A Sound of Thunder

 There is heavy cavalry, then there is HEAVY cavarly.

The new Rhinousaur Cavalry for the Salamanders army are probably the HEAVIEST cavalry in the game - and when you want to talk about filling the base!  Big, solid chunks of resin.  (I can just imagine if these had been made in metal, they probably would have to be registered as lethal weapons!)

A bit bigger, faster, better armored, harder hitting (and hitting on 3's instead of 4's) than the Tyrants, they don't as many attacks, though the tyrants wild charge makes their charge threat possibly greater.  Interesting trade off for five points different for regiments.

And they are both really cool units!

I have mentioned that the latest resin units are all very nicely labeled on the spruelettes as to what goes where - well the tyrants didn't quite to that, then these throw that out altogether.  There are only a couple that even have labels on them, and they aren't any help.  They come in two baggies - basically the mounts and the riders (and there is no confusion about those (ok, at first I thought the tails were for the mounts, but it was pretty quick to see they were for the riders).

For the Rhinosaurs, the key is paying attention to the bodies and the legs.  While not labeled, a quick check shows that each body has two separate legs in different positions - either both on the left, both on the right, or both of the rear legs.  Though with cavalry left and right is confusing - I'm not sure how common it is, but these are easier to specify as port (left when facing front) or starboard (right when facing front).

Then finding the appropriate pair of legs was fairly easy.

Body with Port legs

Body with starboard legs

Body with rear (aft?) legs

There are actually three head sculpts (though at first glance it appears to be only two).  One is a single piece, the other two have a separate lower jaw.  These end up being at slightly different angles, so one of the mouths is further open than the other when assembled.

Three heads, with varying degree of 'openess to their mouths'

As far as I can tell, any head goes on any body - choose which ones you like (and if you are doing more than a regiment, mix them up!)

The riders are a bit more challenging.  First are the heads - again these all fit any of the bodies, so mix them up as you see fit.

There are three different body sculpts as well.  While one has a label - the label doesn't help as the others don't have any (and seems to be simply an internal number).

Then there are the tails - all three on a single spruelette.  They appear to be almost identical.

THEY ARE NOT.  In fact, each only fits a specific body (the same with the arms).   This was definitely a task to see what fit where.  And the fits are not intuitive, as there is a space left once attached for the edge of the saddle that the rider is sitting on.

The key here it to check the peg/slots for each.  Yes, you will spend quite a while with detailed examination of the ass of each rider.

One if fairly flat, the second as a bit more of a 'chunk' taken out of the bottom of the tail (for the saddle), and the third fits completely different, with peg being on the top of the tail, rather than the end.

I did take pictures to try to help.

The easiest one

Then the one with the bigger gap for the saddle

this shot makes me so glad these are not Mierce models (beautiful sculpts, but (unnecessarily) VERY anatomically correct (no, I don't need to see the junk hanging down on my monsters, thank you very much!) 

Finally the odd fitting one

Then, of course, comes figuring out which arms go with which body.  These all have two handed weapons - but (thankfully!!!!) it is only two pieces - there is no trying to super glue 3 or 4 pieces simultaneously at just the right angles.

As a side - I very much think that the sculptors (and the people who then design how the model is cut to mold it (these may not be the same people) should be REQUIRED to assemble (and even play a game or two) with the models they make.  That may fix some of these issues of trying to glue a body, two forearms and a weapon together all at once, or female figures that are only on one tiny foot (so break easily).  But really, that would be absurd to have the people to design a product actually have to USE it.

Ok back to the models,  First I did have to use hot water to straighten out the lances.  Also, if you wanted to heat them and then glue them on while still soft it might be really easy!

Here are pictures identifying the body and the weapon that fits with each.

The hand with the single spike goes on the body with the smaller check cloth.  (See, labeling would have made this so much easier to identify each piece!)

The double spikes to on the body with the arm bent to the side (the weapon here will be pointing starboard, while the other two are pointing port)

And finally, the hand that is holding the pole underhanded (i.e. thumb pointing up) goes on the body where the chest cloth appears to be in two pieces.  (The tip of the spike on the wrist broke off, but I don't think it is a big deal - simple battle damage.

The heads can go on any body, and I think the riders can go on any mount - so mix and match as you desire.

Then a final shot of them on a base (I already finished all the multibases for this demo army as I like to keep them all the same.  A little posing of them (not quite facing straight on) gives the unit quite a dynamic look (I like having the two mounts kind of snapping at each other (reminds me of when I'm walking my dogs :-) ).

In case you need more pictures of lizard butts

Really nice looking models when put together, it is just a little disappointing that they did not continue the recent trend for other armies of marking the spruelettes for each model, so you don't have to do quite the investigation when assembling them.

Now some of you may be asking what if you want a bit 'lighter' cavalry?  Tune in next time - same bat time, same bat station!

Because it is all fun and games . . .