Regarding the civilian kits, I like that sort of thing as an role-playing gamer for various sorts of NPC characters, and for the kit-bashing potential. They also make great outside-the-box armies for fantasy, sci-fi, and pulp wargames.
For example, I kitbashed a box of the Frostgrave Cultists with some WWII shotguns, rifles, and revolvers, and a few fantasy daggers, spellbooks, and that sort of thing, along side some Lovecraft monsters from Reaper and CthulhuWars, to build up a ‘30s pulp Lovecraft cultist army to pit against some of the French Resistance that I’ll be converting into pulp investigator types (detectives, gangsters, government agents, or the like.)
A hooded monk/cultist set sounds like it would make a fun wargaming unit for fantasy, pulp, modern, and even sci-fi wargaming, and I’d gladly grab a box just for their utility in making fantasy RPG characters.
As a D&D gamer, a box of “medieval” civilians would be useful to make a civilian NPCs, or a peasant militia or angry mob, or I could kit-bash some fantasy weapons or staves or spellbooks or whatever to make unique, every-man ad-hoc adventurers – or alternatively, bandits, or other sorts of villains and “monsters”. (I can’t wait to see what kitbashing possibilities might be opened up by the spare heads from that hypothetical multi-species aliens kit!)
If I were a historical gamer, those “medieval” peasants sound like something that could be cooked up pretty easily via kitbashing into a conscript army, for example, or into a band of deserter bandits, freebooters, pirates, or the like.
I like thinking outside of the box on the assumed era for historical and other kits – to me, “medieval peasants” is a suggestion that allows a great deal of flexibility… hopefully Wargames Atlantic provides the parts and clothing styles that would make such a kit just as useful whether I use the characters in a medieval game, or the Dark Ages, or late Roman Empire, or Renaissance, or even later on – some peasant clothing styles are timeless, and might work for workers/ditch-diggers, camp-followers, conscripts, slaves, prisoners-of-war, refugees, bystanders, and anything else that a gamer might imagine – and I’m reminded of accounts from the American Civil War in which civilians gathered on hilltops to picnic while watching the battles unfolded… civilians of all sort might get embroiled even in a historical wargame as obstacles, objectives, opponents, allies, or anything else that real-life civilians might have done to get involved in war, voluntarily, accidentally, or against their will. (I recall there was a famous battle I read about recently in which the tide of battle was changed when what appeared to be a mob of helpless slaves drew weapons and attacked a more powerful army on a new front….)
Genre games offer even more possibilities for kitbashing something like a “medieval peasant civilians” kit – for example, see many of the characters from the original “Star Wars” movies, which were dressed in outfits that aren’t far off from some flavor of “medieval peasant” costume: just add ray guns or laser-swords from another sci-fi kit, and maybe paint some of them in exotic colours like green or blue skin (and again, that kit of “multi-species aliens” would make a great kit to bash with!)
Consider the other odd kits already produced by Wargames Atlantic as well for one-off fantasy or sci-fi wargames: “medieval peasant” militia vs. giant spiders, for example, or “French resistance” vs. Lizard People… some 1950s “B-Movie” sci-fi Martians or robots would be fun mashup with historical soldiers and/or civilian police, scientists, g-men, or redneck militias….
Anyway, the kitbashing uses, especially for pulp horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, are what draw me to some of these odd kits, followed by the NPC character uses, and oddball player-character uses. If I were a historical gamer, I can easily think of uses for “civilian” characters as well, even though of course I understand that historical wargamers face more limits on what they can do than a fantasy or sci-fi gamer do.
To me, these sorts of models are more interesting for how they can be adapted to other uses and settings and eras, than they are for the purpose implied by the kit’s name and photos on the box.
YMMV, as always!
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