Front Rank/Claymore Castings.

Well as promised here are the completed Otterburn figures I have painted for Derek, one of the lads at the club. He gave me a mix of Front Rank and Claymore Castings which I decided to base separately as I feel that this way he has the option of keeping them in different units. These guys shouldn't be mixed on the same bases as the style of each manufacturer is so different.
Each has it's own good and bad points:
Front Rank - are chunkier with a more formal look about them, there are only two different poses for the halberdiers but the detail in the sculpting is crisp and precise.
Claymore Castings - as mentioned previously I did have difficulty getting the weapons fixed in their hands as a number of the castings (not all) hands didn't line up so either the shafts had to be bent to fit or quite a bit of carving had to be done, but that aside these are very nice figures to paint. Each one  has a slightly different pose so you get quite a bit of variation (which I prefer), and they are particularly animated in their movement.
You do have to paint them, I know this seems an odd statement but they are like Perry figures in this respect, you couldn't just get away with throwing a wash over them. You will have to give them two or three shades of paint to get the best out of them, but when you do they look good.
Elite figures on the other hand can get to a decent standard by simply block painting them in a lighter shade than usual then brushing over a wash, if you then want to go into more detail to 'tart them up' then so be it but as the sculpting is cut in deeper than say Perry and you can get away with an acceptable standard with just the wash.
Of the two my preference, even with the hassle of the weapons is for the Claymore Castings. Front rank are great for SYW and periods where the troops had a more formal look to them but I do like figures with a bit of movement about them. Everything is of course down to the individual and (thank goodness) we are all different in our tastes!
The unit is representative of Sir Ralph Redman's force at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. The standard and shield is hand painted.
Here are the pics:

The whole unit, Front Rank figures the two stands on the left of the photograph, Claymore the three on the right.

You can really see the size difference in the two types of figure here.

Some photographs of the Front Rank figures.

Claymore Castings.

Of course both these ranges have their pluses and negatives, it's up to you. Hope you found this helpful.
Dave.