originally posted to rec.games.miniatures.misc on January 9, 2001
A thread on the miniatures painting list a few weeks back about Andrea Miniatures reminded me to take another look at their website. I saw a few pieces that interested me in the 3D Camelot line and decided to go ahead and order. It seems that Andrea doesn't ship directly to the US, but they have a distributor here, The VLS Corporation.
I sent them an email the day before Christmas asking if they carried the Camelot line and received an email back the 26th offering to mail me a photocopy of the appropriate catalog page. The copy came less than a week later, covering the entire line as seen on the Andrea website. Prices were rather steep (averaging $5.00 per figure) and considerably more than a simple currency conversion would yield (though that could be explained by high minimum orders, shipping charges and/or low discounts for distributors).
I decided to order four packs, using their unsecured server (a secured version is in the works).
CA-013 The Bath
CA-016 Buffoon
CA-023 Monk with Desk
CA-026 Dancing Girls
I included a note asking them to email with stocking information and give an estimate of about how long it would take. After 2 days no email had arrived but the package was waiting in the office for me! Needless to say I was very impressed. I don't know if I just got lucky and they happened to have all four packs in stock or if they just keep a large inventory.
The overall quality and style was similar to that of the Lord of the Rings line by Mithril (the old line, not the new stuff which I haven't seen), right down to the beveled rectangular cobblestone bases. The detail on these is about average, not as fine as you would expect from a good Reaper figure but still good. Casting looked good, with only one minor problem (noted below). They are cast in a soft lead alloy, and there was only one instance of shipping damage (also noted below).
The Bath This is a nice vignette overall. The kit came in 5 pieces: base, tub, pitcher, bather and maid. The bather has no feet, just a slot to attach her to the tub (1/4 filled with water). Sculpting overall is nice, though the detail looks a bit soft in places. Scale is on the small end, looking more like "true 25mm" than the stated 30mm.
Buffoon The sculpting on this piece is nice and clean, though some of the folds and transitions are a little rough. A little bending of his puppet stick was easily fixed. Again closer to 25mm than 30mm.
Monk with Desk The monk's stick was bent somewhere along the line, but could be straightened without too much stress. However, it's just a stick and a boring looking one at that, I'll probably replace it with something else. The desk is rather ornate, with a nice relief sculpted along the sides. Oddly enough the one molding problem was with the desk. It will take a lot of filing to get the back flat, it looks like they cut it from the sprue with a hacksaw. Fortunately it seems designed to sit up against a wall anyway. The monk himself is closer to the standard 28mm than the others.
Dancing Girls The seated girl is a two part figure, attaching at the waist. It's hard to tell from the photo, but those are two drums in her lap. Sculpting is the same as the others, nice but a bit soft. These figures are close to 25mm as well.
Overall I think these are reasonably nice figures and will certainly paint up well. The service from VLS, as I mentioned before, is top notch and goes a long way to make up for the price difference.
I'm certainly not unhappy with my purchase, if anything they exceeded my expectations. The paint jobs on the website do not do these figures justice, so it you like what you see there you will certainly not be disappointed with the final product.
