Orion 72002 Chechen Rebels

48 figures
This second set from Orion confirmed the apparent policy of producing figures of more interesting and unusual subjects. After the 18th Century pirates, they came right up to date with this set from the Chechen troubles.
As we have come to expect from Orion, this set provides a whole host of poses, with many interesting choices made. As with most Russian manufacturers, we are treated to pictures of each pose on the box, and in the case of Orion we also get a description of each one. As well as the fighters employing various weapons, there are a number of poses that suggest the producers are trying to make a political point, which is not too surprising since these figures come from Russia. For instance, one of the figures is a Russian prisoner, tied up and on his knees, and another is labelled as 'Fighter shooting prisoner', while another is 'Fighter exposing cut off head'. Doubtless such atrocities occurred in this conflict, but equally such horrors must happen in all wars, and it is unusual to see it represented in figure sets. Other poses also reveal the nature of this conflict such as the 'Boy fighter' and the fighter using a video camera.
The quality of the sculpting is good, though there are some problems. The stretcher party had to have their ring hands enlarged before they would accept the stretcher, and sadly the hands of both are noticeably further apart than the struts of the stretcher, which therefore have to splay out in order to be carried. This is a pretty elementary mistake and spoils what is otherwise a well-designed set.
The box also includes photos of the real fighters to illustrate the variety of costumes, which are faithfully reflected in the figures. Some of the figures even represent named individuals such as Dgohar Dudaev (first figure, fourth row) and Shamil Basaev (on stretcher), and these are a pretty good likeness, given the obvious limitations of figures this size.
Overall another fine set from Orion with no flash and plenty of action. It was just a pity about the parts not fitting properly.