rowboats and cannons are a but small for 50mm figures, but might serve smaller scale figures. The palm trees look good, and the boxes, barrels, sacks and treasure chests are the kind of things that fit many gaming scenarios. A nice set for $9.99
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| Pirate carrying hammer and Pirate captain. |
What with all the unusual sets of figures out there, one could put together a game where Skeletons face Zombies or Pirates square off with Fantasy characters.
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| Small cannon with skeleton for perspective on size. |
2 small rowboats
I large rowboat
2 Palm tree pairs
2 barrels
2 sacks
2 boxes
2 treasure chests
2 stones
4 small cannon
20 pirates:
3 pirates with hammer and dagger
5 pirate axemen
3 pirates with sword and pistol
3 pirate captains
3 pirates shooting muskets
3 pirates walking with musket
21 skeletons
6 mace wiedlers
4 axe swingers
3 scimitar wavers
3 swordsmen
4 spearmen
*****
Quite a good looking set, though not quite 'my thing'. I'd be tempted, though, just for the accessories!
ReplyDeleteSame here, I bought a "pirates vs. Ninjas" set off Amazon and can honestly say I'm tired of painting pirates.
ReplyDeleteThe company that makes these figures is Toy Major, not Toy Way (just a minor correction).
ReplyDeleteThe figure with a scimitar over his head is actually the horse rider, they just stuck a stand on his feet.
And I am surprised you did not get any of the archers, I have picked up 3 of these buckets and it has always included that pose. I know distribution is semi-random, so it may have been luck (or lack there of) of the draw.
Here is a link to an earlier version of these toys. Just scroll down the page until you find them.: http://fantasytoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2014/12/
ReplyDelete