"I’ve been thinking," shouted Obidiah, silencing the grumbling Deserters. "I’ve got me Infantry, and I’ve got Artillery, but to be a proper General, I needs something more. What I needs to complete me army is some Cavalry…."

This box set sees the third release in the Obidiah series. As you my have gathered it is Obidah Hogswell Cavalry, or as they are simply known "The Scumificent Seven".

One thing Flintloque never does it is take itself seriously and Obidiah’s Cavalry only goes to ‘strengthen’ this privileged position which Flintloque enjoys so much. This box set contains a rag-tag multi racial force of seven cavalry figures, which are all completely different. These include a dwarf, an ogre, a goblin, a rat, a dark elf, an

Orc, and another elf for good measure.

Upon opening this box I was very pleased to be confronted by well presented 16 page booklet containing all the background information and rules for the figures included in the set, and optional rules located on the second to last two pages which give statistics for all the mounts available in the Flintloque world of Valon.

So who are these "Scumificent Seven"?

Well it was novel to me so the Ogre riding the rhino was first out the box. A 3-part figure that was easy to flash down and assembled the Ogre sits astride his perhaps slightly disproportionate mount, but otherwise it makes something that is altogether unique and that will definitely stand out in a game. On the downside the Rhino figure is a little wooden in its pose, and does not portray a rhinos size accurately. But hey this is a fantasy game.

From the background we find the orge is called "Dunderdorf" and his mount is called, err, "rhino". Dunderdorf was in time gone by part of the "Army of Albion",

However, he became slightly disillusioned with the lack of ogre cavalry. After a slight falling out with his orc officers and a few deaths? Dunderdorf decided it was time for him to go it alone. Unfortunately several horses backs found out in this time why there was no orge cavalry. Any way, one day he came across a Halfling selling the ‘biggest unicorn’ Dunderdorf had ever seen? and with a ‘little forceful bargaining’ the ‘unicorn’ was his.

Moving on to the Dark elf and unicorn figures named Pon Toun and Lucky respectively, I wondered why this Mexican style elf was only holding a pair of maraccas. Well apparently Pon Toun held up a bank with said ‘weapon’ and made good his escape on his stolen mount Lucky. The news of Pon Toun’s escapades travelled fast around Catalucia’s underworld and soon Dunderdorf had recruited this ‘tough’ individual into his merry band. Fortunately Pon Toun has now exchanges his marracas for some ‘marracca grenades’.

Overall this figure is a tidy cast and is cleaned and assembled easily. The unicorn figure, "Lucky", is posed galloping with main flowing. The only fault I have with this figure, and I know some of you may actually like this, is that the eyes make the unicorn look like a complete phsyco, they just stare at you!

Pon Toun in his Mexican attire fits snugly onto his mount and is one figure you ‘could’ get away without pinning to the mount. The maraccas however look a bit bloby in their design, but a decent paint job can tidy this area up.

Stabmaster Arcon and Sexy get my vote for the coolest names in Obidiah’s Cavalry set. So who are these cool cats?

Stabmaster Arcon, or to use his real name Marcel Febvre, was once a great musical performer travelling Armorica with his band "the Money Funsters". Unfortunately for Marcel he happened to upset the powerful criminal family called "the Tapioca’s".

After killing one of their gang leaders called "Pastarotti" Marcel decide the army was a safer place for him than gang life, so off he went with his flirtatious horse Sexy and joined the cavalry. However, army life was not for him and off he went, but the Tapioca’s where still on his tail. The only safe place left was with Obidiah and his cavalry.

The Stabmaster figure is dressed a in rather glorified manner and his pose gives the figure a pompous feel. The mount figure of "Sexy" can only be described as spot on to the background. Sexy is a mere, and a bit of a tease to other cavalry, often sending them out of control as their hormones take over. The figure portrays this beautifully in the way the main is flicked across the face of the horse and its perfect posture. However, the eyes are still not to my taste.

Now to the shortest members of the seven, "Fat Boris & Bakon", who if you had not guessed is a dwarf riding a pig.

