Stretlets 1/72 Scale Boers

To get more mileage out of my Zulu War British I've decided to get a few Boer Models so I can do a bit of wargaming of the First Boer war.  Most of the British wore the same scarlet uniforms as they did in the Zulu war, and whilst I might add a unit or two speicfic to this conflict clearly I needed to start with the Boers.  I can only find one manufacturer that makes Boers in 1/72 scale and that's stretlets.  That instandly made me wary I normally use either HaT or Italeri and I've heard a lot of bad things about stretlets, but i decided to risk it and order a box.

They come in the usual size box with a nice bit of artwork on the front and a vauge and not very helpful bit of history on the back.

The 44 figures come on 4 different sprues, whats different about stretlets is that every single figure is a different scuplt.  Weather this is good or not I think depends on the type of troops being represented.  For regular disciplinced troops I see this as a disadvantage, but for irregular troops such as Boers I think its great.  Unfortunately the box does contain two figures that are completely useless for recreating the Boer wars.

Here we have the two useless figures included in the set.  On the right we have a 17th century Russian Streltsi, I think most stretlets sets include one that combione together to form a full set, it's an odd way of getting figs out in my opinion and I'd rather of had another Boer.  On the right we have a Boer standard bearer which is just a complete nonsense, I suppose he might have a use as a gaming marker of some sort.
I've actually been pleasently suprised with this set after all the bad things I'd heard about stretlets and would consider buying their products again.  I don't think the sculpting is as bad as I'd feared and for this subject the variety is a giant plus.

Anyway without any further ramblings here are the pics of the first batch of painted Boers.

Here we have two of the better pieces in the set, an officer and a fighting parson.

Two interesting kneeling Boers.  On the left he's using a telescope (with both hands, well done stretlets, I've seen alot of 1/72 scale figs using a telescope with one hand and I can tell you that it doesn't work) and on the right we have a Boer lighting some dynamite with his cigar.

Boers Standing

Boers kneeling

And finally a group shot