Gorgon Etruscan cavalry

Hank from Gorgon Miniatures has very kindly sent me some samples of their new Etruscan cavalry (thanks Hank!).

I'm very taken with the mounts, which are from the same Saleh stable as the Polemarch steeds. They are IMHO very much more satisfactory than the former, having much better necks, and fuller bodies.  There is a tiny bit of flash between the legs, but this looks easy to remove.  These are amongst the nicest horses I've seen in 28mm.

 

Here are the riders.  In all honesty I still don't know all that much about Etruscans, let alone Etruscan cavalry.  They are heavily armoured for Greek-style cavalry.  I have read that one of the intended uses for them is as mounted hoplites.  The armour is crisply executed (scale, lamellar and bronze cuirass respectively). The shields on the right are small and not very curved, and not intended as hoplons. 

Here is a size comparison shot of the horses.  I've always liked the Foundry WotG horses, but I prefer the new Gorgons, which have larger front quarters and are slightly fuller in the body.  The Aventine horse on the right is a little smaller in the body, and I've included it for size comparison purposes.

One last thing (and unfortunately the photo didn't come out, but you can see this from the Gorgon photos); the riders are a perfect fit onto the horses, with the cloaks sculpted to fit neatly over the horses rump, and the legs fitting the sides of the horse.

These are very nice minis; I think I may use these as Tarentine heavy cavalry in my projected Pyrrrhic army.