Fat Boris is actually the infamous culinary killer cook of the Krautian army, who instead of cooking his mount like may of his fellow Dwarfs he decided that he would save his faithful friend and work his way through his commanding officers. Yet like all good ideas they don’t last forever and Boris slipped up by leaving a beard in one of his meals. Deciding not to stick around he made good his escape on his pig Bakon. Learning of this Dunderdorf tracked him down and persuaded him to join his unit.

A very nice figure, (baring the pig’s eyes), which has Boris almost bouncing along on the pig’s back. The face on Boris was just begging to be painted and a quick red wash on his cheeks gave a marvellous sweaty and puffed out look to this character.

The next figure "in the box" was "Nobby Styles", no relation to that bloke in 1966, but this Nobby does captain the Orcish football team. Okay you get the idea with this one don’t you? Anyway the story goes that Nobby was part of Wheeling-Turn’s Exploring Officer Unit and being a paranoid chap decided to look for Elves a bit further afield than everyone else. Gone for some time Nobby eventually returned wearing a Bandanna, and muttering about "grasshoppers". When pressed by several officers for information about his journey he attacked them using the ancient art of Kung Po and Eg Foo Yung. Fearing the worse Nobby fled his unit and ‘eventually’ joined Dunderdorf.

The Nobby Styles figure has an oriental look to it with Nobby wearing Bruce Lee pants and top and waving his ‘blunderbuss’ in the air, whilst his mount "Hobby" is a well posed shire horse.

He’s rough, he’s tough, and he’s a "Hell’s Heifer", its "Dough McHenry" riding his

"Lowe-Ryder" cattle "Vermintrude". Yes only in Flintloque can you find minds obscure enough to mix children’s T.V. characters with biking gangs!

So the "Hell’s Heifers" under the leadership of rabble rouser "Jimmy McDean" where looking for a short cut that they never found, when they bumped into some Orc heavy cavalry. "With a cry of "Joccia Forever", the heroic band embarked on their last charge". Having slightly more common sense than the rest Dougal "executed a perfect three point turn and put his paw down". "The rest, as they say, is history…"

Well this figure is as complex as Obidiah’s cavalry gets to assemble, yes get ready, 4 separate parts ladies and gentlemen, and what’s more is that pins and holes are provided. As you might have guest "Vermintrude" is basically a shaggy cow, (dry brushes at the ready), and Dougal is a Lowland Rat. This is perhaps and odd combination of poses for this figure as the rat has his sword poised, as if charging, whilst the heifer looks like its been stuffed and not moved for some time. A nice idea which has been lost in the actual design of the figure.

The final figure from this collection is Mama Ree and Lizzy, err, the Lizard. Mama was a Goblin mystic who travelled with a circus. Fortunatly she gained many clients who where rich and so a plan was hatched. In the haze of her mystic weavings she would bring her clients life to an end and take the money before moving on. As for the bodies, they where fed to the circus’s lizards, one of which called "Lizzy" never seemed to get fatter no matter how many bodes it ate, and so the two became friends.

After despatching a Ferach Marshal, whilst his personal guard waited outside she decided she had to make a getaway, and Lizzy provided the transport.

One of my personal favourites the Mama Ree and Lizzy figure is in 3 parts. Though the Lizard is in the usual pose for this type of figure it is nice to see a different approach to a beasts head, which looks almost bird like, rather that the normal routine of teeth and chops, more designers should try to interpret fantasy creatures in their own way rather than trying to fit into the same mould as other companies.

As for the rider it is perhaps a little too large for a Goblin but it does have a hags face and certain other female attributes. Overall this figure assembles easily, but the neck joint on the lizard will need filling in.

In summarising this is set of figures is a nice collectable and usable piece. The variation of figures means you can have a new character for a force of your choice, whilst together your cavalry force can make Obidiah Hogswell into a ‘proper general’. A different and fun idea which, dispite some of the odd looking eyes on the mounts, is well worth a look.

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